New Step II Experiences

[jtre506]

SDN,
I took new 44 question version of the USMLE II today, honestly this exam is much more difficult than I expected. Before I begin here is a little background on me.
Step I 246/99
USMLE World average 70%
USMLE Self Assesment 240

The format of the test is exactly like UWorld, and there ARE a few exact questions from the Q bank, but thats were the similarities end. The first 4 blocks were managable, a lot of medicine questions a few psych and ethics mixed in as well as an auidio visual question on every block. Blocks 6-7-8 were a whole different story, the question stems were extremly long and filled with multiple lab values. Not only were the question stems long they were very random, most seemed like there were at least 2-3 correct answers. I felt as tho I did well on the first 4 blocks totally bomed 6-7-8 and recovered on block 9.
Anyone have a similar experience?

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[cyclohexanol]

SDN,
I took new 44 question version of the USMLE II today, honestly this exam is much more difficult than I expected. Before I begin here is a little background on me.
Step I 246/99
USMLE World average 70%
USMLE Self Assesment 240

The format of the test is exactly like UWorld, and there ARE a few exact questions from the Q bank, but thats were the similarities end. The first 4 blocks were managable, a lot of medicine questions a few psych and ethics mixed in as well as an auidio visual question on every block. Blocks 6-7-8 were a whole different story, the question stems were extremly long and filled with multiple lab values. Not only were the question stems long they were very random, most seemed like there were at least 2-3 correct answers. I felt as tho I did well on the first 4 blocks totally bomed 6-7-8 and recovered on block 9.
Anyone have a similar experience?

I had the same experience today. It was definitely a bit more difficult that I had expected. I got pissed at the media items that kept coming up. I kept having to switch from the noise reducing headsets to the audio headsets to hear some random murmur.

I also have to say that the questions were much longer than on UW, and on Step 1.

We'll see in a few weeks!

 

[jtre506]

I think it had to be the new version of the test, it seems like those that took the test before Aug 10th had a better experience.
thoughts?

 

[Instatewaiter]

The format of the test is exactly like UWorld, and there ARE a few exact questions from the Q bank, but thats were the similarities end. The first 4 blocks were managable, a lot of medicine questions a few psych and ethics mixed in as well as an auidio visual question on every block. Blocks 6-7-8 were a whole different story, the question stems were extremly long and filled with multiple lab values. Not only were the question stems long they were very random, most seemed like there were at least 2-3 correct answers. I felt as tho I did well on the first 4 blocks totally bomed 6-7-8 and recovered on block 9.
Anyone have a similar experience?

I had the same experience today. It was definitely a bit more difficult that I had expected. I got pissed at the media items that kept coming up. I kept having to switch from the noise reducing headsets to the audio headsets to hear some random murmur.

I also have to say that the questions were much longer than on UW, and on Step 1.

We'll see in a few weeks!

Did you guys take any NBME shelf exams this past year? I felt like step 2 was comparable to those. I felt like the type of questions were very similar between step 2 and the shelf exams but believe it or not, I felt like step 2 question stems were much, much shorter than the shelf exams. Both tests gave about the same amt of time but I had extra time left over for step 2 and rarely had extra time in shelf exams. If you guys didn't take any NBME shelf exams I can tell you that you come out of those exams feeling like you failed but it all works out in the end.


In terms of step 2, I did have a similar experience with harder blocks. My 2nd and 3rd blocks were very hard. Then my 4th and 5th blocks were a ton easier. I started to worry, is step 2 a computer-adaptive test where it gets easy if you are totally F-ing up? I hope it's not. haha. Only one ear of my headphones was properly working. If I moved at all the 2nd ear stopped working, so for half of the audio questions I only heard out of 1 ear. I think i had 3-4 audio questions.

Outside of the headphones, I had a few more problems on test day. My exam room was 80 degrees, I kid you not (I looked at the thermostat). Apparently in when its 100 degrees outside and all the computers are in use, the AC isn't strong enough to keep the room cool. So as the day went on, the room got hotter and hotter. That was a big pain in the butt so it could just be that I was more focused on how hot the room was and not on the difference between Uworld and the real deal.

 

[cyclohexanol]

Did you guys take any NBME shelf exams this past year? I felt like step 2 was comparable to those. I felt like the type of questions were very similar between step 2 and the shelf exams but believe it or not, I felt like step 2 question stems were much, much shorter than the shelf exams. Both tests gave about the same amt of time but I had extra time left over for step 2 and rarely had extra time in shelf exams. If you guys didn't take any NBME shelf exams I can tell you that you come out of those exams feeling like you failed but it all works out in the end.


In terms of step 2, I did have a similar experience with harder blocks. My 2nd and 3rd blocks were very hard. Then my 4th and 5th blocks were a ton easier. I started to worry, is step 2 a computer-adaptive test where it gets easy if you are totally F-ing up? I hope it's not. haha. Only one ear of my headphones was properly working. If I moved at all the 2nd ear stopped working, so for half of the audio questions I only heard out of 1 ear. I think i had 3-4 audio questions.

Outside of the headphones, I had a few more problems on test day. My exam room was 80 degrees, I kid you not (I looked at the thermostat). Apparently in when its 100 degrees outside and all the computers are in use, the AC isn't strong enough to keep the room cool. So as the day went on, the room got hotter and hotter. That was a big pain in the butt so it could just be that I was more focused on how hot the room was and not on the difference between Uworld and the real deal.

Damn man, that sucks about the room, I wouldn't have been able to focus on anything except how ****ing hot it was. Luckily my testing center didn't have that problem.

I did take IM, Peds, OB, Surg, Psych, and FP NBME shelf exams and I agree that the Step 2 questions were similar to those in length and style. On shelf exams I usually finished 5-10 minutes early, same with Step 2 blocks. Overall I finished Step 2 1hr15mins early, and felt confident about it.

 

[Tsutsugamushi]

How many blocks of questions are there? 8 or 9? Did any of you guys who took the new step 2 exam do any of the NBME practice tests? If so, how would you compare the experience?

 

[Instatewaiter]

Damn man, that sucks about the room, I wouldn't have been able to focus on anything except how ****ing hot it was. Luckily my testing center didn't have that problem.

I did take IM, Peds, OB, Surg, Psych, and FP NBME shelf exams and I agree that the Step 2 questions were similar to those in length and style. On shelf exams I usually finished 5-10 minutes early, same with Step 2 blocks. Overall I finished Step 2 1hr15mins early, and felt confident about it.

Wow, that's movin'! I think i probably had around 45 min left.

How many blocks of questions are there? 8 or 9? Did any of you guys who took the new step 2 exam do any of the NBME practice tests? If so, how would you compare the experience?

There are 8 blocks of questions (9 blocks total including the tutorial)

I took NBME #2. I'd say it was pretty comparable. Perhaps the questions were a touch longer on the real thing but not terribly longer.

UPDATE: score from NBME 2 about 1.5 weeks before underestimated my score a bit but was still in the same ballpark.

 

[Tsutsugamushi]

Thanks for the reply.... overall did you feel that UW was representative of the new exam? Some people have noticed quite a few questions asking about the underlying "mechanism" did anyone else also notice that.... was it more than one expected or was it around the same quantity as in UW?

Thanks in advance.

 

[synapse lapse]

I think it had to be the new version of the test, it seems like those that took the test before Aug 10th had a better experience.
thoughts?

Eh, I think everyone feels that way. I took the earlier version and recently got my score back. Test day was hard, blocks 2 and 3 were very hard, and then it got to moderate difficulty. I felt like I didn't do well, and ended up doing well, so I think the feeling is pretty common.

 

[cyclohexanol]

Thanks for the reply.... overall did you feel that UW was representative of the new exam? Some people have noticed quite a few questions asking about the underlying "mechanism" did anyone else also notice that.... was it more than one expected or was it around the same quantity as in UW?

Thanks in advance.

I think UW was very representative as far as content. As mentioned before, the actual questions seemed longer then UW questions. There were some "mechanism" questions, but the vast majority were next step questions.

 

[Brain]

Eh, I think everyone feels that way. I took the earlier version and recently got my score back. Test day was hard, blocks 2 and 3 were very hard, and then it got to moderate difficulty. I felt like I didn't do well, and ended up doing well, so I think the feeling is pretty common.

I agree completely. I took it on Aug 6 and I felt like I did horribly when I left, especially because my block 9 was the hardest. I also felt more drained than I remembered feeling after Step 1. My score came out excellent though. UW was money.

 

[jtre506]

I think its just those 3 blocks that I marked 20 questions that i wasnt sure of,
I felt so much worse than step I. According the to the NBME website if you took the test after Aug 10th your scores wont be out until oct 7

 

[AFDuck]

I just took CK yesterday and I didn't really think it was too bad. Overall, I thought it was slightly easier/less detail-oriented than UW, which was good for me because I'm not the best memorizer - more of a concept guy. Anyway, 44 questions/block, they were long. I took the whole time on every block with only a couple minutes to go back to marked ones (never the fastest test-taker though). Probably 6-7 "media" questions, I think all but 1 or 2 were murmurs, not too bad. Several EKGs, a couple fetal heart tracings, a couple derm pics, 1 retina. I had probably 10 MVA questions, and my buddy said he had 1, so I think the variability in this exam is big. I'll post my evaluation of my prep on the big thread when I get my scores back in 6 weeks or whatever it is. Good luck!

 

[codeb1ue]

Just took the test today. Thought it was BRUTAL. I was beyond exhausted by the 8th block. Questions were pretty nit-picky IMO. I nearly completed uworld and did see a lot of repeats from there but still saw a ton of new random questions. Anyways not looking forward to seeing the results at all.

On the positive side, I can FINALLY relax!

 

[markglt]

hopefully you did better than you thought.
Did you think it was comparable to any of the nbmes?
what do you stand by in terms of what would best prepare one for this beast?...uw, kaplan, secrets, fa ck, etc...
best of luck with your scores

 

[drmom33]

I took mine on aug 23rd, but I felt the q's were not long at all, only a few long ones here and there. I did have 2 impossible blocks mid way as well.
I felt the hard q's were similar to the hard q's from the free materials.
I also had a few mechanism q's like they would describe a pt with a disease, then ask you for example what's happening with in the myocyte or something that nit picky. don't remember how many of these there were, but it was quite a few, I remember after the exam I wanted to look some stuff up and could not find it in kaplan but found it in step up, it's extra reading but might be worth it.
few more weeks to go for results

 

[tharwood]

I took mine on aug 23rd, but I felt the q's were not long at all, only a few long ones here and there. I did have 2 impossible blocks mid way as well.
I felt the hard q's were similar to the hard q's from the free materials.
I also had a few mechanism q's like they would describe a pt with a disease, then ask you for example what's happening with in the myocyte or something that nit picky. don't remember how many of these there were, but it was quite a few, I remember after the exam I wanted to look some stuff up and could not find it in kaplan but found it in step up, it's extra reading but might be worth it.
few more weeks to go for results

Which Qbank did you find most helpful and which step up book(step up to medicine or step up to usmle step 2) were you referring to? Thanks.

 

[drmom33]

step up to medicine. I tried the kaplan q bank, but they've renovated it to impossible levels, it also had the gathering info for percent correct, which I like to look at when taking tests, I thought the q's were too difficult but only did like 44 q's total.
UW was great, as everyone says, surgery trauma q's could have been word for word on my ck.

 

[krodUT]

I took mine yesterday. The first three blocks were not too bad but blocks 4, 5 and 6 were pretty difficult. I did all of UW and I think the most beneficial thing I did was go back and do all the questions I missed. All of my my media items were heart sounds but some people had videos of kids and you had to comment on their development.

Obviously everyone's test is different. I didn't have too much Ob/Gyn but I did have a lot of peds. The night before I reviewed the immune disorders, common ortho fractures and metabolic diseases and that seemed to help.

Lastly, diastematomyelia is related to spina bifida.

 

[54578]

If i take the exam on Oct 4th, when can I expect results? someone mentioned if u take after aug 10th you wont get results until oct 7?

 

[jey2283]

Thank you sir!!! i took mine today. i felt the EXACT same way. I'm glad i wasn't the only person that felt a bout of gerd leaving the prometrix center.

UW: 67% (89% completed)
NBME: 222 base 245 224 261 (3 days till test day)
Step1 241/99

I don't think i got too many manageable blocks. all of them were not so straight forward.

All i know is this: they lowered the question count by 2, yet i was very pressed for time the entire exam. i was down to the last seconds. that never happened on the UW bank. lol i felt like i was being hypnotised by the long question stems. for the first 7 questions i really thought i was on a hidden camera show

Soo happy it's finally over! Good luck to everyone!

SDN,
I took new 44 question version of the USMLE II today, honestly this exam is much more difficult than I expected. Before I begin here is a little background on me.
Step I 246/99
USMLE World average 70%
USMLE Self Assesment 240

The format of the test is exactly like UWorld, and there ARE a few exact questions from the Q bank, but thats were the similarities end. The first 4 blocks were managable, a lot of medicine questions a few psych and ethics mixed in as well as an auidio visual question on every block. Blocks 6-7-8 were a whole different story, the question stems were extremly long and filled with multiple lab values. Not only were the question stems long they were very random, most seemed like there were at least 2-3 correct answers. I felt as tho I did well on the first 4 blocks totally bomed 6-7-8 and recovered on block 9.
Anyone have a similar experience?

 

[jtre506]

If you read my previous post on this thread then u know I thought this test was a bitch. I took the new 44 question format and thought I did terrible.
by the grace of God
253/99

Ill post on my test prep later

good luck all

 

[slowlybutshelly]

I am just starting to take usmleworld practice questions. Are there 44 questions per block now? as opposed to 42 the last time i took it?

 

[slowlybutshelly]

do we get headsets in testing centers now?

 

[thedrjojo]

I am just starting to take usmleworld practice questions. Are there 44 questions per block now? as opposed to 42 the last time i took it?

I don't know if USMLE Step 2CK was ever 42questions... it used to be 46q until August when they dropped it down to 44q's. I took it in January and found it to be easier than UW questions (had 65% on UW and got a 250/99 on the real thing)... also was finishing each block in 40 minutes, finished whole thing with over 3hrs remaining (didn't take any breaks).

 

[thesauce]

I am just starting to take usmleworld practice questions. Are there 44 questions per block now? as opposed to 42 the last time i took it?

It was never 42

 

[thesauce]

Outside of the headphones, I had a few more problems on test day. My exam room was 80 degrees, I kid you not (I looked at the thermostat). Apparently in when its 100 degrees outside and all the computers are in use, the AC isn't strong enough to keep the room cool. So as the day went on, the room got hotter and hotter. That was a big pain in the butt so it could just be that I was more focused on how hot the room was and not on the difference between Uworld and the real deal.

Speaking of distractions: the proctor started singing during my test

Seriously. I took a break just to tell her to stop.