Hey guys just took step 2 today. I hope this is legal?? I scored a 230 on Step 1 and I thought it was a little tougher. You will probably hear many more people say it was easier, so take my statement with a grain of salt!

1. I had no less than 20 questions (yes 20) on amenorrhea (all types), womans fertility, and womens endocrine......CANT STAND THAT CRAP!! What sucked the most is they ALL stated...the mans sperm count was good....I was waiting for one of those. Had many OB questions (35-40) I was pleased at that...I like OB

2. I had about 10 questions on congenital heart defects...know the blood gases and symptoms that go with each (I hate that crap). One associated with an XRAY. They don't give the "classical" buzzwords.

3. I finished my last 5 days of studying with surgery.....cant even recall 2-3 freakin pure surgery questions....what a total waste time (in my opinion).

4. about 40-50 questions concerning what test you would do next.

5. I consider myself pretty darn good at reading EKG's and recognizing dysrythmias....NOT A Single rhythm strip or EKG....damn. I did have a question that stated the patient had peaked T-waves.

6. I had exactly 5 questions on epi/stats. sensitivity, PPV, NPV, power....ONE asking about relative risk. Do a quick run through on doing the math for these things...I thought I was good, but I proved to be a little rusty (spent 4-5 minutes on one question trying to figure out where to put the numbers).

7. Had a good number of trauma questions...definatley worth a little extra time.

8. I was lucky mine did not have a bunch of DERM...I was scoring mid to low 60's on Q-bank for DERM. As a whole, I thought the Q-bank was good/OK for step 2. It was nowhere close to being as detailed as the actual test....but It does cover all the topics. MKASP was pretty darn good I must say.....real close to the actual IM questions!!

9. I hear the test bank has over 10,000 questions. I only had 376 questions, so everyones test may be totally different.

10. The test was freakin looooooooooooong as hell. 9 HOURS. the last block and half I was shot. My eyes were the only thing holding me to the computor...the rest of my body was FALLING AWAYYYYYYYYYYy. Get some good rest. Lot tougher than step 1 concerning getting through and reading the page long question with labs.

11. About 4 to 5 questions on acid base with the actual blood gas in the question...pure respiratory, compensated, etc.

12. OB/GYN blueprints in my opinion is the absolute gold standard for USMLE step 2. Best of the bluprints series. Pediactric blueprints follows OB at a close second. I thought internal medicine blueprints stunk like Sh-t for the exam. I wil post my results when I receive them and then offer my study plan if it worked???


Thanks for listening...just had to get it off my back. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE. I hope you do well. :)

Anyone ELSE please feel free to add your experience!!!!

4. about 40-50 questions concerning what test you would do next.


I've grown to hate this type of question.

Thanks for posting your experience, and congrats on being finished with this obstacle! :)

hi
im goin to take on step 2
your thread is extremely helpful

hi, this is a very very useful thread! can you please tell me approximately how long did you study, how many hours per day, and what were youre Qbank scores, to begin with and then eventually?
thanks so much and good luck! maaan I freakin HATE amenorrhea :mad:
thanks man! :thumbup:

Swaydaa congrats on getting step 2 overwith. Is the score reporting the same as step 1 (~6 weeks?). Good luck!
M.

Excuse the ignorance, but what is MKSAP?

I spent about 6 weeks studying during reallllllly light rotations. Was at 71% on Qbank. MKASP is the "Medical Knowledge Self-Assessment Program" through the American College of Physicians.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who hates non-bleeding women!! :D

I hear it's 4 to 5 weeks to get results.

I took my Step 2 yesterday. I had about 10 derm questions. Four rhythm strips. Three biostats. Suprisingly large amount of surgery. Oodles of OB/Gyn. And wierd immunology questions x 4. This test honestly felt easier than Step 1 by 20%. I got a 249 on Step 1, I hope that my feeling about this one is right.

As a whole, I thought the Q-bank was good/OK for step 2. It was nowhere close to being as detailed as the actual test....but It does cover all the topics. MKASP was pretty darn good I must say.....real close to the actual IM questions!!

Are you talking about MKSAP 2 for med student or the MKSP 12/13 for residents?

Thanks!

Spang

I used the MKASP for students. I will post my results as soon as I receive them. I will wait till then to offer advice as where I could have improved/changed things. As you can see by the post by bldsaver, life is like a box of chocolates....... you never know whatcha gonna get! :D

was it me or was the 148 questions put out by USMLE way too easy? Much easier that the Q bank?

You are 100% correct about the USMLE questions. I did those questions the night before STEP 2 . Lets just say, I went to bed feeling like a king!! I woke up the morning after next feeling like a Piece of SHEEEEET. There must be a good reason why they are "released".

Thanks for this thread, it's very helpful! How/ where do you get MKSAP? I'm tackling the Step 2 beast in September....

There are a few on EBAY now and they also have them at amazon.com

Just finished my step2....
i must say it was a lot harder than either qbank or the released but much more like qbank than any questions.
I did the lecture series and qbank questions.
I had quite of neuro questions (where is the lesion), i had 4 EKGs, two stats questions (specificity/sens), tons of trauma (know your trauma or else ya mama!), a few breast CA what to do next, and just questions i had no idea what the answer was.
Qbank doesn't prepare you for the A-M questions where they give you 2 questions and have to choose the same answer choices. That you'll have to get practice from the released. And they aren't at the end liked the released. They threw them throughout the exam. I thought those were a bit easier though.
My exam started hard but got easier as i took it. Not sure if it is because i got warmed up, but i swear it seemed like it got easier ( mebbe because i got them wrong hehe)
I'm glad it is over with and now i can relax a bit until my electives. Good luck all!

Also finished step 2 yesterday.

Glad its over, but kinda curious about the score. It didn't seem to be THAT bad, granted some ? were just way out there. Secrets and Crush step 2 nailed a lot of questions (hopefully, what they said is what I answered). I had a lot of psych ?, conduct disorder, schizophrenia , phreniform, oid.... I had a couple of very specific ? on which drug should you use... and they were of course psych. They all look the same to me. :D

Other than that, I say mine was very well balanced. Now just to wait that 6 weeks.... :sleep: :sleep:

amy,

I ordered my copy off the acp website. If they don't have the book in your uni bookstore, then that would be the best bet to look since the book is published by acp. ;)

first of all, thanks to all that posted and congrats on finishing! :love:

did any of you use the kaplan center prep with the videos or the live prep? the kaplan peeps at our school are really trying to press us to get this as third years. :rolleyes: i really don't think there will be the time in third year to sit down and watch videos for hours when one has the option on those rare days off to have a semblence of a normal life. is kaplan merely a greedy, money making machine? any opinions would be appreciated.

finally, for those that used step 2 ck qbank, did a qbook come with your 1 month subscription or did you have to buy the qbook separately? thanks so much!

Swaydaa congrats on getting step 2 overwith. Is the score reporting the same as step 1 (~6 weeks?). Good luck!
M.

3 weeks and 6 days from my test date until the Dean's office called me my results. I don't have the score report in hand yet, so I don't know the mean and standard deviation yet, but I scored over 240 :D .

My study concentrated on USMLE secrets, boards and wards and Q-bank (Kaplan). I know a lot of people didn't like Q-bank for Step 2 but it worked well for me. I did all the questions and repeats until all questions were answered correctly. My Kaplan scores ranged from high 80-90's in OB and psych to high 60's to 70's on medicine and psych (these are the scores without the repeat questions). I really think it is imperative if you are going to get the full benefit to go back and review the questions you missed. I would generally jot down a short note on the missed questions and then went back and reviewed this a few days before the big day.

3 weeks and 6 days from my test date until the Dean's office called me my results. I don't have the score report in hand yet, so I don't know the mean and standard deviation yet, but I scored over 240 :D .


Congrats on the awesome score! :D

so I don't know the mean and standard deviation yet,

mean = 216
std dev = 23
pass = 182

pretty big jump in mean - about 2-3 months ago it was 212
of course it could change later in the year again

first of all, thanks to all that posted and congrats on finishing! :love:

did any of you use the kaplan center prep with the videos or the live prep? the kaplan peeps at our school are really trying to press us to get this as third years. :rolleyes: i really don't think there will be the time in third year to sit down and watch videos for hours when one has the option on those rare days off to have a semblence of a normal life. is kaplan merely a greedy, money making machine? any opinions would be appreciated.

finally, for those that used step 2 ck qbank, did a qbook come with your 1 month subscription or did you have to buy the qbook separately? thanks so much!

the lectures...hrm..don't think it is necessary but would help when you study before the step 2. As for the lecture books, they are great during rotations and i mostly used those as my study aids for the shelf exams. You may want to use other sources to get more info, but i thought they were pretty inclusive.
The month of qbank does NOT include the qbook. try and find it on ebay.

Just finished Step 2 Saturday. Would like to echo the advice given previously. After taking the test I am happy with my stategy.

Crush / B & W's / QBank / NMS

Qbank was very much like the real deal. I feel that the real one was tougher, but very comparable. It helps you relax when the format on the screen is exactly like what you have been staring at for two weeks. Length and type of questions, lab values, etc were dead on.

The eight blocks were rough. Take some coffee. Felt like Step I in that most of the questions I didn't know (quite a few) I wouldn't have known no matter how much time I spent studying. Crush and Qbank will get you passed and a good score, but an excellent score depends just on how test savvy you are (ala Step I).

Overall, I was pleased with this strategy (that many others layed out for me on this forum). I guess we'll just wait to see how my score turns out.

BTW, it feels great to have that dark cloud removed from my head. Glad I knocked Step II out early. Maybe I can focus on learning for the sake of learning rather than learning with a test looming.

I just got home from taking Step II. Damn, that thing was long. While I finished about 1 1/2 hours early, I still had to push myself through that last block.

I did QBank (most of it, anyway) and B&W. That's about all I could stand. I'm still burned out from studying so much for Step I. I'm pretty clear THAT didn't help much so I figured I'd try the minimalist approach this time. I doubt it made much of a difference. I'm pretty sure I past and did roughly what I did for step I. Not great, but good enough (I hope).

I thought QBank was a pretty good approximation of the real thing, although the real thing didn't have as many questions where I was screaming "NO, you idiot!". QBank's approach to ACLS drove me crazy (they confuse symptomatic VT and pulseless VT...repeatedly!) but the real test did a good job on these.

I also had a ton of OB/GYN questions. Also, lots of pscyhiatry and pediatrics; fair amounts of trauma, not so much congenital immune deficiency (thank GOD!), not much oncology.

I'd recommend looking at the actual question first, then glancing at the choices and then, if necessary, reading the dissertation above the question. There were many questions where, after three paragraphs of text and tons of lab values, the actual question then says "the patient has condition X", what should you do?

I had two 12 lead ECGs, several pictures and XRays and a couple of graphs. These were all well done, clear and easy to see (even if I didn't know what I was seeing).

Well, that's about all I can remember. Time for a nap. Unfortunately, I'll probably have a nightmare about my check bouncing for II CS. :)

Take care,
Jeff

I just got done talking with 2 guys who had different types of questions than me. Although, the one common theme with all of us was....TRAUMA!! It seems to always be there.

And after looking at the many posts...you can tell it's a lot of info to cover. I do like that we have a running thread with topics covered! :D

But....I still stand firm in the fact that I was shocked at my # of sugery questions (2-3) I guess I'm still a litte sore that I spent the last 5 days studying surgery!

what does everyone think of the NMS questions vs. the real USMLE step II questions?

Did any of you guys did USMLEworld? I heard their questions are a lot more similar to the real things in term of difficulty. What do you think?

Hear NMS is good, not sure about USMLEworld? I did find out that I passed today. Did that old trick of trying to register for step 2. So, I'm slightly relieved. Hear it takes another 3-4 days after the "trick" to get the actual score....can't wait much longer! So, it took exactly 4 weeks to get the grade reported and the results sent out.

When i tried registering again for the step 2 it says that
"An open Step 2 CK registration already exists. Try again"
Does that mean i passed or am i just giving myself false hopes ;)

I believe your reply means the scores are not in yet. When I tried it before today it said "you have already registered for this exam". When I did it today it said "Our records indicate that you have already passed this Step or the equivalent NBME? Part. The USMLE Policy on Reexamination generally does not allow applicants to retake a Step examination if they have already passed that Step or the equivalent NBME Part".

Took step 2 today...I'll echo nearly everyone's sentiment here in saying that it was loooong. When you were done reading over a nice two-paragraph question, there was a three paragraph question right after it. And when there was a nice one-sentence question, it turned out to be tougher than the longer questions.

It seemed to me the majority of questions dealt with management and most likely's. What surprised me was the number of pathophysiology/etiology questions (i.e. Step 1 stuff), as well as risk factors and "what is this person at greatest risk for with this disease" questions I ran into. It felt like there were between four to six of those types of questions every block. The ethics questions were tough as well...you could narrow it down to the best two and then make your gut call.

Personally, I felt like I definitively knew 1/3rd of the answers, sorta knew 1/3rd, and took a best guess on the final 1/3rd. I definitely had to fight through mental fatigue on the last three blocks. As far as what I studied, here in order is what I thought helped most:

1. Step 2 secrets/Mock Exam
2. Qbank/Qbook
3. Pretest Clinical Vignettes Step 2
4. Boards and Wards
5. Combo of First Aid Step 2/Cracking the Boards/Platinum Vignettes

I wish I could correlate this with a score, but I don't have a firm feel of how I did (I think many other people taking the same exam could have done as well or better). I'm glad I took it when I did and felt ready to take it. As for being really happy or regretting the decision to take it relatively early, I won't know for another 3+ weeks. Good luck everyone.

hey puffy, congratulations on getting through that beast! thanks for the great post. were there any areas of focus on your exam? ie. did you have a ton of ob/gyn etc. i have a couple of days left and am trying to direct my studying. i am especially weak in cardio and am hoping there isnt a ton on there :eek:

Hello all,

I just took Step II today...and since Im a DO student I get to take COMLEX on Tues-Wed this upcoming week! FUN FUN!

Anyway...here are my 2 cents:

I agree with everyone, extremely loooong. I kept trying to make it through. Step I for some reason seemed a lot shorter.
1. Lots of OB/GYN questions, either pregnancy conditions, ie how to prevent neonatal infx, etc and also what to do next, ie bad pap smear.
2. Lots of ID questions, which antibiotic to give.
3. Lots of questions on congen heart defects--with assoc murmurs.
4. Vaccine ?s-what to give, what not to give.
5. Weird psych questions---and I really thought I had psych DOWN! Apparently not.
6. Anemias.....
7. I had a couple of questions giving info on lab data from thoracentesis/paracentesis...and what they had...??!?! I apparently did not spend enough time memorizing exactly what the ratio had to be to be a transudate vs. exudate, etc.

That's about all I can remember. Oh...one pet peeve. When you show up take your NINE hour exam and there are people there taking the CPA exam or something and you're all sitting in the waiting room and theyre talking about how horrible an dlong the test is goin gto be----a whole 2 hours!!!

there was some guy getting his certification in computing and he took a whole 1 hour!

I'm a DO and was wondering if you take USMLE step 2, do you have to take the clinical skills part for USMLE too, or is that separate? In other words, can you take the written for USMLE and both written and clinical skills for the COMLEX?

As a DO, you don't have to take the allopathic CSA only the DO CSA. Remember, you are not taking the USMLE for licensure, but rather to give the PD's a better way of comparing you to MD students.

I just took the USMLE step 2 and I can definitely attest to the length of the exam. I needed to take a break after each block. Be very careful of your time limit during the blocks. When I was taking Q bank, I would finish with 10 -20 minutes left. I just barely finished the first and last blocks yesterday. It gets very stressful, when you have 10 questions left and only 10 min's on the clock, so use your time accordingly.

As far as content, there was a ton of OB/GYN, Peds, and of course medicine. Surprisingly, I had a lot of surgery on my exam, which is a departure from what other students have said. I expecially had a lot of trauma, so make sure you know your stuff.

Ob emphasized management of vaginal bleeding during pregnancy, arrest of descent/dilatation, etc.. Know how to determine these and know your normal durations of each facet of labor, (ex. active phase 1.2 cm prima vs. 1.5 cm multi/hr).

Gyn emphasized bleeding, amenorrhea, cancer, vaginosis,etc..

Medicine everything you can think about

Peds - know congenital cardiac problems, immunizations, a lot of congenital immune deficiency (brutons, IgA, SCID, etc.)

Psych - a lot of questions on this exam, bipolar was emphasized (I HOPE), depression, tx, etc. Make sure you know your psych pretty well.

Surgery - a lot of management of biliary problems and know your TRAUMA cold!!!

As far as how I was scoring on q-bank, I finished all the questions with an average of 76. My weakest points were in peds and surgery, which was emphasized in my exam of course.

I used kaplan notes, first aid, b's & w's, and crush step 2 along with qbank and nms.

Qbank was right on and in fact I remember exact questions that were asked on qbank and the real exam. NMS q's were too short for the most part and I found them easier.

As far as how I feel about the exam, I couldn't judge very well. I feel like I passed the exam, but I don't feel like I did well. I felt that way about the COMLEX last year and ended up with a 93%, which I was very happy about. I hope the same happens this year!!!!!

Well, now I get to study OMM for a grueling 2 days (800 questions) of the COMLEX on tuesday and wednesday. I really wish the NBOME would get their head out of their rumps and make a computerized one day exam, this is ridiculous. I was so burnt after yesterday, I can only imagine how I am going to feel after 2 days of filling in scantron bubbles!!!!

Good luck to all!

grandmasterb:

For my exam, I think the breakdown was 45% medicine, 20% peds, 15% ob/gyn, 10% surgery, 5% psych and 5% biostats/ethics/basic sciences. To tell you the truth, all of the questions seemed like a big blur after about the third block.

What I found interesting was the number of questions that dealt with the same diagnosis...I think I had about three or four different questions with the answer involving aortic dissection (at least I think it was aortic dissection). I had about two or three ekgs the entire test. The cardio questions averaged about two to three per block, and most dealt with a clinical scenario and "What is the most likely diagnosis" or "Next appropriate step".

If you've read Step 2 secrets already, you may want to flip through Brochert's Mock Exam and do some of his questions. I felt it summed up the important parts of his book, and he forces you to think about "next appropriate step" type questions.

Good luck, and take as many breaks as you can.

Thanks Puffy! I'm really excited we started this thread. A good source of step 2 questions. GOOD LUCK! :thumbup:

From multiple posts including mine, your results should be posted in 4 weeks with scores arriving in the mail 3 or 4 days later.

jf, great great feedback.. a question to Puffy, can you please inform me if Mock covers the questions and topics that were asked directly or indirectly on the real deal.. I plan on going through the questions and explanations in that book - Mock, I feel that for the most part it is a basic book, but I like the twist , the occasional negatively phrased questions.. those make you think a little... Secrets I cannot really feel as of yet.. I mean questions and then the answer right in front of you.. I like the suspense of checking my scores and answers.. so anyways can you please please tell me if you think that Mock was good? I think that Qbank and USMLE World were good assessments and learning tools, but how good is Mock, not as an assessment, but as a learning tool.. I mean are the explanations on the
$$$.. I know what youre probably thinking.. you are thinking that no question book out there really sums up what is actually on the exam.. but do the explanations in Mock at least hit the hy points.. thanks so much.. and I wish you a great score.. and if anyone else knows please do let me know as well!

man I just gotta say.. this sure became one amaazing Step II thread!!!! :D

It's hard for me to say if there were similar questions between Mock and the real deal. What I will say is that the Mock exam makes you think about other things that you wouldn't ordinarily think of. How many questions on the Mock showed up on my test? Probably very few, if any. But Secrets and Mock got me thinking beyond diagnosis and treatment, and got me paying attention to more things like next steps, things to order, what not to do, etc.

Let me say that the Mock exam is the Secrets book in question format, just like Crush Step 2 is the Secrets book in outline format. If I had to choose between one or the other, I'd pick Secrets first. The most helpful thing in the Mock exam isn't the clinical vignettes questions...it's the "most common and most likely" questions, because you're going to get hammered on Step 2 with those.

Of course, you have to have a good knowledge base (which, if you've gotten this far in medical school, you probably already have). I can't sit here and say "just do Secrets and Mock and you'll do fine". It's hard to come up with the next step in management if you don't know what you're dealing with in the first place. For knowledge base, I mainly did questions. I have a rule of threes...three different text sources, three different question sources; that way I won't get too comfortable with one publisher's style. For text, I did Secrets (hanley and belfus), Boards and Wards (blackwell), and a little First Aid (mcgraw-hill). For questions, I did Kaplan Qbank/book, Mock exam and Pretest Clinical Vignettes (which is simply 400 of the 'best of' questions in the Pretest series).

So what am I saying? You're way is probably the best way, my word isn't the gospel, and you will do great on the test if you put enough time into it.

I took the exam on Friday, and to prepare I did NMS questions, followed by going through all the answer summaries and correlating them with Crush, and then going through Crush on its own a couple of times, along with OB/GYN and Peds Blueprints, and then I also did the downloaded questions from the NBME website (which were way way way too easy!) If I actually got asked any question of that level on the uSMLE I would have jumped out of my seat with joy (obviously I didnt!).

Anyway good luck to everyone! I still feel like I got hit by a truck after being hunched over the computer for nine hours.

any advice on what a reasonable score for the mock exams are? i would like to do well on step 2. i am getting an average of 72% on the mock exams. i haven't put really any work into it yet, and i think that 72% feels pretty decent, but i was hoping for some input from others.

thanks.

Got my scores in the mail today. I was above average. I'm just glad the wait is over. A huge weight has been lifted. Now I can focus on which programs I need to apply.

What I used:

1. Started out with Crush the Boards- very good review, would use again
2. Started using Q-bank at the same time(used the entire time while reading other sources). Finished about 71%- an absolute must use! As, I stated before it was not as detailed, but It covered EVERY topic.
3. I Read all the blueprint series after I finished crush- good books were peds (AWESOME), OBGYN (AWESOME), NEURO, and Emergency Medicine. internal medicine & Family practice were terrible...my two lowest areas were IM and preventitive medicine. Wish I had chosen something else for those areas.
4. Surgery recall- awesome, but had very few surgery questions.
5. Finished with boards and wards- very good review.

What I would change:

1. Study more Often! I'm the type of person who does 3-4 hours a day period. I just feel shot after 3 -4 hours. Also study without interuption
2. Wish I Tried the NMBE questions...many people do these, I didnt. NMBE is an extra 400 questions and from what I hear closely predicts your score.
3. Wish I Found a good IM and FP book to read..dont get me wrong, I know a 229 is not too shabby, but I credit that to B&W's, QBANK, and Crush. Once again, do not waste your time with IM or FP blueprints. I must also mention again that PEDS and OBGYN for bluprints are GOLDEN. I scored really well on both (from the score report on back) and I really struggled in those areas during my clerkship.

Thanks for all the posts!!


Make sure you post your results, what you used, and how you feel about your studies!

BUMP me baby, one more time! :horns:

Qbank doesn't prepare you for the A-M questions where they give you 2 questions and have to choose the same answer choices. That you'll have to get practice from the released. And they aren't at the end liked the released. They threw them throughout the exam. I thought those were a bit easier though.

What are A-M questions?

what i mean were the choices were A to M ...(lots of choices)

Man, i just went back to the NBME site now and it is letting me go all the way to the credit card without stopping now...
geez...kinda scaring me now

smellycat-

i was trying to check the nbme website too for step 2 and got all the way to the credit card screen (i'm freaking out in the process) so on a whim i decided to try and apply for step 1 (since i knew i'd passed it) and the EXACT same thing happened. you must have to try and actually pay for it to see if you've passed. anyone else know how this "trick" plays out?

I was also reading on some old posts that other people were freaked out about not passing because they were able to do the whole process, but they ended up passing...
I'm not sure how "reassuring" this "trick" is.

my test: ob, rheum, surgery (not just trauma), psych, endo (not in that order)my stupid girlfriend told me not to study endo and rheum- arrgh!

my test: ob, rheum, surgery (not just trauma), psych, endo (not in that order)

thanks Gmaster!

There was a post on another thread about fetal heart tracings....I wanted to post it here because It jogged my memory. I do remember having 2 fetal heart tracings. One was an early Decel and another was late decel.....make sure you know what the tracings look like and what they are asociated with.....you will probably have at least one of these tracings.

well it looks like my scores were sent out...sigh...hope i did well :|
i tried that thing again and it let me go all the way to the credit card...so i stopped
tried it for step 1 which i passed and it did the same thing... so i guess the "trick" doesn't work for me...
signing up for the stupid cs now. wish me luck!

smellycat... your school can check your scores online for you. they get released every Wednesday to your education office via internet and then sent out snail mail.

thanks undecided...i will give them a call

I took Step 2 yesterday. I thought it was easier than Step 1 in that there were more questions that I felt confident I had right. There were still MANY I did not know, however. It was heavily weighted in the following specialties:

Ob Gyn (TONS of it, like every third question)
Neuro (where's the lesion; which blood vessel blocked)
Trauma (lots of aortic dissection)
Peds
Rheum
Derm

There were fewer good 'ol internal medicine questions than I expected. I had two EKGs, one CXR, several pictures of skin lesions and one path slide (it was skin, but I have no idea what the pathology was). The statistics were very straight forward: sensitivity, PPV, and bias.

Good luck to all who are still studying!! :)

kdoc2005

I just took Step 2 on Thursday - I also had very heavy OB/Gyn and Neuro - and although I didn't have the same feeling of doom and gloom as when I walked out of Step 1 last year, there were still LOTS of questions that I didn't feel confident about my answer choice (always down to 2 answers and then it feels like you could go either way). What really killed me was the length - there were times during the exam when I would actually catch myself drifting away (meanwhile the timer is tick, tick, ticking away), and by the end of the last block I just wanted to get outta there, no matter what. Well I'm thankful that's over, now I just have to deal with that annoying (not to mention costly) Step II CS. Speaking of being costly, if that Step IICS isn't a classic hustle, then I don't know what is!

Just took step two yesterday.

That is one long test! Armed with plenty of coffee, I still found myself drifting toward the end of some sections. I thought the test was fair overall, I felt like I new for sure about 60%, almost certain 20&, educated guessed, 10-15%, and 5-10% were out there. I had a much better feeling after step 2 than step 1. I used Secrets, Advanced Life Support for Step 2, and some other books only for reference when those were too brief. I felt like Qbank was my most valuable tool for prep. We'll find out in a couple of weeks how these things really worked, but I felt like that combo was just right, of course Crush could be substituted for learning style. I started NMS, but some of those questions got ridiculous. On the test there were certainly things that I didn't know, and am not sure where I would have found them. Here's a brief rundown of some of the test.

1. Echo; lots of ob/gyn, esp. abdominal pain during pregnancy, ddx of lower abdominal pain ie. PID, TOA, torsion (three times, I think).
2. Acid/Base/Electrolytes were huge on my test. 3-4 questions on post surg. elec, ie. drains from every orifice, why is bicarb up. lots of ABG interp.
3. Couple of nutrition questions I didn't expect. just looked up one that I guessed right- Papilledema on exam in girl taking lots of supplements, which one caused it. Vit A- pseudotumor cerebri. (y'all probably knew that though). Had one about nutritional requirements of someone with nephropathy.
4. Screening. Pt comes in for routine exam, what screening do you do, when do you start screening etc. Sometimes all the obvious ones weren't there. ie. a couple of times when I was thinking PAP it wasn't available, and I guessed Chlamydia.
5. Of course SOB, Abdominal pain were HUGE!
6. Couple of EKG's ie. 2 pictures of EKG's, and a couple of buzz words like sine wave or inverted T wave.
7. Had several X-rays, chest, fractures, avascular necrosis, and a couple more I can't remember right now.

Not present as much as I thought.
1. Peds milestones guess age (none) was big on qbank
2. rheum- although some gimmies, SLE, and different markers ie. anti-etc,etc
3. Onc

Professions I don't envy after step 2
1. EM
2. Ob/gyn
3. Crit care
4. Peds
5. Family

I thought that questions and answer choices were much more straight forward than qbank, I recommend doing as many as possible, and when you see some weird derm disease or something you've never heard of, and they ask you the mechanism of the disease, don't sweat it too much. Overall a very valuable resource and the presentation, from font to screen colors are EXACTLY like the real thing.

Good luck to everyone taking the test!

Seacrest OUT!!

thats a great great feedback!!! I wish you the best score.. can you please tell me approximately what were youre qbank scores around right before going into the exam.. also did you do any other assessments, like the Kaplan CD, or the released items, or the NBME CCSSA questions? thanks so much! :cool:

thanks for the feedback...i'm up on monday...i'll do a write up after that...later

that trick never worked for me either. i got my scores on wednesday though, the deans office wrote me an email with them. got a 238/96! it's nice that all that hard work and actually paying attention on the wards paid off! i guess people might want to know what i studied since that seems to be what people put down when they tell their scores (i don't post that much) :)

i studied for a total of about 3 weeks and did the following:

read boards and wards twice

secrets twice

first aid once (not really worth it)

did all the nms questions (scored anywhere from 60% to 75% on the tests)-these are hard questions...don't get discouraged

took an nbme self assessment exam (got a 450 i think)--these questions are extremely similar to what is on the test and i know for sure that at least 2 or maybe 3 questions were on my test verbatim.

i did not do qbank-from step 1 studying i thought it was sub-par and too easy compared to the real thing-just my opinion

my step 2 was weird, the majority was psych and neuro, good amount of medicine, peds (esp. peds immunology), and ob-gyn, and a fair amount of immunology. not much surgery, oncology, endocrine, or hematology. questions were mostly of the what is the next best step in management, or what test would be diagnostic, etc. the a-m questions were soooo straightforward and were a nice confidence booster.

i hope this helps future test takers! good luck to all, only 6 and a half months until we match!!!! :D

take care all,
andrea

hey everyone-


quick question. did any of you all get the boot leg version of the kaplan videos? I have heard now kaplan has updated them so i wonder if there are drastic changes? and/or did you use the blue covered kaplan lecture notes? I was told kaplan updated the lecture notes to orange covered ones. are the changes drastic/important?

i dont have these yet, but saw ads for them and were wondering if they'd be worth it since i could save some $$$$$$$$.

thanks

To answer the previous questions about what to study...

I read Boards and Wards twice, Secrets twice, and did the NMS question book. I did some questions on Kaplan Qbank, but thought NMS was harder, so stuck with that as my primary question source. My percentages were around 70-75% in NMS and 85% on Qbank. I studied for about 2 1/2 weeks, 10 hours per day.

On the real exam, the questions were more like NMS than Qbank, (e.g., often second and third order rather than just IDing the diagnosis.) There were a couple topics on the exam that were random zebras that I only learned from reading B&W.

Hope that helps!

kdoc2005 :luck:

bump

Congrats to everyone who not only passed but seemed to do quite well. Thanks for all the advice!

When are you taking your test? I'm glad I got mine out of the way (along with Step 2 CS)!

When are you taking your test? I'm glad I got mine out of the way (along with Step 2 CS)!

Yeah, I just took step 2 CS last week. It's pretty darn easy. No hard cases. straight forward. You start the day with about 30 minutes of orientation then you see 5 patients in a row...everyone stands in front of a door and you go in when prompted. You interview patient, do a FOCUSED exam and leave the room. Then you write your note. After the 5 patients you take a 30 minute lunch break. The facility provided a free lunch. Then you see 4 more patients. Then you get a 15 minute break. Then you see 3 more and your done. It's not like CK where your allowed to leave or study. They lock you in the "test" area all day. Good Luck!!

Yeah, I just took step 2 CS last week. It's pretty darn easy. No hard cases. straight forward. You start the day with about 30 minutes of orientation then you see 5 patients in a row...everyone stands in front of a door and you go in when prompted. You interview patient, do a FOCUSED exam and leave the room. Then you write your note. After the 5 patients you take a 30 minute lunch break. The facility provided a free lunch. Then you see 4 more patients. Then you get a 15 minute break. Then you see 3 more and your done. It's not like CK where your allowed to leave or study. They lock you in the "test" area all day. Good Luck!!

I agree. I also took it recently (June 25th, in LA), and found it remarkably similar to the clinical skills tests that we had here in our med school. Then again, I found out a few months ago that we were actually one of the "pilot" programs that the USMLE was using to test out clinical skills scenarios, so that may have had something to do with it.

Has anyone had any 'stage this cancer' questions on their exam? I hate that stuff.

The facility provided a free lunch.

Ha! "Free" lunch. You get a free meal for only $1000. :laugh:

Ha! "Free" lunch. You get a free meal for only $1000. :laugh:


Yeah that was pretty stupid of me to say!!

I had no staging of cancer in CK or CS....Thank GOD!

hi

hope u r going to score well in step 2 as well. have u done any pretest series or blueprint series for step 2. i am taking step 2. idf u have this material i want to buy it


FONT=Arial]undefined[/FONT]Hey guys just took step 2 today. I hope this is legal?? I scored a 230 on Step 1 and I thought it was a little tougher. You will probably hear many more people say it was easier, so take my statement with a grain of salt!

1. I had no less than 20 questions (yes 20) on amenorrhea (all types), womans fertility, and womens endocrine......CANT STAND THAT CRAP!! What sucked the most is they ALL stated...the mans sperm count was good....I was waiting for one of those. Had many OB questions (35-40) I was pleased at that...I like OB

2. I had about 10 questions on congenital heart defects...know the blood gases and symptoms that go with each (I hate that crap). One associated with an XRAY. They don't give the "classical" buzzwords.

3. I finished my last 5 days of studying with surgery.....cant even recall 2-3 freakin pure surgery questions....what a total waste time (in my opinion).

4. about 40-50 questions concerning what test you would do next.

5. I consider myself pretty darn good at reading EKG's and recognizing dysrythmias....NOT A Single rhythm strip or EKG....damn. I did have a question that stated the patient had peaked T-waves.

6. I had exactly 5 questions on epi/stats. sensitivity, PPV, NPV, power....ONE asking about relative risk. Do a quick run through on doing the math for these things...I thought I was good, but I proved to be a little rusty (spent 4-5 minutes on one question trying to figure out where to put the numbers).

7. Had a good number of trauma questions...definatley worth a little extra time.

8. I was lucky mine did not have a bunch of DERM...I was scoring mid to low 60's on Q-bank for DERM. As a whole, I thought the Q-bank was good/OK for step 2. It was nowhere close to being as detailed as the actual test....but It does cover all the topics. MKASP was pretty darn good I must say.....real close to the actual IM questions!!

9. I hear the test bank has over 10,000 questions. I only had 376 questions, so everyones test may be totally different.

10. The test was freakin looooooooooooong as hell. 9 HOURS. the last block and half I was shot. My eyes were the only thing holding me to the computor...the rest of my body was FALLING AWAYYYYYYYYYYy. Get some good rest. Lot tougher than step 1 concerning getting through and reading the page long question with labs.

11. About 4 to 5 questions on acid base with the actual blood gas in the question...pure respiratory, compensated, etc.

12. OB/GYN blueprints in my opinion is the absolute gold standard for USMLE step 2. Best of the bluprints series. Pediactric blueprints follows OB at a close second. I thought internal medicine blueprints stunk like Sh-t for the exam. I wil post my results when I receive them and then offer my study plan if it worked???


Thanks for listening...just had to get it off my back. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE. I hope you do well. :)

Anyone ELSE please feel free to add your experience!!!!

I have already sold all my items on Amazon. Good luck to you

hey guys, i have been contributing to this post- and put some foci of my step 2 on this thread- and my study plan on the big step 1 thread- so i thought i would share my results 267.

congrats... all I ended up with was 244... Man I feel dumb now

hey guys, i have been contributing to this post- and put some foci of my step 2 on this thread- and my study plan on the big step 1 thread- so i thought i would share my results (please don't flame me)- 267.


CAN you say....PICK YOUR residency? Sweet. Nice Job. The applicants to this years match who are scoring above 240 (in my field) are getting all the early interview choices at this point.

I posted what I studied and how I approached step 2, and I wanted to update y'all on the proceedings. I did better than I did on Step 1 by 17 points! I'm happy/relieved that I approached things the way they did...now I won't have those 368 or however many questions there are hanging over my head. Now I can stress out over residency applications, interviews and whether or not I'll get to do what I want to do.

strong work grandmasterb.

Got'em from my deans office-249!
I posted what I studied earlier but a brief review:
Secrets 1 and 1/2 times
Advanced life support for step 2 twice
Qbank did about 60% of questions scoring about 75-80% (did all OB/GYN thank goodness)
First Aid for derm pics and Tx but not much else- too detailed in my opinion

good luck to all

Got'em from my deans office-249!
I posted what I studied earlier but a brief review:
Secrets 1 and 1/2 times
Advanced life support for step 2 twice
Qbank did about 60% of questions scoring about 75-80% (did all OB/GYN thank goodness)
First Aid for derm pics and Tx but not much else- too detailed in my opinion

good luck to all

Awesome score caedmon...looking good for the match. Good luck

wow the last few posts have been in the high 240s-250s. I just got mine back, a 217, and I feel like its the worst score ever now after seeing all of these scores!!!

wow the last few posts have been in the high 240s-250s. I just got mine back, a 217, and I feel like its the worst score ever now after seeing all of these scores!!!


Good score joaquin13. You did better than 50% of all other students....can't be the worst score. You will do fine with that score! :thumbup:

joaquin13...try not to feel bad about your score. #1, I'm not even sure how important a step 2 score is these days in obtaining a residency. #2, there are many people out there that would rather be in your position. #3, a score doesn't indicate what kind of doctor you're going to be or how successful you will become. Don't let it limit you from applying to the specialty/program of your choice.

This is one of the reasons why I hesitate to post things like scores because it does more harm than good in most cases. I rarely shared a numerical score when a classmate asked me how I did because I knew if I said it out loud, there might be someone who either didn't do as well or out-right failed the same exam who heard me and is now feeling like crapola.

Shocker! Got back to NY from an away rotation at Mayo today to find my Step 2 results hanging out of the mail box. Went up from a medicore 217/88 Step 1 to a 236/96 Step 2.
Used:
Crush - once through carefully
Qbank - all questions Avg 67%
B & W - here and there for brief review while watching TV
other than that payed attention and read fairly regularly during 3rd year rotations.


-B

Got my scores back - got a 244/99. Here's what I did:
One month to study - first two weeks during an easy rotation (where I could sometimes hide and study), last two weeks off
did First Aid for Step 2 - read it thoroughly once, wanted to go back but simply did not have the energy, it just doesn't read as well as First Aid for Step 1 (did use it for reference, though)
did one of the exams in NMS Step 2 question book
did the medicine exams in Appelton and Lange question book
did 92% of Q Bank - think I was averaging 75% at the end - the one thing that I did differently from Step 1 was to go over questions I got wrong - even though I recognized the question stem and answer choices some of the time, I still thought it helped to solidify things a great deal.
did Crush - read through it only once, but wish I had listened to people and picked it up sooner - nice high yield easy read
going to Philly to take Step 2CS tomorrow - I can't take this test-taking anymore - I soooooooooooo tired of it
Good luck to everybody

Congrats Bthings and jaluv!!! Those are awesome scores.

Don't sweat Step 2 CS at all. It was a joke. If you spent ANY time in a hospital and speak english there is no reason to worry.

I think we finally have a good thread that covers what to do for Step 2!!

OK - Just got my scores in the mail and I am ecstatic!

246/99

I had about 2 weeks. I did all of Kaplan Q-bankwith an average score of 74%, I bought USMLE world for a month, but ended up not using it too much, because I didn't find it to be very high yield. I also read/skimmed First Aid as a refresher for some big topics, but in retrospect, Kaplan Q-bank was more than adequate test prep (in addition to working my tail off during 3rd year)

congrats carol ann, could you please let us know how many questions you did from usmleworld and what your percentage was. I have read your previous posts about usmleworld and I agree with you. Unfortunately I don't have time for kaplan.

congrats carol ann, could you please let us know how many questions you did from usmleworld and what your percentage was. I have read your previous posts about usmleworld and I agree with you. Unfortunately I don't have time for kaplan.

I don't know how many USMLE world questions I did -- but I'd guess around 400-500, I think I averaged in the low 60s for percentile...but I stopped doing them in favor of finishing off Kaplan x1

Most people have noted to know "trauma" cold. Does anyone have a high-yield reference that they recommend?

Thanks.

question...how long did it take everyone to get their scores....3-4 weeks ?
thanks in advance

question...how long did it take everyone to get their scores....3-4 weeks ?
thanks in advance

Yep..about 4 weeks

has anyone who took the exam on/after sept 24 gotten their scores back yet?

has anyone who took the exam on/after sept 24 gotten their scores back yet?
nope, I am even later than that...28th... so dont worry relax... my oasis should be up hopefully soon...
GL!

Took mine last week.

I have to say my test had very little trauma on it. There was probably one q along the vein of:

A: Keep airways open and give fluids.
B: Consult a specialist
C: Send patient home.
D: Assurance.

Peds was the big topic for me. Oh well, it's different for everyone.

Good Luck to those who still have to tackle that beast.

Can someone explain to me what this "Oasis" is?

Can someone explain to me what this "Oasis" is?

It's the document tracking system. You can look to see if you passed, but it will not report your score.

https://external1.nbme.org/ciw/servlet/candidate_menu

You enter your information. If you can't register for the test, you will get a message saying either you are ineligible (i.e., they haven't scored your test yet) or that you "completed" the test (i.e., you passed). If you can register for the test, this means you failed.

Incidentally, I took the Step 2-CK on 9/17 and I just got my score report today. I passed and did okay, but not nearly as well as I did on Step 1. That's all I'm going to say. OB/Gyn and Surgery kicked my ass. Don't blow these off (like I did).

-Skip

Congrats on passing Skip. Sorry about sugery. I could not remember any more than 5 surgery questions in my entire exam. I studied my last 5 days only on surgery and was so pissed I waisted all that time.

Anyway, your one step closer to the M.D.

Good luck with your interviews.

Sorry about sugery. I could not remember any more than 5 surgery questions in my entire exam.

That's the curious thing. I can't either. But, what they must have considered "surgery" questions, I thought was something else. Either way, I still did "average" on the test, but just a bit disappointed in comparison with my Step 1 score. Generally speaking, most people I've talked to have their score go up, not down, on Step 2.

Anyway.

Good luck with your interviews.

Thanks. You too.

-Skip

It appears the score reports until sept 24th have been sent out. I think you can get them from your dean's office if you call.

I took my Step 2 September 27th and the USMLE website says my score was reported today.

Took mine on sept 24th and was reported today as well.

Took mine on sept 24th and was reported today as well.

grrrrr :mad: :mad: Dont know what happened but my dean's office didnt get any yesterday and now I have to wait till next wednesday. :mad:

I'm a 3rd yr student and was just curious as to how long you guys studied for? Do people typically take a month off (i.e. July or August) to study? Also, does anyone recommend getting the Kaplan books to study from or is blueprints sufficient? Thanks!

I took Step 2 on Sept 24 and got my score from my Dean's office yesterday too...

I studied for about a month (I took an easy rotation that month).

just out of curiosity, maya... how long did you study(i.e. hours/day) and what did you study? thanks

I wanted to ask that too Tiffan (thanks). Also, when you guys say you studied while taking an "easy elective" what electives were you referring to?

I took an independent anatomy study month so I had pretty much all day to study. I went to the library in the morning, took a break for lunch, then studied until dinner. A couple of my friends were also studying for Step 2 at that time so we tried to motivate each other.

I mostly focused on Crush, NMS, QBank, and QBook. I also used Prescription for the Boards and First Aid. I tried to do as many questions as I could because I like the question-answer format to assess what I had read in the review books.

I'm sure you've already heard this before, but I think the best prep is to work hard during your 3rd year (we had to take shelf exams after each rotation) so that when you're studying for Step 2, it is more review of stuff you learned previously.

Just my two cents...but hope this helps! If you have any questions, let me know!

What did you do during your anatomy independent study? Was it classes you had or research? Thanks so much for sharing!

what were you guys average qbank scores?

grrrrr :mad: :mad: Dont know what happened but my dean's office didnt get any yesterday and now I have to wait till next wednesday. :mad:
so ...yeah my score was reported today, and my school is being a pain about releasing my scores.....oh well
oh yeah I took the test on Oct 1st
:o

so ...yeah my score was reported today, and my school is being a pain about releasing my scores.....oh well
oh yeah I took the test on Oct 1st
:o

Got my score today too, from my Dean's office. Took it Sept 30. :thumbup:

Got my score today too, from my Dean's office. Took it Sept 30. :thumbup:
ok...so I went to the deans office of the school that I'm doing an away rotation at, and picked up my score...and I'm really happy :)
I can actually sleep again......
what I used:
1)Crush X2
2)qbank---avg. score 70%
3)kaplan notes X1
4) Qbook
and alot of luck
-good luck to all
-peace

Just took the test on Friday....

First of all, there should be no blatant basic science questions on this test, but I had several questions asking me about what enzyme did something in glycogenolysis and another about microtubule function. These were not disguised in a vignette and left me wondering if I had slipped into a time warp and was actually taking Step 1.....

Second, there was some crazy hard questions on there. Stuff that you would have to be specialty specific to really know....I want to do ENT, so I was able to recognize stuff like malignant otitis externa and congenital cholesteatoma, but the questions weren't just diagnose, it was diagnose-treat-follow up, really ambigious and tough.

In addition, the test seemed to go from hard to harder. By the last block, the questions had gotten so ridiculous and I was completely exhausted.....But i didn't have the amount of trauma or obgyn that people did, mine was just generalized craziness.

So, to prepare....I would use secrets, boards and wards, and qbook/qbank. That should be all you really need to do well. I used qbook because it was portable and I get annoyed reading on a computer, but the questions in qbook were right on the money, some almost identical.

I agree that the test got harder and harder as the day went by.....It was a monster!

just took the test today...

thought it started out nice...then during the last four sections it snowballed into a hella hard test...i even had the same stupid microtubule question...not sure what to make of it...i used crush, FA and B&W with qbank...but they didn't seem as helpful for the last four sections...hopefully it will all end in passing grade...although i expected more from what everyone else was saying...good luck to everyone else

I took the test on Friday. I did not have much time to study. (had to study after i got out of my rotation-around 4pm) I read all of first aid for step 2 and step 2 secrets. I did a couple of qbank tests. I did study hard for my cores and did 2 ob/gyn electives (gyn-onc and repro-endo). So I thought the ob/gyn questions were easy. I think the hard questions depends on what you like and what you don't like. (spend time studying the things you hate) I did have a few of the basic science questions on my test. I wouldn't re-study that stuff though, just hope you remember it enough to guess right. Be careful as the test drags on though because your brain and eyes can start to play tricks on you-I know i missed 2 questions on hypercalcemia tx because I was thinking hyperkalemia. Oh well. Talk to your friends about some of the hard questions they had. I had several of the same questions my roomate had. Thank you to everyone who has been writing in this post. I feel it helped me.

do you remember any of your hard questions?

not that these are "hard" per say, but they're questions i've heard about several times
-pregnant appendicitis-RUQ pain
-someone has hep c what do you do next-give hep a and hep b vaccines
-osteogenisis imperfecta-MOA behind ds-collagen disorder (good 'ol step1)
-tx for hypercalcemia
-tet spells in kids
-amenorrhea-as long as she is child bearing age do a preg test first-even if it seems obvious it's something else
-had a labor curve graft-very easy question if you had at least seen one before
-know your biostats study designs-case study, cross sectional design, etc easy points-read over them that morning. also if as soon as you go in to the test you write down the stupid formulas-sens, spec, PPV, etc then you don't have to think about the 5 or so questions you'll get about them-saves a ton of time-because you don't have to draw the chart each time.
-if smoking is a choice, probably the answer
-had 2 ekgs, but one of my friends said he had like 10.
-In uterine rupture the baby could have been at +2 station and now (after the rupture) is at -2 station-just remember baby is kind of "sucked out" of uterus a little bit
-had about 3-4 cardiac tamponade cases
-know your vitamins-everyone i talked to had a couple of these in each block
This is about all i can think of right now, i brain is trying to block out the test :)
the biggest tip i can give is DON'T CHANGE YOUR ANSWER!! your first instinct is usually correct

Have a great day

It took me exactly and I mean exactly 4 weeks to get my results back. My score wasnt as good as I hoped for but I suppose a 217 isnt that bad considering I never lifted a single book page for this test. I did do 5 days of Q-bank a friend let me have as her subscription lasted a few days after she took the test. It definately wasn't as bad as #1. It was long though infact I believe I feel asleep once. I agree with the above post "DO NOT CHANGE YOUR ANSWERS". I changed 6+ from right to wrong. Anyway after that test is over you have such a chilled feeling for the rest of 4th year.

My Step 2 score was reported this past Wednesday, but my school hasn't responded to two emails I sent them requesting my score. Argh!

I took the USMLE II in August, had scores back in four weeks. I was thrilled with my results. I thought the majority of the test was very straight forward. I found Blueprints to be very helpful in Peds and OB, as well as surgery.

My big topics:
LOTS of PCOS/amenorrhea/hirsute women
Lots of heme positive stool
Immunodeficiencies. More like for Step I, but very few questions on vaccinations.
STDs. STDs. STDs.
Hepatitis on the whole was, I though, big. Had a lot of questions like "kid goes to island for a month, comes back and sees you with jaundice/fever etc. How could this have been prevented? Immunization, condom, etc. Know your incubation and how you get hepatitis.

I thought this test covered a lot of basic stuff. My feeling was that the questions wanted you to recognize this patient.
good luck to anyone still taking.

Anybody know how to find out what the mean score is for Step 2 currently?

Anybody know how to find out what the mean score is for Step 2 currently?

Never mind, I'm an idiot, it's on my score report.

i'm getting 68% on qbank.
anyone wanna guess what I'll get on the real deal this week?

yigit, you should try one of the nbme tests if you have time. I think that is even better an approximation of how you'll do. Best of luck! :)

i'm getting 68% on qbank.
anyone wanna guess what I'll get on the real deal this week?

210

i'm getting 68% on qbank.
anyone wanna guess what I'll get on the real deal this week?


406

After tons of feedback on predictors........the Nbme seems to correlate best with results.. Make sure you do both and average the two

Never mind, I'm an idiot, it's on my score report.


Actually, I am curious to know the mean. I am taking the test this Friday.

Great Thread

The mean is 218 (as of a few weeks ago).

There's a lot of inflation in these test scores. :mad:

I took my step 1 two years ago and my step 2 this fall. Both were 99s (won't tell you the 3-digit). My step 2 was 5 points higher than my step 1. Guess what? My step 2 is still a few percentiles below my step 1 score.

Makes me wonder whether maybe nbme should try to curb the inflation.

But this is suposedly a "curved" test, so this just means the dumb are getting dumber and the smart are becoming smarter. It doesn't mean all people are becoming smarter or grade inflation is occurring.

That's a good point.

Still, it means that it takes a higher score to make it past, say, the 95th percentile.

Yeah, if you looked at the distribution of scores, you would probably see a bimodal distribution (two humps - smart hump and not so smart hump), not a normal Gaussian curve.

"smart" vs "non smart" curves, blah blah? you guys need to get a life...you know, of course you're not smart if you don't score above the 240s! gosh, how silly that they let you into medical school in the first place! so many dumb ppl!

*sigh*

"smart" vs "non smart" curves, blah blah? you guys need to get a life...you know, of course you're not smart if you don't score above the 240s! gosh, how silly that they let you into medical school in the first place! so many dumb ppl!

*sigh*

Actually, I scored quite high on USMLE Step II CK recently, and I have to say that it is not entirely appropriate to comment "smart" vs "non smart" curves, because really anything can happen on these exams.

It's true, though. There's a tiny bar code with that info on the back of our heads. They scan you at interviews just to make sure the board scores weren't a fluke.

Actually, I scored quite high on USMLE Step II CK recently, and I have to say that it is pretty ridiculous to comment "smart" vs "non smart" curves, because really anything can happen on these exams.
Lets try and use some common sense here please. :thumbup:
I am assuming that this comment originated form someone who has not taken the USMLE Step II CK exam as of yet, or maybe even USMLE Step I.

Actually, I coined those terms. And the fact that you couldn't realize this was just a joke means that you probably would fall into a "non smart" curve. FYI, I have taken both Step 1 and 2. I received a 2-digit score of 99 on each one. My 3-digit score on my step 2 was 13 points higher than my step 1 3-digit score. You do the math.

Actually, I coined those terms. And the fact that you couldn't realize this was just a joke means that you probably would fall into a "non smart" curve. FYI, I have taken both Step 1 and 2. I received a 2-digit score of 99 on each one. My 3-digit score on my step 2 was 13 points higher than my step 1 3-digit score. You do the math.

Hey, I hit 99 on step II recently as well, however I am not bragging about it here or anywhere else though. Well its not a very funny joke. You have an opinion, and so do I. My 3 digit on step II was much higher than my step I score as well. Does that prove anything? No. I am not here to argue, simply stating that the curves dont mean too much in my opinion. I did not even realize until now that residency programs actually look at the performance profiles.

Hey, I hit 99 on step II recently as well, however I am not bragging about it here or anywhere else though. Well its not a very funny joke. You have an opinion, and so do I. My 3 digit on step II was much higher than my step I score as well. Does that prove anything? No. I am not here to argue, simply stating that the curves dont mean too much in my opinion. I did not even realize until now that residency programs actually look at the performance profiles.



DORK's I think you guys need to get a life :D
you have got to be joking.....right ?
this has to be the most insane dribble yet!

Well, I finished taking Step II yesterday. Sooooo nice to be done and return to a semi-normal life.

All I really remember is lots of pediatric jaundice problems. Also lots of homeless alcoholics and lots of people w/every co-morbid condition you can think of.

I studied on and off after work for a couple of months, with the last ten days off for full-time study. I ended up doing all the questions in Qbook, which I thought was reasonably helpful, and one of the tests in the NMS book (although some of the info is outdated...ie: mode of delivery not a factor in mother to child HIV transmission??) Also went through Crush Step 2 and most of Boards and Wards pretty thoroughly (sp?), reviewing as needed. Also did both nbme self-assessments, which I thought were much trickier and involved than the real thing.

ok, now the waiting begins. Good luck to everyone taking the test soon, and congrats to everyone who's done.

Well, I finished taking Step II yesterday. Sooooo nice to be done and return to a semi-normal life.

All I really remember is lots of pediatric jaundice problems. Also lots of homeless alcoholics and lots of people w/every co-morbid condition you can think of.

I studied on and off after work for a couple of months, with the last ten days off for full-time study. I ended up doing all the questions in Qbook, which I thought was reasonably helpful, and one of the tests in the NMS book (although some of the info is outdated...ie: mode of delivery not a factor in mother to child HIV transmission??) Also went through Crush Step 2 and most of Boards and Wards pretty thoroughly (sp?), reviewing as needed. Also did both nbme self-assessments, which I thought were much trickier and involved than the real thing.

ok, now the waiting begins. Good luck to everyone taking the test soon, and congrats to everyone who's done.


hey good luck to you! you thought that the nbme questions were a little tougher than the real thing, I thought that they were about the same, or slightly easier than the real thing ... freakin molecular biology all over my step II.. at least 13 questions, and a few related to the genome.. dont understand that..... fortunately went well though.. good luck to youre scores.. sure that it went fine..

hey thanks. maybe its because i took the nbme about a month before i actually took the test...

I did not even realize until now that residency programs actually look at the performance profiles.

Right on the same page as the performance profile of my score report it says:

INFORMATION PROVIDED FOR EXAMINEE USE ONLY (caps theirs)
The Performance Profile below is provided solely for the benefit of the examinee.
These profiles are developed as self-assessment tools for examinees only and will not be reported or verified to any third party.

I took it on Nov 19th, and actually it was much better for me than Step 1. I never panicked like I did on Step 1. That being said, I think my test my well-rounded. I would say I had mostly medicine, peds, and Ob-Gyn. I didn't have too much trauma like ppl said, and any weird Step 1 type questions. I did have one pharm question that had a graph but it wasn't too bad. There was also various psych questions, to which I thought the answer was all, major depression! There were a few peds immunodefiniciencies which I can never keep straight on it. Overall, I think it was very fair.

I read Boards and Wards, 1.5 times
Crush 1.5 times (not as helpful as one may think)
I did Q-bank (all)
Some of the NMS CD

I think that was pleny to prepare for it!

i took three weeks to study...

read crush many times ( i read fast)
all of qbank- (read answers very carefully)
nms

those are all you need. good luck to all.

Actually, I coined those terms. And the fact that you couldn't realize this was just a joke means that you probably would fall into a "non smart" curve. FYI, I have taken both Step 1 and 2. I received a 2-digit score of 99 on each one. My 3-digit score on my step 2 was 13 points higher than my step 1 3-digit score. You do the math.


We are all basking in your brilliance...you are definitely going to be the best doctor on the message board...congrats!

Hey, does anyone actually know what the minimum 3-digit score is to get a 2-digit of 99 on either step 1 or 2 CK? It seems as though a tremendous amount of people achieve a 99 (not just on SDN, but talking to others as well) so it can't correlate with an incredibly great percentile despite the fact that it maxes out the 2-digit scale. Any comments?

Just got my step II scores back 245/99. This was my study plan...

Three weeks of:

Crush twice
Blueprints of OB & Peds (a must--my two highest sections!!)
NMS step II questions(the whole book-5 tests)--I was scoring at about 65-70% on these
QBank--Scoring 70-75% on these questions

Felt there was very little surgery/trauma compared to what it seemed other people had.

Study your vitamin excesses and deficiencies--this really got me....

Hope this helps--good luck to all!! :luck:

Hey, does anyone actually know what the minimum 3-digit score is to get a 2-digit of 99 on either step 1 or 2 CK? It seems as though a tremendous amount of people achieve a 99 (not just on SDN, but talking to others as well) so it can't correlate with an incredibly great percentile despite the fact that it maxes out the 2-digit scale. Any comments?

I think it is around 244.

Just got my Step II score back: 242/98. So it seems like people are right about 244/245 being the cutoff for a 2-digit 99 (damn, just a couple more points! :D ).

I gave a rundown of my study schedule above for those who want to correlate. Good luck to everyone else who has yet to take it.

Just took my Step II today. Boy was it long and painful.

Hello all,

I know that this thread has been dead for a few weeks (late December was the last date of a post!!), but I was hoping to continue it for those of us who are taking the test later!

I took the test on 12/29/04 and my score report was mailed approx. three weeks later on 1/19/05 (I received it a few days later in the mail).

What was studied:
Crush the Boards Step 2: Once
Step 2 Secrets: Once
Boards and Wards:Once
Kaplan Q Bank: did all questions with 77% average
NMS Question Book: did two tests with approx 81% average
Advanced Life Support for Step 2: once
Practice questions online from nbme: approx 90-95% average
Did not do any "self assessment" nbme tests

Score: 250/99 (Mean=218, Std. Dev.=23) :D

I shouldn't have waited so long to take it :meanie: , but I was apprehensive about fitting it into a clerkship schedule. It really worked out despite doing an ER rotation and the first leg of interviews during December before Christmas break!

To those still waiting for the various matches-best of luck. For those matched congrats, but don't forget to pour one out for your lost brothas!

All the best,

Stax

Hello all,

I know that this thread has been dead for a few weeks (late December was the last date of a post!!), but I was hoping to continue it for those of us who are taking the test later!

I took the test on 12/29/04 and my score report was mailed approx. three weeks later on 1/19/05 (I received it a few days later in the mail).

What was studied:
Crush the Boards Step 2: Once
Step 2 Secrets: Once
Boards and Wards:Once
Kaplan Q Bank: did all questions with 77% average
NMS Question Book: did two tests with approx 81% average
Advanced Life Support for Step 2: once
Practice questions online from nbme: approx 90-95% average
Did not do any "self assessment" nbme tests

Score: 250/99 (Mean=218, Std. Dev.=23) :D

I shouldn't have waited so long to take it :meanie: , but I was apprehensive about fitting it into a clerkship schedule. It really worked out despite doing an ER rotation and the first leg of interviews during December before Christmas break!

To those still waiting for the various matches-best of luck. For those matched congrats, but don't forget to pour one out for your lost brothas!

All the best,

Stax

When did you start studying?

Obviously if the average poster of scores here was the average student, the average would be 30 points higher than it really is.

So to let some of the more laid back types out there know,

I studied 3 hours (first aid for step 2 - read OB/GYN and PEDS)

and I passed comfortably (>200). Got within 10 points of my Step 1. Throughout med school I've generally gotten by off less studying than the average student and maintained about average grades so I'm not saying everyone will pass without studying for weeks. But I think most people will. If after passing 3rd year (comfortably), you can't pass Step 2 cold, then something probably isn't right.

For all those future fellowship gunners (cards, GI, etc), then maybe your 250+ step score will come in handy. Otherwise, I doubt it'll make much difference. Bottom line, consider it strongly before killing yourself for several weeks during 4th year - do you need to? I doubt whatever someone memorizes those 2 weeks will make them better in their future field. You probably should have learned the fundamentals of everything already. So if you passed step 1 comfortably, passed your clinical shelf exams without cutting it too close, I wouldn't sweat step 2. It's a long, painful test. And waiting 6 months after finishing 3rd year isn't the best way to go. Some specialties want step 2 for the match. Others don't care, so taking it early might hurt you. But if I had to do it over again, I'd have taken it in July instead of December. If you're shooting for IM at a top tier program and they ask for step 2, buying review questions and studying a couple weeks might be helpful. For the less competitive fields/programs, I don't think everyone HAS to study for this.

To the question of how long I studied, I studied approx 4 weeks total (in between ER shifts and first-round interviews during December).

swedcrip,
I totally understand your point of view, and I am glad to see some new discussion on this thread. I have a classmate who told me she studied for about a week and still did better than her Step 1 which was high to start with. From my end I am trying to match in dermatology this year. So, in case I do not match (which could easily be reality with the odds that face derm applicants) I wanted to "sell out" for Step 2 to do well in case I am reapplying after my internship +/- a research fellowship.

All the best,

Stax

To the question of how long I studied, I studied approx 4 weeks total (in between ER shifts and first-round interviews during December).

swedcrip,
I totally understand your point of view, and I am glad to see some new discussion on this thread. I have a classmate who told me she studied for about a week and still did better than her Step 1 which was high to start with. From my end I am trying to match in dermatology this year. So, in case I do not match (which could easily be reality with the odds that face derm applicants) I wanted to "sell out" for Step 2 to do well in case I am reapplying after my internship +/- a research fellowship.

All the best,

Stax

exactly, everyone should put into context what the result would mean. For the very competitive residencies, it might matter. I read around here before taking it and was concerned that only a few had tried and passed without much studying. It's a risk in that retaking the test means paying for it again, but it's doable. This board is heavily populated by test achievers and those going after competitive specialties so I agree it's good that we give different perspectives.

Hi Kaplan notes users...

where do you get the kaplan notes from? I checked the website and don't see them available there. Thanks!

Taking STEP 2 CK in month, starting to study now w/various commonly-used books...

in terms of QUESTIONS: i got the qbank and will finish all the ?'s.

I'm somewhat clueless in terms of the NBME questions vs. the ones from usmle... isn't one of 'em free or something but pretty easy? one better than other? should i just stick to qbank?

COMMENTS would be greatly appreciated!!!

thanks

When I talked about USMLE questions I meant the "Step 2 Multiple-Choice Tutorial and Practice Test Items" that can be found on this website:

http://www.usmle.org/Orientation/menu.htm

You can download them free (they seemed pretty easy to me, but I did them for quick review after all of my studying) either in Prometric or FRED format depending on when you are taking your test. You will be taking your test on the Prometric Software as the switch to the new software will not occur until:

Step 1 Test: May/June of 2005
Step 2CK Test: August/September of 2005

The NBME self assessment tests are the ones that I did not do, and I think you have to pay for them. I see from the posts that many have found this helpful somewhat in predicting performance on the exam... You can get started on these at the website below:

https://external1.nbme.org/nsasweb/servlet/mesa_main

I'm guessing for Step 2CK you would want the Comprehensive Clinical Science Self Assessment (CCSSA)...like I said I didn't take these tests because I didn't want the extra stress!

Hope this helps! :D Best of luck!

thanks a BUNCH stax! very helpful!

does anyone know the cost of the NBME exams? (and how many there are?)

They are $45 in US Currency, and that there are two tests according to the webisite that is listed below that has the FAQ's for them:

http://www.nbme.org/programs/sas.asp

All the best,
Stax

Just bumping this back up. Did a search and found what I needed: books for step 2 :) There are I must some smart test-takers in here. Thanks for all the advice. Good luck to all dueling for Step 2 come late this year ;)

Ok this must sound retarded, but q bank and q book, those come through kaplan? usmle? where do you get them from?

Qbank and qbook are Kaplan products...you can order them on their website. And no, you don't sound retarded. Good luck.

holy *&?^ those things are $$$$$$!!!!!
anybody wanna unload their qbank/qbook? i'd be ever so grateful!

holy *&?^ those things are $$$$$$!!!!!
anybody wanna unload their qbank/qbook? i'd be ever so grateful!

Visit http://usmle.mahanbharat.com/forum/ for free resources.

tons of qbank and EKGs, Xrays, Fundus and Derma pictures,

woo hoo! passed it...now, everybody PLEASE cross your fingers for me, and hope i significantly improved my score....

well, got my scores, and i am stoked! i improved 42 points from step 1....i think i set some sort of record, lol!

234/95

for the correlation folks out there:
usmleworld: cumulative avg 64%, all unused. was getting in the 80's second time thru
NBME: i forget exactly, but it had me right at the mean on the list that compares scores. i think it was around 500.
kaplan q-bank: didn't use it

books: boards and wards and first aid. started with crush, but i thought it was way too superficial.

i am going to get falling down drunk tonight!!! wooohooooo

so much about worrying about youre step I score, phenomenal, youre score rocks the heck out of youre step I, welcome to the residency of youre choice.... as I recall its Ob Gyn, should be no problem at all for you....
good luck - hope that you match at youre first choice... :thumbup:

well, got my scores, and i am stoked! i improved 42 points from step 1....i think i set some sort of record, lol!

234/95




Excellent improvment. You put yourself back in the running for a good spot!

bump

First of all, congratulations on your Step 2 score. That is a terrific score. I am a M3 who is planning on taking Step 2 in August and I was wondering if you could tell me where do you get USMLE Secrets at? What is the full title and author(s) name?

Thank you,
drbhooks


3 weeks and 6 days from my test date until the Dean's office called me my results. I don't have the score report in hand yet, so I don't know the mean and standard deviation yet, but I scored over 240 :D .

My study concentrated on USMLE secrets, boards and wards and Q-bank (Kaplan). I know a lot of people didn't like Q-bank for Step 2 but it worked well for me. I did all the questions and repeats until all questions were answered correctly. My Kaplan scores ranged from high 80-90's in OB and psych to high 60's to 70's on medicine and psych (these are the scores without the repeat questions). I really think it is imperative if you are going to get the full benefit to go back and review the questions you missed. I would generally jot down a short note on the missed questions and then went back and reviewed this a few days before the big day.

A number of posts have claimed that they "saw that their CS results were released"... what does this MEAN?? Is there a way to check if my exam has been scored already?

Second question: is it possible to calculate my 2 digit score from my raw score? I did not receive my "official" score card for some reason, but my Dean DID receive my score. I was told the 3 digit only... just curious about the 2 digit, since that seems to be based on the standard curve for the particular questions asked on your exam... any ideas?

Thanks

A number of posts have claimed that they "saw that their CS results were released"... what does this MEAN?? Is there a way to check if my exam has been scored already?

Second question: is it possible to calculate my 2 digit score from my raw score? I did not receive my "official" score card for some reason, but my Dean DID receive my score. I was told the 3 digit only... just curious about the 2 digit, since that seems to be based on the standard curve for the particular questions asked on your exam... any ideas?

Thanks

www.nbme.org
click on "NBME Licensing Examination Services "
to get to
https://external1.nbme.org/interactive/
or
https://external1.nbme.org/ciw/servlet/candidate_menu

login (usmle ID and a password) and click on exam status

if you don't have a password click on "First-Time User?" at the login screen

USMLE secrets: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/156053608X/qid=1112962241/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-6665936-5076654?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

eek i hope this posts as a link

Well, that's just great about y'alls scores and all, but how bout some more feedback about the test. Any changes from previous years?

Hey folks,
stupid question but when you say Crush
is that Crush the Boards or Crush Step 2. The reason is, Ive found 2 different book covers from same author Brochert. Just wanted to know if they were different, the same or what. Thanks!

I just took Step 2 and it was HARD!!

I ran out of time on every block (got to question 42-43 out of 46)! Has anyone else here ran out of time as well and still pass?

Almost every question was multi-paragraph with lots of labs. The freaking questions were so long that even looking at the labs in the "tile" display, I couldn't compare them to the question stem labs be cause the question would not do the scroll function. I have a sore wrist now from all the mouse manuvering during the 8 blocks.

It also seemed that in most questions the patient had so many co-morbidities, ie, a 62 y/o man with a history of prostate cancer, diabetes, alcoholic cirrhosis, lupus now has a proteinuria and a rash. Lots of labs. Lots of rheum, anemia, nephrotic syndrome, edema, liver failure questions. Most question were WAY more complicated, more lengthly, and more ambiguous than Qbank.

I hope I passed but I'm not sure. It definately felt MUCH harder than Step 1. After taking Step 1 I wondered how I did, but I knew that I had passed. After taking Step 2, I am not sure if I even passed.

I felt a lot better after step 1 than after step 2, probably because I felt that I SHOULD have felt better than I did after step 2 (comparatively better scores on Qbank, NBME and usmle-world). Time was a lot more of a concern, lots of ambiguous questions (i.e. on step 1, if you didn't know it, you didn't know it but on step 2 you'd think you'd know it until you read the alternative answers and either none of them would sound right or three of them would).

Step 2 was definitely more tiring, too. Anywho, I had a pleasant surprise when I got my score sheet after step 1, so let's hope for the same thing when my step 2 score arrives (took it on March 24th)...

Good luck on your scores... :-)

Well, just took the step 2 last week and it was loooooooooooooooog..... I kinda rushed through the final two blocks so that I can get the hell out of there.

20% of Qs you can get them right blind-folded; 30% of Qs you can answer with certain confidence; 30% of Qs you can narrow down to 2/3 choices and make your best guess; 20% of them you have no idea (like basic biochem Qs).

I spent two weeks preparing the exam. Resources I used

USMLE secrets: best step 2 book, at least for me. (A lot of people use B & W but the style is just not for me)
USMLE mock exam: basically enforcement of USMLE secrets
USMLE world: 2000 + Qs. They summarize the important learning points after each answer explanation so you do not have to read five paragraphs to find out you already know it. I did 600 Qs as timed-mode and went through the rest 1400 in two days by just reading the learning points of each Q.

Hey guys,
For those of you who have taken Step 2 already...do you have any advice on what you would have done DIFFERENTLY to prepare for this test so you'd do better?

Thanks.

bump

20% of Qs you can get them right blind-folded; 30% of Qs you can answer with certain confidence; 30% of Qs you can narrow down to 2/3 choices and make your best guess; 20% of them you have no idea (like basic biochem Qs).


They ask basic biochem on Step 2?
:scared: :scared: :scared:

They ask basic biochem on Step 2?
:scared: :scared: :scared:

Yeah, I got one question that was straight biochem. It showed some glycolysis reaction and asked an enzyme kinetics question. I couldn't believe it! Still, these are just a few questions. Just make a good guess and move on.

hi all
i just want to know if anyone has seen the new edition of Kaplan Qbook (step 2), and what r the new things in it?
actually i have the older edition, and i want to know if it is necessary to buy the new one

is there a great difference between them?

I have a long commute to work everyday (30 min) and when doing out rotations, I'll be driving 1,000-2,000 miles (couple hours).

I'm hoping to find a Good USMLE Step 2 AUDIO Review. I'd prefer subject review or keyword association material more than random test questions.

Does anyone know of anything?

Supposedly there is a Goljan step 2 audio, but I am having trouble finding it. I havent heard how good it is compared to his step 1 audio either, but most likely it is good. Does anyone know where to download this audio or buy it?
It would be very much appreciated!

Also, I have a question about www.usmleworld.com. How long did it take to finish? Would 1 month be enough to review all explanations and answers thoroughly?
Would you recommend doing qbank step 2 ck before USMLE world, or vice versa?
thanks!

yes you could finish usmleworld in a month- you'd have to do about 70q's a day. i did usmleworld step 2 qbank (which i didn't finish) followed by kaplan step 2 qbank (which i did finish). the q's on usmleworld are harder and were quite frustrating at times and i got way too bored to finish the questions (got about 80% thru). they were good q's though. kaplan step 2 qbank questions were easier and helped to boost my morale after doing usmelworld questions. honestly though, i think doing that many questions was overkill on my part. both qbanks cover more or less the same material and it got very very boring after a while.

Just for an update: I passed!!!

What a relief! I ended up scoring average. So this is good news. To answer my own question: Yes, it is quite possible to pass if you run out of time on each block. On the actual test I ran out of time on each block, not answering 3-4 questions per block, that's about 25-30 question that I did not even answer!

I was not aiming for a high score (already matched, so just wanted to pass) so my exam prep was minimal:

-- I did not read any review books. (I bought Secrets, but only skimmed about 5-10 pages.)
-- I did half of the Qbank questions.

In retrospect, I would not have waited so long to take the test (it had been almost two years since I did OBGyn). But I definitely think it's possible to pass with minimal preparation.

I took the Step2 , and like 80 questions similar from the Secrets. :D

Bump for Rheumogal
Here is a small compilations of what was said in this link as far as books to use:

Qbank
USMLE Secrets vs Crush Step 2
Boards and Wards
Blueprints OB GYN and Peds
USMLEworld (question bank)
Practice questions online fro