USMLE Official 2021 Step 2 CK Experiences With Scores Thread

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All right y'all, let's get this party started. Here's to a smooth sailing third year, no Prometric drama with Step 2, in-person aways and interviews, and no CS/hopefully PE.

School: bone wizard

Step 1: mid 230s
Level 1: mid 570s

Step 2 goal: 250+
Level 2 goal: 600+

Interests: EM, OB/GYN (distant second)

Rotations (in order): Peds, IM, FM, Psych, Neuro, Surgery, EM, OB/GYN and then several electives mixed in

Resources: UWorld, Online MedEd, Tzanki deck since it's shorter and the Step 1 decks burned me out, might check out B&B for Step 2 when it comes out since Dr. Ryan saved my butt on Step 1

My rotations go until the end of June and unfortunately my schedule is pretty backloaded with my final 3 rotations being EM, OB and ICU so I guess that means I'll be taking Step 2 in early July. Obviously I'm not sure how auditions/aways will be playing out next summer and if PE will be a thing so a lot up in the air right now in terms of scheduling. My school does COMATs for our shelf exams but I don't plan on using any DO-specific resources for COMATs or Level 2 as I've heard UWorld is all you need.
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Weird as hell how different school calendars are. I finished 3rd year almost 6 weeks ago.

technically I started 4th year Monday but I’m doing 3 weeks of online courses.
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
Was the same for me. Now to wait endlessly until I get a random email telling me that my level 2 scores are out.
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The actual worst. Except I genuinely thought I failed level 1, so that wait was actually worse. Not super concerned about this.
 
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this is just an observation but I'm really glad to see both MDs and DOs on this forum...can't believe y'all have COMLEX + step! as if step wasn't hard enough haha
 
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I have never posted in this thread before but have checked in a few times over the past couple of months and wanted to offer my experience because I recently got my score back and had a greater than average increase from an already fairly high Step 1.

Step 1: 252
UW: 80-85% correct, completed throughout the year, reset right before dedicated, and then did about 1/4 again averaging a little >90%
Amboss: 75-80%, completed at least 3/4 throughout rotations
UWSA1 8-10 weeks out: 262
Amboss test 4 weeks out: 261
UWSA2 1 week out: 269
Step 2: 270

For my actual Step 2 test day experience, I definitely felt like I underestimated the difficulty of the test when I actually got in there. I did not take any NBME practice tests and I felt like the test questions were much vaguer and intentionally withheld one or two pieces of information that the UWSAs would have given to make a definitive answer choice. When I finished UWSA2, I knew my score was going to be high. When I left Prometric after Step 2, I knew I could have done really well but I also thought there was a fair chance I could have dropped a few points below all my practice tests. I only looked up 2-3 questions from my test and missed all of them, and others that I remembered struggling with were essentially impossible to look up because they were so specific or arbitrary.

I think my large improvement between Steps 1 and 2 was largely due to really prioritizing clinical learning during 3rd year over just board review. Throughout the whole year, I definitely tried to learn all I could about the current rotation I was on, even if my career plans were completely opposite (looking at you OB and surgery). This really made review easy at the end of the year. Especially in the spring semester, I tried to do a lot of my learning from society guidelines (AAFP, AAP, ACP, ACOG, etc.) rather than from UWorld or Amboss. Granted, I did do all of UW and most of Amboss throughout the year as well. But even when I was doing board practice questions, I would stop my test and look up a subject that I had a question about on DynaMed. DynaMed is much shorter and more evidence-based than UpToDate, so it was my go-to. You can get a free personal account to DynaMed by joining the ACP as a student member (also free). I'm sure this falsely elevated my UW% and definitely made some blocks take like 3 hours, but that's irrelevant because my goal was to learn the material in a way that will hopefully help me be a great physician.

Lastly, I listened to a lot of IM podcasts throughout the year. I plan on being a general internist, so this was a pretty easy attraction for me, but since so much of Step 2 and 3rd year is medicine-based, it helped me in all aspects. The Curbsiders are by far my number 1 choice. I listened to every new episode over the last year and have gone back and listened to many of their previous episodes. Some episodes that I thought were high-yield (cellulitis, AKI) I have listened to 2-3 times. I cannot count how many times on every rotation I had a review question that I don't know where I was supposed to learn the answer, but I had listened to the Curbsiders talk about it, so I knew the correct answer. I basically just listen while commuting, showering in the morning, and running at night. This has also helped me look good on the wards a few times too.

My dedicated study period was about 10 days long and was pretty light. I don't think I did more than 3 UW blocks on any day. I tried to use DynaMed a lot during these blocks.

So anyway, there's my n=1 experience but I hope someone finds at least parts of it useful!
 
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GoCards05 said:
Yay!! Congrats!

Since I am paying absolutely no attention to COMLEX until the 3 days in between Step and Level 2, what should I be reviewing during those 3 days?
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I honestly didn't do anything. Kept up with TurnUp2OMT and then did TurnUp2Law/Ethics really quickly. If you've done well on comats I don't think you have anything to worry about. Brush up on OMM and that's about it.
 
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Tested yesterday. Not sure what to think. Military medicine was definitely overblown on my form, hardly saw any about that. Don't have a clue in the world of how I did. Know h
 
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Professional Student said:
I have never posted in this thread before but have checked in a few times over the past couple of months and wanted to offer my experience because I recently got my score back and had a greater than average increase from an already fairly high Step 1.

Step 1: 252
UW: 80-85% correct, completed throughout the year, reset right before dedicated, and then did about 1/4 again averaging a little >90%
Amboss: 75-80%, completed at least 3/4 throughout rotations
UWSA1 8-10 weeks out: 262
Amboss test 4 weeks out: 261
UWSA2 1 week out: 269
Step 2: 270

For my actual Step 2 test day experience, I definitely felt like I underestimated the difficulty of the test when I actually got in there. I did not take any NBME practice tests and I felt like the test questions were much vaguer and intentionally withheld one or two pieces of information that the UWSAs would have given to make a definitive answer choice. When I finished UWSA2, I knew my score was going to be high. When I left Prometric after Step 2, I knew I could have done really well but I also thought there was a fair chance I could have dropped a few points below all my practice tests. I only looked up 2-3 questions from my test and missed all of them, and others that I remembered struggling with were essentially impossible to look up because they were so specific or arbitrary.

I think my large improvement between Steps 1 and 2 was largely due to really prioritizing clinical learning during 3rd year over just board review. Throughout the whole year, I definitely tried to learn all I could about the current rotation I was on, even if my career plans were completely opposite (looking at you OB and surgery). This really made review easy at the end of the year. Especially in the spring semester, I tried to do a lot of my learning from society guidelines (AAFP, AAP, ACP, ACOG, etc.) rather than from UWorld or Amboss. Granted, I did do all of UW and most of Amboss throughout the year as well. But even when I was doing board practice questions, I would stop my test and look up a subject that I had a question about on DynaMed. DynaMed is much shorter and more evidence-based than UpToDate, so it was my go-to. You can get a free personal account to DynaMed by joining the ACP as a student member (also free). I'm sure this falsely elevated my UW% and definitely made some blocks take like 3 hours, but that's irrelevant because my goal was to learn the material in a way that will hopefully help me be a great physician.

Lastly, I listened to a lot of IM podcasts throughout the year. I plan on being a general internist, so this was a pretty easy attraction for me, but since so much of Step 2 and 3rd year is medicine-based, it helped me in all aspects. The Curbsiders are by far my number 1 choice. I listened to every new episode over the last year and have gone back and listened to many of their previous episodes. Some episodes that I thought were high-yield (cellulitis, AKI) I have listened to 2-3 times. I cannot count how many times on every rotation I had a review question that I don't know where I was supposed to learn the answer, but I had listened to the Curbsiders talk about it, so I knew the correct answer. I basically just listen while commuting, showering in the morning, and running at night. This has also helped me look good on the wards a few times too.

My dedicated study period was about 10 days long and was pretty light. I don't think I did more than 3 UW blocks on any day. I tried to use DynaMed a lot during these blocks.

So anyway, there's my n=1 experience but I hope someone finds at least parts of it useful!
Click to expand...
Dude a 270 is insane-congrats! For your 80-85% on UW was this first pass and were you doing anki decks with it or using it solely as a learning tool throughout the year. I think when using decks it def inflates scores. For example I only used Dorian for peds and I was avg like 80-90% on UW peds blocks yet when i wasnt using anki at all on the other shelves i was getting like 50-60%. I think anki is super helpful but can be super discouraging when you see people ripping 80% first pass on CK if they dont disclose whether they used premade anki decks or not with it. Dorian for example basically has all of CK in his deck. A 270 is an absolute gas score really really impressive
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
I honestly didn't do anything. Kept up with TurnUp2OMT and then did TurnUp2Law/Ethics really quickly. If you've done well on comats I don't think you have anything to worry about. Brush up on OMM and that's about it.
Click to expand...
How was the OMM? Was it mostly setups, treatments, viscerosomatics, Chapman’s points?
 
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GoCards05 said:
How was the OMM? Was it mostly setups, treatments, viscerosomatics, Chapman’s points?
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Yes. Lots of easier stuff, a handful of more specific setups that I honestly knew going in I would just take an L on. Felt it was easier than what I got on level 1.
 
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Professional Student said:
Especially in the spring semester, I tried to do a lot of my learning from society guidelines (AAFP, AAP, ACP, ACOG, etc.) rather than from UWorld or Amboss.
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First off, congrats and I wish I had been able to see your post at the beginning of third year!

I feel like this part is often overlooked but incredibly important. I see almost no one talking about learning from the guidelines. My ob/gyn preceptor made me read the ACOG guidelines for most of the most common things and quizzed me on them all the time. My rotation was so busy that I honestly barely studied for it beyond reading what he assigned me and probably did less than 200 questions the whole time because I was exhausted, but that discipline was my second highest COMAT score. It blew me away because I had studied so “little” for it (by my perception) that I was honestly just hoping to pass. The society guidelines are absolute gold.
 
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Deecee2DO said:
Dude a 270 is insane-congrats! For your 80-85% on UW was this first pass and were you doing anki decks with it or using it solely as a learning tool throughout the year. I think when using decks it def inflates scores. For example I only used Dorian for peds and I was avg like 80-90% on UW peds blocks yet when i wasnt using anki at all on the other shelves i was getting like 50-60%. I think anki is super helpful but can be super discouraging when you see people ripping 80% first pass on CK if they dont disclose whether they used premade anki decks or not with it. Dorian for example basically has all of CK in his deck. A 270 is an absolute gas score really really impressive
Click to expand...
Thank you!! I have never used anki. I could make up a soapbox about how I think anki mostly aids recognition and recall without helping clinical reasoning, but I only half believe that. The truth is I downloaded it first year and couldn't figure out the software after like 10 minutes so I deleted it and never tried it again. I did, however, do at least most of Amboss for that clerkship before starting UW. I think the only clerkship I didn't do Amboss first was IM because UW had so many IM questions that I used it solely. The 80-85% first pass was throughout all of 3rd year, only taking blocks with questions specific to the rotation, untimed, tutor mode, with looking up some topics on DynaMed during the block. I would start out scoring 65-75% at the beginning of a new clerkship (after having done much of Amboss) and then be scoring around 85% by the time for each shelf exam. At the end of 3rd year I was consistently scoring >80% on random timed blocks for the leftover questions from each clerkship. My final percent was I think right at 81% cumulatively.


calivianya said:
First off, congrats and I wish I had been able to see your post at the beginning of third year!

I feel like this part is often overlooked but incredibly important. I see almost no one talking about learning from the guidelines. My ob/gyn preceptor made me read the ACOG guidelines for most of the most common things and quizzed me on them all the time. My rotation was so busy that I honestly barely studied for it beyond reading what he assigned me and probably did less than 200 questions the whole time because I was exhausted, but that discipline was my second highest COMAT score. It blew me away because I had studied so “little” for it (by my perception) that I was honestly just hoping to pass. The society guidelines are absolute gold.
Click to expand...

I completely agree!
 
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The best thing is that I got one of those double questions where I *know* I answered the first one incorrectly because the second question stated so plainly. lol.
 
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Professional Student said:
Thank you!! I have never used anki. I could make up a soapbox about how I think anki mostly aids recognition and recall without helping clinical reasoning, but I only half believe that. The truth is I downloaded it first year and couldn't figure out the software after like 10 minutes so I deleted it and never tried it again. I did, however, do at least most of Amboss for that clerkship before starting UW. I think the only clerkship I didn't do Amboss first was IM because UW had so many IM questions that I used it solely. The 80-85% first pass was throughout all of 3rd year, only taking blocks with questions specific to the rotation, untimed, tutor mode, with looking up some topics on DynaMed during the block. I would start out scoring 65-75% at the beginning of a new clerkship (after having done much of Amboss) and then be scoring around 85% by the time for each shelf exam. At the end of 3rd year I was consistently scoring >80% on random timed blocks for the leftover questions from each clerkship. My final percent was I think right at 81% cumulatively.




I completely agree!
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dude u are a beast lol i wish I could score my first pass at 81% lol. So i kinda did the opposite-I didnt use anki either (except peds) and I did UW first as learning tool and then did comquest for that rotation after doing UW so I did basically similar to you but in reverse order and used comquest instead of amboss (I should have used amboss but we have comats as DOs and comquest style of question is very similar to the comats which are the DO shelves-im assuming ur MD?). I love amboss and deciding whether I should do that for CK at this point. I am taking CK in the fall after eras goes out because my Step 1 was high enough according to my advisor (mid 250s). My UW avg first pass is about 69% correct at 53% complete-im shooting for 270+ but would be completely content with 260+. My shelf avg is about 97%ile-Do you think if I do UW bank 2x with self-made anki cards for my incorrects would be good enough to give me possibility of breaking 270? or should i crack into amboss
 
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UWSA2: 253 (65/88/75/78)… and there are definitely some things I made dumb mistakes on that hopefully I won’t miss in the future.

At this point I’ve been looking at three different predictors (predict my step score, a reddit spreadsheet, and then the graph with the equations using my most recent score) and they’re all saying somewhere between 252.9-255.1, +/- 5. The minus 5 part would suck - applied to the 252 rounded down, I would match my step 1 score. If that’s my worst case scenario, that’s not terrible, I guess.

I would really like to be on the 255+ end to have a decent improvement from step 1, but it is what it is. I really don’t want to miss dates any other time considering everything starting July 5th is either going to be something I get a letter from or an audition, so Wednesday it is! I’m not going to move my exam.

Maybe I can make some magic happen in these last couple of days.
 
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calivianya said:
UWSA2: 253 (65/88/75/78)… and there are definitely some things I made dumb mistakes on that hopefully I won’t miss in the future.

At this point I’ve been looking at three different predictors (predict my step score, a reddit spreadsheet, and then the graph with the equations using my most recent score) and they’re all saying somewhere between 252.9-255.1, +/- 5. The minus 5 part would suck - applied to the 252 rounded down, I would match my step 1 score. If that’s my worst case scenario, that’s not terrible, I guess.

I would really like to be on the 255+ end to have a decent improvement from step 1, but it is what it is. I really don’t want to miss dates any other time considering everything starting July 5th is either going to be something I get a letter from or an audition, so Wednesday it is! I’m not going to move my exam.

Maybe I can make some magic happen in these last couple of days.
Click to expand...

Same! We have similar step scores. My original hope was to improve percentile wise, but now I'm just hoping i don't do worse in terms of raw numbers as opposed to step 1 scores.
 
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permit still has not dissapeared. really hoping it goes away tmr. Idk if I can take another week of this lol
 
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Deecee2DO said:
dude u are a beast lol i wish I could score my first pass at 81% lol. So i kinda did the opposite-I didnt use anki either (except peds) and I did UW first as learning tool and then did comquest for that rotation after doing UW so I did basically similar to you but in reverse order and used comquest instead of amboss (I should have used amboss but we have comats as DOs and comquest style of question is very similar to the comats which are the DO shelves-im assuming ur MD?). I love amboss and deciding whether I should do that for CK at this point. I am taking CK in the fall after eras goes out because my Step 1 was high enough according to my advisor (mid 250s). My UW avg first pass is about 69% correct at 53% complete-im shooting for 270+ but would be completely content with 260+. My shelf avg is about 97%ile-Do you think if I do UW bank 2x with self-made anki cards for my incorrects would be good enough to give me possibility of breaking 270? or should i crack into amboss
Click to expand...
I think you performing so well on shelf exams and having a great Step 1 score sets you up for a fantastic Step 2 score no matter what you do as long as you do something, which it sounds like you're definitely working hard. I think the main benefit to Amboss is having completely fresh questions. I reset UW a week or so before my exam and a second pass just isn't the same, even if it's been months since you took a lot of the questions (in my opinion). I felt the same way while studying for Step 1. My reasoning for doing Amboss before UW was the Amboss library having more opportunities for reading when I was first exposed to a specialty, and also it seems like UW is still regarded as the gold standard. I don't think there would be any harm in resetting UW after your first pass and then if you feel the second pass is challenging enough that you are still learning you can keep it up, but if not you could switch to Amboss at that point. The self-made anki cards for incorrects also sounds like a good way to enforce learned principles, though I can't fully comment on that because my strategy for enforcing topics I got wrong was to read DynaMed a couple of times and to do more new questions with the understanding that those concepts were going to appear again.
 
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Professional Student said:
I think you performing so well on shelf exams and having a great Step 1 score sets you up for a fantastic Step 2 score no matter what you do as long as you do something, which it sounds like you're definitely working hard. I think the main benefit to Amboss is having completely fresh questions. I reset UW a week or so before my exam and a second pass just isn't the same, even if it's been months since you took a lot of the questions (in my opinion). I felt the same way while studying for Step 1. My reasoning for doing Amboss before UW was the Amboss library having more opportunities for reading when I was first exposed to a specialty, and also it seems like UW is still regarded as the gold standard. I don't think there would be any harm in resetting UW after your first pass and then if you feel the second pass is challenging enough that you are still learning you can keep it up, but if not you could switch to Amboss at that point. The self-made anki cards for incorrects also sounds like a good way to enforce learned principles, though I can't fully comment on that because my strategy for enforcing topics I got wrong was to read DynaMed a couple of times and to do more new questions with the understanding that those concepts were going to appear again.
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thanks for the advice!! very helpful
 
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Did anyone who already tested listen to the Divine Intervention podcasts? And if so, which ones did you feel were particularly high yield?
 
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bluelamin said:
i've always wondered....who is that in ur profile pic?
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It’s from the show “What we do in the Shadows.” It’s on Hulu and is one of my favorite comedy shows, highly recommend it. It’s a picture of one of the main characters, Nandor the Relentless, holding up a tiny license plate that says “Steve.” Works with my handle, Steve Zissou, who was my original profile pic.
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
It’s from the show “What we do in the Shadows.” It’s on Hulu and is one of my favorite comedy shows, highly recommend it. It’s a picture of one of the main characters, Nandor the Relentless, holding up a tiny license plate that says “Steve.” Works with my handle, Steve Zissou, who was my original profile pic.
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I thought it was aquaman lmao
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
It’s from the show “What we do in the Shadows.” It’s on Hulu and is one of my favorite comedy shows, highly recommend it. It’s a picture of one of the main characters, Nandor the Relentless, holding up a tiny license plate that says “Steve.” Works with my handle, Steve Zissou, who was my original profile pic.
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will def check out after step haha also my personal favs are psych, bojack horseman, and brooklyn99
 
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Thesimplelifeofamyloid said:
I thought his were not super helpful unfortunately. The things that were most high yield for me were Amboss ethics with BnB quality and safety.
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That’s really too bad. I listened to the quality and safety Divine podcast on the way to my hotel, and to think that could have been a waste of my time kills my spirit a little. I haven’t sighed out loud out of boredom that frequently in a while. Horrible.

Not Divine, of course. Just that material. I hate all that lean, six sigma, etc. stuff.
 
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I think the divine podcasts are usuless just because its such a passive form of learning. the DIP deck is great though and Im really happy I did all the social science and military cards
 
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ohmanwaddup said:
I think the divine podcasts are usuless just because its such a passive form of learning. the DIP deck is great though and Im really happy I did all the social science and military cards
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I can cram quite a bit in by listening - especially during a 3.5 hour car ride.

I was an entirely auditory learner for years and some of that has stuck - had no idea I was supposed to be able to see anything clearly on the whiteboard at the front of the room. Blew my mind after I got glasses that other people had been following along with the teachers while they were writing on the board instead of just listening and taking notes like I was. :rofl:
 
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calivianya said:
That’s really too bad. I listened to the quality and safety Divine podcast on the way to my hotel, and to think that could have been a waste of my time kills my spirit a little. I haven’t sighed out loud out of boredom that frequently in a while. Horrible.

Not Divine, of course. Just that material. I hate all that lean, six sigma, etc. stuff.
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Do you test tomorrow?
 
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Thesimplelifeofamyloid said:
Do you test tomorrow?
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Yep! I sort of feel like this about it…

1C093980-804A-4B14-9E47-7BC30A2F85C7.jpeg
 
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