Wanted to give a rundown of my experience for this exam. I benefited from reading how others studied, felt, and scored, so hopefully this helps someone out there. I studied for slightly less than three weeks. I was planning on doing four weeks, but felt really acutely stressed and decided to move it up by like 9 days. I was feeling intense anxiety and thought that it was better to take it earlier and have time to come down from it before starting my next rotation, which is something I am really interested in.
I did finish UWorld, but went through the last 600 odd questions in three days; just zipped through them without too much thought. During the first part of my study time, I went through the online med-ed sections that I felt were most "high yield" (pulmonary, cards, GI, endocrine, and renal). I subscribed for one month because I felt like it was good content and I wanted to support it, but I didn't use any of the notes or extra resources.
Test day sucked. I was feeling so anxious that I couldn't eat anything the day before or the morning of. I took a break after every block, tried to gulp down water and a few almonds or literally anything. One or two blocks felt good (felt confident about 70-80%), most of the other blocks felt medium (felt confident about around 50-60%), and the last two block destroyed me (felt like I knew <40% for sure). I "guessed" (narrowed down to two or three and was torn and eventually just picked one) on a lot of questions, like a lot. Like more than 50%. I came out of the test feeling like I might have failed (really--I had to keep deleting my phone and internet history because of how often I was searching for "step 2 ck terrible", "feel like I failed step 2", etc etc). I really truly thought that there was a good chance that I had failed--for all of you thinking that, I promise that I felt it too.
By the numbers:
Step 1: 246
UWorld: 86% correct (went through it once prior during the course of the year during 4th year) untimed, tutor
Grades during 3rd year: mostly As (which doesn't mean much at my school honestly), with a little variation
UWORLD1: 269
NBME6: 263
Step 2 CK: 263
Today, I got an email at 11:00 that my score was available. And that sent me into a fit of terror. I was on rounds, trying to think about if or how I could check it. And then at 11:04 my resident rushed up to me, elated, because the 15 year old patient I have been following was getting a f*#king heart transplant. A HEART TRANSPLANT. She had recently gotten back from the OR for another procedure and wasn't doing well, and she was bumped up the transplant list. She is the nicest kid, guys. She needs this so much and will be so happy that she has a new heart when she wakes up. That moment was such a contrast, such a relief, and such a moment of clarity. There I was, terrified of a score on a test, and there she was, there her parents were--finding out that she was getting a heart. That she would be able to play and run again, that she wouldn't have to drag her milrinone around, that she could go to prom. I want everyone here who clearly cares so much (about scores, about residency applications, about grades, and mostly about being good, smart, kind and passionate physicians) to remember that these numbers are numbers, they are boxes to check on the way to something much, much more meaningful. Don't let them overtake you, define you, or discourage you. They are not everything. They're not nothing, but they're not much. I got a score, she got a heart. I got a score, she got a heart. Remember that she is the point of this, of all of this.
