AMBOSS Blog How to Improve Your NBME® Practice Scores in the Final Weeks of Prep

Here’s the scenario: You’re in the home stretch for your upcoming USMLE® Step or NBME® Shelf exams. You devote hours to Qbanks, practice tests, and self-assessments. You see a steady improvement week after week but then you hit a point and all of a sudden, your NBME practice scores and performance on self-assessments start to plateau. If this sounds familiar, know that you are not alone. This is a natural phase that everyone passes through when prepping for big exams (and it doesn't get much bigger than the Steps!). Most medical students face this, but only some break out of it and continue to 'make gains' by taking steps to continue to grow their knowledge base, improve test-taking skills, and get a few more points in their scores.