Scored 534 on NBME 8. Exam is in 3 weeks. What score should I expect?

NBME 6 and 7 both 61%
Hi everyone,
I scored 61% on both NBME 6 and NBME 7 for USMLE Step 3. My exam is scheduled in about 2 weeks, and I’m trying to decide whether I should keep my current date or postpone it.
I’m still worried about my readiness, especially because I failed Step 3 on my previous attempt.
For those who took Step 3 recently:
Were you scoring around 60–61% on NBMEs before passing?
How predictive were NBME 6 and 7 of your actual score?
Would you consider these scores good enough to sit for the exam in 2 weeks, or would you postpone?
What should I focus on during these final 2 weeks?
I would really appreciate honest feedback based on your experiences. Thank you!

For those wondering if it’s possible to semi rawdog the exam

F137 70 ish percent
CCS cases did about 100 over 3 weeks on an inpatient block
Did not purchase Uworld or Amboss subscriptions (too cheap)
No NBME or UWSA taken

Passed with 230 on first attempt, day 1 and 2 were 4 days apart

USMD
PGY1 internal medicine
Step 1 pass and Step 2 254

I was devastated when I found out I didn’t pass Step 3 the first time. I left the testing center feeling absolutely horrific — and unfortunately, that feeling was accurate. I really thought I had failed, and I had.

People will say on here - everyone feels bad walking out of the testing center and doesn't fail but LOL I did!!

I was embarrassed. I kept my head down and just tried to move forward.

For my retake, I was fortunate to have lighter rotations and made sure I didn’t have to travel for the exam like I did the first time. I also took a completely different approach to studying.

I did what everyone tells you to do:

• UWorld
• NBME 6
• NBME 7
• ~40 CCS cases

But honestly, looking back, the biggest thing I changed was I left UWorld in the wind. 😂

For me, it just wasn't useful for the retake.

Instead, I focused heavily on AMBOSS:

• AMBOSS Step 3 Study Plan
• AMBOSS Ethics
• AMBOSS Biostatistics
• AMBOSS 200 Concepts – Step 1
• AMBOSS 200 Concepts – Step 2
• Redid all 180 CCS cases twice

After all of that, I took Day 1.

And honestly? I felt pretty confident walking out. Ethics felt much more manageable, biostats felt solid, and even though the Eseppro section was horrific 😂, I just did the best I could.

The Step 1 concepts from the AMBOSS Step 3 + Step 1 study plans were also surprisingly helpful. There were definitely questions where I was able to recognize the underlying concept because I had reviewed it through those resources.

Then came Day 2.

Day 2 was a BREEZE this time around.

It was night-and-day compared with my first attempt.

And now, looking back:

Is a 212 an impressive Step 3 score? No.

But did I pass Step 3 on my second attempt?

Yes.

Did I improve by 16 points in 6 weeks?

Yes.

And honestly, after failing the first time, I am incredibly proud of that.

If you're studying for a retake and feel like you've already failed once so you're doomed — you're not. Change your approach, figure out what didn't work the first time, and keep going.

A pass is a pass.

hi. non US grad; not in residency. step 2 score was 235 (june 2025). been trying to take step 3 since, couldn’t due to a mix of life chaos, was meant to finally take it during the 3rd week of september. wanted to share a write up because posts like thse helped motivate me so much. will try to keep it brief but i yap a lot so i’ve divided this & you can skip & read relevant stuff.

this is a tangent about adhd & accommodations, you can skip this -> there were very few posts where people had below avg step 2 scores & adhd. i mention adhd because i didn’t get accommodations, theyre generally not given to anyone diagnosed after childhood & i frankly didn’t even try because i have a suffering kink & i dont have the executive function required to jump the hoops required for the process.

resources i used & what i did with them :

-primary for multiple choice = uworld, completed 56% with an avg of 64% starting with 20q/day and titrated it up to 40 and eventually 60, over 8 weeks. with my attention span, i can only make slow increments to avoid burnout (hard lessons were learned in step 1 & step 2 prep)

-supplementary : white coat companion, during dedicated i only used for revising algorithms for day 2 of those topics i kept getting wrong in uworld blocks. before dedicated, i did light reading while watching tv for CVS, renal, pulm crit.

-self assessments :

1-uswa 1 201, 3.5 weeks before exam. weakest topics were imm/hem/onc, endo, and reproductive system. so i brushed up on those with white coat companion book.

2-uswa 2 222, and i scheduled my test the moment i saw that score; day 1 for 7 days after this, and day 2 for 10 days after.

3-new free 137, split into day 1 & day 2 portions. took the day 1 part, the day before day 1. and the day 2 part, the day before day 2. score was 65.8%

-biostats : i suck at it. always have. drug ads are a hit or miss. so i triaged and focused on the core concepts of sensitivity specificity ppv npv and type 1 & 2 errors. i was always doing biostats questions intermixed with my daily blocks. i also started reading these topics’ lessons from ccscases site since the access was free with the cases. i liked the lessons in this qbank. v easy to read to read. explicitly laid out common exam traps for relevant topic at the end of lesson and also taught why this is imp for usmle. did this every day for a week, 3 weeks before the test. got my basic concepts down. on the day before day 1, i spent 3 hours and went through the uworld biostatistics portion, the one that’s activated separate from the qbank just like the uswa. i have to study for about 6 hours and omly 6, no more, the day before these exams, or my brain refuses to work on test day.

-for cases, I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND DOING WHAT I DID, BUT IF YOU’RE IN MY SITUATION ALREADY, THIS MIGHT HELP REASSURE YOU.

(june ‘26 onwards) i used CCSworld, it’s cheap, created by a resident, it gives AI feedback and the developer zev is pretty cool (this is not a promo, he just listened to feedback and was super nice about it) i completed like 5ish cases here.

in mid-august, i bought ccscases, the og one, and kept doing some here and there. first attempt avg was 68% when i started, went up to 76% before day 2. on the day i scheduled the exam, i had completed 20 cases with an avg of 74%. i was scared, i kinda wanted to delay the exam, i was also super bored & tired of living like this and wanted to move on with my life. didn’t tell anyone i trust with usmle advice about how many cases i’d done, until after scheduling.

if you’re still reading, bravo! here’s what i did for CCS damage control : set a goal for going upto 40 cases 7 days before day 2 OR i had to reschedule it. now with adhd, you know this exact situation got the gears turning. total of 41 cases was reached over 48hrs, 16 new HY cases were done. exam not rescheduled. i only reattempted 2 cases, the rest were all first attempts throughout.

had 2 days left for day 1, focused heavily on first aid step 1, mostly rapid review pages & biostats formulas. i had already done some micro & pharm revision in the months before. nothing focused, just some light reading while watching tv, then prepared snacks & clothes for the test.

after testing on day 1, i obviously took the rest of the day off. had 2 break days before day 2. first day, was still exhausted, just chilled out and did 8-9ish cases only over 3 hrs. second break day = the day before day 2, did 3 ccs cases from free137 (total of 55ish cases was reached, which seemed somewhat reasonable) and then i did the day 2 part of free 137. and then just focused on relaxing and eating well & preparing snacks & clothes and finding a show to bingewatch after the exam was over.

thank you for reading, happy to answer follow up questions. p.s please try not to pull the ccs stunt i did. im a match reapplicant and i needed step 3 score report on my app before october started, so it was a needs must situation, and i went in with the hopes of just passing with a 201, immensely grateful for the actual score.