WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?! So depressed after last NBME...

[medstudent87]

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NBME #7 in March: 195

NBME #7 last Saturday (I accidentally took the same one again cause I'm an idiot. This was after a week of studying): 203

NBME #11 today: 189

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I've been studying 12hrs/day for 2 weeks now. Each day I study FA (and use Goljan and BRS Physio for reference) as well as do a block of Uworld with questions from that day's material. So far, I've covered biochem, immuno, anatomy and embryology, as well as physio+path for cardio, pulm, endocrine, renal, musculoskeletal and most of neuro. I've admittedly been neglecting micro and pharm since I figured they were good for cramming.

I start DIT tomorrow. I've got 3 weeks left to go from sucking to winning. Any advice?

I was really hoping to break a 230 or maybe even a 240, but I feel really defeated right now. Even though I thought I was learning so much each day and that I was actually retaining it, it just somehow doesn't translate to when I take the exam.

NBME11 seemed to have a lot of GI, heme/onc and micro/phram....so I guess I feel SLIGHTLY better knowing that I haven't studied those yet...idk. 🙁

ME SAD.

 

[quepatho]

NBME #7 in March: 195

NBME #7 last Saturday (I accidentally took the same one again cause I'm an idiot): 203

NBME #11 today: 189

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I've been studying 12hrs/day for 2 weeks now. Each day I study FA (and use Goljan and BRS Physio for reference) as well as do a block of Uworld with questions from that day's material. So far, I've covered biochem, immuno, anatomy and embryology, as well as physio+path for cardio, pulm, endocrine, renal, musculoskeletal and most of neuro. I've admittedly been neglecting micro and pharm since I figured they were good for cramming.

I start DIT tomorrow.

I was really hoping to break a 230 or maybe even a 240, but I feel really defeated right now. Even though I thought I was learning so much each day and that I was actually retaining it, it just somehow doesn't translate to when I take the exam.

NBME11 seemed to have a lot of GI, heme/onc and micro/phram....so I guess I feel SLIGHTLY better knowing that I haven't studied those yet...idk. 🙁

ME SAD.

NBME 11 pretty much killed me today too 🙁 Your post embodied my feelings well.

 

[priam18]

It would help if you figured out exactly why you're getting some questions wrong. Are you misreading the question, not knowing exactly what they're asking? Is it that you don't understand the concept? Is it a fluke? Is the question asking something that's at a level you haven't put together yet? Are you second-guessing yourself?


Those are some of the things that I'd pay attention to - doing UWORLD blocks is great for this, and I've found that the more I've been doing this, the better I've been getting at doing questions (although granted, I've still got a lot to go/learn).

You said you haven't covered GI/Heme-Onc/Pharm/Micro - those are 4 major topics there already, so that definitely plays a major part in the score.

Also, my personal advice: I would definitely NOT try to cram pharm/micro at the last minute. I'm sorry, but although I did get that advice from other people too, I've been finding that understanding micro/pharm has helped me feel more comfortable. It's partly because I've seen it as my weakest subject, and because I'm a little more comfortable with it, I don't get too freaked out when I see a micro/pharm question.

Either way, good luck! It's a pretty high/low period for a lot of us, I'm personally looking forward to when I can look back at this time and laugh.

 

[mrmandrake]

A big red flag for me is why you didn't improve on NBME 7 a week after taking it the first time. Did you take the version that doesn't tell you what you got wrong? Did you not look up any of the material of the test after you were done? Sorry if this sounds rude but you should improve a lot on a test if you're taking it twice.

 

[f1doc]

Just wanted to say that you're not the only one who feels this way. I too feel like I'm going backwards in terms of progress. I wonder if NBME 11 is just a particularly 'challenging' exam?

 

[nicolai]

I think your problem is that you don't study from your mistakes. Every question you have to carefully think through, understand why you put that answer and what should be logic to put correct answer. You did NBME second time and did all the same mistakes. Learn from the questions every time you are doing them.

 

[medstudent87]

A big red flag for me is why you didn't improve on NBME 7 a week after taking it the first time. Did you take the version that doesn't tell you what you got wrong? Did you not look up any of the material of the test after you were done? Sorry if this sounds rude but you should improve a lot on a test if you're taking it twice.

yea, i took the version that didn't tell me what I got wrong...

i didn't realize (till now) that the extra $10 allows you to see what you got wrong 🙁

 

[raynor123456]

...I've admittedly been neglecting micro and pharm since I figured they were good for cramming.....

They don't ask difficult micro and pharm questions, but they do ask questions pertaining to micro and pharm often. So, you've GOT to know it or else your score is going to suck. I started seeing my most significant improvements after I starting putting a little more time into micro and pharm.

 

[deleted387928]

How much time are you spending reviewing UW blocks? It should take you at least 1-2 hours to review a 46 question block.

If I was in your position I would do UW blocks in tutor mode by subject. Let's say you spend 9 hours per day over 3 days studying micro out of FA - you'd nearly have the damn thing memorized at that point. If you're pulling 12 hour days that still leaves you time to do a 46 question block each day and review it thoroughly.

You could do the same thing for pharm. And Voila, your step score would improve 20+ points in a week.

At least, that is how I would approach it. But DIT will eat up most of your time.

 

[Mace1370]

I'm also just going to give another 👍 to the suggestion that you must memorize micro and pharm. These questions are, 9 times out of 10, just pure fact recall and can either be easy pick up points or demoralizing questions that make you feel like you're stupid.

 

[RapplixGmed]

Yeah, do NOT save micro and pharm for cramming. In my experience, it took me at least 3 runs to master that stuff. No way you'll retain it after going over it only once right before the exam.

 

[ar2388]

yeah.. def do a lot fo micro and pharm.. i wish i did more pharm.. i suck at memorizing. and i read pharm like 3 times.. i.e. pharm section 3 times and the day before i read each pharm section of each subject in FA for the 2nd time.. and i still couldnt remember some of the pharm i had on my exam.. 🙁 pharm has always been the total bane of my existence. i dont know how many times i need to read it for it to stick in my head 🙁