Help! I got a <128 on NBME 13. I'm stuck! Need tutoring.

[caribdilemma]

Hi guys, I'm from a low-tier Caribbean medical school and I need help to pass/score well on my steps. I recently took NBME 13. I got a <128. I need someone who can tutor me on a daily basis, to help me learn and retain FA. I also need them help me create a schedule. Other people looking at this thread...can you guys suggest what I can do to increase my score? Am I delusion to hope to get a 230-240? Thanks. P.S- a schedule that incorporates Pathoma and/or sketchy and/or kaplan books/videos and FA and qbank everyday. Also something that will help me recall everything i have learnt...like firecracker or anki or something.

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[Forever Geebs]

Hi guys, I'm from a low-tier Caribbean medical school and I need help to pass/score well on my steps. I recently took NBME 13. I got a <128. I need someone who can tutor me on a daily basis, to help me learn and retain FA. I also need them help me create a schedule. Other people looking at this thread...can you guys suggest what I can do to increase my score? Am I delusion to hope to get a 230-240? Thanks. P.S- a schedule that incorporates Pathoma and/or sketchy and/or kaplan books/videos and FA and qbank everyday. Also something that will help me recall everything i have learnt...like firecracker or anki or something.

You missed approximately 60% (or more). At this rate, a 230-240 will be very hard to get unless changes are made. How have your other scores been?


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[kb1900]

If you just need a schedule tool, cramfighter is good at that. You can put in anki cards, books etc

 

[caribdilemma]

You missed approximately 60% (or more). At this rate, a 230-240 will be very hard to get unless changes are made. How have your other scores been?


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I have only taken one nbme...med school was a struggle...I don’t have any other scores.

 

[Forever Geebs]

Do you have a baseline or is this it? Statistically, ppl typically score fewer pts on 13 compared to others. Usually though it’s not taken as the baseline. Don’t get too discouraged yet, but know, you need to set up dedicated study time and do as many practice problems as possible. There’ll likely be some learning involved, which may extend dedicated study time. Have you scheduled the test yet, and if not, how far out are you?


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[Rekt]

A score that low has nothing to do with "retaining First Aid", but a clear significant deficiency in core knowledge, likely due to the quality of your school. I don't really know how much time you have, but you'll need a lot. You need to use every learning resource you can from Kaplan videos to Boards and Beyond to Pathoma and Sketchy, etc.

 

[Perrotfish]

Hi guys, I'm from a low-tier Caribbean medical school and I need help to pass/score well on my steps. I recently took NBME 13. I got a <128. I need someone who can tutor me on a daily basis, to help me learn and retain FA. I also need them help me create a schedule. Other people looking at this thread...can you guys suggest what I can do to increase my score? Am I delusion to hope to get a 230-240? Thanks. P.S- a schedule that incorporates Pathoma and/or sketchy and/or kaplan books/videos and FA and qbank everyday. Also something that will help me recall everything i have learnt...like firecracker or anki or something.

1) when do you take the test?

2). Are you doing a qbank? What percentage of questions are you getting right?

 

[NeurologyHopeful2018]

Anyone who is capable of graduating from college is capable of scoring 260+ on the boards. I know IMGs who went to podunk med school and didnt show up to a single day of class pulling 280s given enough time and reptition. The key is are you studying the right way to suit your learning style?

I suggest you take a 5 months dedicated:

1 months - watch Pathoma to get a basic conceptual understanding

2.5 months - do Uworld 2x and annotate into FA

2 weeks - review FA multiple times

1 months - do ALL the NBME, UWorld, Kaplan simulated exams.

With this method - I dont see how you cant score a 260+

 

[robbierob]

Hi guys, I'm from a low-tier Caribbean medical school and I need help to pass/score well on my steps. I recently took NBME 13. I got a <128. I need someone who can tutor me on a daily basis, to help me learn and retain FA. I also need them help me create a schedule. Other people looking at this thread...can you guys suggest what I can do to increase my score? Am I delusion to hope to get a 230-240? Thanks. P.S- a schedule that incorporates Pathoma and/or sketchy and/or kaplan books/videos and FA and qbank everyday. Also something that will help me recall everything i have learnt...like firecracker or anki or something.

Number 1... DON'T panic.
Number 2... >230 is very good, don't be down on yourself if you get lower than that (as you will have plenty of opportunities to offset that short-coming during your clinical rotations), but by all means... it's not impossible.

I don't know how much time you have, but if you can take 4-6 months off to prep, I feel that would be a wise decision in your case.

Resources you should use:

1) For overall topics you need UWorld and Goljan's Rapid Review Pathology. Limit yourself to these topics until you feel you have completely exhausted them.

2) Most exams have an abstract element of biochemistry. It's important to have an understanding of metabolism, inborn errors of metabolism, enzymes, agonists/antagonists, etc.; Do not try to read and remember, it's extremely inefficient and ineffective. Get the 'DOCTORS NOTES Medical Biochemistry poster,' and use that for all your biochem studying (it's laminated so you can add any notes you come across in UWorld/Goljan to it and have a nice visual picture of biochemistry in its entirety by the time you're ready for your exam).

*Note, the USMLE is a very, very fair exam. But, you will do bad if you simply try to remember answers. When you're studying, make sure you take the time to understand why something happens because questions are made to see if you can take information you've learned and apply it to a situation you've never seen. This was my problem with First Aid and why I stopped using it and why I would not recommend it to anybody... It is abstract memorization, which is NOT helpful.

** Note as well, I was very neurotic with my studies, I used all those above, plus pathoma, kaplan, several qbanks, several rapid review books, and pharmacology and pathology text books, and first aid. When I finished the exam, all I thought to myself was, "Wow, that was easier than I thought. I should have just used more UWorld/Goljan/DoctorsNotes." Because literally everything I was able to know and recall on the exam was from those resources.

 

[bananafish94]

Anyone who is capable of graduating from college is capable of scoring 260+ on the boards. I know IMGs who went to podunk med school and didnt show up to a single day of class pulling 280s given enough time and reptition. The key is are you studying the right way to suit your learning style?

I suggest you take a 5 months dedicated:

1 months - watch Pathoma to get a basic conceptual understanding

2.5 months - do Uworld 2x and annotate into FA

2 weeks - review FA multiple times

1 months - do ALL the NBME, UWorld, Kaplan simulated exams.

With this method - I dont see how you cant score a 260+

This is literally what everyone does and hardly anyone gets a 260+.

 

[NeurologyHopeful2018]

This is literally what everyone does and hardly anyone gets a 260+.

Very few AMG get 5 months of dedicated and not many people use the correct strategy.

There are USMLE classes in my native India that guarantees you a 250+ if you do everything according to plan. Thats why you have people who pulls 260/260/pass who dont even go to a proper med school.

 

[GoldenFish]

With this method - I dont see how you cant score a 260+

I disagree.

I think someone with this baseline should take some serious time and review core knowledge. Re-read BRS physiology, do sketchy (or whatever the kids do these days), Dr. Najeeb's lectures. Then move on to pathology w/ Golijan and pathoma, then finally tackle FA and UW while reviewing.

Also doesn't address other things like nerves, motivation, poor testing skills, lack of focus etc which could all be playing a role.

 

[Rekt]

Very few AMG get 5 months of dedicated and not many people use the correct strategy.

There are USMLE classes in my native India that guarantees you a 250+ if you do everything according to plan. Thats why you have people who pulls 260/260/pass who dont even go to a proper med school.

Also why it's expected from IMGs and FMGs. Try getting a 260 in 4 weeks. Your 250 means nothing when you have 6 months or years to study for it.

 

[caribdilemma]

Do you have a baseline or is this it? Statistically, ppl typically score fewer pts on 13 compared to others. Usually though it’s not taken as the baseline. Don’t get too discouraged yet, but know, you need to set up dedicated study time and do as many practice problems as possible. There’ll likely be some learning involved, which may extend dedicated study time. Have you scheduled the test yet, and if not, how far out are you?


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This is my baseline. Our school doesn’t let us schedule the exam unless we have passed a Proctered nbme with my school. So I haven’t scheduled it, my aim is to finish the exam within the end of this year.

 

[caribdilemma]

Very few AMG get 5 months of dedicated and not many people use the correct strategy.

There are USMLE classes in my native India that guarantees you a 250+ if you do everything according to plan. Thats why you have people who pulls 260/260/pass who dont even go to a proper med school.

@NeurologyHopeful2018 I am American Indian, what are these USMLE classes? What’s their plan? What part of India are they located in?

 

[caribdilemma]

1) when do you take the test?

2). Are you doing a qbank? What percentage of questions are you getting right?

My school won’t let me schedule the exam until i pass a proctered nbme, so I haven’t scheduled it.

I am not doing a q bank, at the moment.

 

[caribdilemma]

A score that low has nothing to do with "retaining First Aid", but a clear significant deficiency in core knowledge, likely due to the quality of your school. I don't really know how much time you have, but you'll need a lot. You need to use every learning resource you can from Kaplan videos to Boards and Beyond to Pathoma and Sketchy, etc.

What source do I start with and in what amount of time do I finish it? People say it takes 3 months to do Kaplan, do I just watch the videos and read/annotate the Kaplan notes? Do I do the Kaplan q bank as well?(it would take more than 3 months if I include the Qbank as well) Should I just not use FA during this time ?

 

[caribdilemma]

This is literally what everyone does and hardly anyone gets a 260+.

@bananafish94 what do u suggest then?

 

[caribdilemma]

Number 1... DON'T panic.
Number 2... >230 is very good, don't be down on yourself if you get lower than that (as you will have plenty of opportunities to offset that short-coming during your clinical rotations), but by all means... it's not impossible.

I don't know how much time you have, but if you can take 4-6 months off to prep, I feel that would be a wise decision in your case.

Resources you should use:

1) For overall topics you need UWorld and Goljan's Rapid Review Pathology. Limit yourself to these topics until you feel you have completely exhausted them.

2) Most exams have an abstract element of biochemistry. It's important to have an understanding of metabolism, inborn errors of metabolism, enzymes, agonists/antagonists, etc.; Do not try to read and remember, it's extremely inefficient and ineffective. Get the 'DOCTORS NOTES Medical Biochemistry poster,' and use that for all your biochem studying (it's laminated so you can add any notes you come across in UWorld/Goljan to it and have a nice visual picture of biochemistry in its entirety by the time you're ready for your exam).

*Note, the USMLE is a very, very fair exam. But, you will do bad if you simply try to remember answers. When you're studying, make sure you take the time to understand why something happens because questions are made to see if you can take information you've learned and apply it to a situation you've never seen. This was my problem with First Aid and why I stopped using it and why I would not recommend it to anybody... It is abstract memorization, which is NOT helpful.

** Note as well, I was very neurotic with my studies, I used all those above, plus pathoma, kaplan, several qbanks, several rapid review books, and pharmacology and pathology text books, and first aid. When I finished the exam, all I thought to myself was, "Wow, that was easier than I thought. I should have just used more UWorld/Goljan/DoctorsNotes." Because literally everything I was able to know and recall on the exam was from those resources.

Are u suggesting to start with uworld? My only issue is I don’t want to end up memorizing uworld answers...and take an nbme still be failing and have already exhausted a gold mine of a Qbank. I want to atleast be passing before i delve into uworld....but is this my mistake?

 

[robbierob]

Are u suggesting to start with uworld? My only issue is I don’t want to end up memorizing uworld answers...and take an nbme still be failing and have already exhausted a gold mine of a Qbank. I want to atleast be passing before i delve into uworld....but is this my mistake?

The 3 resources I suggested have an IMMENSE amount of material within them. I suggest you use them from the start as your only 3 resources. I would recommend you focus on one system in Goljan for a week and learn the section in depth and understanding (compare differences between closely related diseases and diseases with symptom overlap and know HOW you would diagnostically tell them apart... many USMLE questions will require you be able to do this on your own in order to have a chance at answering the question correctly). While you're going over it, add any notes on biochem (pharm/path/mech/diseases/etc.) into your DOCTORS NOTES poster. In week 2, pour through that organ system in UWorld and take the time to fill in any gaps or special notes from there into your notes from Goljan and into the poster. TRY to focus on the CONCEPTS within the explanations in UWorld.

After you've done 2-3 organ systems, take a NBME. Make note of any questions or uncertainties you may have from the NBME for the topics you just covered so that you can look into them periodically while you're covering your next 2-3 organ systems (so you can also brush up on things you've already covered).

REMEMBER, life will go on! Determination and will are EVERYTHING.

While I don't feel I got much benefit from the Qbanks, I would consider mixing them into your regimen your last weeks when you're reviewing your 3-4 most challenging subjects.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

Number 2... >230 is very good,

In what planet is 230 considered a very good score? That's like.. average

This is literally what everyone does and hardly anyone gets a 260+.

You got 5 months off for Step 1?

 

[bananafish94]

You got 5 months off for Step 1?

No, but at least at my school people start studying pretty much only for Step 1 in January or so and do school material on an as-needed basis until dedicated. I'm just saying it's a little disingenuous to suggest that studying for the test for five consecutive months is guaranteed to get a score that high when this is essentially the norm at this point.

 

[STEPinthenameoflove2018]

Honestly it’s too late for firecracker - it’s just such a massive resource. You need to ignore your nbme score until you get a full question bank under your belt.

You can do this don’t let the nbmes psyche you out.

How many days do you have until your exam?

If you just want to pass/ 220 you need to do uworld twice = 5000 Questions

You want 230 /240 add another Qbank so that’s 7500 questions

Now divide 7500 by how many days you have to study ... don’t forget to schedule in the days for nbme practice exams (honestly you only need 1 or 2 to make sure you’re passing they’re good at predicting but also underestimate check the threads)

Don’t forget to schedule your “day off”/“stuff happens”/“catch up day”

Depending on your schedule you should be looking at at least 2-3 blocks a day
So budget 3 hours to do the questions

Then 3-6 hours to review each of them depending on your baseline

So 9am -12pm = do 3 blocks
12-1 lunch (watch sketchy or something during lunch) or just take a break
1-4 review block 1
4-7 review block 2
7-10 review block 3

Take notes to stay engaged, get a pdf version of first aid for quick references, pull up sketchy in the background reference what you don’t know, reference medbullets.com > Wikipedia

You should be in good shape if you follow that structure.

Timed random questions always. Especially if you’re low on time.

If you have infinite time then try Usmle RX by section so you can use those questions to learn and then uworld timed random

Hope this helps. Stay encouraged!



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[Waterlover]

You should watch Boards and Beyond TWICE with annotating into First Aid before you do anything else.

 

[chromuffin]

I would suggest Boards and Beyond. It’s great with explanations. Your score suggests you’re lacking a lot of basic science knowledge. Spend the next 3-4 months watching Boards and Beyond if you have the time. As an IMG, step scores need to be high to match in the US. Use pathoma for path. But also consider a textbook.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Merged multiple threads and moved to step 1.