Hi guys,
I got the result yesterday. It was 256. I benefited a lot from this forum while preparing for Step 1 and Step 2 CK. I hope my experience can be helpful to you.
Preparation
I watched Kaplan Video twice. (I didn't read the books because they are too thick!)
Then I did Kaplan Qbank with an average of 61% (the mean for that Qbank was 58%).
I was a bit disappointed so I read the explanations of Kaplan Qbank carefully twice (literally words to words). I learned a lot from that.
I started doing U World Qbank 2 months before the exam. I only did it once (random, timed), my average was 78%. Again, I read the explanations carefully once, wiki or uptodate the stuffs I am not familiar with, and reviewed my markings three times.
My Fred 150 was about 88% (one month before the exam)
I only tried the NBME 4 questions offline (two weeks before). My score was probably 235-240 based on the answers in the forum.
I activated UWSA, but I was too nervous to do it.
I scanned through MTB 2 and MTB3 during the last week, which I was surprised to find there are stuffs that are not covered in U World Qbank or Kaplan Qbank. You don't need to read everything, I guess only those "questions and answers" in these books are useful for the exam.
My feeling is that U world is the most useful resource. U world + MTB 2 and MTB 3 will get you above 250 if you can master 90% of the knowledge. Do Kaplan Qbank if you are shooting for 260 or higher.
Exam experience
I have read tons of posts where people complained about how ridiculously difficult the exam was. So I was totally stressed out before the exam. However, the real thing turned out to be quite doable, at least for me. Yes, the stems may be a bit longer than U world, but not significantly. Besides, there are stems that are very short. So overall, you should not have time management issue due to "long stems". I guess the key is to be very disciplined. Don't dwell on questions that you are unsure about, pick whatever you instinct says and move on.
There will be questions (10-15% for me) that test knowledge that you have never prepared for. However, remember that the USMLE is not going to trick you. Don't over think, just choose the answer that sounds best to you.
Another important point is that almost everyone will make silly mistakes during that exam, believe me! I knew that I got at least 5 questions wrong in previous blocks before I finished the exam! Don't worry, just keep going! After the exam, several questions that I was unsure about haunted me for the next three weeks. I guess it is normal for people to concentrate on the questions they didn't do well and ignore the questions they kicked ass of. That's probably also why people felt a bit down after the exam. But just remember that you can still get 250+ even if you made several mistakes.
I took Step 1 four years back and got 246. I think it would be an advantage if you start prepare for the Step 2 CK right after Step 1 because there were at least 5 questions that tested mechanisms of disease using Step 1 knowledge which I was unsure about. However, you can still eliminate and guess based on the residual knowledge for Step 1 in your mind and what U World has taught you. So don't overemphasize the importance of Step 1, and I don't recommend you to review FA Step1 thoroughly because that would be low yield.
I hope my post can be helpful to you and cheer you up a bit!
