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NBME improvement ...exam in 5 weeks

3K views 8 replies 3 participants last post by  Kaizen 
#1 ·
Hello guys ..I have completed kaplan twic,did kaplan q book ,Usmlerx (cumulative score 70%)subscripion for one month,and Usmle world offline once, FA once .Currently annotating FA with uworld online...did 30% n got 71% with 80th percentile.I did nbme 15 on dec 25th n got only 196.
I was really put down by low scores...stil worked for one month more and gave on jan 24th on got 205....read FA again n did uwolrd 2 blocks per day....n on feb 11th gave nbme 12...got 209.
my exam is in march end...I want to score atleast 240+ on nbmes before giving the final exam...can someone plz tell me...how to improve that much....i dont see point in postponding.....but my progress on nbme is of snail speed...kindly give some suggestions as to wat i can do in remaing 5 weeks I have..
 
#2 ·
Hello!

You seems to have studies quite hard. There is a mismatch in your current nbme scores and your expectations. Please don't go in the exam if you don't get your nbme scores near your desired range if scores are #1 priority for you. I feel there is always scope for improvement but sometimes we don't see what's going wrong.

First I would suggest you to introspect and do a massive analysis for a day or two what exactly is going wrong. Try to recall the questions you tend to get wrong and think for each instance: is it your knowledge, understanding of key concepts which you need to apply, memorization, test taking skills or some specific areas that you are weak in. Be focused and work on those.

If you want to go in for the exam in 5 weeks, open your FA and make a list of topics that you find hard and usually get your questions wrong. See them not as a burden but as the opportunity to move your nbme scores towards 240. Do your best to understand and memorize them while doing a lot of related Qs.

For a bit long term plan, you need to find your weaknesses and do EVERYTHING you can (try videos, wiki references, university websites, YouTube, Google images, online study partners, fb groups) to be a master of core concepts of high yield topics. Passively doing questions or plain reading from FA won't help much. I guarantee you that if you go after the topics in so much depth of understanding and integration that you feel like you can craft your own questions for the exam, you will kill the exam! This exam is a test of basic understanding of concepts with crystal clarity and interconnectedness, some memorization, test taking skills and endurance. You need to know your weakness and hit it hard. GL!
 
#3 ·
Thank you plueral :) its very constructive approach as you put it....and the amount of time u put in for it.
I am planning for going through Uworld asap with Fa n kaplan for some topics.
I feel lacking in anatomy and genetics...i read kaplan for it.. Isnt it enough?
Also whichever area nbme points lower on scale...i work towards it...n it reaches the other side of curve but the ones I did well last time....shift to lower side....a little change wud b acceptable... But it is too much.
As far my self analysis I feel rather den doing usmlerx I shud have repeated uworld...it rather wasted my time...almost all questions are memorization based.
Secondly, I did not annotate during first uworld offline.. (I did in separate notebook...)
I feel overworked but dont see the reason of so low scores...
 
#5 ·
I'm glad you found it helpful.

I think uworld round will help you improve since having all HY stuff at one place in FA makes it easier during revision. Make sure to understand what concept every Q is trying to teach you.

Kaplan is enough for genetics. For anatomy which has been heavy in the exam lately, it would be a great idea to do as many new questions. Questions come literally from anywhere in anatomy but things in FA are still HY. If you can, do all the questions given in BRS anatomy, at least from pelvis and perineum. Same goes for genetics: do tons of questions for any of your weaknesses. Identify what you were lacking for every Q u do and note that and may be back reference to Kaplan or Internet if required.

The deal with nbme assessment is that, its score prediction is good. I never used the subject wise analysis as I found that too vague. If I got a star in micro or biochem, I still used to have hidden weaknesses not tested on nbme and vice versa. Make your own extensive list of weak topics and not subjects and do them over and over again. This helped me a lot use my time well.
 
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