Official 2019 Step 2 CK Experiences and Scores Thread

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curiousmind8

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Please, limit your posts and questions to only CK exam experience related. It's hard for others to go through so many unrelated posts to finally a post about CK exam.

Thank you very much to all those who share their experience with everyone.

Best of luck!

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Got my score today.
step 2 Ck score 251.

uwsa 1 250 10 days before
uwsa 2 258 3 days before.

Did uworld once and marked and wrong once. read a lot of uptodate for the cases I saw while working.
Step one 250+.
Do you mean once during M3 and then once again + wrongs (like 2.3x) or just once overall plus wrongs (like 1.3x)
 
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Which NBME is a good one to start with? Starting my dedicated in about a week so I would like to know which one is a good benchmark.
 
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As of just now, I am able to begin a Step 3 application. This is suooosed to be suggestive of a passing score. I didn’t think I could do it, I’m going to cry. I get to graduate this Friday with a passing score. I’m so happy
 
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Hello all, for anyone who's taken the exam relatively recently, can you please explain to me the breakdown of the following 3 topics: Peds, Surgery, and OBGYN? Basically I'm asking how many questions you got on these topics and if they were really crazy in depth or if uworld was enough?
I've heard that internal med topics are the vast majority of the exam but I'm just really down right now w/ studying.

These 3 are by far my weakest and after doing Uworld for these I'm completely demoralized (tbh mostly obgyn and some crazy surgery questions). My avg on these sections was well below what I was getting on internal med.

I'm using Uworld mostly as a study tool to understand and real the explanations thoroughly...I'll probably do the incorrect over the last few weeks before my exam and take the self assessment(s).

Any help and guidance would be very much appreciated.
 
Nice! Thanks for the response. I know you can also check the FCVS website at 1am EST Wednesday morning to see pass vs fail for further confirmation. Just mentioning it for others who see this in the future
Looks like step 3 thing works because some a post from nov 2018 that a guy who failed his first time he tried step 3 trick and couldn’t sign up but he tried again after taking 2nd time and could sign up and passed. So it shows step 3 trick works
 
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Hello all, for anyone who's taken the exam relatively recently, can you please explain to me the breakdown of the following 3 topics: Peds, Surgery, and OBGYN? Basically I'm asking how many questions you got on these topics and if they were really crazy in depth or if uworld was enough?
I've heard that internal med topics are the vast majority of the exam but I'm just really down right now w/ studying.

These 3 are by far my weakest and after doing Uworld for these I'm completely demoralized (tbh mostly obgyn and some crazy surgery questions). My avg on these sections was well below what I was getting on internal med.

I'm using Uworld mostly as a study tool to understand and real the explanations thoroughly...I'll probably do the incorrect over the last few weeks before my exam and take the self assessment(s).

Any help and guidance would be very much appreciated.

Hello, I took my exam on the 16th and the percentage of those topics was pretty much what they say on the official USMLE website, the format of the questions was very similar to UWorld, nothing too crazy. I do recommend that you really know the physiopathology behind everything and really know your information so you're able to select the right answer out of 5 or more absurd or poorly written answer options, I found the NBME's self-assessments more helpful for learning how to cross out answers until you get the most decent (but still not satisfying) one.
 
What resources should I use and how should I study to score 250+ on Step 2 CK? I have about 4 weeks for dedicated study after rotations. I am on my IM rotations now.
 
What resources should I use and how should I study to score 250+ on Step 2 CK? I have about 4 weeks for dedicated study after rotations. I am on my IM rotations now.
Just to provide some confirmation for anyone googling. The Step 3 trick worked on Monday of the week that my scores were to be released, starting at around 5am EST. The FCVS trick work at 1am EST on the Wednesday of my score release, it was the same when I did this for CS. Note, for the Step 3 thing to work it must be your last Step 2 exam. Also, both these methods only tell you pass vs fail. Good luck!

Tags: Step 3 trick, did I pass Step 2, find out Step 2 early
 
Hello, I took my exam on the 16th and the percentage of those topics was pretty much what they say on the official USMLE website, the format of the questions was very similar to UWorld, nothing too crazy. I do recommend that you really know the physiopathology behind everything and really know your information so you're able to select the right answer out of 5 or more absurd or poorly written answer options, I found the NBME's self-assessments more helpful for learning how to cross out answers until you get the most decent (but still not satisfying) one.

Any tips on vaccines? What should I know about them?
 
score released!!!
what a tough 3-week for me.
My package:
IMG
step1: 235
UWSA1: 243 (1month ago)
UWSA2: 240 (3 weeks ago)
NBME6: 243 (1.5 weeks ago)
NBME8: 250 (4 days ago)
Real exam: 247!!
so happy to get the score! those past 3 weeks were so uneasy for me since I feel extremely bad on the real exam, and after that I rechecked 6 questions of 50-50, with only 1 right...(so unlucky...). I would say trust our practice score and no more worries when finished.
Now I'm heading to CS and finding observership, trying to get on the boat of this year's application.
 
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Just to provide some confirmation for anyone googling. The Step 3 trick worked on Monday of the week that my scores were to be released, starting at around 5am EST. The FCVS trick work at 1am EST on the Wednesday of my score release, it was the same when I did this for CS. Note, for the Step 3 thing to work it must be your last Step 2 exam. Also, both these methods only tell you pass vs fail. Good luck!

Tags: Step 3 trick, did I pass Step 2, find out Step 2 early
Passed too. I agree
 
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hi can u guys share the resources used other than uw? and did you guys feel uw was enough? thanks
 
hi can u guys share the resources used other than uw? and did you guys feel uw was enough? thanks
I used Master the Boards for Step 2 and 3, UWorld and the NBMEs for practice, I felt that was enough. I would suggest at least reading the cardiology chapter on First Aid for Step 2 CK.
 
Took exam on 4/4, got results today. Only did 20% of Uworld but had finished leftover Amboss from my clinical year. Only took a month after step 1 before studying for step 2 and regretted that almost instantly (US school with 1.5 year preclinical, take step 1 after core rotations).

Step 1: 244
NBME 7 (3 weeks out): 247
UWSA 1 (2 weeks out): 263
UWSA 2 (1 week out): 263
Real Deal: 259

Seriously considered pushing it back, but was told to trust my practice scores. Overall, I'm happy and feeling glad to have it done. In hindsight, maybe I would've done more Uworld, but I honestly don't think it would have changed much. Good luck to the rest of you!
 
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Got score today.
Img here
Its 246
Uwsa 1 255 a month ago
uwsa 2 256 11 days ago
Idk why score dropped from assessments.
Exam day was the worst.
I'm still relieved, the hell is over.
 
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Got score today.
Img here
Its 246
Uwsa 1 255 a month ago
uwsa 2 256 11 days ago
Idk why score dropped from assessments.
Exam day was the worst.
I'm still relieved, the hell is over.

what happened at the exam day? stamina?
 
Looking for advice on moving Step 2 CK date:

Step 1 : 240
M3 shelf exams: 80s-90s; worked and studied hard all year
CCSSA NBME Form 6 (05/05/2019): 262 - baseline, taken right after last M3 rotation (family medicine)

I currently have Step 2 CK scheduled for May 24th but I'm tempted to move it up based on the NBME score and the potential for burn out. How predictive has form 6 been for those who have gotten there scores back?
 
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Looking for advice on moving Step 2 CK date:

Step 1 : 240
M3 shelf exams: 80s-90s; worked and studied hard all year
CCSSA NBME Form 6 (05/05/2019): 262 - baseline, taken right after last M3 rotation (family medicine)

I currently have Step 2 CK scheduled for May 24th but I'm tempted to move it up based on the NBME score and the potential for burn out. How predictive has form 6 been for those who have gotten there scores back?
What's your goal score? I'd probably at least do another NBME or UWSA before changing your date.

Also, what raw percent on Form 6 converted to 262?
 
What's your goal score? I'd probably at least do another NBME or UWSA before changing your date.

Also, what raw percent on Form 6 converted to 262?

I'm not sure about the raw % correct, I'll go through and see how many total I got wrong.
EDIT: I missed 12 total, so its ~94.5%

Goal is ~250 for CK, just want to do same as/better than step 1 (240), but high score not necessary applications. I might move it up to next week if another NBME next weekend is about the same.
 
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I feel like I have no idea what I am doing. So far, I am doing a combo of OME, Zanki, and UWorld. Should I be reading MtB or SU2M? (For the record I hated FA for Step 1 so i didnt invest in FA for CK).

Exam in ~3 weeks. I already feel like I should push it back. Haven’t done an NBME yet because my anxiety over doing poorly over it is crippling. I need to redeem myself.

For the record, I got a 21x on Step 1, so terrible. I want at least a 240 but not sure if that is possible.

Further info: current UWorld average with >50% of the questions done is a 78%.
Shelf scores- IM 70, Psych 79, Peds 80, OB 90, FM 74 ( first shelf, i feel like that hurt me), surgery 80. Obviously did fine on shelf exams.

Just not sure on next steps. Obviously taking NBME 6 today or Thursday needs to happen.
 
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Hello guys. I took my exam on April 16th and got my results today. I felt the exam was difficult because there were many vague questions or answer options that were really confusing and I couldn't be sure about my performance afterwards. I've read on many forums that NBMEs are not predictive for this particular exam, but my average score of forms 6, 7, 8 was exactly my final score, so I would suggest to pay more attention to those when scheduling the exam.

My practice scores:
NBME 6: 241 (6 weeks out).
UWSA1: 263 (5 weeks out).
NBME 7: 247 (4 weeks out).
Free 120: 85% (3 weeks out).
UWSA2: 252 (2 weeks out).
NBME 8: 258 (1 week out).
Step 2 CK: 249

Not the score I was hoping for, but it's still an improvement from Step 1.
 
Hello guys. I took my exam on April 16th and got my results today. I felt the exam was difficult because there were many vague questions or answer options that were really confusing and I couldn't be sure about my performance afterwards. I've read on many forums that NBMEs are not predictive for this particular exam, but my average score of forms 6, 7, 8 was exactly my final score, so I would suggest to pay more attention to those when scheduling the exam.

My practice scores:
NBME 6: 241 (6 weeks out).
UWSA1: 263 (5 weeks out).
NBME 7: 247 (4 weeks out).
Free 120: 85% (3 weeks out).
UWSA2: 252 (2 weeks out).
NBME 8: 258 (1 week out).
Step 2 CK: 249

Not the score I was hoping for, but it's still an improvement from Step 1.
Congrats on being on the otherside and scoring well! Can you talk about your study plan, things you wish you did differently?
 
Congrats on being on the otherside and scoring well! Can you talk about your study plan, things you wish you did differently?
I'm a non-US IMG so I studied for 4-5 months. I initially went through Kaplan's lecture notes (no videos), then I read Master the Boards for Step 2 CK and Step 3 simultaneously, and read a few things from First Aid for Step 2 CK, then I did UWorld once and then did all the wrong/marked ones. After all that I did the NBMEs and UWorld assessments and reviewed my notes from UWorld many times and the wrong questions from the assessments.
I'm not sure if I would've done anything differently, maybe try Amboss, which sounds good, but overall I feel that the highest percentage of questions I got wrong were because of the confusing writing or confusing choices and not because they were asking me things I hadn't studied or didn't know.
I don't think reading all the books actually helped me that much, especially Kaplan's notes, and if you read both MTB books you'll see there are clear contradictions between both in some areas, which are frustrating at times, but I always need to read something before doing questions, so I couldn't just do UWorld and nothing else.
Overall, UWorld is the most helpful tool, but I really learned more about confusing and misleading writing from the NBMEs and it helped me figure out many of the tricky questions I know I got right on the actual exam. If you don't have trouble with time management while using UWorld, you shouldn't have any problems on the exam, I always had at least 6-8 minutes to review my marked ones and in two blocks I had more than 10.

If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask.
 
Hey! Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I’m an IMG as well and your study style seems very similar to what I’m doing. Can’t jump onto questions without books/videos. I’m also doing Kaplan books/videos but trying to be selective. I’ve done OB/GYN already cuz it was my weakest subject. Definitely found it very helpful cuz it’s been a while since I graduated from med school and needed to brush up all the clinical stuff.

Now trying to be selective between the remaining subjects because I know I won’t have time for all of them! Can you please suggest what subjects/systems you thought were more helpful in the Kaplan books? Also in the MTBs (I’m also doing both 2&3 like you).

Thanks in advance.





I'm a non-US IMG so I studied for 4-5 months. I initially went through Kaplan's lecture notes (no videos), then I read Master the Boards for Step 2 CK and Step 3 simultaneously, and read a few things from First Aid for Step 2 CK, then I did UWorld once and then did all the wrong/marked ones. After all that I did the NBMEs and UWorld assessments and reviewed my notes from UWorld many times and the wrong questions from the assessments.
I'm not sure if I would've done anything differently, maybe try Amboss, which sounds good, but overall I feel that the highest percentage of questions I got wrong were because of the confusing writing or confusing choices and not because they were asking me things I hadn't studied or didn't know.
I don't think reading all the books actually helped me that much, especially Kaplan's notes, and if you read both MTB books you'll see there are clear contradictions between both in some areas, which are frustrating at times, but I always need to read something before doing questions, so I couldn't just do UWorld and nothing else.
Overall, UWorld is the most helpful tool, but I really learned more about confusing and misleading writing from the NBMEs and it helped me figure out many of the tricky questions I know I got right on the actual exam. If you don't have trouble with time management while using UWorld, you shouldn't have any problems on the exam, I always had at least 6-8 minutes to review my marked ones and in two blocks I had more than 10.

If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask.
 
Hey! Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I’m an IMG as well and your study style seems very similar to what I’m doing. Can’t jump onto questions without books/videos. I’m also doing Kaplan books/videos but trying to be selective. I’ve done OB/GYN already cuz it was my weakest subject. Definitely found it very helpful cuz it’s been a while since I graduated from med school and needed to brush up all the clinical stuff.

Now trying to be selective between the remaining subjects because I know I won’t have time for all of them! Can you please suggest what subjects/systems you thought were more helpful in the Kaplan books? Also in the MTBs (I’m also doing both 2&3 like you).

Thanks in advance.
I really don't remember much about the Kaplan books, but I feel the Surgery one is the most useless, if I were you I would go through the pages very quickly looking for things you think are important for you to review and leave it at that. I would review cardio in the Internal Medicine one as well, just because cardio always takes the highest percentage of questions. The MTB books are useful for diagnostic tests, because they tell you exactly how to answer the questions in order, and also guide you in treatment, so I would focus on that and look elsewhere if you want to review a particular disease more in depth, because they are very superficial when describing clinical findings.
Also, don't read the Kaplan books or MTB more than once, unless you're looking for a specific thing, they're not like the First Aid for Step 1 which you can read twice or three times and actually get something more out of it each time.
 
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Got my score today! I’ve been really anxious over the last 3 weeks because the test felt terrible while taking it. I used all the allotted time during each section. A lot of questions were nothing like what I saw during my 1.5 passes through UWorld. The test is long and tiring, so I missed a few easy questions just because I couldn’t think straight. I only took 3 weeks for dedicated study and didn’t have the time or concentration to use any resources other than UWorld.

Step 1: 254

NBME 6: 228 (before starting my studies).
Uworld 1: 244
Uworld 2: 259
NBME 8: 247

Step 2 CK: 264!

I am so relieved! Trust your practice scores.
 
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Got my score today! I’ve been really anxious over the last 3 weeks because the test felt terrible while taking it. I used all the allotted time during each section. A lot of questions were nothing like what I saw during my 1.5 passes through UWorld. The test is long and tiring, so I missed a few easy questions just because I couldn’t think straight. I only took 3 weeks for dedicated study and didn’t have the time or concentration to use any resources other than UWorld.

Step 1: 254

NBME 6: 228 (before starting my studies).
Uworld 1: 244
Uworld 2: 259
NBME 8: 247

Step 2 CK: 264!

I am so relieved! Trust your practice scores.

Congrats on the awesome score!
It's always nice to see a jump from UWSA2!!
Do you mind sharing how long you had between your assessments and the real test
 
How do people feel the actual exam compared to the NBMEs? I have almost finished UWorld and just took NBME 6 as a baseline a few days ago and ended up with a pretty high score on it. I was surprised by how easy the NBME felt compared to the UWorld questions I've seen. Should I feel prepared or is 6 pretty easy compared to the actual exam?
 
Congrats on the awesome score!
It's always nice to see a jump from UWSA2!!
Do you mind sharing how long you had between your assessments and the real test

Thank you! I took NBME 6 about 6 weeks before my test date while I was still on Family Medicine (before I really started studying or doing uworld consistently). I took the subsequent practice tests each Saturday before my test. UWSA 1 about 3 weeks before, UWSA 2 the following week, and NBME 8 about 5 days before my test date.

I reset uworld about 7 weeks before my test date while I was 60% through. During clerkship I was doing about 40 questions a day and 120 uworld questions (sometimes more) during dedicated. I was about 95% the way through uworld (after resetting) when I took CK. I used OME, Master the Boards, and Step up during clerkships but not consistently. I felt I didn’t have the same capacity for studying like I did during step 1, so I relied solely on Uworld.

I’m not entirely sure why I jumped so high on the real deal especially after feeling so terrible during the test. I am pleasantly surprised. How you feel during the test does not necessarily correlate with how well you’ll score!
 
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Okay, three weeks until CK-
NBME 6: 224

Not sure how to feel? Is this a good predictive test or does it over/underestimate things?
 
Thanks for your detailed reply. Clarifies all my queries.

I really don't remember much about the Kaplan books, but I feel the Surgery one is the most useless, if I were you I would go through the pages very quickly looking for things you think are important for you to review and leave it at that. I would review cardio in the Internal Medicine one as well, just because cardio always takes the highest percentage of questions. The MTB books are useful for diagnostic tests, because they tell you exactly how to answer the questions in order, and also guide you in treatment, so I would focus on that and look elsewhere if you want to review a particular disease more in depth, because they are very superficial when describing clinical findings.
Also, don't read the Kaplan books or MTB more than once, unless you're looking for a specific thing, they're not like the First Aid for Step 1 which you can read twice or three times and actually get something more out of it each time.
 
Hey guys, does anyone if the online CMS forms get updated every now and then or do they remain unchanged like the NBMEs? I mean what would they do if they want to add new questions to the CMS forms, just add a form 5? Or change the questions within the existing 4 forms for each subject.
I’m asking this because if I do offline CMS forms that someone downloaded in 2015 would I be missing out on the new questions?

Thanks in advance!
 
Mind sharing them please?
Hey guys, does anyone if the online CMS forms get updated every now and then or do they remain unchanged like the NBMEs? I mean what would they do if they want to add new questions to the CMS forms, just add a form 5? Or change the questions within the existing 4 forms for each subject.
I’m asking this because if I do offline CMS forms that someone downloaded in 2015 would I be missing out on the new questions?

Thanks in advance!
 
Thank you! I took NBME 6 about 6 weeks before my test date while I was still on Family Medicine (before I really started studying or doing uworld consistently). I took the subsequent practice tests each Saturday before my test. UWSA 1 about 3 weeks before, UWSA 2 the following week, and NBME 8 about 5 days before my test date.

I reset uworld about 7 weeks before my test date while I was 60% through. During clerkship I was doing about 40 questions a day and 120 uworld questions (sometimes more) during dedicated. I was about 95% the way through uworld (after resetting) when I took CK. I used OME, Master the Boards, and Step up during clerkships but not consistently. I felt I didn’t have the same capacity for studying like I did during step 1, so I relied solely on Uworld.

I’m not entirely sure why I jumped so high on the real deal especially after feeling so terrible during the test. I am pleasantly surprised. How you feel during the test does not necessarily correlate with how well you’ll score!

Congrats on your score! I have a question. Did you do anki on top of the 120 per day during dedicated? If so, do you recommend it? I only have 2 weeks for dedicated and was wondering if I should forego anki to get more questions in on my 2nd pass of UW. During step 1 I was only doing 80 a day and I felt that was hard enough with anki on top.
 
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Did dedicated prep for 3.5 weeks, pretty relaxed schedule tbh.
Had already done basically a full pass of UWorld prior to dedicated study time, and got through about half of UWorld on a second pass during dedicated.

Average UW blocks during 2nd pass: 77%
SA1 (took the 1st day of dedicated: 246
NBME 8 (took after 1st week of dedicated): 233
SA2 (took mid-2nd week): 262
NBME 6 (took 1 week before exam): 252

Actual test: 259
Woohoo! And I felt like absolute **** walking out of the test.
I basically just used UWorld and annotated in First Aid. Supplemented with a bit of Online Meded for sections that I felt weren't covered that well in FA but really just used FA and UW.
 
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