Arch Guillotti
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Here is my story. Hopefully it is helpful to someone out there in cyberland. I needed to do well on Step II (translation: Crush it). I am a DO student going for gas, so I want to be as competitive as possible (duh!) Right or wrong (I?m still wondering myself) I decided to take the USMLE in addition to the COMLEX. I am not sure what the answer to the oft-debated USMLE/COMLEX argument is, I can only recount my own experience. Unfortunately, I did well on the COMLEX (81%) but poorly on the USMLE (200/82). I debated on whether or not to just release the COMLEX scores, or retake the USMLE and see what would happen. Based on my USMLE Step II results, I would either hold or release all my USMLE scores. In short, if I did poorly on USMLE Step II I would release COMLEX only. If I did well, I would release USMLE and COMLEX.
Got my scores yesterday. I will be releasing USMLE when I transmit ERAS in the next day or two. My score on USMLE Step II? 241/97. I was stunned, to say the least. Then ecstatic.
The logistics: It took exactly 30 days to receive my scores. I took it on a Thursday and got the scores back on the first Saturday after 4 weeks had elapsed. I walked out knowing I had passed, but I had NO idea how well I did. Rough mean was 216 and SD was 23. Using a standard z-table, that puts me at about the 72nd percentile. I didn?t absolutely smoke it, but 241 is a very respectable score. Especially for a schmucko DO student like me.
How I studied: Started studying about May (for a mid-August test). Yes, this is very early ? but it paid off. Mostly studied in the evenings and weekends. I didn?t kill myself, but I was pretty methodical about it. The last 6 weeks I pretty much dropped other stuff to concentrate on studying. Slow and steady. What I used. Mostly Crush the boards. Get this book! I went thru it multiple times. I also went through Boards and Wards a couple of times. Didn?t really use any other books.
LOTS of questions (and answers). I ratcheted up the questions the 6 weeks prior to the exam. Started with Pretest (the easiest, so they say). Then did the NMS book. Took a full length practice CD. Then did ALL of Q-bank. Then the released items.
Correlations: Everyone loves these. (Note that I took these at varying times. Scores should be reflective of how far along you are.
Pretest: Range 52-70% (avg. 62%)
NMS: Range 61-67% (avg. 64%). I did better than appears on these. The 20 or so multiple matching questions at the end always beat me down. I thought they were ridiculous and non-representative of the real exam. Who cares what 3 bones you break in your foot when you fall off a ladder? Really.
Kaplan Step 2 CD: Maybe 65%
Q-bank (range 52%-ugh that was ugly all the way up to 88% or so. Average 69% (good number).
Released items: 84%, 88%,78%.
Will this score get me into The House of God? Nah. Will it keep me out of the House of Shame. Let?s hope so.
Good luck to everyone during this stressful time. I know that a single number isn?t a magic bullet, but the rest of my app is pretty good and damn! it felt good to get that score. I just hope I don't get canned right off the bat by a Step I filter. That would suck! We'll see what happens, but if that situation occurs at somewhere I am very interested in I might give them a call and ask them to reconsider an interview. Sounds crazy but I heard this is not inappropriate (from a very cool PD) so why not give it a shot. I'll know in a couple of weeks. haha
Hope this helps.
Arch
Got my scores yesterday. I will be releasing USMLE when I transmit ERAS in the next day or two. My score on USMLE Step II? 241/97. I was stunned, to say the least. Then ecstatic.
The logistics: It took exactly 30 days to receive my scores. I took it on a Thursday and got the scores back on the first Saturday after 4 weeks had elapsed. I walked out knowing I had passed, but I had NO idea how well I did. Rough mean was 216 and SD was 23. Using a standard z-table, that puts me at about the 72nd percentile. I didn?t absolutely smoke it, but 241 is a very respectable score. Especially for a schmucko DO student like me.
How I studied: Started studying about May (for a mid-August test). Yes, this is very early ? but it paid off. Mostly studied in the evenings and weekends. I didn?t kill myself, but I was pretty methodical about it. The last 6 weeks I pretty much dropped other stuff to concentrate on studying. Slow and steady. What I used. Mostly Crush the boards. Get this book! I went thru it multiple times. I also went through Boards and Wards a couple of times. Didn?t really use any other books.
LOTS of questions (and answers). I ratcheted up the questions the 6 weeks prior to the exam. Started with Pretest (the easiest, so they say). Then did the NMS book. Took a full length practice CD. Then did ALL of Q-bank. Then the released items.
Correlations: Everyone loves these. (Note that I took these at varying times. Scores should be reflective of how far along you are.
Pretest: Range 52-70% (avg. 62%)
NMS: Range 61-67% (avg. 64%). I did better than appears on these. The 20 or so multiple matching questions at the end always beat me down. I thought they were ridiculous and non-representative of the real exam. Who cares what 3 bones you break in your foot when you fall off a ladder? Really.
Kaplan Step 2 CD: Maybe 65%
Q-bank (range 52%-ugh that was ugly all the way up to 88% or so. Average 69% (good number).
Released items: 84%, 88%,78%.
Will this score get me into The House of God? Nah. Will it keep me out of the House of Shame. Let?s hope so.
Good luck to everyone during this stressful time. I know that a single number isn?t a magic bullet, but the rest of my app is pretty good and damn! it felt good to get that score. I just hope I don't get canned right off the bat by a Step I filter. That would suck! We'll see what happens, but if that situation occurs at somewhere I am very interested in I might give them a call and ask them to reconsider an interview. Sounds crazy but I heard this is not inappropriate (from a very cool PD) so why not give it a shot. I'll know in a couple of weeks. haha
Hope this helps.
Arch
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