USMLE Official 2014 Step 2 CK Experiences and Scores Thread

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exudate

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With all the changes going on, I think it is a good time to start a new thread and keep all the scores and experiences organized in one thread. Similar thread was really helpful for step 1, so I am hoping this one will be equally great and helpful to all.

Good luck to all the Step 2 CK'ers in 2014!
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I dont think that they are changing their pool all at once but i am sure that they are transitioning away from asking the high yield facts that we could recite in our sleep

Problem is that as far as i know there isnt a book or resource out there that has adapted to it. I mean if you think about it, mtb, uworld, fa, secrets, they all talk about the same facts with a different presentation

If the nbme transitions to a whole new pool of "high yield" facts, there is no good way to prepare unless you memorize harrisons
 
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res1cue said:
I dont think that they are changing their pool all at once but i am sure that they are transitioning away from asking the high yield facts that we could recite in our sleep

Problem is that as far as i know there isnt a book or resource out there that has adapted to it. I mean if you think about it, mtb, uworld, fa, secrets, they all talk about the same facts with a different presentation

If the nbme transitions to a whole new pool of "high yield" facts, there is no good way to prepare unless you memorize harrisons
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I'm taking it in less than a week. What's your advice to prepare then? I'm hammering out UW again, and I'm thinking of looking over Secrets and doing a practice NBME tomorrow. I have been looking over parts of MTB2/3. I don't feel prepared at all, sadly, but these posts are making me feel like I'm going to get rammed come test day.
 
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Dont change much because you gotta remember nobody else has better resources either

There are some really tough psych questions so be sure to look at that

Main take away from my post is dont let it get to you on test day. I thought i was mentally prepared, but i was still really frazzled by how hard it was and i know for a fact that i missed a few gimmes because of it

Just stay calm and dont be surprised by it
 
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res1cue said:
Dont change much because you gotta remember nobody else has better resources either

There are some really tough psych questions so be sure to look at that

Main take away from my post is dont let it get to you on test day. I thought i was mentally prepared, but i was still really frazzled by how hard it was and i know for a fact that i missed a few gimmes because of it

Just stay calm and dont be surprised by it
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Thanks. I've been following this thread since the latter half of third year, so I know that you are a part of the overwhelming majority of students who felt like Step 2 utterly destroyed them. I don't really get anxious about any exams, but it sucks not feeling prepared. Just gonna keep on truckin'.
 
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Advice please:

242 on NBME 6 2 months before my test
248 on NBME 4 2.5 weeks before my test
240 on UWSA 8 days before my test

I'm a little concerned since I've been pretty intense this past week about studying over the past week and my score has actually dropped. Is the UWSA really that predictive?
 
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Took it today.

My uworld after reset had a 94%tile (still have about 300 questions left) done on random
Took 4 forms, 2, 6, and 7 (250s) and then form 4 Saturday 265

My thoughts:
More challenging than NBME but not the level of despair I had for step 1 (ended with a 246 there). I think a lot of it is psychological. I found myself rereading gimme questions just to make sure i didn't miss something on my gut answer. I normally never do that. Whatever I think it is I go with. That being said I had roughly 7-15 minutes to look over questions except one block where I lingered.

Big benefit came from not lingering after I did on an early block. Each additional minute on one question costs you valuable thinking time on all the test!

I will post my score when I get it :D
 
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You guys gotta calm down. They're not going to change the entire test like that. People on SDN are notorious for freaking out. Literally tons of posts of "OMG I FAILED I DID SO BAD" and then a few weeks later it's 39 on MCAT, 262 on Step 1 or 270 on Step 2. You can't let SDN posts get to you. Not to mention everyone here is anonymous and anyone can lie about anything.
 
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when did you take your test? They say its the third wed if you took it at the end of the week or 4th wed if you took it at the beginning of the week
 
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res1cue said:
when did you take your test? They say its the third wed if you took it at the end of the week or 4th wed if you took it at the beginning of the week
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Took mine on Tuesday June 25th. For step 1 we were all waiting for our permit to disapear. I thought may be Step 2 was this way as well.
 
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D0CYAN said:
Took mine Thursday June 12 , still no score ... Permit link is gone
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There are only two weeks that scores are guarunteed to be delayed. The week of christmas, and the week of july 4th.

Took mine on the 10th. we just got lucky enough to have to wait an extra week.
 
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Do questions for biostats review. A quick look at first aid step 1 biostats review should be good. My biostats on Step 2ck was more straightforward than step 1. Make sure you can do the 2x2 table quickly. I didnt practice it enuff and struggled a bit on a question cuz i wasnt used to writing them out like I did in step 1. but finally was able to figure it out again.
 
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res1cue said:
Dont change much because you gotta remember nobody else has better resources either

There are some really tough psych questions so be sure to look at that

Main take away from my post is dont let it get to you on test day. I thought i was mentally prepared, but i was still really frazzled by how hard it was and i know for a fact that i missed a few gimmes because of it

Just stay calm and dont be surprised by it
Click to expand...

My exam had a ton of psych on it too. It was a pretty tough exam, but I just treated it like doing UW--just sort of went with my best guess on a lot of them. I know that studying more would not have done anything for me. Oh well. We'll see.

EaglesAllDay said:
Bro's exam is 2 weeks away, want to brush up on my biostats, whats the best source???
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Bagheera said:
Do questions for biostats review. A quick look at first aid step 1 biostats review should be good. My biostats on Step 2ck was more straightforward than step 1. Make sure you can do the 2x2 table quickly. I didnt practice it enuff and struggled a bit on a question cuz i wasnt used to writing them out like I did in step 1. but finally was able to figure it out again.
Click to expand...

Biostats was pretty straightforward, but a few of them were extremely difficult, meaning you probably couldn't find the answer in a review source. The drug ads were surprisingly straightforward.
 
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boogaloo said:
My exam had a ton of psych on it too. It was a pretty tough exam, but I just treated it like doing UW--just sort of went with my best guess on a lot of them. I know that studying more would not have done anything for me. Oh well. We'll see.





Biostats was pretty straightforward, but a few of them were extremely difficult, meaning you probably couldn't find the answer in a review source. The drug ads were surprisingly straightforward.
Click to expand...

Good point bringing up psych as the psych on my exam was hard. It was also my lowest scoring section on my exam. Which is weird cuz on uworld I had 87% on the psych section. Psych was also one of my strongest if not my strongest subjects. oh well
 
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2 days before my test, worth it go go back and review all the nbme practice shelf exams (took snapshots of each question when I did them during the year)? Any one remember seeing any similar repeats on their exam? I remember on nbme 6 there were at least 1-2 very similar/identical questions on one of the practice shelf exams...
 
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Melkor said:
2 days before my test, worth it go go back and review all the nbme practice shelf exams (took snapshots of each question when I did them during the year)? Any one remember seeing any similar repeats on their exam? I remember on nbme 6 there were at least 1-2 very similar/identical questions on one of the practice shelf exams...
Click to expand...

I would also like to know the answer to this.
 
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What a bunch of strange questions!! Gotta hand it to the writers, they know how to make you feel uncomfortable for 8 hours. I feel like I made a lot of bad choices when I was 50/50 for a lot of questions. Uwsa 256 , UW 80% overall. It feels like I'll get a 240. Will post when I get score

PS I had 2 nbme repeats on mine
 
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Pinkleton said:
What a bunch of strange questions!! Gotta hand it to the writers, they know how to make you feel uncomfortable for 8 hours. I feel like I made a lot of bad choices when I was 50/50 for a lot of questions. Uwsa 256 , UW 80% overall. It feels like I'll get a 240. Will post when I get score

PS I had 2 nbme repeats on mine
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You do all 4 Step 2 NBMEs and only had 2 repeats?
 
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wannabie said:
Wonderful. What was strange about them?
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Just a lot of atypical presentations of common things, a good bit of tough biostats, and a ton of next steps where it felt a bit subjective

abc12341 said:
You do all 4 Step 2 NBMEs and only had 2 repeats?
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Only? I thought it's pretty rare to get even a single repeat. And no, I did one nbme a while back and 2 of their IM practice exams



Ps I have 40 days of uworld left if anyone is interested. Pm me
 
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Should Step 2 CK Test takers from Wed 6/18, Thurs 6/19, or Fri 6/20 be expecting scores this week (7/9)? Earlier post by DOCYAN saying he/she took the test the week before (6/12) and still no results? Thoughts?
 
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Felt similar to PiBond. Just now sober enough to be able to post about it. (PS if anyone has some NS, send it my way.)

I was on the fence about taking this so early, but some NBMEs gave me hope that I could score 260s-270s. Feel like I definitely should have waited to take it so I didn't have to report. Studied during my Ob/Psych rotations, had a week off then ran with it.

In March, NBME 2:245 (prior to Ob/Psych)
1 month ago NBME 6: 260
2 weeks ago NBME 7: 252 (got really scared)
1 week ago UWSA: 265
1/2 week ago NBME 4: 271

Test day: Holy crap the psychiatry was god awful. So many debate answer choices and end of life care. I have no idea where I could've learned a lot of this, especially since I had just had the rotation. I was marking a crap ton (similar to PiBond) of psych and vague ass questions that would neglect to give a lot of physical findings. Also a ton of relative risk/ NNT.
 
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ewokka said:
Should Step 2 CK Test takers from Wed 6/18, Thurs 6/19, or Fri 6/20 be expecting scores this week (7/9)? Earlier post by DOCYAN saying he/she took the test the week before (6/12) and still no results? Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Did you get your score back?
 
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Eho
res1cue said:
That stinks man. I am supposed to get mine next wed but i hope i dont get bumped back a week as well
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Yeah, who knows. Maybe they will catch up and get back to the 3 week interval for your batch. Good luck tho
 
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D elegans said:
Took it yesterday. I studied for about 2.5 weeks and just did UWorld with a minimum amount of FA.

The exam was about what I expected, which is to say it felt like doing 8 UWorld blocks except more annoying/ambiguous. Like Step 1, it seemed like a fair amount of the questions were best guess/intuition-based. I only had a couple of drug ad questions and a couple research abstract questions. They did take more time and like everyone's said I'd skip them until the end of the block. I did feel pressured for time on most blocks; you need to keep moving at at fairly moderate pace in order to get through all the questions. There were many questions I wish I'd had more time to ponder but that's how it goes. Walking out I felt pretty numb. I think I anticipated feeling like crap as I did when I took Step 1 so maybe I just had lower expectations or I cared less. I'll just have to see what happens.

I felt like UWorld was certainly the clutch resource; I doubt spending more hours reading through a book would have been more helpful. I also thought my 2.5 weeks was plenty time and I don't think I would have done better taking longer. There were lots of questions I don't think any amount of studying would have prepared me for; you just have to think and use common sense.

Thanks for everyone posting their thoughts and experiences; it's been much appreciated.

Step 1: 252
UWorld Cumulative: 79%
NBME 4: 252
Step 2: ???
Click to expand...

257. I feel pretty satisfied with that score. Thanks to all who have posted on this thread and good luck to all those taking the exam
 
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Kinzy, 228? I took my exam 2 months ago, and the average was 238. I am assuming you meant the avg was 238 unless you took the exam 2-3 years ago when they the average was lower
 
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I took it yesterday. It was probably a little harder than uworld which may just be because it was much more high stakes than just another uworld block. I usually finish practice blocks with 10-20 minutes to spare, I was much more meticulous on test day and usually ended each block with less than 10 minutes to go.

I maybe flagged 8-10 questions per block as things I wasn't sure about. One or two blocks were much easier than the others... All in all, I walked out not feeling too great about the test, but I don't think I failed or anything like that. I can say that if I had one more week I'd keep working through uworld questions because I think that questions bank does a really good job of hammering in high yield concepts.
 
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Took the test on 6/12, got my score on Wednesday. I'm a DO student, took COMLEX two weeks after USMLE.

Step 1: 242
Step 2 -
uWorld: 79% cumulative on all+timed
NBME 4: 252
UWSA: 252
Actual: 257

Thought the test was much harder than uWorld or the NBME. I was pressured for time on most blocks and walked out feeling like crap, which seems like the theme here. I guessed on lots of questions that I would have maybe been able to reason through if there had been more time. I put my faith in my NBME and UWSA and hoped I would at least beat my Step 1, maybe hit 252 if I was lucky, so I was pleasantly surprised on Wed.

My percentile was a decent bit better on my Step 2 than Step 1, which I attribute to spacing out my COMLEX and USMLE more this time around. When I took Step 1 I was focused more on COMLEX because of the specialty I wanted at that time, and didn't do uWorld as close to USMLE as I did for Step 2.

Thanks to everyone who posted their experiences and advice, and good luck to those taking their Step.
 
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D0CYAN said:
Took the test on 6/12, got my score on Wednesday. I'm a DO student, took COMLEX two weeks after USMLE.

Step 1: 242
Step 2 -
uWorld: 79% cumulative on all+timed
NBME 4: 252
UWSA: 252
Actual: 257

Thought the test was much harder than uWorld or the NBME. I was pressured for time on most blocks and walked out feeling like crap, which seems like the theme here. I guessed on lots of questions that I would have maybe been able to reason through if there had been more time. I put my faith in my NBME and UWSA and hoped I would at least beat my Step 1, maybe hit 252 if I was lucky, so I was pleasantly surprised on Wed.

My percentile was a decent bit better on my Step 2 than Step 1, which I attribute to spacing out my COMLEX and USMLE more this time around. When I took Step 1 I was focused more on COMLEX because of the specialty I wanted at that time, and didn't do uWorld as close to USMLE as I did for Step 2.

Thanks to everyone who posted their experiences and advice, and good luck to those taking their Step.
Click to expand...
Can you share your study habits for step 2?
 
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Sure - I basically write out the information from text books into handwritten notes so that I can format it in a way that sticks more easily. I then flesh out the initial notes with annotations from uWorld, UpToDate, my rotations, and whatever other resource I find useful as I do practice questions and try to better understand the material. By the end, all the pertinent information I came across during the process is in one place where I can access it quickly.

While on a given rotation, I would read my text resource for that subject and make my notes. Toward the end of the rotation I would do the Kaplan questions for that subject, provided by my school, in preparation for the shelf. May and June were my very laid-back FM months, which provided ample time for dedicated study for Step 2. I finished going through Step Up to Medicine in the first half of May, then spent the next three weeks going through uWorld and doing practice tests. I got through uWorld once and did my incorrects once, and did NBME 4 and UWSA. I don't read the whole explanation for the questions I easily get right because it drastically cuts down on time.

Kaplan Qbank: ~2100 qs
uWorld: ~2200
Practice tests: 400 qs
Total ~4700 unique questions before Step 2

I used Step Up to Medicine
Kaplan books for Peds and Psych
Kaplan book and Casefiles for OB
Pestana for surgery

I tried and didn't like MTB, FA Step 2, surgical recall.
 
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