usmle world avg scores

[medicinehopeful]

---

Members do not see this ad.

hey all,
i finally decided to try uw...and its much harder. i've been trying to find avg scores that other posters have gotten thus far but cannot. i've been doing qbank so far...avg - low 70s to low 80s. with uw, my avgs are high 50s to low 60s. does anyone know how these scores correlate? my uw scores just have me a little worried. i'm no overachiever. i'd like to be in the 220s. thanks.

 

[marr]

my scores on usmleworld and qbank are exactly like yours. I think you need to take a NBME practice exam just to see where you stand. By the way, I approach these as a learning tool not just to get my average really high.

 

[Bob2009]

Hi,
I've been using UW for the last two weeks and have consistently gotten 10% above the average for my tests. And I took NBME test 4 last friday and got 226.... and the average for that exam is 219. So from my experience it seems to correlate. As for Kaplan Q, I've done some questions here and there and generally get about 10-15% higher than the average. So, you know, hope that gives you some perspective.

 

[JohnDO]

with uw, my avgs are high 50s to low 60s.

My averages are about the same. I'm also finding the questions much more difficult. Try an NBME form (2,3, or 4) and see how you do. Those are supposedly the best indicators.

 

[blz]

that's funny becuase i started USMLEWorld for the first time yesterday and my first block i got a 80% (kaplan scores range from 75% - 85%) - i found the questions easier than kaplan and less nitpicky with details. lets see how the next blocks go.

 

[Taus]

that's funny becuase i started USMLEWorld for the first time yesterday and my first block i got a 80% (kaplan scores range from 75% - 85%) - i found the questions easier than kaplan and less nitpicky with details. lets see how the next blocks go.

I have a feeling that you'll be in great shape....I can't seem to break past the 70-75% range on UW and I've scored well above the mean on NBME's.....kinda pisses me off but I guess at least I'm learning something....

 

[doctorp82]

I have a feeling that you'll be in great shape....I can't seem to break past the 70-75% range on UW and I've scored well above the mean on NBME's.....kinda pisses me off but I guess at least I'm learning something....

I've started UW recently and have hit about the same range (with the exception of last night's last 50 when the bottom dropped out and I scored 58%). Take it with a grain of salt though, as I've already done all of QBank before starting UW.

 

[blz]

yea its definitely easier after having done most of qbank. also, i gotta say that the goljan RR book is on point. i think if you just memorize this book you will kill this exam.

 

[doctorp82]

yea its definitely easier after having done most of qbank. also, i gotta say that the goljan RR book is on point. i think if you just memorize this book you will kill this exam.

I take it on Saturday, and I'm not out to kill the exam by any means. Taking form 4 Sunday I got a 540 (228), so just shy of my 230+ goal. My pharm performance on that form sucked though, so it's getting special attention this week. Pharm and biochem. Most everything else is solid. Some people seem to think form 4 has some oddball questions though, hopefully that's the case and I'm already safe on my way to breaking into mid 230's.

 

[cubsrule4e]

Same here...i find UW more difficult than all the others. Been on it for about 10 days now and had been moving up from low 60's to low-mid 70's. Then yesterday i was either off, or got some seriously messed up blocks and regressed to 48% (25 qs) and 58% (50 qs). Seems to be a common trend though from what ive been seeing...maybe we should name it "The 2 week pre-test effect" and include it in a USMLE biostats question. At least id be assured of getting one question right

 

[bjackrian]

I take it on Saturday, and I'm not out to kill the exam by any means. Taking form 4 Sunday I got a 540 (228), so just shy of my 230+ goal. My pharm performance on that form sucked though, so it's getting special attention this week. Pharm and biochem. Most everything else is solid. Some people seem to think form 4 has some oddball questions though, hopefully that's the case and I'm already safe on my way to breaking into mid 230's.

Hey doctorp. I'm with you. I take the exam Saturday too and I'm also hoping to get a 230+. I took form 2 about three and a half weeks ago and got a 520/228 and then took form 3 this morning and got a 570/234. I was hoping to see a bigger improvement after three + weeks of studying, but I guess at least it went up and was over my goal. The really frustrating thing is that there were only two subjects that were in the borderline area (MSK and genetics), which makes it hard to know what to study. I'm debating taking form 4 tomorrow just to see how I do since genetics/mobio are probably my weakest areas overall.

Anyway, good luck on your last few days. We'll make it through on Saturday. 👍

 

[UCLAstudent]

that's funny becuase i started USMLEWorld for the first time yesterday and my first block i got a 80% (kaplan scores range from 75% - 85%) - i found the questions easier than kaplan and less nitpicky with details. lets see how the next blocks go.

I agree with this --- I usually score about 10% higher on UW than QBank.

 

[beastmaster]

Just finished with UW. I broke 80% three times, broke 70% on about half of my tests (moreso towards the end). Rest of the time in the 60s, and maybe a couple upper 50s when starting out.

It gets very annoying when UW throws you an esoteric pharm side-effect, or the "what's the role of a 16S ribosome" type question and it breaks your rhythm. Feel a bit guilty when a concept repeats and you get it right the 2nd time because you've read up on it after getting it wrong previously, but I guess the flip side is you get punished for doing so. At first you feel proud of scoring well, but after a while you're just waiting to get something wrong for it to become a learning opportunity. So, overall, bumpy ride, well worth it.

Although I planned to revisit the ones I got incorrect, I've rethought the time cost of doing so. I've got bigger fish to fry.

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

Just finished with UW. I broke 80% three times, broke 70% on about half of my tests (moreso towards the end). Rest of the time in the 60s, and maybe a couple upper 50s when starting out.

It gets very annoying when UW throws you an esoteric pharm side-effect, or the "what's the role of a 16S ribosome" type question and it breaks your rhythm. Feel a bit guilty when a concept repeats and you get it right the 2nd time because you've read up on it after getting it wrong previously, but I guess the flip side is you get punished for doing so. At first you feel proud of scoring well, but after a while you're just waiting to get something wrong for it to become a learning opportunity. So, overall, bumpy ride, well worth it.

Although I planned to revisit the ones I got incorrect, I've rethought the time cost of doing so. I've got bigger fish to fry.

duh to localize to the shine-dalgarno sequence!

 

[SoCuteMD]

I just switched to UWorld - OMG, SUCH a difference from QBank.

Honestly, I've taken a ton of NBME shelf exams and UWorld approximates them MUCH more closely than Qbank.

Anyone wanna buy a less than half completed QBank for now through Sept?!?!

 

[blkkd]

I'm the odd man out in this case. I get around 70 on Uworld and about 65% on qbank. I've heard constant 70s and above on Uworld equated to above 240 but I only received a 226 on form 4 so I'm not really sure what the problem is.

 

[lumbering]

I average 74% on UW and 69% on kaplan (though I started the Kaplan way back in febuary). I say they are about equal difficulty. UW is more problem solving, and kaplan is more nitpicky details (drives me insane). For comparison, my last NMBE was 235. I'm hoping to get 260+, so I'm kinda worried. I think I'm going to quit doing Kaplan for my ego's sake.

 

[bowels]

so it seems that people think uw is easier than qbank. does this mean i should be using qbank instead of uw? i mean if it's more difficult, shouldn't it better prepare you for the exam? i've only subscribed to uw but now i'm thinking i should've done qbank.

 

[domer621]

QBank is harder in a BAD way. Too many zebra questions, not enough thinking questions.

 

[doctorp82]

QBank is harder in a BAD way. Too many zebra questions, not enough thinking questions.

👍 Well said.

 

[gunnison]

I dropped Qbank like a bad habit about a week ago, and now it's all UW until test time. I've been a lot more satisfied with UW than I was with Qbank. I feel like I am learning concepts by doing UW questions, whereas with Qbank, I was just trying to memorize picky little details. I have no idea what the real test will be like, but hopefully it will be more like UW than Qbank. I will let you guys know in 2 weeks.

 

[tygrwds]

hey all,
i finally decided to try uw...and its much harder. i've been trying to find avg scores that other posters have gotten thus far but cannot. i've been doing qbank so far...avg - low 70s to low 80s. with uw, my avgs are high 50s to low 60s. does anyone know how these scores correlate? my uw scores just have me a little worried. i'm no overachiever. i'd like to be in the 220s. thanks.

I've completed QBank and am through about half of UW now. I would have to agree with most of the posters above that the UW questions make you think (and think hard!), while QBank throws in nitpicky questions just to make you say, "WTF?" My cumulative averages for both are almost the same (low-70s). However, my scores were initially ~10% lower on UW than QBank for blocks of 25 or 50 questions.

It's probably best not to emphasize performance over learning when you're using these question banks - especially UW, whose questions tend to be more complex and have fewer hints than QBank's, yet has superior explanations. In the end, you'll likely end up doing far better on the real thing than what your UW or QBank scores would indicate.

 

[medicinehopeful]

i've now been getting 10 % higher than the avg each time on usmle world. any correlation to the step 1 score? i'll be taking an nbme next week, but was just curious in the mean time. thanks.

 

[surfgirl2]

I have been getting between 65-70 on world for the last 2 weeks. I took an NBME (form #2) last week and got a 232. I am not sure what the average was or how it correlates but I thought this might be helpful.

 

[albertoss]

FWIW, I finished USMLE World last week with a 75% cumulative average, which according to them put me in the 83rd percentile.

I took a NBME today (Form 3), and my score was a 600 (approx. 3-digit score: 240). According to the score report, that's 1 SD above the mean, which would again mean I'm in the 83/84th percentile.

Hopefully I'll be able to go a bit higher on the real deal (exactly one week from now!), but 👍 to USMLE World!