No one (except the NBME) actually knows how the scoring system works and it's not apparently its not as simple as "get X number of questions right and your score = Y". On the real exam of 322 questions, not all 322 questions are counted. Some are just experimental questions, and a few are sometimes discounted because the overwhelming majority of people were unable to get them correct (indicating a possible question presentation error).

To further complicate the situation, not every question is valued at the same amount. Some are worth more than others. So a basic direct diagnosis question may be worth 1pt while a more complex question that takes into account multiple sub-specialties may be worth 2 or 3 points.

Right now there are only a few "assumptions" out in the wind:
(1) You need to answer about 60%-65% of the questions correctly to pass. Once again, this is a very rough estimate considering the variable scoring for each questions.

(2) Over the many years this exam has gone on, people have gotten really high scores, but no one has been able to hit 300. In fact I dont think anyone has ever gotten a 290+ on the exam, so the theory is that 290 might be the highest score, but since we are human and we like nice big round numbers and to adjust for error, we can say that around 300 is the absolute maximum score one could get for answering every single question correctly. Once again this is all just theoretical.

I personally believe that after a certain point, it takes less right answers to increase your score. For instance, the majority of people will get most of the 1pt. questions correct. A decent amount will get the 2pt. questions right. But what distinguishes a 240 from a 250 or a 260, is how many of the more complex 3-4pt questions you can get right. The assumption is you're not gonna get to 240 by missing all the simple questions and answering all the difficult questions, so by the time you get the 240 range, you've probably knocked out most of the easier questions and are left with the hard ones. So each question you get correct 240+ will add a lot more to your score than at 180. That's just my theory.

It would be fun to see how many questions right the guy with the 250 got vs the guy with the 260 Its probably something like 3-4 question difference lol.

 

Thanks Seraphim MD. So u mean that if i can correct all simple ques than its possible to get 240 at least?

 

Thanks Seraphim MD.So u mean that if i can correct all simple ques than its possible to get 240 at least?

No, if you get all the simple questions right, u will probably just pass. You get the medium questions right and u will be at around 230ish i would suppose (since thats the average). So to get 240+ you would need to be able to do some of those complicated questions. Now this is all supposition, nothing i said is fact. Im just assuming that since the average is 220-230, then that score is attainable, and 240 would require some extra knowledge.

 

do you think that First aid,UW ques bank,kaplan is sufficient to achieve this score?i mean to get 240+

 

If you can master all 3 of those, you can definitely get 270+. Those sources are more than enough, but the question is how much can you retain and understand?

 

Thank you very much for all of your reply

 

Ok as some have said no one does knows the specifics, so dont take anyones word for fact. For example someone here just said that some points are worth more than others. This is a known myth as even on NBME's website they say that its not true. Now one thing ive heard (dont know for sure) is that each question is compared with how others answered it and can be thrown out all together so that its doesnt count for anyone regardless who got it right. But dont believe everything you hear and like I said no one question carries more points than others.

 

Oh thanks for clarifying about the variable scoring for different questions. I thought I read that somewhere but I guess I was mistaken, but yeah I also heard about certain questions being thrown out due to how the overall test takers answered it.

Anyways, everything is all hearsay, the only conclusive thing that anyone knows about the scoring system is that if you study harder you will get a higher score, so may as well work on the one variable we do know for sure will improve your score.