Failed step 1 once, how to tell if i'm ready

[kaur]

I took step 1 in December 2011 and failed with a 186 and have been going over goljan and first aid since then. these are my recent nbme scores:

Nbme 6: 198
Nbme 12: 207
Nbme 13: 212
Nbme 7: 214

Uworld average this time: 69%

How do I know if I'm ready to sit for the exam now? I have my date scheduled for June 7th will I be ok if I take it around then? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

[aj23]

u did not do uw before?????


Bro u are ready once u cross 212 in NBME then u are ready!

[Hope2Pass]

Originally Posted by kaur

Nbme 7: 214
Uworld average this time: 69%

How do I know if I'm ready to sit for the exam now?

You just answered your own question before asking it !

[Dr.NickRiviera]

you're at a 214 level
if thats a good score to you, then you're ready
if you're aiming for 250+ then you're not ready lol
all depends what you're aiming for

whats your prep like these last 2 weeks?
my exams june 6th, one day before yours.

[kaur]

thank you all for the reply! I did do uworld the first time just not with that high of a percentage.


DrNick- these next two weeks i'm just trying to go through as much of first aid as I can and focus on pharm and things that are easy to forget. I'm done with questions and nbmes now so just focusing on the content in first aid. What is your prep like?

[Dr.NickRiviera]

Originally Posted by kaur

thank you all for the reply! I did do uworld the first time just not with that high of a percentage.


DrNick- these next two weeks i'm just trying to go through as much of first aid as I can and focus on pharm and things that are easy to forget. I'm done with questions and nbmes now so just focusing on the content in first aid. What is your prep like?

im finishing up my 2nd pass of DIT, then take my last nbme, form 7. then i will have 6 days until the exam. in those 6 days i guess i will revise FA but i suck at reading FA on my own, so i dont know how i will approach that. maybe i should get a study partner for those days. i dont know.
basically my last week is just keeping my brain warm. whatever i score on nbme 7 is what ill be trying to get on the step, so i just want to keep forgettables in my mind that last week.

[kaur]

sounds like a great plan! good luck on exam day!!

[Dr.NickRiviera]

Originally Posted by kaur

sounds like a great plan! good luck on exam day!!

thanks, you too!

[kaur]

hey guys! I took nbme 11 today and got a 420/203 :-/ should that alarm me in some way since I went down from my other nbmes? I'm just really concerned since this is my 2nd attempt at the test. any advice would be helpful.
thank you!

[Dr.NickRiviera]

Originally Posted by kaur

hey guys! I took nbme 11 today and got a 420/203 :-/ should that alarm me in some way since I went down from my other nbmes? I'm just really concerned since this is my 2nd attempt at the test. any advice would be helpful.
thank you!

hmm, yea it is a bit concerning that you went down
could it be because of distraction/fatigue during the test? or was it the same environment as you took the other nbmes in?

maybe you forgot some of the stuff you thought u were good at and hence didnt focus on that much? thats happened to me before.

[kaur]

I feel i'm just fatigued in general from the whole process since I never really took time off after I failed the first time, i'm just exhausted. I could feel myself not giving the questions my full attention but nonetheless i'm panicking now and don't really know what to do in these next 10 or so days to improve.

[Dr.NickRiviera]

Originally Posted by kaur

I feel i'm just fatigued in general from the whole process since I never really took time off after I failed the first time, i'm just exhausted. I could feel myself not giving the questions my full attention but nonetheless i'm panicking now and don't really know what to do in these next 10 or so days to improve.

id usually say take a day off, but with such little time left you may just have to push through
just make sure you're getting good sleep
i get 9hrs a night and im not stressed or fatigued one bit, and ive been studying for 9 months now (10hrs a day; only taken 4 days off)

[s2011]

hi kaur

i have been in the same boat and trust me, getting fatigued is not a good sign. It is very different for each of us, but generally this exam is all about stamina. Of course knowledge is paramount, but in the exam it is your ability to sit through, that counts the most. one bad day and all your hard work will go to drain.....so,my suggestion to you is to take another NBME and see how you score...if your scores are going down, then postpone the exam....do not attempt just because you have paid the fees, you will not get any leave from work or to prove a point...take the exam when you are getting 230+ consistently on your self assessments. ........its a safe score
Read and understand Pathophysiology, genetics and immuno, everything else you can rely on memory, but the subjects I mentioned needs a thorough understanding. If you read my previous post, you will see that I did very well in self assesments, but poorly on the big day...but atleast I passed....and most important, take it easy...its just and exam...just a step...towards greater goal. good luck

[kaur]

thank you for your reply! I don't know what nbme to take now because I've taken all of them and the only one left is NBME 3 which is going to be discontinued anyways so I don't how much value that even holds anymore so I don't how to go about this. I don't want to waste my time on uwsa because they just inflate scores and weren't helpful with score prediction the first time i took it. I haven't gone over nbme 11 that I took yesterday and I was thinking maybe if i got a full nights rest and gave it again in a few days to see how i do? or is that really not going to give me a correct indication of where i stand. any suggestions would be helpful, thank you!

[jpudge12]

Take UW Assessment #1...Im an IMG, but for some reason the students I know from the US say it predicts their score within +/- 5 points.

[Dr.NickRiviera]

Originally Posted by jpudge12

Take UW Assessment #1...Im an IMG, but for some reason the students I know from the US say it predicts their score within +/- 5 points.

i took UWSA1 and it overpredicted me by 12pts
UWSAs are rubbish.

[jpudge12]

Oh no! Damn! I better not depend on that then!!! Any news on recent test takers?

[kaur]

hey guys, so i took nbme 11 again today without reviewing it from the weekend and i got a 217. I got a full nights rest and felt much better taking it this time and actually concentrating. I'm assuming I didn't have too much memorized from the last time i took it because I didn't do exceptionally well just ended up scoring around what I have gotten on the others, do you guys think it was just a lack of concentration that dropped my score the first time and I should be ok to go ahead and take it next thursday? I appreciate all the advice so far!

[Dr.NickRiviera]

Originally Posted by kaur

hey guys, so i took nbme 11 again today without reviewing it from the weekend and i got a 217. I got a full nights rest and felt much better taking it this time and actually concentrating. I'm assuming I didn't have too much memorized from the last time i took it because I didn't do exceptionally well just ended up scoring around what I have gotten on the others, do you guys think it was just a lack of concentration that dropped my score the first time and I should be ok to go ahead and take it next thursday? I appreciate all the advice so far!

you took the same form again!?
that was silly
your score just increased because you had some of the questions stored away in you subconsious
do yourself a favor, take another online nbme tomorrow.
oh wait, i see uve taken all the forms? what about form 3? take form 3... ASAP!

[kaur]

form 3 is going to be discontinued, is it even going to be of any value anymore?

[Dr.NickRiviera]

Originally Posted by kaur

form 3 is going to be discontinued, is it even going to be of any value anymore?

its still more value than repeating an nbme form imo
it will still give u a decent 3 digit indication of where you are.
because right now you have no idea what level you are at.

[s2011]

I agree with Nick...please take another FRESH NBME and then decide....do not take the test until you are sure that you can score above 220....I have been burnt by this exam, hence can vouch for being 110% sure before attempting.....

[kaur]

alright thanks guys, i guess i'll go ahead and take nbme 3 tomorrow and see how it goes.

[kaur]

that nbme was a disaster and definitely one of the hardest things i've ever taken, i got a 198, so now i'm at square one and don't know what to do. I don't know how much I should rely on nbme 3 since its been around since 2005 then on nbme 7 or 13, the more recent ones since my scores on those were pretty decent for me. any opinions?

[Hope2Pass]

Originally Posted by kaur

that nbme was a disaster and definitely one of the hardest things i've ever taken, i got a 198, so now i'm at square one and don't know what to do. I don't know how much I should rely on nbme 3 since its been around since 2005 then on nbme 7 or 13, the more recent ones since my scores on those were pretty decent for me. any opinions?

Don't worry about NBME 3. Its one of the harder NBMEs in my opinion. Here's what I suggest -

Option 1) You have 6 days left now - Use the next 3-4 days to go over FA thoroughly, starting with your weak areas. If anything, Watch DIT videos for your weak areas since it goes with FA. Won't take too long! Just buckle down and do it! Then take UWSA 1 or 2 (I don't know much about them since I've never taken those).

Even if they over predict by some points, you'll see that in a lot of exam experiences, people actually score close to them. At this point you need a CONFIDENCE boost. The more confident you are taking your exam, the better it will go and you won't over think or doubt yourself!

Option 2) If you're not satisfied and not sure if you should take the exam, then postpone it (if you can). If you can't then go with option 1.

[Dr.NickRiviera]

if i were in this position, i would postpone
but it depends what youre aiming for.

since you have failed before, you shouldnt be scoring any less than 220 on this attempt.
and to be honest, i dont think you are there yet.

but if a 205,210ish is enough for you and you have connections and all that then yea its possible to work really hard this last week and get to a 210 level.

[eesfee]

Since this is your second attempt, you should aim for a really high score - like maybe 250s or 260s. That would give you a really good chance at matching. With one failed attempt and a low score on the second attempt, there wouldn't be much of a chance of matching. You should postpone! All the best!