How's your NBME progression coming? scores and trends

[FrancisvsGoljan]

So I was thinking it would be a great idea to track how NBMEs are going and what question bank people are using. It gives us a good way to figure out how we're doing individually. I know it's not based on just sdn and there are a ton of people. But it's better than nothing. Also how long you've been studying. I guess I'll start!

After 1 week of studying
USMLEWorld: used 15% and overall correct is 48%
NBME 1: 172.5

I know this is not great but hopefully a good starting point. I spent 2 days on biochem and one on behavioral science and the other times just doing questions. my overall goal is a 230. we'll see how it goes....

comment are highly appreciated. thanks! I'll keep this post updated. I hope others do too.

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[winkleweizen]

Depends on how many run-throughs of FA you've done. If you've only done 2, I'd say do a third within the last 5-6 days of studying; you'll have the nitty gritty details stuck into your brain for the test.

Ive done 3/ kind of 4 run throughs I think. Thanks!

 

[MossPoh]

That's a really disgusting image...made me lol tho

Haven't posted here before but took NBME 7 yesterday so have three data points now:

UWSA1 4 weeks ago: 240
UWSA2 2 weeks ago: 253
NBME7 yesterday: 247 (180/200; 610)


One more week to go! I think in the last week I'll be going over my UW wrong answers, maybe do NBME 11 because everyone has been saying how many repeats there are. In between just hit first aid hard.

I like to push things a little beyond the acceptable.

I love how SDN averages are always ridiculous...oh us neurotic types.

 

[Ludacris]

Got 233 on NBME 12 and 230 on UW Asst 1 last week.

I need to pull up respiratory... it's ALWAYS my lowest section. I think I'll read through Kaplan Respiratory Physio and watch the lectures one more time. What do you think?

Have 1 more week to go.

My plan is to go through FA 1 more time (with UW annotations) and do UW Asst #2 on Sunday and then review 1 block per day leading up to the test (on June 19th).

 

[winkleweizen]

Got 233 on NBME 12 and 230 on UW Asst 1 last week.

I need to pull up respiratory... it's ALWAYS my lowest section. I think I'll read through Kaplan Respiratory Physio and watch the lectures one more time. What do you think?

Have 1 more week to go.

My plan is to go through FA 1 more time (with UW annotations) and do UW Asst #2 on Sunday and then review 1 block per day leading up to the test (on June 19th).

By the looks of it if you could improve resp and immunology you could be sitting pretty. I feel like if you know first aid immuno pretty well you can do well on thatpart of the test (atleast I have been on the NBMEs..who knows abou tthe real test)

 

[panencephalitis]

CBSE (8 weeks out): 223
UWSA 1 (7 weeks out): 225
NBME 12 (6 weeks out): 235
NBME 11 (4 weeks out): 238

UW cumulative % with 70% complete (random, unused 46): 69%

Anyone else feel like they're getting dumber the longer this goes on? I take the exam on June 22nd and I'm not sure what to do to raise the score into the 240 range. I have constant ups and downs in UW. I'm planning on finishing UW in the next few days and then reading first aid (with UW annotations) for the second time (I find "reading" first aid very annoying). I have a problem with using too many resources and I'm trying to stop myself from reading bits of Goljan again (the last time I read it was in Feb). And I'm not sure if I should take NBME 7 before the exam?

 

[Premedico]

Yesterday I did UWSA #1. 82% correct and 260 (dang, my world would turn upside down if this happened for real)
NBME 11: 247
NBME 12: 247
Prometric 150: forgot my ID and couldn't take it.

(NBMEs were 2 weeks apart).

I'm 3 days out and I've been supposed to be reading FA but I've wasted 1.5 days getting no where (3.5 sections). Sort of disgusted with the book, I guess. Should I just focus on other things?

I have about 25 random pages in FA that I don't have a good grasp on. I could read these and just the pharm pages and micro. I could spend time on behavioral which I'm weak in. And I go over these 200 UWSA1 questions and some other Uworld questions. All this if I don't read FA. Sounds good? I'm just a lil afraid of regretting not reading FA one last time later on but like I said it's like when you eat too much of one thing and can't anymore. I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance about the plan.

 

[MossPoh]

I've been doing a lightning run through of first aid and make a note card for everything I struggle with or a stupid detail that won't stick. I sprinkle in missed and marked questions from uworld with that, or Kaplan on my phone when eating.

I'm mainly focusing on the areas I tested lowest in.

Then the day before I'm going to focus on getting through those cards to the best of my ability. If faster than expected, i will go through all the images in first aid and maybe renal and neuro stuff in rapid review. If I'm super-duper productive I will read through the power review in the back of my pharm recall and look through my goljan high yields to spark memory or maybe do a few biochem and stat questions to keep that fresh. Shut down early, work out, eat, get my crap together, watch a movie and get a good night's sleep.

At this point there is less learning going on than raising that floor by eliminating the stupid things you seem to forget. I view these last few days as a way to reduce risk of missing high percentage questions I SHOULD know.

 

[Day man]

Yesterday I did UWSA #1. 82% correct and 260 (dang, my world would turn upside down if this happened for real)
NBME 11: 247
NBME 12: 247
Prometric 150: forgot my ID and couldn't take it.

(NBMEs were 2 weeks apart).

I'm 3 days out and I've been supposed to be reading FA but I've wasted 1.5 days getting no where (3.5 sections). Sort of disgusted with the book, I guess. Should I just focus on other things?

I have about 25 random pages in FA that I don't have a good grasp on. I could read these and just the pharm pages and micro. I could spend time on behavioral which I'm weak in. And I go over these 200 UWSA1 questions and some other Uworld questions. All this if I don't read FA. Sounds good? I'm just a lil afraid of regretting not reading FA one last time later on but like I said it's like when you eat too much of one thing and can't anymore. I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance about the plan.

if it makes you feel any better, i'm 4 days out. during my last pass, i glanced at probably 45% of FA that I felt confident in just so i could spend more time with questions. FA is great, but i don't think everyone needs the 'read FAx9' methodology. sure, it might work, but i just think that there's easier ways of grasping material...questions being one of them. I think weaknesses + questions = gold (at least i hope so!).

 

[cliquesh]

Are the UW assessments completely bogus? I got a 226 on NBME6, 236 on NBME3, and a 258 UWA1 and 260 on UWA2. I did all of these exams in the last few days...

 

[ATrim7]

if it makes you feel any better, i'm 4 days out. during my last pass, i glanced at probably 45% of FA that I felt confident in just so i could spend more time with questions. FA is great, but i don't think everyone needs the 'read FAx9' methodology. sure, it might work, but i just think that there's easier ways of grasping material...questions being one of them. I think weaknesses + questions = gold (at least i hope so!).

Yea...I was letting the FA x 9 method guide me for the last several weeks and it helped raise my score significantly - but I am seeing diminishing returns at this point and I'm bored with it. So, I think I'm gonna flash card the Goljan RR Margin notes for 2 days and hit wrong and random UW hard (80% through a second pass). At least this will shake things up a bit. Then for my last 3-4 days I'll do a rapid read of FA and continue questions.

I've done NBME 6, 7, 11, 12 and UWSA 2. I think I'm going to do UWSA 1 on Wed (my exam is Saturday) just to get me focused and hopefully see an inflated score to pump up my confidence (UWSA 2 was a 256, 16 points higher than my highest NBME).

Good luck!

 

[Day man]

final practice test was today, chose to do UWSA 2 because: 1. already bought it 2. needed some fresh questions outside of kaplans sometimes awful selection 3. wanted answers to hopefully learn something. Not sure if it was right to do this over nbme 12, but whatever. at this point, UW plays to my strengths (there was zero obscure anatomy questions, ect.) and i thought it would be a confidence booster. 780/264 really surprised/happy. but really not as happy as i thought since i find it hard to believe i'd ever get that on the real deal seeing as how everyone says it grossly overestimates, and i really was an avg student. regardless...i just want to take this thing, i've certainly peaked and im now just trying to make sure it all stays in there. reviewing the exam + finishing marked Qs + reading my final notes for 2.5 more days, taking tuesday off, then it's go time. id love to fast forward to thursday, ugh.

 

[winkleweizen]

So im pissed. I was doing UWSA2 today and was 5 questions away when the test suspended. Apparently I hit a key too many times. I tried to relogin but it wouldnt let me. I emailed UWorld, but they havent gotten back to me. Anyone know what I should do? Thanks

 

[Day man]

So im pissed. I was doing UWSA2 today and was 5 questions away when the test suspended. Apparently I hit the "h" key too many times. I tried to relogin but it wouldnt let me. I emailed UWorld, but they havent gotten back to me. Anyone know what I should do? Thanks

call them. they're pretty helpful. they thought you were trying to copy/paste or whatever, and just explain you weren't and they'll hopefully help you out.

 

[winkleweizen]

call them. they're pretty helpful. they thought you were trying to copy/paste or whatever, and just explain you weren't and they'll hopefully help you out.

Wow they were fast..haha ok problem resolved. I was Just scared that they were gonna take 24 hours to resolve this like the website said. That would throw my week schedule way off haha.

 

[Stixman28]

how accurate is the pdf that links the % right on your NBME to your 3 digit NBME or 3 digit USLME score?

Im sure it varies by which NBME your taking but still, any thoughts?

 

[dizzfire]

NBMA offered by school 245 before really studying bout 6wks pre exam
Free 150 89% 4 weeks before exam
NBMA 6 221 3 weeks to go
NBMA 7 238 2 wks to go
NBMA 12 224 1.5 weeks to go
Uworld 100% complete with a score of 68%
NBME 11 245 4 days to go

OMG OMG OMG here goes nothing....four more days nbme 11 was a great confidence booster.....feel like i am finally peaked and ready for the exam.....think i timed by studies perfectly......well bring it on

 

[MossPoh]

UWSA 2 is odd. I thought my score was completely bogus, but then I took NBME 12 a week later and got around the same score. I strongly suspect that the people who do uworld questions (as opposed to Kaplan or something) a lot tend to score better because you just KNOW there is a trick. It isn't bad because they train you to look for it, but I'm starting to feel paranoid with questions.

Even the worst medical student could just light a test up if they happen to get the right questions. I just would not put money on it happening over the consistent person.

As far as NBME 6. The curve was brutal. I got a 245 on 7 and a 256 or whatever on 12, but 2 weeks before I had a 222 on NBME 6.

 

[Day man]

yea, unfortunately me thinks a 264 is a bit on the high side. but honestly, if people say 10-15 points...i would take that and be SO friggin happy. **** ill take 20 points and be on cloud 9. i will say uwsa2 also played to my strengths, not a ton of anatomy, lots of path/pathophys. if my exam is like that then i have a fighting chance. reviewing this is the worst part!

 

[winkleweizen]

yea, unfortunately me thinks a 264 is a bit on the high side. but honestly, if people say 10-15 points...i would take that and be SO friggin happy. **** ill take 20 points and be on cloud 9. i will say uwsa2 also played to my strengths, not a ton of anatomy, lots of path/pathophys. if my exam is like that then i have a fighting chance. reviewing this is the worst part!

I definitely dropped on UWS2 from 1 taken earlier...score was only a little bit higher then my NBMEs actually...so i hope i dont drop 15 and it was just a bad day on my part

 

[cliquesh]

UWSA 2 is odd. I thought my score was completely bogus, but then I took NBME 12 a week later and got around the same score. I strongly suspect that the people who do uworld questions (as opposed to Kaplan or something) a lot tend to score better because you just KNOW there is a trick. It isn't bad because they train you to look for it, but I'm starting to feel paranoid with questions.

Even the worst medical student could just light a test up if they happen to get the right questions. I just would not put money on it happening over the consistent person.

As far as NBME 6. The curve was brutal. I got a 245 on 7 and a 256 or whatever on 12, but 2 weeks before I had a 222 on NBME 6.

That's good to know about 6. That **** crushed my spirit.

Is golgin worth reading or should i just do more questions and review FA?

 

[castiron]

NBME 3: 187 Prestudying
NBME 5: 205 5 weeks till
NBME 11: 226 3 weeks till
NBME 12: 242 1.5 weeks till
UWSA1: 238 1.5 weeks till
NBME 6: 242 5 days till
Free 150: 91%=262 (haha) 5 days
NBME 7: 245 4 days till

June 14=???

Wish me luck!

 

[winkleweizen]

NBME 3: 187 Prestudying
NBME 5: 205 5 weeks till
NBME 11: 226 3 weeks till
NBME 12: 242 1.5 weeks till
UWSA1: 238 1.5 weeks till
NBME 6: 242 5 days till
Free 150: 91%=262 (haha) 5 days
NBME 7: 245 4 days till

June 14=???

Wish me luck!

Hey how many correct did you get on NBME 6? I took it off line

 

[castiron]

88-89%. can't remember exactly.

 

[PlAnEjaNe]

NBME 3: 187 Prestudying
NBME 5: 205 5 weeks till
NBME 11: 226 3 weeks till
NBME 12: 242 1.5 weeks till
UWSA1: 238 1.5 weeks till
NBME 6: 242 5 days till
Free 150: 91%=262 (haha) 5 days
NBME 7: 245 4 days till

June 14=???

Wish me luck!

what did you do b/w 11 and 12 to make your score jump up so high?

 

[Ludacris]

By the looks of it if you could improve resp and immunology you could be sitting pretty. I feel like if you know first aid immuno pretty well you can do well on thatpart of the test (atleast I have been on the NBMEs..who knows abou tthe real test)

Thanks man. I hope I can improve these two... I just don't know what to do. I'm thinking about reading the Immuno and Resp chapters in RR Path.

 

[icaruswalks]

Thanks man. I hope I can improve these two... I just don't know what to do. I'm thinking about reading the Immuno and Resp chapters in RR Path.

I think with respiratory there's a lot of physio involved too, if you have BRS Physio lying around you can take a look at the respiratory section. Goljan's section is money too.

1 week til my exam. I'm starting to feel really. burnt. out. Feel like I'm running on empty right now

 

[SlickNickMD]

Last week:
NBME 11: 590/242 (first NBME ever...not bad)

Today:
Free 150-Predicted 260....not going to fall for that false sense of security
NBME 1-252 (90.7% correct)

89 percent in world (second run), 73% (first run)


Still have NBME 2-6, 12 and one of the uworld assessment exams to go. I'm so tired

Probably do 2, and the uworld whenever i get up tomorrow.

 

[MossPoh]

That's good to know about 6. That **** crushed my spirit.

Is golgin worth reading or should i just do more questions and review FA?

If you've NEVER read Goljan before or did very little with it, then I honestly can't recommend it. It is just too time consuming. If you are very familiar with it and have plenty of time, then it is a fantastic resource. I started with consistently using it but slowly realized that it just took ungodly amounts of time for me to get through with any real benefit. I still flip to it for reference once in a while.

 

[winkleweizen]

Finished UW today with an average of 70% with my last 15 blocks or so averaging 77.

Nbme7 5 weeks out-220
UW1-3.5weeks-254
Nbme12-2.5 weeks-240
DIT predictive1.5 weeks-246
Nbme11-1.5 weeks-242
UW2-1 week -248 (while I would be happy with a 248 on the real deal this freaked me out since everyone on here was scoring so much better then me and since it dropped from my first UW a month ago) so I decided to do another test ha.
Nbme6-offline- Missed 21 so I think its roughly 242-245? Im happy with this since ppl said its a rough curve.


Got 6 days to go...h

 

[spidgett]

6 days to go! Took my last assessment this morning, now its just FA+UW until Thursday, taking Friday off, then D-day on Saturday. I would be ecstatic with a 240. Here's the progression:

UW: 65% total (I used about 40% of it during the semester when I was still learning stuff); my average for dedicated study time has been 70%
NBME 12 (pre-dedicated study, 5 weeks out): 210
NBME 7 (3 weeks out): 228
UWSA 1 (2 weeks out): 248
NBME 11 (8 days out): 238
UWSA 2 (6 days out) 253

Not really sure how much stock I want to put into the UWSA's. Burnout is starting to set in, just hope I can stay focused until Thursday.

Good luck to everyone!

 

[ATrim7]

6 days to go! Took my last assessment this morning, now its just FA+UW until Thursday, taking Friday off, then D-day on Saturday. I would be ecstatic with a 240. Here's the progression:


Not really sure how much stock I want to put into the UWSA's. Burnout is starting to set in, just hope I can stay focused until Thursday.

Good luck to everyone!

This is exactly how I feel and exactly what I plan to do Can't wait till next Saturday night!

 

[ArcGurren]

6 days to go! Took my last assessment this morning, now its just FA+UW until Thursday, taking Friday off, then D-day on Saturday. I would be ecstatic with a 240. Here's the progression:

UW: 65% total (I used about 40% of it during the semester when I was still learning stuff); my average for dedicated study time has been 70%
NBME 12 (pre-dedicated study, 5 weeks out): 210
NBME 7 (3 weeks out): 228
UWSA 1 (2 weeks out): 248
NBME 11 (8 days out): 238
UWSA 2 (6 days out) 253

Not really sure how much stock I want to put into the UWSA's. Burnout is starting to set in, just hope I can stay focused until Thursday.

Good luck to everyone!

UWSAs definitely overestimate a bit but don't let that deter you or slow you down. You're on the right track. Best of luck!

 

[Bifteck]

Exam in less than 2 weeks. Just thought I'd post so that I can post my experience afterwards with some context... Progress so far

NBME 7 - 184 (no studying)
NBME 12 - 228 (2 weeks)
UWSA 1 - 252 (4 weeks)
UWSA 2 - 262 (6 weeks)
NBME 11 - 264 (7 weeks; 10 questions wrong... rough curve)

Just gotta finish up one section then reviewing FA + UWorld. End is near.

 

[Vulcan]

Finished UW today with an average of 70% with my last 15 blocks or so averaging 77.

Nbme7 5 weeks out-220
UW1-3.5weeks-254
Nbme12-2.5 weeks-240
DIT predictive1.5 weeks-246
Nbme11-1.5 weeks-242
UW2-1 week -248 (while I would be happy with a 248 on the real deal this freaked me out since everyone on here was scoring so much better then me and since it dropped from my first UW a month ago) so I decided to do another test ha.
Nbme6-offline- Missed 21 so I think its roughly 242-245? Im happy with this since ppl said its a rough curve.


Got 6 days to go...h

You're set

 

[Vulcan]

My progress so far:

Kaplan Qbank (During MS2): 100% complete, 63% correct
UW: 89% complete, 69% correct
NBME 12 (2 wks out): 540/231
NBME 11 (1.5 wks out): 610/247
UWSA 1 (9 days out): 670/252

Very happy so far...hope they're accurate!

Planning to do UWSA 2, NBME 7, free 150 at the test center, and a final run through FA this week.

 

[ibnnafis]

Ok, so I got too excited about my progression on the NBME/UW forms and pushed my test date up by 5 days! Am I making a mistake? Below is my progression:

Uworld Qbank complete/71%
NBME 11 (4.5 weeks out) 233
NBME 6 (3.5 weeks out) 235
NBME 7 (2.5 weeks out) 252
UW1 (2 weeks out) 261
UW2 (1 week out) 264
Free 150 (3 days out) 89%/257

Am I being irrational?! Neurotic? Whatever?!! Still have NBME 12 and debating whether to do it or not. The real deal is this Wednesday (6/15).

 

[Guillemot]

Sometimes I feel like I dont know anything even though my USMLE world % is decent and I had a CBSE score that scaled to a score above the national average USMLE score.

Its just such a ridiculous amount of material to know.

Supportive comments/advice welcome.

 

[Premedico]

How does one download the Free 150 at home? It's confusing. The FRED program got downloaded on my computer but I don't know what to do after that

 

[winkleweizen]

Ok, so I got too excited about my progression on the NBME/UW forms and pushed my test date up by 5 days! Am I making a mistake? Below is my progression:

Uworld Qbank complete/71%
NBME 11 (4.5 weeks out) 233
NBME 6 (3.5 weeks out) 235
NBME 7 (2.5 weeks out) 252
UW1 (2 weeks out) 261
UW2 (1 week out) 264
Free 150 (3 days out) 89%/257

Am I being irrational?! Neurotic? Whatever?!! Still have NBME 12 and debating whether to do it or not. The real deal is this Wednesday (6/15).

N of 6 says you are ready

 

[Decicco]

Prestudying: NBME5 214
10d in, 26d out: NBME6 226
22d in, 14d out: NBME11 245
30d in, 6d out: NBME12 242

Hoping for dat 240! (or thereabouts)

 

[iA-MD2013]

...

 

[sylvanthus]

I can see how thatd be frustrating. What do your graphs look like for your weaknesses? Are they consistently the same subject or do you jump around?

I am all over the freakin' place apparently. Just took one today and think I am finally starting to see some results. Hard to say though, if it could be a fluke and I just got lucky.

nbme 1 - 218
nbme 3 - 205 (WTF?!?!)
nbme 6 - 228
nbme 7 - 247

15 days to go!

 

[icaruswalks]

My progress so far:

Kaplan Qbank (During MS2): 100% complete, 63% correct
UW: 89% complete, 69% correct
NBME 12 (2 wks out): 540/231
NBME 11 (1.5 wks out): 610/247
UWSA 1 (9 days out): 670/252

Very happy so far...hope they're accurate!

Planning to do UWSA 2, NBME 7, free 150 at the test center, and a final run through FA this week.

Wow your scores on NBME 12, 11 and UWSA are almost exaclty the same! I was worried about the discrepancy between NBME12 and the others... it seemed like the curve for that was ridiculous

 

[MossPoh]

Wow your scores on NBME 12, 11 and UWSA are almost exaclty the same! I was worried about the discrepancy between NBME12 and the others... it seemed like the curve for that was ridiculous

I had the same concerns as you but my NBME 12 and UWSA 2 scores were within the same range. The NBME one was like 2 points lower than my UWSA or whatever. (I didn't take 11) The curve is pretty brutal, but when you are above 240, that is the name of the game anyway. If I got a couple more questions right (that I should have gotten right) then I would have been in another stratosphere but if I made a couple of stupid mistakes, I would've dropped dramatically as well.

 

[ibnnafis]

N of 6 says you are ready

I'm sorry....you mean NBME 6 says I'm ready? I don't like my NBME 6 score...The studying must have made my brain more sluggish.

 

[dude1344]

I'm sorry....you mean NBME 6 says I'm ready? I don't like my NBME 6 score...The studying must have made my brain more sluggish.

n=6. 6 samples.

 

[ibnnafis]

n=6. 6 samples.

LOL!!!! Must not be the studying, N of 1 says that

Thx for the clarification

 

[lackli]

hey guys, rando question I'm going to throw out there...

Was curious to see if anyone had done any looking at the prevalence of answer choices to see if one more common than the others.

Just wondering because one of my profs say to use the "C-reflex" and just put down C if you have completely no idea.

I feel like it's human nature to make A and D the right answer less often (at least when I'm writing practice questions); or do the test makers randomize appropriately?

 

[RapplixGmed]

hey guys, rando question I'm going to throw out there...

Was curious to see if anyone had done any looking at the prevalence of answer choices to see if one more common than the others.

Just wondering because one of my profs say to use the "C-reflex" and just put down C if you have completely no idea.

I feel like it's human nature to make A and D the right answer less often (at least when I'm writing practice questions); or do the test makers randomize appropriately?

Lol I have the raw data and could have done the analysis if I cared but don't care anymore since I'm done with the exam. I have an extremely strong hunch though that they do randomize it properly because if they're not competent enough to do that, they shouldn't be giving these exams.

 

[NoGutsNoGlory]

I hope this is not an artifact -

NMBE 5: 196 before starting
NBME 6: 198 3wks (very depressed about this)
UWSA 1: 226 (after DIT - 2.5 wks after NBME 6)

For this past run-through: i did not do any questions at all.

Is the UWSA an over-predictor if I did 0 questions during DIT? and I have 2 weeks left - want a 240+, is that achievable?