(412) Efficacy of in-house vs. third party resources on medical student NBME style exam performance

Introduction/Rationale: As lecture attendance declines in medical school, many students adopt third-party educational resources as primary study tools. This study aims to determine if scores on National Board of Medical Examiners exams differ between students who rely on third-party resources and students who primary rely on in-house lecture material for studying.

Methods: Data was collected anonymously via survey from students in the Classes of 2026 and 2027 at California Northstate University College of Medicine. The survey assessed students’ primary study resources for NBME-style examinations, comparing reliance on third-party learning tools vs in-house lecture materials. Given the foundational role of immunology across multiple preclinical organ system blocks, this analysis is relevant to understanding how medical students prepare for immunology content within integrated curricula. Students were categorized into two groups based on their reported primary resource: in-house lecture users and third-party resource users. Students indicating equal use of both resource types were classified as in-house lecture users. Participants reported final course grades, which were converted to numerical values (Honors = 3, High Pass = 2, Pass = 1, Fail = 0) and averaged across courses for each student.

Results: The average numerical grades for the in-house lecture group (n=6) + equal use (n=8) (total, n=14) and the third-party group (n=61) were 2.37 and 2.19, respectively. The two groups’ average grades were compared using a Mann-Whitney U test in R version 4.3.2. The in-house lecture group had significantly higher average grades than the third-party group (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Data suggests that students primarily using in-house lecture material achieve higher scores on average, compared to those who primarily rely on third-party material for NBME style exams. Future multi-institutional studies are needed to explore the factors that influence a student’s decision to utilize third-party resources.