USMLE Official 2014 Step 2 CK Experiences and Scores Thread

[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!

 

[wannabie]

Thanks for that - it's basically what I expected to hear, but good to confirm that it's possible to make it out of this place/scoring range where I feel stuck. Definitely not ready to apply this year, that's why I'm taking the extra time where I need it and will of course be doing the necessary things during the next year to create a great looking app.

Since you have the time, don't be afraid to take more of it and work on getting yourself a better foundation of knowledge. For me personally, after studying 8 hours a day for 6 weeks (after studying for months) and seeing only a 6 point increase in score, I decided to just YOLO and go for it because I was sick of putting my entire life on hold. Right now, I don't regret the decision because I learn well under pressure and have felt myself improving...but we'll see when the score comes back how much regret I have 🙂. Good luck

 

[ddraper420]

Hi All,

I'm an IMG, did my all my rotations at foreign hospitals affiliated with my school, graduated this spring and returned to the US. I have a fair amount of US clinical experience from being back here for a few months in a year on breaks, and pre-med school work as a tech and scribe. I jumped right into a Kaplan 6 week live lecture after graduation and was able to get a good comprehensive review of topics that I wasn't taught well at school, picked up some minutiae and thought I had a fair shot of being able to score well on CK. Here's my prep and progress so far, hoping that you all would be able to shed some light on what I have to do to get out of my plateau phase -

-I've been through Kaplan lecture notes twice, one full pass during lectures, and one pass through important points afterwards
-Did some of Kaplan QBank but didn't like it much, still have access for a few more weeks, might try to use it just for exposure to more questions (if quantity>quality matters)
-Finished a full pass through UWorld with an average of 55-60% within 5 weeks, annotating through MTB and using step up to medicine as a supplement as/where needed
-7/13/14 - NBME 7 - 191 - was crushed, as I had basically worked exclusively on this for ~4 months and still didn't come within passing range. I did a thorough review through my extended feedback and found that a lot of questions I got wrong by simply second guessing myself when having to narrow down to 2 choices and ending up picking the wrong one - This worries me because I can't really figure out if it's because I'm not thoroughly fluent in those topics, or I'm mind gaming/sabotaging myself through test anxiety.
-I'm making my second pass through UWorld now, going through explanations with a fine tooth comb, and hoping for a bump in my scores on serial NBMEs over the next few weeks - I scheduled to take the test on 9/9 - I hope that's enough time. I've found MTB only semi useful, I think I'm just keeping it around as a comfort measure since it's certainly no FA for step 1.

In reference to someone who posted above, saying that there's a lot of "gut feeling" involved in answering the questions on the real test - I now have this anxiety that maybe my gut feeling isn't fine tuned enough and that just sticking to UWorld might only fetch me a score somewhere around or below average. Thoughts?

Hi there. Fellow IMG (from SGU) here. I took NBME 4, four days before the exam and ended up with 206. I went ahead and took the exam anyways and did okay. And during my prep, my self-assessment scores seemed to go down.

I guess what I am trying to say is don't beat yourself up too much over the NBMEs. I scored higher on my actual than any of the self-assessments.

 

[wannabie]

Hi there. Fellow IMG (from SGU) here. I took NBME 4, four days before the exam and ended up with 206. I went ahead and took the exam anyways and did okay. And during my prep, my self-assessment scores seemed to go down.

I guess what I am trying to say is don't beat yourself up too much over the NBMEs. I scored higher on my actual than any of the self-assessments.

I'm very happy for you! Congratulations.

But NEVER forget: there's a form of attrition bias going on here. People with similar scores at similar times may not, in general, post their scores on this forum.

 

[MEN2C]

Right. We know what the average is, and what the average on SDN is. I would trust the numbers from the NBME (and perhaps USWA) more than the anecdotes here. A person getting a 250 after getting a 210 on NBME is more likely to post than the person who scored 210 after getting a 250 on NBME...both of those are probably equally likely (or rather unlikely) to occur in real life. They are both at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of the curve, but you'll only hear about the 'sweet' end of the bell curve.

 

[ddraper420]

I'm very happy for you! Congratulations.

But NEVER forget: there's a form of attrition bias going on here. People with similar scores at similar times may not, in general, post their scores on this forum.

Thank you and of course.

From your earlier post, I do agree that the Free 150 and 80-82% tends to demonstrate at 235+.

 

[mdihope]

So I have a bit of predicament here...I am no where near the range of people on here but I would love your take. My test date is Monday.
I did NBME 4 six days ago and got a 248. I did UWSA 3 days later and got a 232. Then I did NBME 6 today and got a 221. I went down on every test I took and they were all taken within a 1 week span. What is going on? Should I move my test?

 

[ddraper420]

So I have a bit of predicament here...I am no where near the range of people on here but I would love your take. My test date is Monday.
I did NBME 4 six days ago and got a 248. I did UWSA 3 days later and got a 232. Then I did NBME 6 today and got a 221. I went down on every test I took and they were all taken within a 1 week span. What is going on? Should I move my test?

I say stick with the date. You did well on NBME 4 and UWSA.
Review the areas you are weak in and just go for it. Good luck.

 

[Bagheera]

So I have a bit of predicament here...I am no where near the range of people on here but I would love your take. My test date is Monday.
I did NBME 4 six days ago and got a 248. I did UWSA 3 days later and got a 232. Then I did NBME 6 today and got a 221. I went down on every test I took and they were all taken within a 1 week span. What is going on? Should I move my test?

It depends on you. I would take the average of those 3 scores and if you are happy with that score, then take your exam.

 

[wonderbread12]

Are the kaplan notes and/or videos floating around somewhere or do people mean they signed up for the course?

 

[VCorp]

I don't know what's going on? I really feel disgruntled and losing hope. I'm 3 weeks out from finishing my IM rotation. I'm using MTB, UWorld, MKSAP, Secrets, and some Kaplan note cards.

My performance on UWorld is just getting hammered. Not sure if I'm not used to the way of thinking about these questions or what? My last two blocks, I got a 45%. My overall average is at a 59%. I think the material for CK is extremely much more difficult compared to that of Step 1. I planned on taking CK by Thanksgiving, and seeing these results on UW is demotivating. Never had these issues with Step 1.

 

[wannabie]

I don't know what's going on? I really feel disgruntled and losing hope. I'm 3 weeks out from finishing my IM rotation. I'm using MTB, UWorld, MKSAP, Secrets, and some Kaplan note cards.

My performance on UWorld is just getting hammered. Not sure if I'm not used to the way of thinking about these questions or what? My last two blocks, I got a 45%. My overall average is at a 59%. I think the material for CK is extremely much more difficult compared to that of Step 1. I planned on taking CK by Thanksgiving, and seeing these results on UW is demotivating. Never had these issues with Step 1.

Yes hello, VCorp. Do keep in mind, you may not have completed all your core rotations, which is usually a general recommendation for non-gunners. Moreover, IM is a very tough rotation and you're probably very mentally taxed by the time you attempt to do a lot of your questions. Just examining two recent blocks won't do you a lot of good. Though the first pass of UWorld has moderate correlation with CK scores, think of it primarily as a learning tool. I was averaging around 55-56% when I was halfway done with UWorld...I had been going over all the information in each question...and then eventually everything just clicked and by the end I had pulled my average over 60%.

Anyway, you're FOUR months away: so panicking is a little premature at this point. Learn as much as you can from each question--NAY BELAY THAT--MASTER the information in each question. Give yourself a solid foundation from one book (initially) and keep going through UWorld at a good pace. When you start your second pass of it, take an NBME: I'm sure you'll be pleased. Chin up my friend, you know you can do this.

 

[VCorp]

Yes hello, VCorp. Do keep in mind, you may not have completed all your core rotations, which is usually a general recommendation for non-gunners. Moreover, IM is a very tough rotation and you're probably very mentally taxed by the time you attempt to do a lot of your questions. Just examining two recent blocks won't do you a lot of good. Though the first pass of UWorld has moderate correlation with CK scores, think of it primarily as a learning tool. I was averaging around 55-56% when I was halfway done with UWorld...I had been going over all the information in each question...and then eventually everything just clicked and by the end I had pulled my average over 60%.

Anyway, you're FOUR months away: so panicking is a little premature at this point. Learn as much as you can from each question--NAY BELAY THAT--MASTER the information in each question. Give yourself a solid foundation from one book (initially) and keep going through UWorld at a good pace. When you start your second pass of it, take an NBME: I'm sure you'll be pleased. Chin up my friend, you know you can do this.

Just FYI I've finished peds, ob, and psych. Just have Surgery left.

 

[tripwm]

Anyone have any ideas of what test dates have had scores released? I see one 7/03, but most people aren't giving test dates. Here's to hoping 7/05 releases this Wednesday!

 

[abc12341]

Just did the UW question asking about abnormal labor patterns. It said that arrest of labor is now defined no change >4 hrs with adequate contractions (200 MVU) or 6 hours without adequate contractions ( <200) once you are in the active phase (6-10 cm). Have the guidelines been changed? From what I learned it was >2 hours. Anyone who had this type of question on their step exam, please help out! Thanks.

 

[MEN2C]

Took the step. It was brutal. I got 220 on my practice. I am hoping I can match that - the worst part isn't hard questions, it's the stupid questions you know that you know and you miss. Whatever. It's over (hopefully not have to take this again...).

Do UW. If you really want to do another resource, then it's fine, think about doing it, and then do UW instead. Seriously. I felt going through UW even a third time would be more HY than picking up any other book and reading it for the first time...

 

[wannabie]

Took the step. It was brutal. I got 220 on my practice. I am hoping I can match that - the worst part isn't hard questions, it's the stupid questions you know that you know and you miss. Whatever. It's over (hopefully not have to take this again...).

Do UW. If you really want to do another resource, then it's fine, think about doing it, and then do UW instead. Seriously. I felt going through UW even a third time would be more HY than picking up any other book and reading it for the first time...

Oh shoot man, I hope you'll do well.

I know EXACTLY what you mean when you mean stupid questions you know and miss 🙁. My test is tomorrow and I've spent the last few days just freaking every few seconds thinking of something random and searching for it on UWorld. I don't look forward to getting my ass kicked tomorrow. But I'll share it when I'm done...

You make me want to cram hard. Or cram UWorld hard. Or cry. Or something.

 

[MEN2C]

What I wish I had done truthfully, the day before, is sleep more and watch a movie. Seriously. I burned myself out, and I could feel it four or five blocks into it.

Basically, in one day, you'll only get through a very small % of UW. The chance of you learning something new AND that being on the test is low - maybe you'll get 1-2 more qs right from that - but your mental fatigue will cost you more than 2 questions. There were a bunch of questions where I literally finished a block and then I was like 'Why the hell did I PICK THAT FOR?'

 

[wannabie]

What I wish I had done truthfully, the day before, is sleep more and watch a movie. Seriously. I burned myself out, and I could feel it four or five blocks into it.

Basically, in one day, you'll only get through a very small % of UW. The chance of you learning something new AND that being on the test is low - maybe you'll get 1-2 more qs right from that - but your mental fatigue will cost you more than 2 questions. There were a bunch of questions where I literally finished a block and then I was like 'Why the hell did I PICK THAT FOR?'

Hey that makes a lot of sense. Gonna take your advice and go to sleep 🙂 Let y'all know how it goes

 

[CaliAtenza]

Hey that makes a lot of sense. Gonna take your advice and go to sleep 🙂 Let y'all know how it goes

Good luck for tomorrow!

 

[EaglesAllDay]

Took the step. It was brutal. I got 220 on my practice. I am hoping I can match that - the worst part isn't hard questions, it's the stupid questions you know that you know and you miss. Whatever. It's over (hopefully not have to take this again...).

Do UW. If you really want to do another resource, then it's fine, think about doing it, and then do UW instead. Seriously. I felt going through UW even a third time would be more HY than picking up any other book and reading it for the first time...

So true man. But I felt like **** coming out of my exam but over the next few days you start remembering questions you got right as well. Basically same situation as you, got a 230 on my practice test, and honestly just hoping to pass this damn thing right now.

 

[drake19]

Hi everyone: I was wondering if anyone used "USMLE 2 Stanford Review Course" It is a qbank and I don't think it is affiliated with Stanford? Wondering if I should spend the time to do it.....it was only 99 cents for android so I bought...and their claim is that they have a 96% pass rate and that you can pass step 2 in one day...always skeptical with those statements

 

[Bluefiya]

Went over the OB portion in the stanford bank; seems like its a summary of uworld questions. Basically they've made much shorter questions with just the key points in the rationale.

Hi everyone: I was wondering if anyone used USMLE 2 stanford q-bank?? Wondering if I should spend the time to do it
.....it was only 99 cents for android so I bought...and their claim is that they have a 96% pass rate and that you can pass step 2 in one day...always skeptical with those statements

 

[as90]

Hi everyone: I was wondering if anyone used "USMLE 2 Stanford Review Course" It is a qbank and I don't think it is affiliated with Stanford? Wondering if I should spend the time to do it.....it was only 99 cents for android so I bought...and their claim is that they have a 96% pass rate and that you can pass step 2 in one day...always skeptical with those statements

Wow, you can get through all the cards in 1 day? That seems a little too good to be true. It seems ideal for me if that is the case. I'm back at work now so I can't sit down and do Uworld all day. I need something that gives me all the high yield facts.

Is it really possible to get through all the cards in 1 day?

 

[drake19]

Wow, you can get through all the cards in 1 day? That seems a little too good to be true. It seems ideal for me if that is the case. I'm back at work now so I can't sit down and do Uworld all day. I need something that gives me all the high yield facts.

Is it really possible to get through all the cards in 1 day?

Uhhh...like i said i was skeptical...but if you try the questions they are like a very quick hit of UWORLD...hopefully someone who has used it and then took step 2 can reply....in the app description it also says that the authors are compromised of med school profs who have recently reviewed step 2....and did i mention it was only 99 beans for android .

 

[scummie]

I don't know what's going on? I really feel disgruntled and losing hope. I'm 3 weeks out from finishing my IM rotation. I'm using MTB, UWorld, MKSAP, Secrets, and some Kaplan note cards.

My performance on UWorld is just getting hammered. Not sure if I'm not used to the way of thinking about these questions or what? My last two blocks, I got a 45%. My overall average is at a 59%. I think the material for CK is extremely much more difficult compared to that of Step 1. I planned on taking CK by Thanksgiving, and seeing these results on UW is demotivating. Never had these issues with Step 1.

The best part of UWorld is not the questions themselves persay but the explanations. I started to get bogged down with reading review books, said eff it and then just did UWorld. Real deal was 230+. There's no point to memorize the questions. You need to figure out if they changed a certain part of the stem, which answer choices would be correct and why. That way, you start to develop a form of pattern recognition--you'll be able to quickly rationalize why you're eliminating certain choices and make better guesses. There is a dramatic improvement that happens once you get at least halfway through UWorld.

How are you doing the blocks? Random? Untimed?

 

[islandAddy1881]

Stalked this for a while before I wrote CK, so I'll share my experience (since it is fresh in my mind) and maybe it will help someone else. I had a 237 on Step 1 and my goal for Step 2 started off as a 260, and then dwindled to "please just let me score higher than Step 1" by the end of studying (I definitely hit a wall of burnout during my studying).

CK 7/27/14 Experience
Managed to answer all questions without running out of time on any block (came very close though). Time management was a huge issue on this test, and no source really prepares you for it. The number of questions in each block is different which adds to the difficulty. I had all of my short blocks in the beginning, and 44 on the last 4 blocks. I will second what many others have said: save the drug ads and abstracts for last, they are a time suck. All tests will be different, mine happened to be heavy on Epi, OB most commons, thyroid (seriously? 11 thyroid questions?) and cardiology. The test itself was tricky but doable, and felt most similar to UWSA in terms of question format. I finished with 23% of the questions flagged (things I wasn't 100% certain of), so if I assume all those were wrong I got a 77%. We will see what that translates to score wise. Overall, felt really good about the first half of my exam, got really psyched out by the back half because the questions were so much harder. Not really sure what to expect score wise, just hoping for >237.

Prep
Studied for a month and a half
Sources: UW, Kaplan High Yield videos (loved these btw, worth it) with MTB2, First Aid Step 2CK (highly recommend, I couldn't believe how many questions this yielded me on the actual exam), and Conrad Fisher's Pharmacology flash cards
UW: 67% first pass timed (78% average 2 weeks to exam)
Kaplan diagnostic (at beginning of study): 237, not sure how meaningful this score is
NBME's (I personally hated them. Not worth the money. A lot of outdated material and strange questions, not similar to the real thing)
Form 6 (1 month out): 227
Form 3 (3 weeks): 221 (WTF?! This one in particular was strange and left my self esteem crippled after I took it)
Form 4 (2 weeks): 231
UWSA (1 week out): 242

Last suggestion: Shell out the $ for materials are up to date. Don't use sources from 2009, it will screw you up on a lot of the management and preventative medicine questions since so many guidelines have recently changed. I started with the older Kaplan videos, and then switched to the High Yield because of this.

I'll check back in when I get my actual score. Good luck to everyone!

 

[CaliAtenza]

So are you saying the NBME's suck? I heard 7 is supposed to be somewhat updated....

 

[decafplease]

-

 

[islandAddy1881]

So are you saying the NBME's suck? I heard 7 is supposed to be somewhat updated....

In my personal opinion, yes, NBMEs suck. Some more than others, but in particular NBME 3. The one that most people seem to like is 4, and that was the one I was least disenchanted with. I always felt like my NBMEs were way off base when compared to my UW average. If I could do it over I would have used 4 blocks of random timed U-world and taken that average to gauge my status. Take UWSA as close to the exam as you can, that seems to be the most predictive for people.

However, I have not received my score back yet, so who knows, maybe the NBMEs are predictive and I'm going to bomb this thing. Let's hope that's not the case.

 

[CaliAtenza]

In my personal opinion, yes, NBMEs suck. Some more than others, but in particular NBME 3. The one that most people seem to like is 4, and that was the one I was least disenchanted with. I always felt like my NBMEs were way off base when compared to my UW average. If I could do it over I would have used 4 blocks of random timed U-world and taken that average to gauge my status. Take UWSA as close to the exam as you can, that seems to be the most predictive for people.

However, I have not received my score back yet, so who knows, maybe the NBMEs are predictive and I'm going to bomb this thing. Let's hope that's not the case.

My exam is Aug 18th..i was thinking of taking NBME 4 this weekend; and then UWSA closer to the exam. What do you recommend to do in the last 20 days?

 

[wannabie]

Yes hello, I'd like to share my exam experience on 07-28-2014. I'm not going to discuss my prep because I don't recommend studying while disenchanted, burnt out, in the middle of a major depressive episode. I'd also like to disclose that I'm a sub par test taker and an even poorer student with a step 1 of 200. But I worked my ass off for this exam and really gave it everything I had. I appreciate all the support you guys have given me and so I'd like to share my thoughts.

I had two blocks that made me feel clueless, three blocks that were okay, and three blocks that I thought were really easy. Ran very tight on time for two blocks--but ran short on time overall. I had time to review all my marked questions (50-60%); I'm an anxious marker. Had two blocks of 42 (three part study/drug ad), two blocks of 43 (two part study/drug ad), and four blocks of 44. I didn't find the length of the questions to be too different from UWorld--but it was harder to "think" through the questions. I recommend trusting yourself because I had a lot of anxiety on the gimme questions: "IT CAN'T BE THIS EASY. I'M MISSING SOMETHING."

What I remember in terms of tested information is obviously really biased. I actually was pretty good at retaining a LOT of everything I learned, and there weren't many questions I was totally stumped by. But it had weird test weird ways of testing things I didn't know. Sometimes, the appropriate next steps weren't in the answer stems. Other times, the first few obvious steps were done in the question. In diagnosing, there were a bunch of ambiguous and abnormal presentations. The breadth and depth of the questions often felt beyond UWorld. I thought there were a LOT of common sense questions. The questions that stumped me and threw me for a loop seemed to indicate that my clinical experiences had been lacking--because they were so straight forward! I recall there was a LOT more infectious disease on my exam than I expected. They weren't gimmes, but the psych/epi/ethics questions were quite straight forward..there wasn't much that wasn't on UWorld (I actually thought it was easier than some UWorld questions; I choked on the drug ads though). Oh, there were epi calculations. I had two auscultations. I actually had three histo/path questions, which I didn't anticipate/prepare for.

Pass, fail, or asian fail, I'll share my score and prep thing later..

That's all I have to say about that.

 

[CaliAtenza]

Yes hello, I'd like to share my exam experience on 07-28-2014. I'm not going to discuss my prep because I don't recommend studying while disenchanted, burnt out, in the middle of a major depressive episode. I'd also like to disclose that I'm a sub par test taker and an even poorer student with a step 1 of 200. But I worked my ass off for this exam and really gave it everything I had. I appreciate all the support you guys have given me and so I'd like to share my thoughts.

I had two blocks that made me feel clueless, three blocks that were okay, and three blocks that I thought were really easy. Ran very tight on time for two blocks--but ran short on time overall. I had time to review all my marked questions (50-60%); I'm an anxious marker. Had two blocks of 42 (three part study/drug ad), two blocks of 43 (two part study/drug ad), and four blocks of 44. I didn't find the length of the questions to be too different from UWorld--but it was harder to "think" through the questions. I recommend trusting yourself because I had a lot of anxiety on the gimme questions: "IT CAN'T BE THIS EASY. I'M MISSING SOMETHING."

What I remember in terms of tested information is obviously really biased. I actually was pretty good at retaining a LOT of everything I learned, and there weren't many questions I was totally stumped by. But it had weird test weird ways of testing things I didn't know. Sometimes, the appropriate next steps weren't in the answer stems. Other times, the first few obvious steps were done in the question. In diagnosing, there were a bunch of ambiguous and abnormal presentations. The breadth and depth of the questions often felt beyond UWorld. I thought there were a LOT of common sense questions. The questions that stumped me and threw me for a loop seemed to indicate that my clinical experiences had been lacking--because they were so straight forward! I recall there was a LOT more infectious disease on my exam than I expected. They weren't gimmes, but the psych/epi/ethics questions were quite straight forward..there wasn't much that wasn't on UWorld (I actually thought it was easier than some UWorld questions; I choked on the drug ads though). Oh, there were epi calculations. I had two auscultations. I actually had three histo/path questions, which I didn't anticipate/prepare for.

Pass, fail, or asian fail, I'll share my score and prep thing later..

That's all I have to say about that.

Congrats for getting through it though; and yeah i know how hard it is to study through being burnt out and being disenchanted.

 

[2cool4medschool]

What do you do when the question gives a pretty suggestive picture of a certain disease... for example... shield chest, short stature, etc. has never had a period, what is the next best/appropriate test? LH/FSH vs. karyotype...do you follow the diagnostic algorithms when they use "appropriate" vs. "best" or choose the diagnostic test based on the picture they are painting? i found my self wasting excessive amounts of time trying to figure out based on their verbiage if "best" would be a test that would confirm a more rare/serious disease vs. standard workup protocols which may be cheaper. especially when a battery of tests are normally ordered at once... frustrating.

 

[CaliAtenza]

What do you do when the question gives a pretty suggestive picture of a certain disease... for example... shield chest, short stature, etc. has never had a period, what is the next best/appropriate test? LH/FSH vs. karyotype...do you follow the diagnostic algorithms when they use "appropriate" vs. "best" or choose the diagnostic test based on the picture they are painting? i found my self wasting excessive amounts of time trying to figure out based on their verbiage if "best" would be a test that would confirm a more rare/serious disease vs. standard workup protocols which may be cheaper. especially when a battery of tests are normally ordered at once... frustrating.

you bring up a good point; on that example you gave...i mean what would you do first? I wouldn't be able to decide between LH/FSH and Karyotype 🙁

 

[MeatTornado12]

What do you do when the question gives a pretty suggestive picture of a certain disease... for example... shield chest, short stature, etc. has never had a period, what is the next best/appropriate test? LH/FSH vs. karyotype...do you follow the diagnostic algorithms when they use "appropriate" vs. "best" or choose the diagnostic test based on the picture they are painting? i found my self wasting excessive amounts of time trying to figure out based on their verbiage if "best" would be a test that would confirm a more rare/serious disease vs. standard workup protocols which may be cheaper. especially when a battery of tests are normally ordered at once... frustrating.

That's exactly my problem with all of these exams. I try to get into the head of the test maker and end up screwing myself up when they were just asking me a basic question.

Took ck today (7/29)...

Man, what a long long test. I was planning on writing up a nice post with my experience but honestly my head is still spinning right now. Hopefully I can add more later, but right now here's my impression. 90% of the topics tested were things I either knew from my shelves or from these past couple weeks of uworld. However, I felt like the questions weren't worded in the best way. I was constantly struggling with putting the answer that followed the typical algorithm for that disease or if the presentation they gave me was different and I needed to adjust my reasoning. Most things were quite vague.

I marked about 10 questions per block and after looking up answers that I remember I think I was about 50/50 on guessing right or wrong.

For perspective: I finished all of my rotations and studied uworld and only uworld for about 2.5 weeks and that's it. I got anywhere from 75-84 on my shelf exams and felt like I had a decent foundation. Completely underachieved on step 1 with a 213 after averaging 230s on nbmes. Hopefully this time will be different. I'll post my results once I get them.

 

[as90]

Uhhh...like i said i was skeptical...but if you try the questions they are like a very quick hit of UWORLD...hopefully someone who has used it and then took step 2 can reply....in the app description it also says that the authors are compromised of med school profs who have recently reviewed step 2....and did i mention it was only 99 beans for android .

Oh cool. Yeah 99 cents is nothing. But if they do the high yield points in uworld isn't it just a good idea to make flashcards out of the eductational objectives? for a quick review?

Intersting if anyone has feedback on this

 

[as90]

you bring up a good point; on that example you gave...i mean what would you do first? I wouldn't be able to decide between LH/FSH and Karyotype 🙁

I usually just go cheaper test. so for turner's the LH and FSH should be high b/c u have ovarian dysgenesis (no estradiol and the LH and FSH) is trying to stimulate it....at least that's what I would think. Karyotype seems expensive to me but good for confirmatory. I think this testing system is trying to emphasize the importance of cost saving as much as possible for us as future docs.

 

[CaliAtenza]

I usually just go cheaper test. so for turner's the LH and FSH should be high b/c u have ovarian dysgenesis (no estradiol and the LH and FSH) is trying to stimulate it....at least that's what I would think. Karyotype seems expensive to me but good for confirmatory. I think this testing system is trying to emphasize the importance of cost saving as much as possible for us as future docs.

yeah that would make sense; i'm thinking LH/FSH first and then Karyotype.

 

[CaliAtenza]

That's exactly my problem with all of these exams. I try to get into the head of the test maker and end up screwing myself up when they were just asking me a basic question.

Took ck today (7/29)...

Man, what a long long test. I was planning on writing up a nice post with my experience but honestly my head is still spinning right now. Hopefully I can add more later, but right now here's my impression. 90% of the topics tested we're things I either knew from my shelves or from these past couple weeks of uworld. However, I felt like the questions weren't worded in the best way. I was constantly struggling with putting the answer that followed the typical algorithm for that disease or if the presentation they gave me was different and I needed to adjust my reasoning. Most things were quite vague.

I marked about 10 questions per block and after looking up answers that I remember I think I was about 50/50 on guessing right or wrong.

For persepective: I finished all of my rotations and studied uworld and only uworld for about 2.5 weeks and that's it. I got anywhere from 75-84 on my shelf exams and felt like I had a decent foundation. Completely underachieved on step 1 with a 213 after averaging 230s on nbmes. Hopefully this time will be different. I'll post my results once I get them.

Congrats on being done 🙂. Yeah i hate how they just word the questions poorly; you would think it would be a little clearer, but i guess thats the point huh.

 

[David_Rune]

Took it at the end of June. Step 1: 252. Most shelves were in the mid 80s, used uworld throughout the year.

Studied for three and a half week. It was more relaxed than Step 1, was able to also move apartments, sell my stuff on craigslist and go to the gym everyday while I was studying. I also did some shadowing once a week.

First two and half weeks: In the morning: re-did uworld on random (about three to five sets of questions a day). In the afternoon: I would read a section of MTB II/III and FA. E.g. day 1: cardiology (read in MTBII/III and FA) etc. I broke it out so that I would have finished all topics at the end of two and a half weeks.

Last week: Morning: did uworld again (all my wrongs and marked questions (repeated about 65% of world in that week) ). Afternoon: re-read MTB II/III and read step 2 secrets. I followed the same schedule as I had previously, but I had to combine a bunch of subjects into one day so that I could finish a second run through the material in six days.

Uworld Percentage : 85% in first two and a half week. Generally got 85-100% when I redid it, I'm not sure what the value of redoing those questions were.
Started studying on a Monday and I did a test every friday, my test was scheduled for a thursday.
Friday 1: NBME 4: 247
Friday 2: UWSA: low 260s, not sure, I think 262.
Friday 3: NBME 3: low 260s, not sure, I think 260. It was lower than the UWSA score.

Final: Test felt harder. I generally finished with a minute to spare, not really enough time to go over the questions that I had marked... and I had marked a ton. Spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out a biostats question, before giving up and just guessing. Also found myself rushed on questions on heart sounds and some micro questions. Psych was also frustrating, I always have a tough time separating depression, adjustment disorder etc. There were some medicine questions that I felt that I would have known the answer to, if I had paid better attention on rounds or taken the initiative to look up a concept that I had found confusing in my medicine rotation. Left feeling a little defeated, but it worked out in the end.

Final score: 264

 

[normtheniner]

I got my score back. Very pleased and did better than my step 1 performance which was what I was aiming to do.

What I did: Uworld questions for 2 weeks straight. I didn't read anything else, just went through questions. I was in the 70-80% toward the end of my study period.

-I did pretty decent on most of my shelves and that was probably the true "bulk" of my studying. So for the third years just starting, doing well on these is really the key to solid performance.

-Did better than all of my assessments. UWSA (one week out) underpredicted for me by 10+ points. NBME 4 came closes but still underpredicted by more than 5 points. I think you shouldn't rely on these scores as an indication of performance and really gauge how confident you are with the material. I will say this thing was right on, I just entered by uworld percentile and it literally was within 1 point of my actual score: http://bayes.bgsu.edu/nsf_web/jscript/normal_cdf/normal_icdf.htm

Anyway, best of luck to those who are waiting!

 

[cpufreak3]

Took the exam 7/5/14

Studied for 12 days between 3rd and 4th year. Did 4 blocks of Uworld per day, and annotated MTB2. Tried to read 50 pages of it per day (only got through it once), then looked over just my annotations. Only used Uworld during the year for peds and surgery. Finished 90% of Uworld because of time during the 12 days.

Step 1: 249
NBME 4: 227 (prior to dedicated studying)
NBME 6: 248 (one week into studying)
Uworld %: 79% (reset, timed random)

The actual exam, as most people said, had a lot of questions with 2 or more answer choices that were debatable. Not sure what could have better prepared me. I did feel my resources were overall sufficient, but MTB2 needed a lot of annotating. Not sure if I'd recommend it. Felt worse than coming out of step 1, mainly because the next best test doesn't have a right answer, just the best answer. Drug ads take time. Know the biostats from Uworld. Noticed a lot of psych.

Real exam: 257

 

[thekarmapolice172]

took exam 7/5/14

Step 1: 252
Step 2: 244

....if anyone has an opinion about this, I'm applying for IM from a DO school do you think the drop in Step 2 is going to be a red flag?

 

[Journey19]

NBMEs are terrible predictors. Don't trust them. Just got my real score back and it is 10 points lower than NBMEs, but 4 higher than my UWSA. NBMEs predicted my Step 1 score within 3 points, but I'm very disappointed by my a Step 2 score, which was 4 points lower than my Step 1 score.

I just don't get it, I did fine on shelf exams all year long, not really sure what happened.

 

[CaliAtenza]

NBMEs are terrible predictors. Don't trust them. Just got my real score back and it is 10 points lower than NBMEs, but 4 higher than my UWSA. NBMEs predicted my Step 1 score within 3 points, but I'm very disappointed by my a Step 2 score, which was 4 points lower than my Step 1 score.

I just don't get it, I did fine on shelf exams all year long, not really sure what happened.

hey i'm sorry to hear about that 🙁. Do you think its even worth taking an NBME then? Is it better to just stick to a UWSA?

 

[Journey19]

hey i'm sorry to hear about that 🙁. Do you think its even worth taking an NBME then? Is it better to just stick to a UWSA?

I guess I should say to take my post with a grain of salt, each person is unique. But I made the mistake of thinking the NBME scores I was getting were predicative, essentially ignoring my UWSA since I thought it was an anomaly. But in reality, and also it seems in the opinion of most on these boards, UWSA was much closer to the real thing in terms of content and predictive score. Good luck.

 

[tripwm]

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.

Added information
Step 1: 250s

Prep time/resources- Note that all prep was done during my 6 weeks of psychiatry and 6 weeks of Ob/Gyn. Study time on weekdays was 1-2 hours, weekends 5-6 if I was lucky. Had one of my best friends pass away back home during some of this, so missed about 3 weeks of studying as well.

1- Step Up to Medicine- reread in 2/3 days 3 months prior to test

2-Master the Boards- Step 2 CK- reread in 2/3 days 3 months prior to test

3-UWorld- had used throughout the year. Reset the QBank 3 months before.

4-Secrets- read 2 days prior to the test

Step 2 CK score: 266 (test date 7/5/14)

Very excited about it honestly. Walked out of the test feeling like crap, and I became paranoid I had ruined my chances at the residency of my dreams. UWSA and the NBMEs were so much easier, but NBME 4 and UWSA were pretty damn accurate in telling my what I got.

If I had taken a dedicated month off, I don't know how I would have added the resources. The questions I missed and struggled with were not found in any text book I had touched throughout the year. If anything, my score should tell you studying hard throughout third year is what earns you the score on this. It creates a gut sensation (at least on tests) that can help you pull out a strong score. I honestly would think it would be very hard to go through third year pulling average scores and then being able to rock it unless you have 4-6 weeks to really buckle up and read 12+ hours a day.

Also note to any of the current M3s, third year is amazing. Once you get your stride going, I spent far less time being stressed than M1/M2 year. I refused to study Thurs/Friday or Saturday (outside of Step prep), and I generally think I regained a lot of humanity I had lost M1/M2 year. Duty hours varied from 40-70/80 depending on the service.

 

[Sileni]

.

 

[Benesyed]

Congrats!!!

 

[hawksfan]

Since I feel like this group can be very alienating, just wanted to post a little reassurance for those of you who aren't freaky geniuses or willing to do UWorld 10x and read every book there is about Step 2---there is still hope for you! I did terrible on Step 1 (226), so I knew I had to do better on Step 2. I took about 6 weeks to study, four of which were during other rotations. I studied casually during those four and relatively "hardcore" during the last 2 weeks. I did UWorld 1.5x (mostly went through the questions I marked/missed on my second go around), and annotated the questions I got wrong or didn't understand. I would say I went through UWorld pretty thoroughly. I read Step 2 Secrets once, but that was it. I took the test on 7/05 and got my score back today--got a 252. While a 252 is low by some standards on this group, it's higher than I was expecting! If you're trying to make up for a subpar Step 1 score, you can still do it (even if you don't study like a crazy person)!

P.S. I didn't take a single assessment (NBME or UWSA), so I had no idea what to expect. It worked out at least!