retroviridae
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So I just took the USMLE I, and I think I did miserably. Is that normal or do most people walk out feeling confident?
As background, studied a measely 2 months (while working full time in research). Read Kaplan notes 3 times, was scoring ~70-75% on Kaplan Q book. Did roughly the same for Kaplan simulated exam on CD. The USMLE practice CD got 44/44/40. After the USMLE (I truely must be psycho) I took the NBME to see how I would do because I am so scared that I failed miserably (I had already paid for it but ran out of time to use it). Got a 570 on that. So you would think I would do ok on the test.
Well, let me say, NBME is way too easy. Questions are good for content review and maybe one or two were on the actual exam, but they are too short, and too straightforward. Kaplan questions are more picky, but again too short (although several did appear on the real test). I would finish the Kaplan tests and the NBME's blocks with 20-30 min to spare, but for the real test, I almost ran out of time on most of the blocks (2 blocks I did have time to spare). And the official practice test was also too easy, but the same software you will use at Prometric.
I felt my test was heavy on physio, which I didn't focus on as much because 1) it's easy and 2) it doesn't appear to come much in the tests.
Now I also noticed that I was getting basically the same questions in multiple blocks. That happened several times. So I guess they just write questions, randomly assign them to a block, and then they randomly piece the blocks together. So you shouldn't expect even coverage of topics (although you would think they could do a better job with 7 hours of testing).
For the practice tests I knew the answers more often than not. For the USMLE, I was guessing 2/3 of the time. OK, maybe not 2/3, but for the practice tests I usually knew the answer without looking at the list of options. For the USMLE, I had to look most of the time, and even then many answers were more of educated guesses than knowing for sure. Don't know what to make of it. I don't think the questions were hard, just that I couldn't remeber the answers (I had read most of the answers in Kaplan notes). The questions were very long though.
Anyway, I will wait and see now. I am hopeful because of how I did on the practice tests, but I think that can give you a false sense of being prepared. I really felt good after all the practice tests (and the NBME just now). After the USMLE I felt really bad about it. So what do you think? Am I just being paranoid or is it possible I just got unlucky and bombed it (let's hope I failed rather than just passing).
My final advice to people, read physio, don't waste time on questions during the test (time is a major factor). Fatigue is too (by the end of the day, I just wanted to leave). Also, try and sleep before hand. I couldn't and I think it does affect your scores. You will be doing a lot more thinking than you do on the practice tests.
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| nuprin
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hey!
we must have had different tests bc i thought usmle was way easier than nbme. i also had the problem with getting the same questions on different blocks. i was thinking at the time that usmle should have a better algorithm for putting together a test!
don't worry. i was doing the same thing. i felt like i had to guess about 60% of nbme and i did fine. your qbank and usmle cd scores and nbme are great, so you will do fine. read m&k's posting about their experience. they told me that it was very natural to feel like you're guessing about 60-70% of the time, but you will do fine. they got incredible scores. that's so funny bc i was also tempted to do the nbme form 2 afterwards! i'm still tempted to do the usmle cd...
as for timing, the qs on usmle were more "doable" so it was tempting to spend more time on them. plus, i was a lot more careful on the real thing than in qbank, which i could finish in 15-20 minutes.
i think it must be a natural reaction bc i'm also feeling paranoid about my score. i keep rethinking the ones i was unsure of and knowing i missed some stuff is driving me nuts. however, i think you only need to get 70-75% correct per section to get over 240.
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| retroviridae
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Hey Nuprin,
You think you really only need 70-75% correct/block to get such a good score? FA says that passing is between 60-70% (although my older FA used to say 55-65%). Does that mean that in reality, most people just pass the exam? That would be very interesting. I hope you are right. I keep thinking I've torpedoed my medical career before it starts with a poor step I score, and what's worse is I feel like I just got unlucky with a tough exam. We shall see .... This waiting is killing me (and it's only been a day). Time to start on Step II!
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| nuprin
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i'm not sure, but if you compare people's scores with the percentages they were getting on qbank and usmle, it seems correct. (see meg's posting--she said she was getting about 81%, and 257 was 81% of 315, where 35 questions, typically 10-15% of the exam, were experimental) i think the real usmle is harder than qbank, too. most of the 99s i've seen had qbank averages in the high 70s.
it kinda makes sense if you think of the bell curve... most of the scores will fall within the 1st SD; the scores beyond the 1st SD are all probably pretty close in #.
so i guess that means 5 qs per block are experimental.
i'm nervous, too, though! i'm sure we both did well and we're being irrational. we should just forget about it until we get our scores. are you an img? it's not like you need a fantastic score in order to get a good residency in your home state... are you planning on going into surgery or derm or something?
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| nuprin
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okay, i just did the actual math and 75% of 315 is 236, which is about a 95... still, to get 75% of 50 we can still miss 12-13 per section, and 75% of 45 with 5 being experimental is only 33/50... if that's about the # of questions you were unsure of or marked, you're bound to have gotten at least half of those correct.
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| retroviridae
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Yeah, I never thought about what the 3 digit score means. You think it really is just the number of correct questions? Could be. I know the 2 digit scale is normalize to a pass of 75. I guess it makes sense since they raised the passing step 1 score recently to what 189? Something like that.
yeah, I am an IMG. So I keep looking at these residency web sites that say don't bother applying if you don't have an 85 or better on each test. So many say don't bother applying anyway. No, I want pedi or IM so my score isn't so critical, and with my research, hopefully again it is a plus. But I do need a decent score. The typical IMG dilema.
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| nuprin
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no doubt you made at least an 85 given your scores on other stuff. so y ou did fine! more than anything, i hear, it's how you click with the other people there.
i'm not sure about the 3 digit score, but it would make sense, esp since it seems like the three digit score can imply different 2 digit scores (like the one woman who got a 244/99 v. someone else with a 243/97).
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| retroviridae
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OK, so I just re-read the USMLE Bulletin, and it says that your two digit score is derived from the 3 digit score, which we knew. It also says that the avg score is 200-220 with a SD of 20. It also says 60-70% correct per form is usually required for passing. The kicker is that it says that different forms are statistically adjusted so that because someone takes a harder form or an easier one, there will be no difference in the score. So the three digit score can't just be the raw score. It is some statistical construct that they come up with. Like getting a 12 on the MCAT or a 700 on the SAT. Who knows what that really means. If you assume the minimum passing score is 182, it means you only need to get 58% of the questions correct to pass. Now we know that is too low. So I don't know. Here I was all excited that you could miss so many questions still get a good score, but alas, it appears not to be the case. But then again, the three digit score has got to be the statistically normalized version of your raw score. So maybe it is still close. Too much thought into something we can do nothing about ....
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| nuprin
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yeah, but 60-70% of the ones that *count* is fewer.  58% sounds about right to pass...
i know it must be statistically adjusted, but what about those people that got totally different 3dig/2dig correlations? (like that girl with a 244/99) i still think you can miss quite a bit and do well, as all the 99s i've seen had 75-82% avgs on qbank and kaplan sim.
trudat--not much we can do about all this. still, it makes us feel better while waiting for our scores, no?
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| Fernanda
Forum Junior
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Hey guys...can you tell me what is nbme?!?
Thanks
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| nuprin
Forum Elite
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it's a self-assessment test. you can get it from nbme.org. supposedly it's the most like the real thing, but i found it to be a little harder. it does, however, provide an accurate assessment of what you need to work on and a good estimate of what you would get if you took step 1 tomorrow.
there are 2 four hour tests for $45 each. watch out, bc they don't provide answers or explanations.
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| Fernanda
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Thank you for the info!!!
Best wishes 
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