If you have gone looking for the NBME's free Step 3 practice exam, you have probably run into the same confusion everyone else does: some people call it the "new" Free 137, some people call it the "old" one, and the answer key you found on a forum does not match the questions on your screen. There are four versions in circulation, and they are not interchangeable.
This page settles which version is current, what the older forms are still good for, and the order to work through them if you want more official NBME questions without wrecking your ability to read your own score.
The Short Answer
The December 2023 form is the current Free 137. That is the one people mean when they say the "new" version, and it is the one you should sit first and sit timed.
The November 2020 form is the "old" Free 137. It was the standard from late 2020 through 2023 until NBME replaced it. It is still real NBME material — it is just no longer the current form.
Two older sets, November 2019 and November 2017, are still around. They are extra practice, not a second opinion on your readiness.
Why the Answer Keys You Found Do Not Match
NBME swapped the Free 137 over to the December 2023 form without much announcement. A large share of the explanation documents, Google Docs, and Reddit threads that rank for "free 137 answers" were written against the November 2020 question set and were never updated. So you end up with question 42 in front of you and an explanation for a completely different question 42.
This is the single most common reason people think they bombed the exam or think the exam is broken. It is neither. You are reading the wrong key. If you are working through a specific form, use the explanations written for that form:
- Free 137: December 2023 — the current form, 137 questions
- Free 137: November 2020 — the previous standard
- Free 137: November 2019 — older, some unique items
- Free 137: November 2017 — the original set
The full version map lives on the Free 137 hub if you want all four side by side.
What Is Actually Different Between Versions
Structurally, nothing. Every version is 137 multiple choice questions across 4 timed blocks. What changes is the item pool. The December 2023 update replaced a meaningful chunk of the questions, which matters in two directions:
- Content drift. The newer form reflects more recent guideline-era answers. Where management has moved, the current form is the safer guide to what the exam wants today.
- Contamination. The older forms have been circulating for years. If you have done scattered Step 3 questions from free sources, you have almost certainly already seen some November 2020 and November 2019 items without realizing it. A score on a form you have partially memorized is not a score.
That second point is the real argument for taking the December 2023 form first, while it is still clean for you.
The Order to Take Them In
- December 2023, timed, one sitting. This is your signal. Treat it like a short test day — four blocks, no pausing to look things up, mark and move.
- Review the same day. Read every explanation, including the ones you got right. Knowing why a distractor is wrong is what actually transfers.
- November 2020, untimed, only if you want volume. By this point you are mining questions, not measuring yourself. Do it in tutor mode.
- November 2019 and November 2017, optional. Useful if you have run dry on official-style material and have time left. Skip them if you are inside your final week — that time belongs to case practice.
You can sit any of the four on the StudyCCS Free 137 practice exam, in tutor mode while you are learning or as a full scored test when you want the timed read.
Should You Retake the Current Version?
You can — attempts are unlimited — but understand what a second attempt buys you. Repeating a form you have already reviewed inflates the percentage and drains the diagnostic value out of it. The number goes up because you remember the answers, not because you got better.
If you want a second timed data point, take a different form rather than repeating the same one. If you want to know whether your knowledge actually moved, the honest test is new material, not a rerun.
What Version Choice Does Not Fix
All four versions have the same blind spot: they are multiple choice only. None of them touch the CCS half of the exam. No Free 137 form will teach you order entry, clock management, or what the Primum software does on Day 2, and CCS is graded separately from the multiple choice sections.
So picking the right version answers a narrow question — which MCQ set gives you the cleanest read. It does not tell you whether you are ready. For that side of the exam you need timed cases with a rubric behind them. Start with the complete CCS guide if you have not built a case routine yet, and how CCS scoring actually works for what the graders are rewarding.
Reading Whatever Score You Get
Whichever form you sit, resist converting the percentage into a three-digit prediction. NBME has never published a formula for it, and charts claiming otherwise are guessing. Community data puts roughly 70 to 75 percent in the neighborhood of a passing performance, but that figure is anecdotal and has never been validated by NBME.
Treat the percentage as a direction, then triangulate it against your other data. What your Free 137 score actually predicts goes deeper on reading the result without over-reacting to it, and the Score Predictor is built to blend MCQ performance with case data rather than lean on one practice set.
Quick Answers
Which Free 137 is the new one? December 2023.
Which is the old one? November 2020. It was the standard from late 2020 through 2023.
Are the old versions useless? No. They are real NBME questions and fine as extra practice. They are just not the form to measure yourself on.
Do I need to do all four? No. Most people should do December 2023 timed and stop there.
Why does my answer key not match? It was almost certainly written for the November 2020 form. Find the key for the version you are actually taking.
Related Guides
- The Free 137: Every Version Explained
- How to Use the NBME Free 137 for Step 3
- What Your Free 137 Score Actually Predicts
- Free 137: December 2023 Answers
- Free 137 on Reddit: Is It Actually Worth Doing?
Done with the MCQs? The other half of Day 2 is waiting — run a timed case set on CCS Cases.