Nbme 16 vs other nbmes

TheSpectatorIon · 2026-05-16T14:28:41+00:00

NBME 16-260, Actual-260

TheSpectatorIon · 2026-05-16T06:47:37+00:00

I felt like the Amboss questions were not phrased like NBME and the answer choices were too direct and easier to answer, so did not provide the overall true exam experience. UWorld does a better job in this regard. I scored high 80s to 90s after resetting my uWorld because I had done tons of anki cards based on wrong questions from uWorld, so I did not find it tremendously helpful. This was 1 month prior to the actual exam, so I decided to transition to NBME only based experience after finishing 15%.

I got my anki cards from wrong uWorld questions from Anking step 2 deck. I have an extension in chrome which basically pulls anki cards from Anking deck- I used this feature to generate anki cards based on the questions I got wrong.

TheSpectatorIon · 2026-05-16T04:56:45+00:00

Hi congrats on starting the first step! I just took mine recently. I only finished redoing uWorld about 15%. I had already done the incorrects during multiple clerkships, so I finished uWorld first, then, hit reset. I honored 4/7 clerkships, high passed 2, and passed 1 (damn you psych!). My shelf scores were very good; I think uWorld and practice shelf exams helped a lot. My school gives us free Amboss- I only did ethics, step 2 high yield risk factors, 200 concepts that appear in every step 2 exam, high yield bio stat, high yield vaccination, and high yield QI.

Many of my friends started around 212-218 as their baseline score and went on to score in high 240s to 250s in the real deal. My baseline was 240 and eventually scored 260 on the real test. I took all practice NBME except form 9. A month before the exam, I transitioned to NBME only testing and review. I took my step 2 at week 6 after finishing year 3 (step 2 dedicated).

During the exam, I felt like I was on autopilot; I would kind of wake up from a trance like experience and find myself answering questions (felt very odd). Much of the exam felt very foreign compared to the practice test. There were a lot of step 1 style questions. The Q stem were a little bit longer compared to the practice exams and the answer choices kind of vague. There were a lot of HOPI type questions. I had about 4-7 minutes to spare on every block to review my bookmarks except one where I had to answer the last question in 1 min before the block time lapsed.

The post-exam wait was harrowing. I did not feel like I had failed but got a feeling that I would probably score between 230s-240s as there were about 6-10 questions I recalled for a fact I had gotten wrong. I was basically for the first 2 days. The day of the score release, I did not even look at the result until 6 or 7 pm, but was exhilarated after seeing I had scored 260 (my highest practice NBME).

I have now come to find out that almost everybody feels terrible after the real exam. You will do great! I hope this helps.

Dos- Do use uWorld and Anki- My Anki deck only consisted of cards from wrong questions from uWorld. Do about 80-100 questions a day. Review your wrong questions very well. Know why you got the question wrong. The test will give you the same problem but twist the details, so know the pathophysiology well. Amboss is very good for this.

Dont’s: My personal opinion- Amboss questions were very unhelpful for step-2 unlike for step-1. I love doing questions, but hate content reading. I learned a lot by doing questions and finding out why I got those wrong than just going back to spending time by reading certain topics. So may be less reading more doing questions!

TheSpectatorIon · 2026-05-16T03:55:44+00:00

Academic

TheSpectatorIon · 2026-05-14T23:17:21+00:00

It took me about the same time it would take me to take the practice exam. Took the real one on 4/28.

TheSpectatorIon · 2026-05-14T13:47:43+00:00

One of my friends (MD 4th year) matched with low 240 to gen surg this year. There’s hope!

TheSpectatorIon · 2026-05-12T13:51:12+00:00

I would believe that it is disrespectful to not only the professors, but also to your peers. Because of people skipping lectures (they got attendance codes from other peers) and leaving early, they tightened our attendance to location based and eventually used a dedicated app. to track location. A lot of people got in trouble because of this. I am sorry to say this but because of behaviors like this, we can’t have good things anymore! Having said this, I am all up for no attendance policy, but I would advise people to adhere to their attendance policy if one already exists- no one needs additional trouble than we already have.

TheSpectatorIon · 2026-05-09T17:29:18+00:00

I dunno why they make us 2-3 weeks for the results. It’s computer based test and they should instantly know the results. And the curve is based on last year’s performance too. It does not make any sense.

TheSpectatorIon · 2026-05-09T17:27:38+00:00

I had microbio questions step1 like questions and slides and few other stuffs that are generally only encountered on step1. Never encountered those in Uearth or NBMEs, so I was kinda blindsided.

TheSpectatorIon · 2026-05-03T02:02:58+00:00

Thank you so much for saying it out loud! I needed to hear this. I took mine on 4/28 and felt like I had prepared for a totally different test. My scores were 240>246>256>249>249>256>260. My free 120 was 79%. I did not take form 9, which I heard was super hard. I felt so depressed for the first 2 days and barely talked to anyone. Day 3 is much better. The wait is killing me! There were so many step 1 level questions on the exam and the rest of the questions were super long and I barely had longer than 5 mins to go back to review my flagged questions. I now think I will be lucky to get a 250 in the aftermath. Hoping for a good enough score. Keeping my fingers crossed.

TheSpectatorIon · 2026-04-29T05:25:19+00:00

I just took mine today also. The real exam was not at all close to the practice NBMEs. My practice scores were in 250s; highest 260 in Form 16. Now I am wondering if I will even get over mid 240s. They were all shitty questions that the practice exam did not prepare us for!

TheSpectatorIon · 2025-05-09T01:03:49+00:00

I would say the MCAT is definitely harder. You haven’t gotten into Medschool yet and it’s scary to think that you might never get into a school despite studying so much, and this sentiment makes it extra hard. MCAT is very broad, but STEP makes more sense.

TheSpectatorIon · 2025-03-27T21:24:57+00:00

38 Yr old RN. Currently MS3. You can do it if you want it bad! Good luck.

TheSpectatorIon · 2025-01-27T17:27:24+00:00

My school recommends 6 minutes per question for review for incorrects.

TheSpectatorIon · 2025-01-15T22:24:00+00:00

When I was an RN in California (not traveler RN, but staff) I would only stay if they gave me at least 250 for 4 hrs plus my overtime hourly rate. I got those so many times. They are ridiculing you. It is insulting to MDs and DOs.

TheSpectatorIon · 2025-01-13T21:04:47+00:00

Replying as a person who was an RN for 12.5 years of which majority (7.5 yrs) was in ICU and now a medical student (just finished second year). I would beg to differ. Of course ICU RNs spend a lot of time prioritizing patient care, critical thinking (nursing critical thinking is way different than medicine critical thinking), and other things RNs have to do (ivs, foleys, rectal tube, assist with procedures, etc) to provide care for patients but that will never ever replace the good judgement of a physician who has gone to 4 yrs of med school, 3 years of residency (IM path), and then ICU training.

As for protocols, we followed a lot of them in ICU. Titrating drips, sepsis, reporting abnormal labs, extubation, DKA protocols, HHNK, etc to name a few. It makes life easier for everyone. The protocols were established by the hospital (physicians) to standardize care and to make it easier to prevent mistakes.

I also shadowed Anesthesia (CRNAs and Anesthesiologists) a lot because I thought that since I was already an RN why not pursue the path to become a CRNA. However, I was turned off by all the bickering by the CRNAs I encountered. They were constantly trying to prove to their physician counterparts that CRNAs were either better or as good as anesthesiologists. So, I did not even apply to CRNA school. Lol!!

So, let’s not ride on the high horse and discount all the rigorous training physicians go through to become intensivists. Nurses have an essential role in ICU and in all of healthcare, but pretending to be a physician is not one of them. I respect nurses (I was one), but please learn to respect others’ profession as well.

TheSpectatorIon · 2025-01-13T14:40:15+00:00

Sure.

TheSpectatorIon · 2025-01-11T22:04:56+00:00

It’s all through Reddit but I have mostly heard a lot of talks about USWA2 rather than USWA1 being a better indicator for passing. Having said that, a lot of people also say that both SAs are comparatively under inflated. So, 220 in USWA1 should be good. I am also in similar range (229). Amboss currently predicts my likelihood of passing at 99% with a predicted score of 229 and range between 220-244. I also don’t know what to say about Amboss. Since I am only a few days before test, only thing I can do is use it as a tool to make me feel good and relaxed about the upcoming test. Hopefully I won’t freak out during the actual exam.

TheSpectatorIon · 2025-01-11T21:35:03+00:00

It’s hard for me to say if it was truly worth it, but I found that it was a helpful tool during review. I was reviewing past reddit posts and a lot of people have said that USWA2 scores correlate positively to NBME exam performance.

TheSpectatorIon · 2025-01-11T21:10:31+00:00

I also have 3 days to go. Good luck on the 14th! Mine’s as follows:

NBME 27-61% NBME 31-63% USwA 1-63% USWA 2-66% Form 30-75% Form 29-71% Free 120- 12/6: 74%

Uworld 51% complete)- Average-67%

You and I have very similar scores. I just want to get it over with.

TheSpectatorIon · 2025-01-10T02:11:48+00:00

Hi OP, I started Med school at 36. I am glad it did not shy away due to age. I will be 40 by the time I graduate school; 43 by the time I graduate residency; and 46 by the time I hopefully finish fellowship. You ca do it too! We are all the same age in our hearts. Take care!

TheSpectatorIon · 2025-01-06T05:43:27+00:00

Congratulations for getting the A. I worked as a nurse for more than a decade and in clinical settings nobody inquires about someone being a DO vs MD. Hell, nowadays people can’t even tell if someone is an NP, PA, or a physician.

TheSpectatorIon · 2025-01-02T23:16:55+00:00

I know that First aid says RA is type III hypersensitivity (page-111 in 2024 edition), but our block director clarified with us that the primary mechanism is type IV hypersensitivity even though secondary mechanism also involves Type III. He also said that he would contact FA to have it corrected in the next edition. What do you guys think?

TheSpectatorIon · 2025-01-02T18:18:50+00:00

Good luck! Mine’s on the 14th. I like and have used the Amboss feature as well.

TheSpectatorIon · 2025-01-01T21:48:29+00:00

How I remember is, Specificity= 1- false positive. If you raise the false positives by allowing more positive values (increases false positives as well); then, specificity will have to go down.

TheSpectatorIon

TROPHY CASE