I have benefited very much from all the forums on SDN so I figured i'd share my usmle experiences.
Step I: 252
Step II practice exams: NBME 4 (2 months before): 244 NBME 7 ( 1 month before): 244 USMLE world sim exam ( 1 week before): 255
Sources: I kept my sources to a minimum with step 2. Started out with onlinemeded.org videos.....excellent place to start and highly recommended!
Master the boards step 2 ck: read 2-3 times, decent source. First aid step 2: read 1-2 times, decent source. USMLE world qbank 1 time through all random with 76%. I felt very prepared going into my exam from these sources. Looking back i would say to pick one main source and annotate everything from uworld into it.
Exam day: I felt terrible walking out of this exam. I was totally shocked and felt run over by the level of difficulty of this exam. I really felt like a may have dropped 10-20 points from my step I score. Longest 3 weeks of my life waiting for this score.
Actual USMLE step II score: 254. I was very pleased. I had a goal of 260+ before taking this exam and that went out the window after taking this exam! My advice to anyone or everyone who feels terrible about how their exam went before getting your score back is RELAX! If you put in the work and used uworld thoroughly you will be fine.
Very similar experience, wanted to add a reassurance data point.
Step 1: 255 (7 to 8 weeks of hard prep)
I had an arbitrary goal to do at least 10 points better, so had an initial goal of >265.
Studied for CK for 4 weeks, 6 to 8 hours/day, see my quote below; not as dedicated as Step 1 but felt sufficient and fulfilling throughout; I do feel like I studied my tail off and did my best in this time period. As with the poster above, I also did the onlinemeded.org videos for shelf exams and Step 2 CK. I feel like these videos are the Pathoma equivalent for Step 2, highly recommend.
Uworld cumulative: ~78% first pass, ~86% second pass
Step 2 CK NBME's: NMBE 7 252 (2.5 weeks out); NBME 3 236 (1.5 weeks out)(gggrrr); NBME 6 269 (1.0 week out); UWSA 262 (5 days out); NBME 4 258 (3 days out); free 150 ~92% (~1 week out). Obviously I had roller coaster performances, the scores following NBME 6 were obviously self-disappointing but I did read on this SDN thread that #6 was over-predictive. Odd for me though to have an over-predictive NMBE, I took all the NBME's for Step 1 and the clerkship shelf exams and these self-assessments never over-predicted - on most they under-predicted my eventual shelf score (usually ~2 points, under-predicted 2 points for Step 1 score); the worst case scenario ever with an NBME was it predicted my actual score on a shelf exam (as opposed to under-predictive).
Test day: see my quote below for how bummed I was. I still feel the same, never felt so bad after a test. Time was an issue, I had little to no time to review marked (I mark alot) -- I finished all sections with ~ 5 min (not adequate to review); for Step 1 I had ~15 to 20 min each block to review. I find it unfair that some people claim they had no abstracts or drugs ads, I had a bunch and these were huge time suckers. Drugs ads weren't bad in difficulty but the abstracts were hard.
After the test I felt terrible and terrified that my score dropped from Step 1; I scrapped my goal/hopes of a 265 and just wanted a score better than Step 1. This anxiety consumed me, I'm sure I would have developed an episode of depression if I didn't keep myself busy. I would inadvertently recall questions in my head and think I got them wrong (never looked anything up). I coped with reading these experience threads with how NBME 4 and UWSA were predictive; also coped by talking to fellow med students who felt as bad as I did. These coping strategies were effective - I've never been one to whine alot but whining, complaining, and expressing fear to my classmates was therapeutic - many of them felt the same way. Seriously, Step 2 CK was a whole different beast compared to my Step 1 (in terms of how I felt). I did not feel like I had any deficits in knowledge from Uworld, the NBME self assessments, and other sources; was very confident in my medical knowledge for Step 2. ~40 to 60% test question were nothing like any of the practice material were nothing like Uworld/NBME's. As I say in my quote below, these questions were either presented in a very weird way or had >1 seemingly correct answer choice. The remaining questions were fact recall gimmes if you knew them, but that's a small percentage of gimme questions compared to the NBME's and my Step 1 experience.
Actual Step 2 CK: 259
Freaking elated, seriously not disappointed that I didn't meet my initial 265 goal at all. Kudos to people making the >265's, I seriously don't know how y'all consistently handled those wishy washy questions. As I said before, I feel like I maxed out my medical knowledge for the exam but felt blindsided in terms of difficulty.
Anyways, I just wanted to share this mainly for how I felt like utter crap but ultimately did ok. Also, the data points of NBME 4/UWSA and also the over-predictiveness of NBME 6.
Took it today.
What a hard, long test. Very difficult to choose between 2 or 3 answer choices. There were a few obscure concepts/things not in review sources, but for the most part you knew what was going on, just asked or presented in a very weird way or with >1 seemingly correct answer choice. Much fewer gimmes compared to NBME practice tests and UWSA. I felt fine coming out of Step 1, not super-confident, but not bad either. I felt terrible walking out of Step 2 - never felt so bad after a shelf or test.
Did Uworld 2 times (3 times total - once during MS3), ~85% of USMLE Rx, some MTB, some Secrets, and DIT in about a 4 week period. I thought all the sources were good, but Step 2 was just a tough, tough test. Don't think I would have gotten much more out of those sources studying any longer.
I guess everyone took the same test, we'll see. Just sincerely hope I don't make a lower score on it than Step 1 (decent score); NBME 4 and UWSA were a few points above my Step 1 score. Life will move on either way, just going to be very nervous until the score comes out.
