USMLE World Scores and Step II Scores

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

lmh14

Member
10+ Year Member
5+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2005
Messages
75
Reaction score
0
Probably been discussed before, but can't find a recent thread....

I'm just curious about what scores people were getting on USMLE World, and then how you ended up doing on Step 2.

All you have to do is post two numbers...... :)

Thanks folks, and good luck with everything!!

Members don't see this ad.
 
first time through unused questions was around 65%. got 234/95
 
I think I got around a 61% (I can't access my account anymore) but it definately wasn't as high as 65%. I felt like I scored alot in the 55-59% and then occassionally in the 60-65% range.

I took the nbme mini-exam that is $45 online and got a 231.

I ended up with a 250. :clap: I got a 208 on step 1.
 
Thats good news. I have 6 weeks until exam and I'm at 50%(48%-61%) with 20% of the back done. I hope I can increase this over the next 80% of questions. I hope to end up with 60% overall.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I have an average score on USMLEworld of 68%. I typically get scores between 65 and 75%. I took the NBME mini exm for 45 today and got a 740 which they predict is equivalent to a 262. Hope this works out. I have to admit though, it seemed as though the content of USMLEworld was very similar to that of the mini exam which makes me wonder if you are being prepped for the mini exam or both the mini and the real exam. Hopefully it is both!! I think USMLEworld is totally the way to go if you want to score high. I think if you just want to pass maybe Kaplan and first aid would suffice but why pay MORE for Kaplan to just pass??
 
I've got 7 weeks 'til the exam. How many time should I do UW? x2? I'm also reading Kaplan notes too. Thanks for the advice. :eek:
 
You're using the right stuff, just don't fly through it. Take some time to review the questions you miss and get the concepts down. Also, learn to answer the question as it is written, not what you think they mean. That really helped me.
 
Ophtho24 said:
I have an average score on USMLEworld of 68%. I typically get scores between 65 and 75%. I took the NBME mini exm for 45 today and got a 740 which they predict is equivalent to a 262. Hope this works out. I have to admit though, it seemed as though the content of USMLEworld was very similar to that of the mini exam which makes me wonder if you are being prepped for the mini exam or both the mini and the real exam. Hopefully it is both!! I think USMLEworld is totally the way to go if you want to score high. I think if you just want to pass maybe Kaplan and first aid would suffice but why pay MORE for Kaplan to just pass??

I'm fairly certain that usmleworld has taken (I almost want to say plagarized) questions from the NBME self-assessments....some are just way too close and on odd-ball topics that the likleyhood of it being by chance alone is slim.

I have also noticed a few almost verbatim from the Pre-Test series.

Additionally, many of the answers just seem "off", and seem to bypass the obvious point that we shoud be learning and instead emphasize some random crap that is essentially irrelevant for step2.

Add on to that the horrendous grammar thoughout the question bank "the patient is having..." which makes the questions painful to read at times...

The only reason to use usmleworld is the price, which should really be lower for the quality you get...

I would be hesitant to use your usmleworld score as any kind of indicator of your possible performance on step2.
 
usmelworld 68%
NBME 560 1.5 weeks before exam
Step 2 250/99

usmlworld was great
 
tigershark said:
I'm fairly certain that usmleworld has taken (I almost want to say plagarized) questions from the NBME self-assessments....some are just way too close and on odd-ball topics that the likleyhood of it being by chance alone is slim.

I have also noticed a few almost verbatim from the Pre-Test series.

Additionally, many of the answers just seem "off", and seem to bypass the obvious point that we shoud be learning and instead emphasize some random crap that is essentially irrelevant for step2.

Add on to that the horrendous grammar thoughout the question bank "the patient is having..." which makes the questions painful to read at times...

The only reason to use usmleworld is the price, which should really be lower for the quality you get...

I would be hesitant to use your usmleworld score as any kind of indicator of your possible performance on step2.
If you think that USMLEworld is poor then you should really put what you think is better. I used Kaplan for Step I and to be honest I did great on Kaplan, but thought the content was too easy. I consistently got scores in the upper 95th-99th percentiles on my shelf exams during the first two years and ended up getting only around 85th percentile on Step I. Not a bad score, but I don't think Kaplan gets top students to their full potential. I think USMLE world has done a much better job in this regard. I find most of the questions very challenging and find that they are more representative of what I saw on Step I than Kaplan was on Step I. I have scored 94, >98th (whatever that means), 87, and 99th percentile on shelfs this year (Internal Med, Peds, Surgery, and Family med, respectively) this year. So if USMLEworld is a poor predictor of performance I hope these scores will be a better predictor. Anyhow I think USMLEworld may not be perfect. I have found very few grammatical errors,though. I think some of the questions do lead towards more rare diagnoses but hey the boards isn't exactly coming through with questions on the common cold and standard ST segment elevation MI's. If you find something better let us know, but otherwise I still recommend USMLEworld.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Ophtho24 said:
If you think that USMLEworld is poor then you should really put what you think is better. I used Kaplan for Step I and to be honest I did great on Kaplan, but thought the content was too easy. I consistently got scores in the upper 95th-99th percentiles on my shelf exams during the first two years and ended up getting only around 85th percentile on Step I. Not a bad score, but I don't think Kaplan gets top students to their full potential. I think USMLE world has done a much better job in this regard. I find most of the questions very challenging and find that they are more representative of what I saw on Step I than Kaplan was on Step I. I have scored 94, >98th (whatever that means), 87, and 99th percentile on shelfs this year (Internal Med, Peds, Surgery, and Family med, respectively) this year. So if USMLEworld is a poor predictor of performance I hope these scores will be a better predictor. Anyhow I think USMLEworld may not be perfect. I have found very few grammatical errors,though. I think some of the questions do lead towards more rare diagnoses but hey the boards isn't exactly coming through with questions on the common cold and standard ST segment elevation MI's. If you find something better let us know, but otherwise I still recommend USMLEworld.

I dont really think there is another online question bank that is better than usmleworld, which is why I used it, but just because something happens to be the best out of a bunch of poor choices doesnt mean I'm going to give it glowing reviews. The main purpose usmleworld served for me was simulating the exam conditions and getting use to reading text from a computer screen for long periods of time, outside of that I felt the content was poor compared to other offline question sources.

I think the quality of the pre-test series is much better, NMS questions were good, appleton&lange were okay but still better than usmleworld, a few of the kaplan notes were excellent (Pestana's surgery review was money for the shelf exam, about 10 questions straight from his review), and the case files series was good to augment your studies for shelf exams (though I wouldnt waste time reading them for step2 if you didnt use them for your shelf exams)
 
I can agree with that. Things can always be better. But in a world of poor choices I think you still have to recommend the best of the options. I actually loved the MKSAP questions for learning to be a good doctor since I think they represent patients I commonly admitted on the IM service. I would recommend for board prep but a lot of that stuff won't be tested and it is a significant committment. I wish all questions represented patients that we see on wards but common patients have common conditions which the boards don't seem to test extensively.
 
How did people do that achieved in the 50's? What were the scores for anyone that averaged around 53% (just and arbitrary number :rolleyes: )?
 
I took the exam today. I had been getting 68% on USMLEworld. I thought the exam was much easier than USMLEworld. The questions stems are much longer but mostly full of worthless labs and vital signs. Many of the questions are just giveaways. I can't really say anything in particular was heavily stressed. There was a lot of trauma but it was mostly easy. Knowing when to get abdominal CTs versus when it is time for the old laparotomy. There were a few obvious tension pnuemos. I think USMLEworld is probably overkill for passing. But I still think it helps if you want to do well. Some of the harder questions were definitely based off of principles stressed on USMLEworld. I think if you did well third year you probably only need to study for two weeks to do well. I studied for a little under three and probably studied more than I needed to. Maybe I will end up failing, but it seemed like the type of test that is easy to pass and hopefully easy to do well on with adequate preparation. If you just want to pass and have done well third year I bet you could do alright with only studying like five days. I'll post my score when I get it (so that you guys can laugh at me for saying it was relatively easy), they said it might take up to six weeks to get my score , though.
 
Ophtho24 said:
Ended up getting a 252/99.

Ophtho, thanks for the update. I've just started pulling mid-60's on USMLE World, and I was freakin out for a bit there. Your review of Step 2, so far, is the most inspiring that I've read... I hope I'm lucky enough to get a score like yours.
 
My USMLE World scores are kind of schizophrenic....I will get 80% on one set of questions and then get 55% on the next. My average is mid-60s which got me on edge at first, but reading all of your amazing scores with similar UW scores I am encouraged.

I take the test in 6 days....cannot wait to be done. Good luck to all those who are like me and waiting for the big day and congrats to those who are done.
 
I had a great feeling after I left the testing center a few weeks ago. I did approximately 50% of USMLEworld questions, and was scoring in the upper 50's to mid 60's. I started to use the service with about two weeks remaining until my test date and ended up with a 237/96, which is a significant improvement from Step I. Though the score is lower that other members who scored around this percentage, I couldn't be more pleased with the results!
 
I am at a cum of 62% expecting to take the test Nov 1... Hoping for 230+... Please god!! Ill update as the results come in. Whats the expected turnaround for Step 2?
 
Ophtho24 said:
If you think that USMLEworld is poor then you should really put what you think is better. I used Kaplan for Step I and to be honest I did great on Kaplan, but thought the content was too easy. I consistently got scores in the upper 95th-99th percentiles on my shelf exams during the first two years and ended up getting only around 85th percentile on Step I. Not a bad score, but I don't think Kaplan gets top students to their full potential. I think USMLE world has done a much better job in this regard. I find most of the questions very challenging and find that they are more representative of what I saw on Step I than Kaplan was on Step I. I have scored 94, >98th (whatever that means), 87, and 99th percentile on shelfs this year (Internal Med, Peds, Surgery, and Family med, respectively) this year. So if USMLEworld is a poor predictor of performance I hope these scores will be a better predictor. Anyhow I think USMLEworld may not be perfect. I have found very few grammatical errors,though. I think some of the questions do lead towards more rare diagnoses but hey the boards isn't exactly coming through with questions on the common cold and standard ST segment elevation MI's. If you find something better let us know, but otherwise I still recommend USMLEworld.


Does usmleworld offer step1 questions? i guess it must have been a typo because i just looked at their website, and i see that the answer is no. for those who have done well on both step 1, and step 2 - is it worthwhile doing usmleworld questions for step 1?

Thanks.
 
UW does not have anything for step 1. I think Kaplan is actually very good for step 1, they just seemed to have lost some touch with reality when it comes to step 2 questions. The notes are just as good as they were with step 1, but what's the point of having a qbank when there is little correlation to the real exam. Kaplan for step 1 and Usmleworld for step 2 (and 3). Nbme is the best for both.
 
adeelmd said:
UW does not have anything for step 1. I think Kaplan is actually very good for step 1, they just seemed to have lost some touch with reality when it comes to step 2 questions. The notes are just as good as they were with step 1, but what's the point of having a qbank when there is little correlation to the real exam. Kaplan for step 1 and Usmleworld for step 2 (and 3). Nbme is the best for both.

Thanks.

Does anyone (with 245+) on step 1 actually recommend doing any step 2 material (and if yes, what?).

Thanks.
 
i had a 242 on step 1.. and don't waste your time with step2 things; just pay attention during rounds and didactics to augment your step1 reading.
 
adeelmd said:
i had a 242 on step 1.. and don't waste your time with step2 things; just pay attention during rounds and didactics to augment your step1 reading.


Thanks, adeelmd.

Any other opinions? What step2 material (if any) is beneficial in pushing the three digit score for step 1 beyond the minimal equivalent of 99?

Thanks.
 
2006MD said:
How did people do that achieved in the 50's? What were the scores for anyone that averaged around 53% (just and arbitrary number :rolleyes: )?


Probably a more honest number than the ones that are put up around here.

Going through USMLEworld and looking at the percentages of questions that are answered correctly tells me that more people are averaging in the 50s than they would like to admit. Just like all of the people who claim to score 250 and above around here on boards are not consistent with statistics. The skew is just outrageous on this site.


Bottom line: it is useless asking people how they performed on tests around here. Most of the answers is just BS and is meant for entertainment purposes. :rolleyes:
 
hi hook

not to contradict, but I believe the large number of 250+ and high scorers on UW are not ALL fake...I think this site tends to draw more of the type A crowd, who are all really intense, more gunnerish material...so the skew is tending heavily to that side...most residency discussions are on top ten schools and competitive fellowships...I dont think its representative of the crowd at large, but I don't think everyone is posting BS scores...my 2 cents...

thanks and gl to all taking the step 2...I too will be doing it in just a few weeks and am studying like a madman now...
 
DrJ-Bond said:
hi hook

not to contradict, but I believe the large number of 250+ and high scorers on UW are not ALL fake...I think this site tends to draw more of the type A crowd, who are all really intense, more gunnerish material...so the skew is tending heavily to that side...most residency discussions are on top ten schools and competitive fellowships...I dont think its representative of the crowd at large, but I don't think everyone is posting BS scores...my 2 cents...

thanks and gl to all taking the step 2...I too will be doing it in just a few weeks and am studying like a madman now...


I thought of this too when I first joined this site but this site is very popular amongst a great many of all types of med students every where considering people at my school and interview trails that claim to frequent this board. Also, take a look at the threads dedicated to a specific class and school on this site. You will see a lot of students from that school posting. This site is probably the most popular med student site on the net. Everyone knows about it.



There are only an extremely small percentage of students out there who actually score a 250 or above on the USMLE exams (less than 5% of students who take it). If you view the threads on Step 1 scores and Step 2 scores out there and all the people claiming to have 250 and above on them, it ain't hard to see that most of the score reporting around here is BS.

I not picking on any particular person. If you honestly know that you got a 250+ on Step 1 or 2, then you know that none of this applies to you but who gives a damn if someone name "Cpt. Hook Hamate" or "Future Doctor" on a website got a 220 or 250+? There is no consequence here. there is only consequence from the residency program you apply to which will know the truth.

To be clear - I didn't claim that they all were fake. Of course some are actually scoring 250+ out there but it ain't a lot of people. I said "most." I can't prove it but I just don't believe it. Many students on the interview trail and at my school seems to agree with me on this.
 
I am really frustrated... My test is on the 8th... Back a few weeks ago after 10 blocks my average on uw (untimed random) was 62%.... Now I am on block 42, and my average is still 62%! (and it's been 62 throughout) I went over all the answers with a fine toothed comb, have over 100 pages of notes just UW! The worst part about it is that all my subject scores are 60's so I have nothing that I can really concentrate on. I did nbme 1, and got 580 on it... I went through my notes, did nbme 2, and got 540 =(... I desparately want to crack 240 on this test, and no matter what i read, or questions i do... I always end up with something around 220... I have no idea where to go from here, but I am going to try nbme three tommorrow, hopefully I will get some confidence from that.

It's not just here man, on EVERY SINGLE website out there people are getting 240's, 250's, 75% on UW world like it was a coloring book. It's like anything below a 230 and your a laughingstock! I think a lot of people are doing better simply because it's a lot more competitive, especially for imgs. I have heard of people with double 99's being rejected from programs where residents have been shot at! I would love to believe that everyone is lying. Sometimes I think there is a group of computer science majors in Hong Kong who are posting this crap just to piss us off.

Anyway, I really don't have any idea where to go from here.. Not that 220's is a bad score(s), it's just that that's where I was 4 weeks ago, and that's where I still am now =(. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
adeelmd said:
I am really frustrated... My test is on the 8th... Back a few weeks ago after 10 blocks my average on uw (untimed random) was 62%.... Now I am on block 42, and my average is still 62%! (and it's been 62 throughout) I went over all the answers with a fine toothed comb, have over 100 pages of notes just UW! The worst part about it is that all my subject scores are 60's so I have nothing that I can really concentrate on. I did nbme 1, and got 580 on it... I went through my notes, did nbme 2, and got 540 =(... I desparately want to crack 240 on this test, and no matter what i read, or questions i do... I always end up with something around 220... I have no idea where to go from here, but I am going to try nbme three tommorrow, hopefully I will get some confidence from that.

It's not just here man, on EVERY SINGLE website out there people are getting 240's, 250's, 75% on UW world like it was a coloring book. It's like anything below a 230 and your a laughingstock! I think a lot of people are doing better simply because it's a lot more competitive, especially for imgs. I have heard of people with double 99's being rejected from programs where residents have been shot at! I would love to believe that everyone is lying. Sometimes I think there is a group of computer science majors in Hong Kong who are posting this crap just to piss us off.

Anyway, I really don't have any idea where to go from here.. Not that 220's is a bad score(s), it's just that that's where I was 4 weeks ago, and that's where I still am now =(. Any advice would be appreciated.


Have you tried praying? God has a special interest in USMLE scores.

J/K but it sounds liek you ahve been working hard and doing your best. I wouldn't let it bother me too much. I bet you will wind up doing quite well.
 
I had a friend who averaged 51% on USMLEWORLD, scored a 185 on the actual exam

Another friend scored 55% on USMLEWORLD, scored a 192 on the actual exam

yet another friend who scored lower 70's on USMLEWORLD, scored 248...

and me, I hit 60% on USMLEWORLD (did about 900?'s) and scored 227.

Roughly, 50% on USMLEWORLD and you should pass...60% and you should score >220...70% and you'll be flying high >240. Again, this is just a rough estimate from my experience as well as other people I've talked to.
 
USMLEWorld cumulative 60%: started early, got 50%'s in the beginning. Right before the test, was getting about 70% or so on most tests, random, no-repeat questions.

Kaplan QBank cumulative 68%: stopped doing QBank after getting 75% and above, switched to USMLEWorld full-time for increased difficulty.

NBME 1/2/3: 235/222/241. NBME 1 taken a week before the exam, NBME 2/3 both taken about 3 days before the exam.

Scored 248 on the real thing. Good luck.
 
UW avg: 61%
Step 1: 215
step 2 :241

Good luck and this test is doable.
UW is the best prep overall, I also used Crush. And that was it.
I used too many sources on step 1 and didn't know any of them well enough.
Good luck out there.
 
UW avg: 74%
Step1: >260
Step2: >260

If you did well on the shelf exams I dont think you should put too much effort into studying for step2. I took the NBME assessments before and after studying for 1 month and scored just about the same.
 
UW avg 61%
Step 2: 222 (90)

But I historically freak out on every major exam and that drops my score so I could have probably done better...
 
I completed approximately 1300 of the USMLEWorld questions.
My average ended up at 68%.
My actual exam score was 268.

Definitely a worthwhile investment. In my opinion, it was bit more picky than the real exam, but it stressed the right concepts.

good luck
 
got my score today. i had to take step one twice. second time i got a 200.

step 2 i was scoring about 40% to 50% on USMLE World. I didn't have time to repeat any questions, and i didn't have time to even go over some of the practice tests (a very bad move).

i took the NBME and i failed it.

actual step 2 score was 188. thank you jesus. i don't have to take it again.

but the moral is to actually repeat USMLE world until you score in the 60's because i took a gamble by sitting for the exam with those numbers.
 
Thanks to all for the correlations to USMLEWorld scores.

Although I hate Kaplan as much as the next person, I hope USMLEWorld inspires Kaplan to redo their Step 2 q-bank because the q-bank on USMLEWorld is far from being well written.

Spang
 
Top