exam score vs nbme - postdoc67

[ArchivalUser]

Hi guys,
I was a quiet participant to this forum for several weeks now and some of the posts where very helpful and inspiring for me before the exam. I feel I have the duty to share some of my experience.
I took the exam on 12/30, I got my score on 1/20 - 234/95. I studied for about 7 mo while working full time a very demanding job. I probably had 1-2 hours of study a day, a little bit more on week-ends.
Here are my pre-exam scores: Kaplan Q bank 81%, NMBE form 1 700, form 2 640. I think the exam was quite different than Kaplan and not very similar with NMBE. Pharmacology and Molecular biology/genetics were heavily tested, not as much pathology as I would expected, more pathophysiology. My first 2 blocks where extremely difficult the third one very easy.I am not sure if this is an indirect sign that the exam became interactive as someone said earlier on this forum. Overall the exam was more straightforward than step 2 (that I took in march 2005) but to prepare for it was more painful... I did not have the Kaplan books, I studied A&L for Pharma and Biochemistry, HY for anatomy,neuroanatomy and histology, BRS for Path, Physio and Micro. FA was very helpful during my last 2 weeks. GL to all of you!

[ArchivalUser]

thanks for sharing ur information and also congratulations for such a great score
could u tell me when did u take the two nbme forms and when would u suggest they should be taken??

[ArchivalUser]

to jass: I took the Nbme forms 10 days and 1 week repectively before my exam. I took them untimed, resolve the questions in 1 hour and use the time left to try to find the right answers. Of course I did not change my initial answer even if I found that the answer was not correct. Some of the questions where so tough that I had to go on Pubmed to find the answer. Mostly for molecular and cell biology. It was a good practice.

[ArchivalUser]

thank u.
but dont u think that it oughta be done a bit of an earlier stage so as to have the time improve on ur shortcomings.