USMLE World Scores and Step II Scores

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Originally Posted by elbow323

Got scores back today:

Step 2: 270
Step 1: 257

did all of kaplan qbank and studied hard for shelf exams.

Strong work, 270s are being tossed around like hot cakes.

Step 1=259/99
Step 2=250/99
usmleworld= 65% cumulative, all random, all timed
shelf raw score: 80 psych, 84 medicine, 87 ob/gyn (my school only gives 3 shelves the rest are in house exam)

Sources used: Board & Wards is the shiznats, it is to step 2 what first aid is for step 1. Used B&W during 3rd year while on rotations, so only took a few days to review over it while on sub I. Had about 1 month off to go to interviews and do usmleword. Also did NMS and pre-test clinical vingettes for step 2 (not sure if those helped much). The thing is I'm just an average joe who needs to put in more effort to do as well as most peeps, so my advise can help my fellow average students. Wish I'd improved on my step 1. Just hope I match this year and don't have to reapply. Good luck to those who still haven't taken it, man this test was hella long.

step 1 258/99 with 4 weeks of studying - mostly Qbank

Should have ck back this friday or saturday.
studied for 10 days using UW (excluding 3 days before when i took cs) I did about 200-300 questions per day (no, obviously not ideal), skimming explanations and trying to notice patterns in what I got wrong, as well as what i got right and why. Only averaged high 50's low 60's. I did very well 3rd year on shelves (most above 90th). I agree that the test was long, but enjoyed myself because i didn't take it that seriously, just looking to pass.

I will report back this weekend

Originally Posted by Long Dong

Step 1=259/99
Step 2=250/99
usmleworld= 65% cumulative, all random, all timed
shelf raw score: 80 psych, 84 medicine, 87 ob/gyn (my school only gives 3 shelves the rest are in house exam)

Sources used: Board & Wards is the shiznats, it is to step 2 what first aid is for step 1. Used B&W during 3rd year while on rotations, so only took a few days to review over it while on sub I. Had about 1 month off to go to interviews and do usmleword. Also did NMS and pre-test clinical vingettes for step 2 (not sure if those helped much). The thing is I'm just an average joe who needs to put in more effort to do as well as most peeps, so my advise can help my fellow average students. Wish I'd improved on my step 1. Just hope I match this year and don't have to reapply. Good luck to those who still haven't taken it, man this test was hella long.

Originally Posted by 2TIM4:7

no $hit.

Originally Posted by Long Dong

Step 1=259/99
Step 2=250/99
usmleworld= 65% cumulative, all random, all timed
shelf raw score: 80 psych, 84 medicine, 87 ob/gyn (my school only gives 3 shelves the rest are in house exam)

Sources used: Board & Wards is the shiznats, it is to step 2 what first aid is for step 1. Used B&W during 3rd year while on rotations, so only took a few days to review over it while on sub I. Had about 1 month off to go to interviews and do usmleword. Also did NMS and pre-test clinical vingettes for step 2 (not sure if those helped much). The thing is I'm just an average joe who needs to put in more effort to do as well as most peeps, so my advise can help my fellow average students. Wish I'd improved on my step 1. Just hope I match this year and don't have to reapply. Good luck to those who still haven't taken it, man this test was hella long.

congratulations!!!!! good luck with the match

Step I--253 after six weeks of intense studying
Step II--260 after three weeks of light to moderate studying. Scoring about 65% or so on USMLEworld and completed just under half of those questions. Also used first aid extensively. Shelf exam scores generally in mid 80s with two outliers (surgery score of 70 and psych score of 99). Personally, I thought step 2 was definitely easier than step 1 and finished it much faster, too. I believe the best step 2 prep is studying very hard for shelf exams in third year. By the time I started studying for step 2, it genuinely felt like review rather than learning new stuff for the first time which is how I felt when studying for step 1.


Good luck everyone!

I have looked at the previous posts and have not seen to many opinions on the the Kaplan Books and the DVD's. Anyone have some thoughts or have heard how useful they are?

Thanks in advance.

Originally Posted by Pompacil

does it matter that anyone "improved" from step 1 at this point?

Not for the Match, since programs probably wouldn't have gotten my scores before putting in their list, but it matters to me!

Step I 230/93
Step II 219/89

Took the test Jan 30. Got my scores back today. Studied USMLEworld exclusively. Did not read a thing. No First Aid or Crush. Didnt have time for reading as I studied sporadically in the middle of interview season. 59% avg on World. I just wanted to pass. Not releasing my scores anyway. Not a good score but who the f cares now.

Step I 249
Step II 258

I studied for about 3 solid weeks. I read B&W and 1st aid and did about 2/3 of the UW questions. I averaged about 66%, although I was in the high 50's when I started and low 70's at test time. I came out thinking I hadn't done as well as Step I, but was pleasantly surprised when my scores came back what they did.

Hi guys, I appreciate all the advice. When doing usmle world, should i do all unused qtns first or should i mix in the ones i got wrong every time i take a test?

Originally Posted by paciencia

Hi guys, I appreciate all the advice. When doing usmle world, should i do all unused qtns first or should i mix in the ones i got wrong every time i take a test?

all unused first. you could take forever to use up all the questions if you include incorrect questions AND your % will be artificially inflated.

Originally Posted by DarksideAllstar

I just took CK yesterday, and it seemed like the longest damn test I have ever taken, Step 1 included. By the 5th block, I was bored to tears and thought that stems just kept getting longer. I was so happy to leave Prometric that I actually left my jacket and had to go back and get it today.

Brief background: I took a year off between third and fourth year and worked in pathology, causing me to forget many of the clinical "gems" that I learned during third year. Many of the pharm knowledge "tidbits" I picked up were gone, and it was a pain trying to learn things again that I had forgotten. I did, however, become intimately more familiar with neoplastic disease, which was somewhat helpful. Because I had been off the wards for so long I gave myself three weeks to review. I used FA for Step 2 CK, select sections of Boards and Wards that I remembered being helpful for my Shelf exams (Medicine, Pediatrics). I also completed USMLEworld. Studied anywhere from 4-6 hours per day, and did 100-150 Q's per day. Took a few days off here and there. Probably less rigid schedule than Step 1 (duh).

For those that are big into correlations:

Step 1: 246/99
Shelf scores (percentiles):
Medicine: 98th
Pediatrics: 99th
Surgery: 94th
Family Medicine: 99th
Our school did not give shelf exams in Psych or OB/GYN.
USMLEworld: 67% (random, 46 question blocks, unused, 100% complete)
NBME Assessment 1: 680/252

Overall, I thought it was doable given how little in terms of pharmacotherapy and "next step" stuff I actually remembered from third year. I think if you give yourself a little extra time to review pharm tx you'd be in good shape. I probably should have just taken at the end of third year when things were still very fresh-- probably would have done much better with a third of the effort. I'll update in 3-4 weeks when I get it back. Good luck to everyone.

Found out my score on Friday from my Dean's Office: 256/99. I guess NBME Assessment I was pretty accurate. Definitely happy with my score given the scenario and the fact that it felt like pulling teeth for three weeks trying to study knowing it wouldn't effect my match. If anyone ends up in a similar boat and has specific questions, PM me.

Originally Posted by DarksideAllstar

Found out my score on Friday from my Dean's Office: 256/99. I guess NBME Assessment I was pretty accurate. Definitely happy with my score given the scenario and the fact that it felt like pulling teeth for three weeks trying to study knowing it wouldn't effect my match. If anyone ends up in a similar boat and has specific questions, PM me.

Funny thing is I thought I bombed the test when I left. I studied for four weeks, not too intensely. Did Qbank, First Aid, and reviewed blueprints for peds, ob, medicine, surgery and psych.

Step 2: 99

Originally Posted by merlin17

Funny thing is I thought I bombed the test when I left. I studied for four weeks, not too intensely. Did Qbank, First Aid, and reviewed blueprints for peds, ob, medicine, surgery and psych.

Step 2: 99

how come you edited your 280?

Step 2 ck:
Got a 50% on USMLEworld the first time, and got a 180. bummer!
Took it again 6-7 months later, got a 60% on USMLEworld, got a 205. Hooray!

I'm not a "genius" like 80% of SDN it would seem, but remember: your real world worth as a doctor does not correlate with how well you do memorizing tracts of factoids to do excellent on multiple MCQ tests.

hi
long time lurker here, wanted to add to the data set

step 2 ck: 231

Usmleword info: cumulative 57%, 1 time thru nontimed tutor mode, started off getting high 40s and low 50s, ended getting high 50s, 60s and rare 70

Leisurely read first aid for step 2 ck 1 time over 2 weeks, would've read again, I'm sure this would've helped me out

Used UW and FA as above over the course of 2 weeks while on light neuro outpt rotation. Studied 2-3 hrs/day, did put in marathon USMLEWorld days on the weekends to make it through all the questions

Advice: pick a book (FA, Step Up, etc.) and read at least twice. Do USMLE World or Qbank and read all the explanations

Step 1: 244

Originally Posted by jjbmsiv

I'm not a "genius" like 80% of SDN it would seem

Yeah it does appear that there's a lot of "genius" minds on SDN, it's scary.

Heh! Despite the _numerous_ herculean scores in this threadI thought I'd post mine out of 'striking a blow for the little guy!' to make the rest of us feel better.

Or something.

I finally got my score!

STEP 2 262/99%
STEP 1 234/95%

I read this thread a lot when I was studying for the CK exam and made a promise to myself that I would post when I found out my results. I studied for 2-3 weeks, a few hours a day. I started off doing 1-2 question banks/day and gradually did 3-5/day -- I always went over the explanations.

Study books: First Aid. That's it -- read it through completely and then reviewed a section at a time, focusing on what I felt weak on.

USMLEWORLD: Did 90-95% of questions, always doing random (all specialities, all subdivision) questions in 46q blocks. Average score 63%. I really think USMLEWORLD is key, as everyone else has said. More importantly, I think you need to do the questions randomly in order to train yourself to be able to jump from one subject to another. Also, even in the last few days before the exam, I was getting scores in the low 50's, scattered with scores in the 60-70% range. Don't get discouraged by the random blocks that you get lower scores in -- keep at it, and do as many questions as possible. Another note, I felt that the surgery and trauma questions on USMLEWORLD were especially harder than on the real exam (these were subjects I was weak in when doing the USMLEWORLD questions, and was pleasantly surprised at the questions on the real exam).

Does USMLE world provide explanations about correct answers as well as incorrect answers? Are the explanations detailed and helpful?

I really liked the explanations from KAPLAN qbank, which I used for step 1.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Just D.O. It!

Does USMLE world provide explanations about correct answers as well as incorrect answers? Are the explanations detailed and helpful?

I really liked the explanations from KAPLAN qbank, which I used for step 1.

Thanks!

i liked kaplan qbank too for step 1...i used usmleworld for step 2 and thought it did what i needed for step 2. i thought the questions were harder...even a few were verbatim what was on my actual exam. they give you very detailed explanations for all answer choices. plus it only costs $99 for 1 month which is more than enough time of study for this test.

knowing what i know now, if i could have had world for step 1 i would of gotten it over kaplan qbank.

hey ,
thanks for ur post, What was the most helpful resource. I need to do well above 200 for step2 , since my step 1 score was 199. we dont have shelf exams after each rotation so studyin has been kinda off an on.
thanks!
doc mj

I bought the kaplan usmle step 2 ck quizbank. the questions seemed excessively lengthy... I actually quit using it because I felt like I was wasting time and not covering enough material. I've been doing practice questions from a Lange review book. I'm nervous about taking this test on Monday because I failed step 1 twice and finally passed on my 3rd try... I have been studying but I did the NBME practice test a couple weeks ago and did NOT do well. any last minute advice? i am having major test anxiety.

I looked at this post A LOT when I was studying for CK. I took a year off for research between 3rd and 4th years so I had a little anxiety about returning to the Prometric Testing Center and this thread put my mind at ease.

I studied seriously for about 12-14 days. I read First Aid through twice, supplemented by B&W the second time, and did 85% of Usmleworld, all unused questions in random blocks of 46, avg 63%. I may have focused on obstetrics, gynecology and peds a little more because everyone says they left the test feeling like there was a lot of that. And this is key: the day before the test I read through the trauma surgery chapter of Lawrence. (I thought it was really high yield -- there is a ton of that ER/trauma type stuff, lots of pneumos, should we operate or not? type questions). Step II CK: 252

I thought Usmleworld was incredible. I didn't use Kaplan so I can't comment on it but UW's question writers have insane memories -- there were some Qs I swear they lifted straight from the test verbatim. The UW Qs are also really focused on nitpicky details; if you take the time to go over the answers very well you will learn diseases and management inside and out. I didn't bother with any of the NBME practice tests (to be honest after paying for CK/CS I was done spending $ on these stupid tests; I borrowed someone's First Aid from 2003 and used my old B&W for Step 1) or even the mini-test they send on the CD. (Remember how easy it was compared to the real thing for Step 1?). I sat through Step 2 thinking I must have gotten a really easy batch of questions because they all felt so straightforward, a lot of no-brainers. Anyway, thanks a lot everyone for posting your own experiences here.

bump

Bump.

I took CK 3 weeks ago; do most people get their scores "released" (according to the status check page on the NBME site) 3 weeks after or 4 weeks after their test date? Just want to know if I'll most likely be waiting another week...

I know this is a bit off topic, but I do plan on posting my scores/UW %

i took nbme 1 this morning, im one month away from the exam, got 550 (229)...anyone with similar score a month out, just curious how you ended up doing and what you used during that month to study besides usmleworld.

thanks

UW%: 77% first time through, no repeats, random blocks of questions, finished ~90%

Step 2: 270

Books used: First Aid, Boards and Wards, and Secrets. I think these and UW are pretty much everything (and then some) you need to know for step 2.

Congrats bujji, 77 in UW is INSANEEEEEEE! GReat going, since it actually was converted into exam score!

anyone willing to sell me there first aid step 2 ck? its not in any of the bookstores anymore, and none of the fourth years have a decent copy that isnt torn to shreds or highlighted like a 42nd street brothel sign. pm me if u can...i also want secrets and b&w.

thanks

I've done about 50% of UW questions and my average is 63%. After reading some posts here I'm thinking I'm in a good place seeing how my test isn't for another 4 weeks. Where do I go from here? FA? B&W..Kaplan? What would you do if you were in my shoes?

BTW...thanks for loaning me the donger...he's bitchen.

Hey I have a question for those of you who are using UW? I have completed about 25% of UW and have averaged 55% thus far. What is blowing my mind is that my percentile is still around 35 or so. Is everyone on UW a genius or am I just a dumbass? From some of the other threads I got the impression that a 55% is not so bad and will land you at least above a 200. What's up with that?

Originally Posted by mohaven

Hey I have a question for those of you who are using UW? I have completed about 25% of UW and have averaged 55% thus far. What is blowing my mind is that my percentile is still around 35 or so. Is everyone on UW a genius or am I just a dumbass? From some of the other threads I got the impression that a 55% is not so bad and will land you at least above a 200. What's up with that?

dude, didn't you just take step 1 few days ago?

Originally Posted by pleaseletmepass

dude, didn't you just take step 1 few days ago?

The only thing I can think of is that this guy/gal is an FMG and that's why (s)he's taking the exams in tandem - o/w (s)he needs to have a beer. Actually I still think (s)he needs to have a beer.

Originally Posted by pleaseletmepass

dude, didn't you just take step 1 few days ago?

Yes sir! I am an FMG and have decided to go blitzkrieg on both my Steps and go for this year's match... You think that's crazy, I'm taking the Step 2 CK in three days... And the CS in 3 weeks... Still in the struggle baby.... And still smiling...

Originally Posted by QuinnB

The only thing I can think of is that this guy/gal is an FMG and that's why (s)he's taking the exams in tandem - o/w (s)he needs to have a beer. Actually I still think (s)he needs to have a beer.

Beer? No time for beer as you can imagine but hey its all good. I hope Step 1 results come out tomorrow so I can go into Step 2 with some momentum...

Originally Posted by mohaven

Beer? No time for beer as you can imagine but hey its all good. I hope Step 1 results come out tomorrow so I can go into Step 2 with some momentum...

So what are you all doing skipping between Step 1 and Step 2 forums... DOn't tell me you are planning for Step 2 already!?

59% avg UW and 48 percentile.... Feeling better Have done really well on the past 5 exams... Guess I was just having a bad run initially... I have studied FA pretty intensely the last week though so that must explain things too... Thanks for those who did reply to me freakin out earlier though with that low percentile and everything...

its great that your scores are coming up now...keep it up!!!

But just to forewarn you.....they may start to plummit again during your studying....at least mine did...and i went into a similar freak mode...but just know that its gonna rebound again...i've been reading past threads and i think that's pretty typical for most people.....

GOOD LUCK!

Originally Posted by Pestanas

its great that your scores are coming up now...keep it up!!!

But just to forewarn you.....they may start to plummit again during your studying....at least mine did...and i went into a similar freak mode...but just know that its gonna rebound again...i've been reading past threads and i think that's pretty typical for most people.....

GOOD LUCK!

Thanks for the heads up! Good luck to you too!

I spent about 18 days studying for Step 2. In all, it was MUCH BETTER than studying for Step 1. For one thing, a lot of the information seemed much more logical, and I could actually remember it in the context of my own patients...this is so important, because in step 1 studying everything was so abstract and memorization-heavy. i can honestly say i did very little "memorization" for this exam; it was more "algorithms" and knowing what test to order, what treatment, etc. My advice would be to study TREATMENTS as much as possible because this is where we are weaker in general - a lot of the time on the test, I would know the exact diagnosis within the first sentence but the question would ask for something regarding "best next test", "associated genetic abnormality", "complication" or "treatment". I also strangely felt very good after studying, because I finally felt like things had come together and I was finally kind of growing into my own as a future doctor. Silly, I know, but still.

I studied about 6-10 hours a day. The first week, I went through all of First Aid, three sections a day, highlighting and taking notes. I only did 1 or 2 question blocks at most during this week. Then the second week, I read some of Step 2 Secrets and did about 2-3 question blocks a day. The final week or so, I essentially plowed through 4-5 question blocks a day to finish up everything 1 day before the test. I started out TERRIBLE (i.e. low 40s) and by the end my average was ~ 65%; toward the end I was getting tests with averages in the high 70s and low 80s. I took most of my tests in tutor mode, taking lots of notes and really trying to learn. toward the end of the study session i did a lot more timed just to make sure I could handle the time pressure. I took the night off before the test and just went over some high yield things. Of course I could not sleep and ended up getting about 2-3 hours. This I would not recommend.

The actual test was pretty tough, I won't lie. I was disappointed walking out of the center and nearly burst into tears - I had felt a LOT more confident going in than I did coming out. It was so completely frustrating, because for nearly every question I KNEW what was going on, knew the diagnosis, knew exactly how I would proceed, etc. but the stupid answer choices were just off the wall, or I would narrow it down to two, and then keep second-guessing myself and changing my answer. I feel terrified because I changed my answer on so many of the questions, which always leaves you with a bad feeling. Sigh. It is so terrible that this is the way they're going to assess my clinical knowledge. In terms of difficulty, I would say certain questions were definitely along the lines of UsmleWorld - in fact, as other posters have suggested, there were about 5-6 that I didn't even read because they were almost verbatim from UWorld. That was definitely helpful. I would say the ethics and epidemiology questions, which nearly made me want to break my computer when I was taking them in USMLEWORLD, were 10000 times easier on the real exam (i.e. what is sensitivity? specificiity? ) Oddly enough, I feel like I got at least 5 questions on the real exam that were repeats of each other, which would have been nice if I'd known the answer. Trauma was still hard (as hard if not harder than USMLEworld)....

Anyway, I'll post my scores when I get them back. Just so you know the numbers:
Step 1 score 229
Shelfs: terrible in the beginning to okay - highest was 94 in Psych, 88 internal med, 78 OB/GYN, 68 surg (ouch), 72 FP, 70 Peds

Good luck to all and if anyone has any questions feel free to PM me.

Originally Posted by ozarka

I spent about 18 days studying for Step 2. In all, it was MUCH BETTER than studying for Step 1. For one thing, a lot of the information seemed much more logical, and I could actually remember it in the context of my own patients...this is so important, because in step 1 studying everything was so abstract and memorization-heavy. i can honestly say i did very little "memorization" for this exam; it was more "algorithms" and knowing what test to order, what treatment, etc. My advice would be to study TREATMENTS as much as possible because this is where we are weaker in general - a lot of the time on the test, I would know the exact diagnosis within the first sentence but the question would ask for something regarding "best next test", "associated genetic abnormality", "complication" or "treatment". I also strangely felt very good after studying, because I finally felt like things had come together and I was finally kind of growing into my own as a future doctor. Silly, I know, but still.

I studied about 6-10 hours a day. The first week, I went through all of First Aid, three sections a day, highlighting and taking notes. I only did 1 or 2 question blocks at most during this week. Then the second week, I read some of Step 2 Secrets and did about 2-3 question blocks a day. The final week or so, I essentially plowed through 4-5 question blocks a day to finish up everything 1 day before the test. I started out TERRIBLE (i.e. low 40s) and by the end my average was ~ 65%; toward the end I was getting tests with averages in the high 70s and low 80s. I took most of my tests in tutor mode, taking lots of notes and really trying to learn. toward the end of the study session i did a lot more timed just to make sure I could handle the time pressure. I took the night off before the test and just went over some high yield things. Of course I could not sleep and ended up getting about 2-3 hours. This I would not recommend.

The actual test was pretty tough, I won't lie. I was disappointed walking out of the center and nearly burst into tears - I had felt a LOT more confident going in than I did coming out. It was so completely frustrating, because for nearly every question I KNEW what was going on, knew the diagnosis, knew exactly how I would proceed, etc. but the stupid answer choices were just off the wall, or I would narrow it down to two, and then keep second-guessing myself and changing my answer. I feel terrified because I changed my answer on so many of the questions, which always leaves you with a bad feeling. Sigh. It is so terrible that this is the way they're going to assess my clinical knowledge. In terms of difficulty, I would say certain questions were definitely along the lines of UsmleWorld - in fact, as other posters have suggested, there were about 5-6 that I didn't even read because they were almost verbatim from UWorld. That was definitely helpful. I would say the ethics and epidemiology questions, which nearly made me want to break my computer when I was taking them in USMLEWORLD, were 10000 times easier on the real exam (i.e. what is sensitivity? specificiity? ) Oddly enough, I feel like I got at least 5 questions on the real exam that were repeats of each other, which would have been nice if I'd known the answer. Trauma was still hard (as hard if not harder than USMLEworld)....

Anyway, I'll post my scores when I get them back. Just so you know the numbers:
Step 1 score 229
Shelfs: terrible in the beginning to okay - highest was 94 in Psych, 88 internal med, 78 OB/GYN, 68 surg (ouch), 72 FP, 70 Peds

Good luck to all and if anyone has any questions feel free to PM me.

hi,
let us know how you did in the end. b/4 i even read your post, i was using your strategy. i am focusing on less resources this time around. i am going thru FA right now and then secrets to add stuff to FA. then tutor mode for the first 2 weeks of UW, and then real time. I hope this works.

Originally Posted by ozarka

I spent about 18 days studying for Step 2. In all, it was MUCH BETTER than studying for Step 1. For one thing, a lot of the information seemed much more logical, and I could actually remember it in the context of my own patients...this is so important, because in step 1 studying everything was so abstract and memorization-heavy. i can honestly say i did very little "memorization" for this exam; it was more "algorithms" and knowing what test to order, what treatment, etc. My advice would be to study TREATMENTS as much as possible because this is where we are weaker in general - a lot of the time on the test, I would know the exact diagnosis within the first sentence but the question would ask for something regarding "best next test", "associated genetic abnormality", "complication" or "treatment". I also strangely felt very good after studying, because I finally felt like things had come together and I was finally kind of growing into my own as a future doctor. Silly, I know, but still.

I studied about 6-10 hours a day. The first week, I went through all of First Aid, three sections a day, highlighting and taking notes. I only did 1 or 2 question blocks at most during this week. Then the second week, I read some of Step 2 Secrets and did about 2-3 question blocks a day. The final week or so, I essentially plowed through 4-5 question blocks a day to finish up everything 1 day before the test. I started out TERRIBLE (i.e. low 40s) and by the end my average was ~ 65%; toward the end I was getting tests with averages in the high 70s and low 80s. I took most of my tests in tutor mode, taking lots of notes and really trying to learn. toward the end of the study session i did a lot more timed just to make sure I could handle the time pressure. I took the night off before the test and just went over some high yield things. Of course I could not sleep and ended up getting about 2-3 hours. This I would not recommend.

The actual test was pretty tough, I won't lie. I was disappointed walking out of the center and nearly burst into tears - I had felt a LOT more confident going in than I did coming out. It was so completely frustrating, because for nearly every question I KNEW what was going on, knew the diagnosis, knew exactly how I would proceed, etc. but the stupid answer choices were just off the wall, or I would narrow it down to two, and then keep second-guessing myself and changing my answer. I feel terrified because I changed my answer on so many of the questions, which always leaves you with a bad feeling. Sigh. It is so terrible that this is the way they're going to assess my clinical knowledge. In terms of difficulty, I would say certain questions were definitely along the lines of UsmleWorld - in fact, as other posters have suggested, there were about 5-6 that I didn't even read because they were almost verbatim from UWorld. That was definitely helpful. I would say the ethics and epidemiology questions, which nearly made me want to break my computer when I was taking them in USMLEWORLD, were 10000 times easier on the real exam (i.e. what is sensitivity? specificiity? ) Oddly enough, I feel like I got at least 5 questions on the real exam that were repeats of each other, which would have been nice if I'd known the answer. Trauma was still hard (as hard if not harder than USMLEworld)....

Anyway, I'll post my scores when I get them back. Just so you know the numbers:
Step 1 score 229
Shelfs: terrible in the beginning to okay - highest was 94 in Psych, 88 internal med, 78 OB/GYN, 68 surg (ouch), 72 FP, 70 Peds

Good luck to all and if anyone has any questions feel free to PM me.

Don't worry too much about it... Although I am taking my exam tomorrow and will let you all know how it went after I think you should be ok judging by your UW score... Something else that might make you feel better is the following logical deduction... If you felt that you had the diagnosis down most of the time that means that you got 40% of the questions the 2 CK could throw at you... The pathophysiology, management (initial, best), miscellaneous composes the rest and if you really studied sincerely I don't think you have anything to worry about.. I think you'll definitely pass...

Originally Posted by mohaven

Don't worry too much about it... Although I am taking my exam tomorrow and will let you all know how it went after I think you should be ok judging by your UW score... Something else that might make you feel better is the following logical deduction... If you felt that you had the diagnosis down most of the time that means that you got 40% of the questions the 2 CK could throw at you... The pathophysiology, management (initial, best), miscellaneous composes the rest and if you really studied sincerely I don't think you have anything to worry about.. I think you'll definitely pass...

Judging from my first sentence above I am sure you can tell how brain dead I am going into tomorrow's exam... I can barely understand what I am trying to say! I hope it is a friendly test to say the least... I have completed 50% of UW and ended up with a 65%... I continued to do some more blocks today and am scoring around the same. It's about 7:30 pm right now... I think I will do two or three more blocks and my brain dead self will try and get a good eight hours of sleep... Here goes nothing!!!

Originally Posted by mohaven

Judging from my first sentence above I am sure you can tell how brain dead I am going into tomorrow's exam... I can barely understand what I am trying to say! I hope it is a friendly test to say the least... I have completed 50% of UW and ended up with a 65%... I continued to do some more blocks today and am scoring around the same. It's about 7:30 pm right now... I think I will do two or three more blocks and my brain dead self will try and get a good eight hours of sleep... Here goes nothing!!!

Recovering from a major night of partying so I will make this short and sweet... USMLEWORLD!!! Yes I took my exam yesterday and it was a lot like UW... You may want to read into more detail on subjects you feel weak on but apart from that; practice a whole bunch of questions and work on your stamina so that you can be alert through all eight sections... I will stress that again; read every question carefully for what they are asking because a number of answer choices look correct on initial perusal but on closer inspection the correct answer is apparent. I picked that up while doing UW and it really helped bring my percentage from around 50 to 55 to 60, 65 on UW. I just want to thank all the people on SDN who have contributed in my prep for this exam and hope this helps... On my way to the windy city to show off some Clinical Skills! God bless all you guys...

congrats on being done....i'm less than a week away from mine too!!

How would you say the breakdown of your exam was?? Lots of EKGs? Pics? or things you weren't expecting?? Other than doing world questions what do you suggest doing on the last few days??

Thanks for any advice you can give!!!