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Step 1 form guide Medium
Step 1 NBME 12: what's on it and how hard it is
NBME 12 has 139 questions in our copy. The average question is 69 words long and 83% take two or more steps to answer. It leans most on heart and vessels, blood and immune system and brain and nerves.
- Difficulty (0–100)
- 60
- Average question
- 69 words
- Take 2+ steps
- 83%
- Have an image
- 13%
When to take it
Extra practice early on. It is an older form: shorter questions and more straight recall than today's exam, so don't read much into the score.
Students say it feels easier than the questions really are.
Our original practice examsSystems it tests most
Share of the questions in each system.
- Heart and vessels14%
- Blood and immune system14%
- Brain and nerves12%
- Reproductive11%
The full breakdown
Every system and subject, what the questions ask, and what changed from older forms.