MD & DO What should my goal score be? Help!

[bigfootisreal]

Hi everyone,

Pre-step stressed out M2 here. I took my first NBME (form 20) last week prior to starting dedicated. I scored a 210. I’m in the works of finishing up pathoma and sketchy now. I’ll have those done before dedicated. I’ll have 5 weeks starting January 6th which is when I will start Uworld. Can anyone shed some light on what kind of goal score I should set for myself? I know it’s important to have something to work towards but I want that something to be realistic. I’m not super interested in anything super competitive with the most competitive specialty I like being OB, EM, or Anesthesia. If anyone could just shed some light on my situation I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you!

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[Dr. Doctor MD]

Hi everyone,

Pre-step stressed out M2 here. I took my first NBME (form 20) last week prior to starting dedicated. I scored a 210. I’m in the works of finishing up pathoma and sketchy now. I’ll have those done before dedicated. I’ll have 5 weeks starting January 6th which is when I will start Uworld. Can anyone shed some light on what kind of goal score I should set for myself? I know it’s important to have something to work towards but I want that something to be realistic. I’m not super interested in anything super competitive with the most competitive specialty I like being OB, EM, or Anesthesia. If anyone could just shed some light on my situation I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you!

A 230 would get you an easy match to any of those three specialties at decent places. 240 would be awesome and open a lot of doors. 220 would still allow you to match any of those three fields, but might make it a little harder to get interviews at more desirable/higher ranked programs.

So anywhere between 220-240 is ideal, with higher scores opening up more doors.

 

[bigfootisreal]

What do you feel is an attainable goal given my starting point?

 

[Ho0v-man]

Hi everyone,

Pre-step stressed out M2 here. I took my first NBME (form 20) last week prior to starting dedicated. I scored a 210. I’m in the works of finishing up pathoma and sketchy now. I’ll have those done before dedicated. I’ll have 5 weeks starting January 6th which is when I will start Uworld. Can anyone shed some light on what kind of goal score I should set for myself? I know it’s important to have something to work towards but I want that something to be realistic. I’m not super interested in anything super competitive with the most competitive specialty I like being OB, EM, or Anesthesia. If anyone could just shed some light on my situation I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you!

I did 20+ points higher on the real deal than any of my nbmes. Your goal should be 250+ no matter what field(s) interest you. Besides, you don’t want to just match, you want to match well. You CAN do it! Getting a passing score on an nbme before even starting uworld is pretty good imo. Start uworld right after Xmas or earlier if you can. You don’t know if you’ll have to take a few days or a week re-teaching yourself something you didn’t learn well the first time.

 

[Kgizzle]

Pre-step NBME was around that... Got a mid 240 score. Keep at it, there will be a lot of up and downs, time where you'll feel super stupid, like how did I get into med school stupid, and fleeting moments of "I got this". Just ride the wave and you will do great!

 

[sanfran256]

Try to score as high as you can!
EM, Ob are actually quite competitive , and ALL specialties are at the top or in good locations

 

[libertyyne]

Your goal should be 270 plus. You should be happy if you land above a 250.

 

[Chelsea FC]

Hi everyone,

Pre-step stressed out M2 here. I took my first NBME (form 20) last week prior to starting dedicated. I scored a 210. I’m in the works of finishing up pathoma and sketchy now. I’ll have those done before dedicated. I’ll have 5 weeks starting January 6th which is when I will start Uworld. Can anyone shed some light on what kind of goal score I should set for myself? I know it’s important to have something to work towards but I want that something to be realistic. I’m not super interested in anything super competitive with the most competitive specialty I like being OB, EM, or Anesthesia. If anyone could just shed some light on my situation I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you!

Passing before doing UWORLD or any dedicated study means you are in a way better position than most people.

 

[bigfootisreal]

Try to score as high as you can!
EM, Ob are actually quite competitive , and ALL specialties are at the top or in good locations

Has it gotten more competitive in the last few years for these two? I was always under the impression that if you scored average you were good..

 

[ace_inhibitor111]

Has it gotten more competitive in the last few years for these two? I was always under the impression that if you scored average you were good..

Hi, this is the AAMC. We’ve increased the amount of medical students by more than 32% in the last 5 years to fix this awful doctor shortage that we’ve been telling you about. Haha it’s okay, no need to thank us!

-xoxo

 

[Deecee2DO]

Hi everyone,

Pre-step stressed out M2 here. I took my first NBME (form 20) last week prior to starting dedicated. I scored a 210. I’m in the works of finishing up pathoma and sketchy now. I’ll have those done before dedicated. I’ll have 5 weeks starting January 6th which is when I will start Uworld. Can anyone shed some light on what kind of goal score I should set for myself? I know it’s important to have something to work towards but I want that something to be realistic. I’m not super interested in anything super competitive with the most competitive specialty I like being OB, EM, or Anesthesia. If anyone could just shed some light on my situation I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you!

Those first NBMEs before youve really studied hard core during preded and ded are meaningless. You can bump your score up a crap ton from now until boards. Study hard and smart you can get the score you want if you approach it correctly

 

[Deecee2DO]

Try to score as high as you can!
EM, Ob are actually quite competitive , and ALL specialties are at the top or in good locations

classic SDN right here. “everythings competitive!”

 

[Chelsea FC]

Everyone saying X field is getting competitive. Your baseline is pretty high most people I know wasnt even passing their first NBME and then had a steady increase. You passing pre-dedicated so you're in a good spot.

 

[sanfran256]

classic SDN right here. “everythings competitive!”

dude its true. I hate it

 

[Deecee2DO]

dude its true. I hate it

Its not though lol plenty of avg med students match into those specialties the avg step scores are in the 220s (below avg Step score) if you arent picky with the program

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Its not though lol plenty of avg med students match into those specialties the avg step scores are in the 220s (below avg Step score) if you arent picky with the program

Tbf with EM, the average step score being lower is because they place less importance on it. Your SLOEs are way more important from what I’ve gathered.

 

[Deecee2DO]

Tbf with EM, the average step score being lower is because they place less importance on it. Your SLOEs are way more important from what I’ve gathered.

Yes 100%