What's with everyone getting 240's / 250's for NBME simulation?

[septoplasty]

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Am I mentally ******ed? Or are ALL the gunners of ALL the med schools across the country on SDN?

Considering the mean is 220, 240 - 250's is almost +2 SD..

*Goes back in the shadow to be satisfied by his 218*

 

[simpatico]

It's an SDN thing. Most people scoring around the average or lower probably aren't comfortable posting their scores, so the people that post tend to be those that are scoring really well. Nothing against them at all, but that's just kinda the way it works.

 

[2012mdc]

Am I mentally ******ed? Or are ALL the gunners of ALL the med schools across the country on SDN?

Considering the mean is 220, 240 - 250's is almost +2 SD..

*Goes back in the shadow to be satisfied by his 218*

from someone's score report this year - average is 221 with SD of 24

240-250 is +1 SD.

Given SDN self selects in general plus the self selection of who posts scores it's not surprising to see a bunch of high scores on here

 

[ar2388]

no worries.. its not everyone.. haha i got in the 220's on the NBME's. still waiting for score 🙁

 

[Quinone]

OP, in addition to the self-selection that goes on around here, I suspect that people who do post may sometimes sliiiiightly alter their scores to make them seem just a teeny bit better, ie, if someone gets a 236 on an NBME and then says they got a 240...that's still technically in the error range but a nice round number like 240 just looks so much nicer... 🙄

Don't let the gunners get you down.

 

[chiz2kul]

OP, in addition to the self-selection that goes on around here, I suspect that people who do post may sometimes sliiiiightly alter their scores to make them seem just a teeny bit better, ie, if someone gets a 236 on an NBME and then says they got a 240...that's still technically in the error range but a nice round number like 240 just looks so much nicer... 🙄

Don't let the gunners get you down.

not to TC, but scoring in that range doesn't make them gunners 🙂

 

[Quinone]

not to TC, but scoring in that range doesn't make them gunners 🙂

Okay? Thanks for the input...

 

[HealingSenses]

I believe that 240 is barely +1 std above the mean 😛

Am I mentally ******ed? Or are ALL the gunners of ALL the med schools across the country on SDN?

Considering the mean is 220, 240 - 250's is almost +2 SD..

*Goes back in the shadow to be satisfied by his 218*

 

[wongb18c]

Phew... I was starting to think I was mentally impaired too.

 

[SteveFromJHU]

Because people on this website lie. Most of SDN is just losers across the country who have no friends at their current SOM so they lie to impress some fake online community. I can say I got a 270, and some *******es will come in here being like omg STEVE IS SO SMART, I WISH I COULD BE LIKE HIM, and if I had no friends IRL, that would be gratifying. Basically, take what you hear here with a grain or two of the saltiest NaCl you can find, jigga.

 

[2012mdc]

Because people on this website lie. Most of SDN is just losers across the country who have no friends at their current SOM so they lie to impress some fake online community. I can say I got a 270, and some *******es will come in here being like omg STEVE IS SO SMART, I WISH I COULD BE LIKE HIM, and if I had no friends IRL, that would be gratifying. Basically, take what you hear here with a grain or two of the saltiest NaCl you can find, jigga.

i haven't seen too many 270's on here and no 280's.

I think people like to post and give back to the community that helped them. I know SDN helped improve my score with the different strategies and book info on here. Def not trying to anonymously impress people

 

[2012mdc]

not to TC, but scoring in that range doesn't make them gunners 🙂

but inflating your score on a practice test for no reason is toolish

 

[ArcGurren]

Because people on this website lie. Most of SDN is just losers across the country who have no friends at their current SOM so they lie to impress some fake online community. I can say I got a 270, and some *******es will come in here being like omg STEVE IS SO SMART, I WISH I COULD BE LIKE HIM, and if I had no friends IRL, that would be gratifying. Basically, take what you hear here with a grain or two of the saltiest NaCl you can find, jigga.

For what it's worth I did not lie about my scores, and doing so would be stupid and pointless anyway... bit angry eh?

also OP, what was said earlier - self-selecting.

 

[coralis]

hahahahah...... I sooo know how you feel... I sure don't have any 240/250..... barely mid 210s... :s oh well... I can kiss that 250 goodbye apparently since I haven't improved much in the last 4 weeks and have only 2 weeks left.

 

[bruinhd]

OP, in addition to the self-selection that goes on around here, I suspect that people who do post may sometimes sliiiiightly alter their scores to make them seem just a teeny bit better, ie, if someone gets a 236 on an NBME and then says they got a 240...that's still technically in the error range but a nice round number like 240 just looks so much nicer... 🙄

Don't let the gunners get you down.

I got 208 and 226. No rounding. I agree to a degree with what Quinone is saying. Don't worry about all the noise.

I knew when I began reading SDN again in preparation for Step 1 that I would see a lot of what I saw when prepping for the MCAT. Basically, everyone on SDN averages 38-42 on their practice MCATs...or so they say...yawn.

Like the other posters are saying, take EVERYTHING you read on this "ego protective" community/forum with a grain of salt.

 

[BeatrixIsBackDO]

Or are ALL the gunners of ALL the med schools across the country on SDN?

This!

I used to wonder that also when I was taking the NBME's and browsing forums..... then I decided that after I get my scores back I will post my "normal person" score to encourage all the other normal people out there and give them hope!

I took 2 NBME's and got 196 and 217.... still waiting on my exam score.

 

[Dissected]

I don't think many people inflate...I just think like someone said before that those with higher scores are more inclined to post them. It will be interesting to watch the experiences/scores thread on July 13th when a crap-load of scores come out.

 

[ArcGurren]

I got 208 and 226. No rounding. I agree to a degree with what Quinone is saying. Don't worry about all the noise.

I knew when I began reading SDN again in preparation for Step 1 that I would see a lot of what I saw when prepping for the MCAT. Basically, everyone on SDN averages 38-42 on their practice MCATs...or so they say...yawn.

Like the other posters are saying, take EVERYTHING you read on this "ego protective" community/forum with a grain of salt.

Hahaha and yet they all freak out as to whether they can get into med school. "OMG 3.9 GPA/38 MCAT/billion extracurriculars and volunteer time!!1one! Can I get into medical school?? Ever? Or am I too stupid?"

 

[lavodnas]

I think this is my new favorite thread.

 

[fuzzywuz]

How much does it take to score a 220+? And is it true that the curves is based on the degree of difficulty of you test form?

I felt like I guessed on half of my exam... no joke. Most of them were edumacated guesses though....

 

[Dissected]

How much does it take to score a 220+?

$50. Actually $60 if you want extended feedback.

I kid, I kid 😀. You set yourself up for that one though.

It varies from exam to exam. I didn't really find a pattern b/w the # correct and the difficulty of exams, especially when it comes to form #12. I would say high 70's, low 80's for most of them to get a 221. I got a 221 on NBME 11 about 2 months ago and was right at about 80% correct.

I felt like I guessed on half of my exam... no joke. Most of them were edumacated guesses though....

I felt the exact same way on every NBME I took. My scores improved over the course of my studies, but I still felt like I was making educated guesses on a lot of the q's. Don't let it get to you.

 

[fuzzywuz]

Oh man, I just realized we're talking about the practice NBME. I hoping the real thing is more curve friendly.

 

[Dissected]

Oh man, I just realized we're talking about the practice NBME. I hoping the real thing is more curve friendly.

lol, you were talking about the real thing!!

That makes a lot more sense. I have no friggin idea about the real thing. I certainly hope so as well!

 

[2012mdc]

lol, you were talking about the real thing!!

That makes a lot more sense. I have no friggin idea about the real thing. I certainly hope so as well!

Real curve is much more friendly.

 

[icaruswalks]

Real curve is much more friendly.

Is it really? Man that would be great... I agree with the OP, a lot of score son here for NBME are 240+. That being said, I believe there is a lot of self-selection. NBME exams, some of em had the weirdest curves ever...

 

[Altruist]

This is how I think of it: If you are the kind of person whose idea of "decompressing" after a long day of studying is to post on SDN about how you did on NBME's and so forth, I'd set good odds that you aren't a typical med student. (At least, judging from my classmates.)

I was surprised to hear from a few friends from school that they'd read my posts, and had creeped on these forums but never posted.

One of the big differences was that I started on SDN via the school-specific and field-specific forums, but most of these friends started in the general pre-allo/pre-osteo forums that are full of Douchey McGunnerson and all his cronies. If that'd been my first experience on here, I wouldn't feel the same kind of warm, fuzzy feelings about "giving back because I got good advice & help on here."

So anyway, between the nerd factor, the slight fudge upwards that people might do (because they're anonymous), and the fact that a lot of normal folks get burnt out by all the idiocy, you're left with a select group, who all apparently average 260+ and are set on going into interventional neurodermatologic radiology. Don't take it too seriously.

 

[ArcGurren]

Is it really? Man that would be great... I agree with the OP, a lot of score son here for NBME are 240+. That being said, I believe there is a lot of self-selection. NBME exams, some of em had the weirdest curves ever...

I definitely second that the NBME curves are REALLY tough compared to the real thing.

 

[MossPoh]

As mentioned above, we are a pretty self selective group. I never actually believed I'd be in the 240s/250s practice group till it happened. I'd be full of crap if I didn't say that part of the reason was wanting to share my excitement, especially because I really don't talk about scores with my classmates.

I don't know about others, but I give a lot of credit to SDN for what success I've had so far. I always feel like I know what to expect, what books are good or suck, etc. It has really built up my Type A personality...I remember when I used to be all relaxed. No clue what happened to that guy.