NBME Form 32 is one of the Comprehensive Basic Science Self-Assessments (CBSSA) sold by the National Board of Medical Examiners to help medical students estimate their readiness for USMLE Step 1. You buy it through the MyNBME Examinee Portal, take it online in a timed or self-paced format, and get back a performance report with an equated percent correct score and an estimated probability of passing Step 1 if you tested within a week.1NBME. Comprehensive Basic Science Self-Assessment Plan on about five hours of seat time under standard pacing.
How to Buy Form 32
You need a MyNBME account before you can purchase anything. Registration asks for your first, middle, and last name, email, and date of birth, with optional fields for your medical school, expected graduation year, and any existing USMLE, AAMC, or NBME ID. The name on the account must match your government-issued ID exactly.2MyNBME Examinee Portal. Register – MyNBME The portal uses multi-factor authentication, so keep a second device handy when you log in.3MyNBME Examinee Portal. MyNBME Examinee Portal – Login No Social Security number is required.
Once you’re logged in, go to the self-assessment section and select the Comprehensive Basic Science Self-Assessment. NBME rotates which form numbers are available for sale, so confirm Form 32 is on the list before you pay. Major credit cards are accepted. If you expect to take more than one practice exam during your dedicated study period, look at the bundled CBSSA packages, which are discounted compared to buying forms individually.4NBME. NBME Self-Assessment Bundles
After payment, the assessment lands in your portal under active self-assessments. Refunds are not available once you launch the exam. For a bundle, you can request a refund only if none of the assessments in it have been started.5NBME. Common Questions About NBME Self-Assessment Bundling
Check for a School Voucher First
A lot of medical schools buy CBSSA vouchers in bulk and hand them out to students at no cost. If yours does, you’ll redeem a voucher code in MyNBME instead of paying out of pocket. Institutional vouchers are valid for one year from the date NBME issues them to the school, so don’t sit on one.6NBME. Self-Assessment Services Ask your Office of Medical Education or student affairs before you reach for a credit card.
What’s on the Exam
Form 32 has 200 multiple-choice questions split across four blocks of 50. The content mix mirrors the discipline distribution used across the CBSSA series and Step 1 itself. Pathology dominates at 44 to 52 percent of questions. The approximate ranges for the rest:7NBME. Comprehensive Basic Science Self-Assessment Examinee Performance Report
- Physiology: 25–35%
- Microbiology and Immunology: 16–26%
- Pharmacology: 15–22%
- Biochemistry and Nutrition: 14–24%
- Gross Anatomy and Embryology: 11–15%
- Behavioral Sciences: 8–13%
- Histology and Cell Biology: 8–13%
- Genetics: 5–9%
The ranges overlap because a single vignette can test more than one discipline. A patient with a drug-induced arrhythmia, for example, can count toward both pharmacology and physiology. The practical takeaway is that roughly half the exam hinges on pathology, so a weak foundation there will show up in your overall score.
Pick Your Timing Mode at Launch
When you start Form 32, you choose between two timing formats. The choice is locked in once the exam begins.
- Standard-paced: each of the four 50-question blocks gets 1 hour 15 minutes, matching the time pressure of a Step 1 testing session. Total seat time is about five hours.
- Self-paced: each section extends to 5 hours, giving you room to pause, look things up, or study between questions.
If you want a realistic prediction of how you’d perform on Step 1, use standard pacing. Self-paced is better earlier in your study timeline when you’re working through material deliberately rather than simulating test day.1NBME. Comprehensive Basic Science Self-Assessment
Taking the Exam
The assessment runs in a standard web browser. Unlike NBME’s proctored Subject Exams, self-assessments don’t require a locked-down secure browser, so Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge on a personal computer will do.8NBME. Standard NBME Web-Based Testing Requirements Close other tabs and background applications before you start to reduce the chance of a crash mid-block.
The testing interface replicates the USMLE environment. You get a searchable lab values reference on screen, a notes feature, text resizing up to 200 percent, image inversion and contrast controls, a dark theme, and highlighting tools. You can flag questions within a block and come back to them before the block’s time runs out, which is the same workflow as test day.9NBME. New Examinee Interface for NBME Self-Assessments
If something breaks during the exam, NBME’s Customer Services and Resource Center is at 215-590-9700 or through the contact form on their site. There’s no live chat for mid-exam emergencies, so a stable internet connection matters.10NBME. Contact
Reading Your Score Report
After the last question, the system generates a performance report. The headline number is your equated percent correct (EPC), the percentage of content you’ve mastered after a statistical adjustment for the difficulty of your specific form. Your EPC can run slightly higher or lower than the raw percentage you got right.7NBME. Comprehensive Basic Science Self-Assessment Examinee Performance Report
The report also shows an estimated probability, from 1 to 99 percent, of passing Step 1 if you tested within one week. NBME updates the statistical model behind that number annually using first-time Step 1 examinee data.7NBME. Comprehensive Basic Science Self-Assessment Examinee Performance Report The one-week assumption matters. If your actual exam is months away, your readiness on test day will depend on how you study between now and then.
The CBSSA no longer reports a three-digit score. Since Step 1 moved to pass/fail, the report shows your EPC alongside a shaded band corresponding to low passing performance on Step 1. An EPC within or above that band is a solid signal; below it means more work.11NBME. Comprehensive Basic Science Self-Assessment – 2022 Score Report Updates
Content-Area Breakdown and Answer Explanations
Beyond the overall EPC, the report breaks performance down by discipline and organ system. This is where you get actionable study direction: a borderline overall score might reveal that pharmacology and renal physiology are the real drag while pathology is strong, which tells you where to spend your remaining hours.
You can also review answer explanations for every question, correct or incorrect, through the NBME INSIGHTS dashboard. The explanations cover why the right answer is right and why each distractor is wrong, which turns the review itself into a study session.12NBME. Comprehensive Clinical Medicine Self-Assessment
Testing Accommodations
Students with documented disabilities can request accommodations for NBME self-assessments. You complete and sign a Request for Test Accommodations form and upload all supporting documentation as PDFs to your MyNBME account yourself; requests filed by a third party, including your medical school, are not accepted. Supporting documentation includes a personal statement and a professional evaluation conducted within the past three years with a current DSM or ICD diagnosis.13NBME. Test Accommodations Overview and Instructions Questions go to NBME Disability Services at 215-590-9700 or disabilityservices@nbme.org.