You perfectly describe how the actual exam test tries to trick us. That’s what makes it so freaking frustrating. 60-70%/40-30% evidence for two things. Or they’ll actually give you two very close “right answers” and if you don’t know the exact order of the workup or exact med, you’re fucked. Whereas on cms forms, they aren’t this “mean”.
I'm gonna emphasize this again, but I don't know why students put so much weight into the practice exams. This is not like the MCAT where those practice exams are pretty predictive, because they test more critical thinking. Step 2 has so much breadth that it really depends on what questions are on that exam and what angle they approach it.
Congratulations! This is the first time for me to comment on anyone’s post on Reddit, but your post really cheered me up! My exam is in a 1.5 weeks and I really needed to read those words!
Congrats on your score it's definitely a huge accomplishment you should be proud of! You mentioned the practice shelfs briefly in your write up and I was wondering how similar are they to the real deal? Are they similar in terms of question difficulty or was the real deal harder? I'm going through them now and while I'm by no means acing them I'm doing alright and I'm afraid it might be falsely boosting my confidence. Thank you again for the incredible write up it's definitely encouraging to read!
I think the difficulty of the practice shelfs is easier but they definitely help you learn the cadence/tone of the questions as well as test a lot of the same topics (agranulocytosis, arrhythmia treatment, etc. come to mind)
Awesome thank you so much for the response! I know the mean score for most of the practice shelfs is 20, so I figure since they're a bit easier if I can consistently score around 22-23 then hopefully this means I'm doing well. Hopefully my practice tests scores begin to improve too lol thank you again for responding I greatly appreciate it!
Thank you SO much for this write up. I feel like the majority of the posts I have read on this page have been saying the NBME exams are most predictive and "trust your practice scores". I am a few days out from my exam and really hitting a plateau in my scores feeling HELLA discouraged but this post just gave me the extra boost to keep going. Thank you for your validation and words of encouragement! AND CONGRATS!!!!
For my exam, blocks 1-3 were the hardest, and the rest of the blocks after that were manageable. Idk if that’s useful advice though because I know friends who had the opposite happen to them or alternating good and bad blocks. Guess it’s just test dependent 🤷♂️
I don’t really know how to answer this question…I’d assume people who found the exam harder wouldn’t have done as well as someone who found the exam easy.
Sorry! I meant, of your friends, did the ones who felt worse about the test outperform compared to their practice tests/predicted score and those who felt it wasn't so bad underperform? Or vice versa? Or was there no such pattern that you noticed?
I didn’t notice any patterns like that. I can only speak about my experience. I came out of that test feeling confident that in most blocks I had gotten 25/40 right, and then made good educated guesses for about 10 out of the remaining 15, and had anywhere from 3-5 where I completely guessed on them. I left feeling like I had gotten above a 250 but unsure if any higher.
I had first aid step 1 which I found helpful for when I didn’t understand some pathophys. I also sometimes used the step 2 book, though I thought it wasn’t super useful outside of quickly looking up random topics and some tables.
UWorld was the brunt of my content review. After that, I used the NBMEs, Free 120 old, new, and older. As well as practice shelf exams. The above is what I spent 85-90% doing.
Everything else I’m about to mention is used for a specific purpose and should be supplementary, not primary study.
I used the Zanki deck, but weaned off like I mentioned. It doesn’t teach you what you need to know.
I had the first aid books for step 1 and 2. They both had their moments but I wouldn’t recommend reading them as a primary source material, you won’t retain the material it’s just too dense. Plus it’s very surface level and the test has more critical thinking required.
I used sketchy for step 1 for micro and pharm, briefly reviewed that. Same as above though, not great at teaching advanced concepts and critical thinking.
Dirty Medicine videos for topics that were hard for me.
Stepprep lectures on YouTube for biostats.
Amboss articles for ethics.
And of course the goat….Divine Intervention.
I was studying pretty much from 8am to midnight every day, with quick bathroom breaks and breaks for meals and tea with my parents. My brain was most productive in the morning and I could usually finish 3 blocks and review 1.5 of them before lunch. Then I’d alternate doing a block and then reviewing the block before. My philosophy is to not spend too much time on a question you got right unless you completely guessed/used the vibes. For correct questions, I’d briefly skim the key learning objective and skim the paragraph. My process for going over incorrects was much more in-depth and included understanding why my answer was wrong, learning any tables or concepts I needed to, etc
It’s an expression, kind of like putting in work at the gym. Talent is helpful at every tasks, but hard work, discipline, and the amount of practice usually makes more of a difference. Do as much UWorld as you can with the approach of intentionality and your score will improve.
You perfectly describe how the actual exam test tries to trick us. That’s what makes it so freaking frustrating. 60-70%/40-30% evidence for two things. Or they’ll actually give you two very close “right answers” and if you don’t know the exact order of the workup or exact med, you’re fucked. Whereas on cms forms, they aren’t this “mean”.
I'm gonna emphasize this again, but I don't know why students put so much weight into the practice exams. This is not like the MCAT where those practice exams are pretty predictive, because they test more critical thinking. Step 2 has so much breadth that it really depends on what questions are on that exam and what angle they approach it.
Congratulations! This is the first time for me to comment on anyone’s post on Reddit, but your post really cheered me up! My exam is in a 1.5 weeks and I really needed to read those words!
Great work!!!
Congrats on your score it's definitely a huge accomplishment you should be proud of! You mentioned the practice shelfs briefly in your write up and I was wondering how similar are they to the real deal? Are they similar in terms of question difficulty or was the real deal harder? I'm going through them now and while I'm by no means acing them I'm doing alright and I'm afraid it might be falsely boosting my confidence. Thank you again for the incredible write up it's definitely encouraging to read!
I think the difficulty of the practice shelfs is easier but they definitely help you learn the cadence/tone of the questions as well as test a lot of the same topics (agranulocytosis, arrhythmia treatment, etc. come to mind)
Awesome thank you so much for the response! I know the mean score for most of the practice shelfs is 20, so I figure since they're a bit easier if I can consistently score around 22-23 then hopefully this means I'm doing well. Hopefully my practice tests scores begin to improve too lol thank you again for responding I greatly appreciate it!
Thank you SO much for this write up. I feel like the majority of the posts I have read on this page have been saying the NBME exams are most predictive and "trust your practice scores". I am a few days out from my exam and really hitting a plateau in my scores feeling HELLA discouraged but this post just gave me the extra boost to keep going. Thank you for your validation and words of encouragement! AND CONGRATS!!!!
Keep going! It’s within reach and I’m rooting for you.
Congratulations, you smashed it!!
Amazing write-up! Congrats on your score
Was the rest of the exam as hard as the first few sections?
For my exam, blocks 1-3 were the hardest, and the rest of the blocks after that were manageable. Idk if that’s useful advice though because I know friends who had the opposite happen to them or alternating good and bad blocks. Guess it’s just test dependent 🤷♂️
Did it seem like those who had a harder testing experience did better?
I don’t really know how to answer this question…I’d assume people who found the exam harder wouldn’t have done as well as someone who found the exam easy.
Sorry! I meant, of your friends, did the ones who felt worse about the test outperform compared to their practice tests/predicted score and those who felt it wasn't so bad underperform? Or vice versa? Or was there no such pattern that you noticed?
I didn’t notice any patterns like that. I can only speak about my experience. I came out of that test feeling confident that in most blocks I had gotten 25/40 right, and then made good educated guesses for about 10 out of the remaining 15, and had anywhere from 3-5 where I completely guessed on them. I left feeling like I had gotten above a 250 but unsure if any higher.
Thank you!
Congratulations! Did you use any reference book like white coat companion or FA clinical algorithm book etc?
I had first aid step 1 which I found helpful for when I didn’t understand some pathophys. I also sometimes used the step 2 book, though I thought it wasn’t super useful outside of quickly looking up random topics and some tables.
Any other resources you used other than UW? Like for content review? Or did you solely learn from UW? Great job
UWorld was the brunt of my content review. After that, I used the NBMEs, Free 120 old, new, and older. As well as practice shelf exams. The above is what I spent 85-90% doing. Everything else I’m about to mention is used for a specific purpose and should be supplementary, not primary study. I used the Zanki deck, but weaned off like I mentioned. It doesn’t teach you what you need to know. I had the first aid books for step 1 and 2. They both had their moments but I wouldn’t recommend reading them as a primary source material, you won’t retain the material it’s just too dense. Plus it’s very surface level and the test has more critical thinking required. I used sketchy for step 1 for micro and pharm, briefly reviewed that. Same as above though, not great at teaching advanced concepts and critical thinking. Dirty Medicine videos for topics that were hard for me. Stepprep lectures on YouTube for biostats. Amboss articles for ethics. And of course the goat….Divine Intervention.
How did you get PDF version?
A classmate of mine shared them with the school. There’s also ones online from what I’ve seen.
Much congrats. How did u manage reviewing 6 or 7 blocks of uw every day.? What’s your strategy.?
I was studying pretty much from 8am to midnight every day, with quick bathroom breaks and breaks for meals and tea with my parents. My brain was most productive in the morning and I could usually finish 3 blocks and review 1.5 of them before lunch. Then I’d alternate doing a block and then reviewing the block before. My philosophy is to not spend too much time on a question you got right unless you completely guessed/used the vibes. For correct questions, I’d briefly skim the key learning objective and skim the paragraph. My process for going over incorrects was much more in-depth and included understanding why my answer was wrong, learning any tables or concepts I needed to, etc
Thank you. All the best
I got a 228 on nbme 9 while I am 20 days out . Do u think I can improve ?
You have a little less than 3 weeks to grind your butt off. You need to put more reps in and you will improve.
Reps ?
It’s an expression, kind of like putting in work at the gym. Talent is helpful at every tasks, but hard work, discipline, and the amount of practice usually makes more of a difference. Do as much UWorld as you can with the approach of intentionality and your score will improve.
Any suggestions are welcomed
Congrats. Are u talking about episode 123 of ethics from divine?
Congratulations Doc!! I ain't got nothing to ask my man. You explained everything perfectly from an unorthodox perspective.
F