Comments on: NBME Self-Assessment Tests and USMLE Review – Part II

By: askdoc

askdoc — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:50:46 +0000

hi 7days,

I’ve always said that the exam is tough and the questions are very detailed. It’s just really hard to convince people of that fact since it seems most forums are recommending that reading FA a few times is the key to scoring a 99. Anyway, a little stress is always good as it keeps you alert. Too much stress however, is bad. In my case I stopped studying 3 days before the actual exam. Watched movies, comedies mostly. Took a warm bath the night before. Made sure no caffeine for breakfast, just a light snack with high sugar content. Took beta-blockers. In the end, you need to have the attitude that you’ve done all you could already by the time you sit for the exam and worrying about it will not raise your scores but may even lower it. If you want to know more about what you need to do for the exam. Read my post on What to do on the Day of the USMLE Exam

Askdoc

By: 7days

7days — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 01:30:24 +0000

7 days until my exam… its really hard to shake the stress at this point… i scored uworld 65% 1st time around 78% second time around… i took u world self assessment 1 4 weeks ago and scored 212.. I took my second assessment (form 2) today and scored 244(79%,79%,62%,74%… i am happy to have good up but i am really worried about my inconsistency… in the third block… NBME 6 240
kaplan qbank 1st time around 69%(beforeuworldq’s)
A friend of mine who took it in june scored 200(didnt freak out, understood q’s and was baffeled by difficulty)… and he had relatively230-250) hi scores in his assessments…
205 is really close to failing now that passing is 188..
I also took the cbt 2011 practice test off of the usmle official website and scored 80%(80 80 79 81)… i thought that this test was really difficult and was really impressed by the detail of the questions… im curious as to the how this test correlates with step 1…

any thoughts as to how manage my stress???

By: askdoc

askdoc — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 05:14:44 +0000

Hi R.E.,

I’m sorry to tell you this, but those scores are not too good. You still have a chance of failing this exam. even if you pass it will be really low. $ days is not enough to raise your score.

Askdoc

By: askdoc

askdoc — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 21:22:38 +0000

Hi Happybutconfused,

I can understand why you are happy and why you are confused. Anyway, there is very little difference between 98 and 99 actually, but psychologically it has an impact on how people see you. and this can make a difference during interviews when sometimes competition for positions are so competitive every small edge counts. Anyway, the reason for a 2-digit and 3-digit score has to do with how USMLE evolved. In relatively ancient times (the 80′s) there were 2 exams. NBME for AMG and FMGEMS for IMG. NBME was reported using a 3-digit score while FMGEMS was reported as a 2-digit score. When the examination was consolidated into the USMLE sometime in the early ’90′s both scores were reported so as to make the scores comparable to earlier groups. Hope that clears things up.

askdoc

By: R.E

R.E — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:39:27 +0000

Hi,
I dont know if it is wise to go ahead, took NBME 4,6, UW SA 1, 7,5 and had 201,19819,209,207. my goal is 240. I need advice.

By: Happybutconfused

Happybutconfused — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:22:47 +0000

Hi,

This forum has been really helpful. I just want to know more information about scoring. Especially the 2 digit score. I just received my score and got a 98 I was very happy but really confused as to what it meant. Specifically what is the difference between 99 and 98 in terms of residency specialty options? I know if you want to do something extremely competitive 99 is the only way, but what is a 98 good for?Also there seems to be a range of 3 digit/2digit scores. Does the 2 digit reflect difficulty of the exam if one person scores in the 20s and another in the 30s but gets the same 2 digit score? Thanks for the help!

By: askdoc

askdoc — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 01:04:38 +0000

Hi chanduortho,
First, the offline or actually pirated version is not very reliable. Please read my post NBME Self-Assessment Tests and USMLE Review – an Update. First, because the answer key may or may not be correct. Second, different forms have different equivalent scores as they are correlated and curved. So raw scores are not very meaningful without the correlation and curve.

However, 91% is high. based on available curves it would be mid to high 90′s depending on the form you are using. But again, the reliability of the answer keys are crucial.

Askdoc

By: chanduortho

chanduortho — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:07:43 +0000

Hi,
I am an orthopaedic surgeon preparing for USMLE to get into fellowship.
I did NBME form 1 to 6 offline and got around 91%+?3%(doubts).
Am i ready for exam?
I am planning to take exam by end of may2010.
thankyou

By: askdoc

askdoc — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 19:55:53 +0000

Hi JJ,

Actually it isn’t. Remember that the maximum deviation from the mean is 4SD or Standard Deviation. The SD for the NBME as far as I know is about 10, so 4 SD is 40 so a drop of 20 is possible. But if you notice, the mode of the scores is in the 240 range. having 1 outlier is not significant.

Askdoc

By: JJ

JJ — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 19:04:28 +0000

Well AskDoc, I took them about a week a part and since my last post I took a few more.. NBME 5 I got a 244 and USMLE world number 2, i got a 247. However I just took NBME 6 and got a 223.. I dont understand what the heck is going on. I had an avg of 67% on USMLE world Q bank.. I know there variations but a drop in 20 pts from one week to the next is ridiculous..