253 on NBME 13 with 18 days left (goal 260+), please help

Hi everyone,

I'm in Step 2 dedicated and could really use some advice from people who were in a similar position.

I test on 07/17 and here are how my nbme scores have been:

• NBME 9 38 days out: 233 (baseline)
• NBME 10 31 days out: 240
• NBME 11 24 days out: 256
• NBME 12 17 days out: 254
• NBME 13 18 days out: 253

I'm honestly feeling discouraged because after hitting a 256, I thought I was finally breaking into the range I needed, but now I've had two consecutive exams in the low-mid 250s.

One pattern I've noticed about myself is that on harder questions, I'll often skim the stem, think, "This is probably D," and move on because I don't want to spend too much time. Then at the end of the block, I'll come back, read the question carefully, talk myself into A with what feels like a logical explanation... and the answer ends up being D, my original instinct.

Has anyone else had this issue? How did you fix it? Any advice in general on how to move up into 260s range?

For people who ended up scoring 260+, what helped you break out of the 250-255 range?

I'd really appreciate any advice from people who made a similar jump in the last few weeks of dedicated. Thanks you so much!