Significance of NBME score????

[radiologygirl]

So I have 3 1/2 weeks until my exam
just took the NBME today and got a 194 .....this is my first time doing this, did not use it for step one so I dont know how realiable the damn thing is

this has rattled me up just a tad coz I did better on my step 1 (235) and want to do a hell of a lot better on step 2

What should I be doing that can help me improve this score??

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[Shah_Patel_PT]

So I have 3 1/2 weeks until my exam
just took the NBME today and got a 194 .....this is my first time doing this, did not use it for step one so I dont know how realiable the damn thing is

this has rattled me up just a tad coz I did better on my step 1 (235) and want to do a hell of a lot better on step 2

What should I be doing that can help me improve this score??

I have heard that the step 2 NBMEs are less accurate than the step 1 NBMEs.

 

[sscooterguy]

NMBE is very variable. The exams were put together to give some kind of measurement, but in the disclaimer, it says don't use it to predict your score, although everyone does.

That said, you are taking them with plenty of time. For more info, and my personal study schedule, go to the NMBE vs USMLE score thread.

Here is how I did:
7 days before Step 2: NMBE 1: 222
5 days: NMBE 2: 220
3 days: NMBE 3: 247
Step 2: 241

In the mentioned thread however, you will see people reporting widely variable results with NMBE scores of 260 and USMLE scores of 220 and vice versa.

Before taking step 2, I thought 5-7% of the NBME questions were way too specific and difficult to be really indicative of Step 2. However, after taking the exam, I thought 5-7% super hard questions was about right. Don't blow off those super hard questions, that may really be the a taste of the difficulty you can see, so get used to them and don't get freaked out.

Good luck.
sscooterguy

 

[Medical123]

Some people swear that the NBME's are dead accurate. For me, I only did NBME 1 about a week before Step 2. I actually scored about 30 points above my predicted score.

However, I did spend that last week going over the topics that the NBME said that I was weaker in. They may have counted for the big jump in the score.

 

[cdj215]

I took one of the diagnostics (don't remember which) about 5 days before and scored a 243. Got my actual score today and got 250, so I'd say it was pretty accurate in my case. I'd rather have it predict low than high!

 

[Pinesinger]

I posted on the other thread as well...I got a 218 on the NBME 4 or 5 days before the test. My actual score was a 259, so it was way off for me, fortunately it underestimated instead of the other way around!

 

[poloace]

pine-
i bet you took that NBME 1 exam - it suggested i'd fail out of medical school and work the street corner (an unsightly sight). took NBME 3 and scored about 35 points better. hoping that on the real deal holyfield i score 30 points better than NBME 3 - that would be a 60 point turn around and maybe i'd make it into a world record book or something. good score, btw.

p

 

[Pinesinger]

pine-
i bet you took that NBME 1 exam - it suggested i'd fail out of medical school and work the street corner (an unsightly sight). took NBME 3 and scored about 35 points better. hoping that on the real deal holyfield i score 30 points better than NBME 3 - that would be a 60 point turn around and maybe i'd make it into a world record book or something. good score, btw.

p

Haha if by NBME 1 you mean the first test then yes, I did. It was helpful in telling me where my weak areas were (and there were more than a few) so I was really able to direct my studying in the last week. Regardless of how off the test score was, the subject breakdown was useful

 

[poloace]

great score. taking mine in a few days. arrgh...

 

[hellojed]

I only did the first two NBME tests. I got 187 on the 1st and 202 on the 2nd. Then 218 on the real thing. From what it sounds like here it tends to underestimates your score (if any correlation at all), or it might be because you end up studying the subjects it says you're weaker in. Either way, good luck on the exam!!!