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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fldoctorgirl said:
Starting IM. Plan is UWorld and Dorian. Started a block of 20 yesterday without touching Dorian yet, RIP my confidence lol.

Really want to honor this one.
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I got wrecked my first week of Uworld. Once I had 1.5 weeks of Dorian in my scores shot up. Stick with it fam. Hoping I can pull off my first honors with IM too.
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
Starting IM. Plan is UWorld and Dorian. Started a block of 20 yesterday without touching Dorian yet, RIP my confidence lol.

Really want to honor this one.
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I am getting consistent 60% on FM Uworld blocks and my confidence has never been lower. i feel ur pain. the CK bank is astronomically more difficult than Step 1
 
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Deecee2DO said:
I am getting consistent 60% on FM Uworld blocks and my confidence has never been lower. i feel ur pain. the CK bank is astronomically more difficult than Step 1
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Uworld is a lot harder than the actual COMAT. I got a 90 on the FM COMAT without doing any Cheesy dorian flashcards or Uworld, and I only did half of the comquest questions. I know for a fact based on your history with standardized exams that you're going to do a lot better than me.

PS: my school grading system doesn't require me to get super high comat scores to get Honors, so I've been slacking a little. I do need to get back on board study shape though if I want to get CK/CE out of the way early.
 
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The anki fatigue is real. Up to about 500 cards a day (nothing compared to step 1 dedicated lol) but I just don't want to do it.

Will probably get better after IM, 5000 cards in 9 weeks is just brutal this late in year.

on the plus side, 5 months till a whole year of zero anki!
 
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ohmanwaddup said:
The anki fatigue is real. Up to about 500 cards a day (nothing compared to step 1 dedicated lol) but I just don't want to do it.

Will probably get better after IM, 5000 cards in 9 weeks is just brutal this late in year.

on the plus side, 5 months till a whole year of zero anki!
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We're sooo close! Can't wait to taste true anki freedom
 
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Okay I already posted in 2020 thread to be with my class, but I’m going to report here because I technically took step 2 in 2021, and in case my experiences help the little guys.


After taking it, I am like.... feeling horrible and also I care less than other exams since it was so late.
So many nuances and 50/50 calls. Like I want to do action A+B almost simultaneously, but they're making me pick a first one.

Dream goal: 240
target: 230
content: 223 (match step 1)
yikes: pass
pain: fail

UWorld % (did maybe 20% of questions 1st pass only): 68
UWorld1: 236 (6 weeks out)
UWorld2: 250 (2 days out)

I took it on a 3 day weekend basically with 2 days off before. I've been on a core rotation so just barely trying to squeeze in step 2 specific studying vs just normal rotation studying.

Reddit excel score predictor: 248
Predict me website: 249 +/- 7
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Update: got a 238!!!! I am very pleased!!!
Only mad at myself for putting it off so long it couldn’t really help me with interviews. But oh well it can still help me with ranking at the places I did interview.
 
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A couple questions for you all: how many weeks are you doing for dedicated and how many days between CK and CE?
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
~3 weeks of dedicated. Heard from most people that any longer was too much. Taking CK on a Monday and CE on Friday.
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I decided to take two weeks of pure dedicated since my last rotation this year is an elective so I won't have a COMAT to study for. I'm also doing CK on a Monday and CE on a Friday since 10 days was painfully long between Step 1 and Level 1.
 
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A word of caution to all of you:

The whole "2 months for step 1, 2 weeks for step 2, and #2 pencil for step 3" gets students into trouble.

Students have very different backgrounds in preparing for each of these exams.

If you have been preparing for your NBME shelf exams aggressively and have been doing well on them throughout third year, then a dedicated period of 2-3 weeks for step 2 may be reasonable.

Even then, you would want to track your progress on practice tests and ensure you are hitting and ideally exceeding your target score for step 2.
 
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Dr. USMLE said:
If you have been preparing for your NBME shelf exams aggressively and have been doing well on them throughout third year, then a dedicated period of 2-3 weeks for step 2 may be reasonable.
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I think this applies to most of us on this thread-- most of us are working through UWorld throughout the year. For someone who will be done with basically all of UWorld pre-dedicated, has done an entire Anki deck, and has honored a good amount of shelf exams (a lot of us on here) I think 3 weeks is more than enough. Even with Step 1 I felt like my dedicated could've been a week longer, I was ready to be done and was starting to hit that peak where I felt I would start to forget things/do worse the more I waited.
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
I think this applies to most of us on this thread-- most of us are working through UWorld throughout the year. For someone who will be done with basically all of UWorld pre-dedicated, has done an entire Anki deck, and has honored a good amount of shelf exams (a lot of us on here) I think 3 weeks is more than enough. Even with Step 1 I felt like my dedicated could've been a week longer, I was ready to be done and was starting to hit that peak where I felt I would start to forget things/do worse the more I waited.
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I'm just curious how my Comat performance will translate to the practice NBMEs and Uworld assessments for step 2.

I haven't honored anything yet (boo kcu system) but even then you'd think that shelfs in the 70s-mid 80s percentile wise would indicate decent prep and a good prediction going in.

Anyone have any sources for comparing comat scores and step 2 performance? or even comlex?
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
NO MORE STEP 2 CS WILL COMLEX FOLLOW?!?!!
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Unfortunately as of right now it seems like they are still moving full steam ahead with restarting in April. I’m low key debating canceling my July date, getting a refund and waiting it out as they will likely cancel eventually since they copy everything the NBME does.
 
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GoCards05 said:
Unfortunately as of right now it seems like they are still moving full steam ahead with restarting in April. I’m low key debating canceling my July date, getting a refund and waiting it out as they will likely cancel eventually since they copy everything the NBME does.
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Not registering for PE till they force me to in 4th year. There will be no real advantage to taking PE at this point. If they're still forcing it down our throat, I might as well go the Step 3 route.
 
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Hi all! I’m late to this thread as well. Taking the beast in about 2 months. Curious how you all think I am sitting.

Average step 1, average shelf score across all specialties ~75%, UW 1st pass ~75% making my way through second pass at ~84%

aiming for 245-250+ thinking about anesthesiology!
 
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bigfootisreal said:
Hi all! I’m late to this thread as well. Taking the beast in about 2 months. Curious how you all think I am sitting.

Average step 1, average shelf score across all specialties ~75%, UW 1st pass ~75% making my way through second pass at ~84%

aiming for 245-250+ thinking about anesthesiology!
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I'm mostly curious why you are thinking gas. I haven't seen a single anesthesiologist the entire year, only CRNAs
 
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ohmanwaddup said:
I'm mostly curious why you are thinking gas. I haven't seen a single anesthesiologist the entire year, only CRNAs
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Well I really enjoy gas. I wouldn’t be lying if I didn’t say the job market terrified me at times and so I am still very much considering IM. The end goal is crit care regardless. But I like general anesthesia more than general IM.
 
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For an IMG with a strong Step 1 score (260+), is 3 months of religiously doing only UW2 + UWSA1/2 + NBMEs sufficient for 260+? Are there any key areas where I need to supplement UW2 with other sources? For Step 1 I did FA & UW really well, but also *partially* went through some other resources (eg Amboss qbank). In the end, I felt like the additional sources added absolutely nothing to my eventual score. For this reason, and the fact I'll have at most 3 months, I want to keep my Step 2 prep efficient.

I don't think I have the time to get through any Anki deck, but if there are any holes in UW2 and suggestions on what to read/do to plug those holes, I'll be very grateful.
 
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maieutic said:
For an IMG with a strong Step 1 score (260+), is 3 months of religiously doing only UW2 + UWSA1/2 + NBMEs sufficient for 260+? Are there any key areas where I need to supplement UW2 with other sources? For Step 1 I did FA & UW really well, but also *partially* went through some other resources (eg Amboss qbank). In the end, I felt like the additional sources added absolutely nothing to my eventual score. For this reason, and the fact I'll have at most 3 months, I want to keep my Step 2 prep efficient.

I don't think I have the time to get through any Anki deck, but if there are any holes in UW2 and suggestions on what to read/do to plug those holes, I'll be very grateful.
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I think you should be fine with just those resources. Maybe listen to the Divine Intervention podcasts for any weak areas. Have you made your first pass through UWorld yet?
 
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FindersFee5 said:
I think you should be fine with just those resources. Maybe listen to the Divine Intervention podcasts for any weak areas. Have you made your first pass through UWorld yet?
Click to expand...
Not yet, I still have to start.

For the divine intervention podcasts, IMGs typically recommend a few as mandatory (the ones with risk factors, some military stuff, and a couple of others). I downloaded the pdf, and noticed each of these podcasts is covered in 1-1.5 pages. Is the pdf as good as the podcasts (ie, accurately transcribed), or do they leave out a lot of info? Otherwise, like you suggested, I can go through relevant podcasts depending on what my weak areas are. How good are they, btw? Does he add extra info, or is he just very good at explaining overall ideas and stressing salient points to watch out for?
 
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Hey guys! Checking in after a long time. Hope everyone is doing well.

My original plan was to take CK in my final year of school (Class of 2022, EU-Year 6), but things changed and I'm strongly considering taking it in June.

Backround:

Step1 - 232
1000 qs of AMBOSS CK qbank (52% correct)
Some OME,BnB, read DeVirgilio's Surgery

Plan:
Use a premade anki deck as the main way of consolidating concepts, do UW twice, finish Amboss.

Is Dorian M3 deck (14000+ cards) a good choice?
Are there any other decks with a lesser amount of cards that you'd recommend?
 
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FindersFee5 said:
I think you should be fine with just those resources. Maybe listen to the Divine Intervention podcasts for any weak areas. Have you made your first pass through UWorld yet?
Click to expand...
I remember you absolutely murdered Step 2 so I have a question for you..My goal is a 270+ since I am shooting for T25 IM as a DO but would still be happy with a 260+ (my Step 1 is mid 250s and average shelf score is 97th-98th percentile for reference)-Do you think that having UWorld finished before dedicated and having a 4-5 week dedicated of doing my UWorld incorrects plus Amboss/Divine would be good enough for 260s/270+? Whats the secret to breaking 270 (im assuming a little bit of luck and test taking strategy?)
 
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Originally scheduled ~ 6 weeks for a dedicated Step 2 study time but after reading these posts I'm wondering if that'd be overkill lol.
 
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iforget2 said:
Originally scheduled ~ 6 weeks for a dedicated Step 2 study time but after reading these posts I'm wondering if that'd be overkill lol.
Click to expand...
Thats what I was originally thinking, but yeah I feel like 6 weeks may be too long? I was going to shoot for 4-5 and people thought I was nuts lol. I think it really depends on the score you want and also how you have been doing on shelves/how you did on Step 1 in comparison to your goal score (ie if someone had a 220s step 1/scoring below avg on shelves and wanted a 260s Step 2 then yeah 6+ weeks may be needed) but this is just my speculation
 
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Deecee2DO said:
Thats what I was originally thinking, but yeah I feel like 6 weeks may be too long? I was going to shoot for 4-5 and people thought I was nuts lol. I think it really depends on the score you want and also how you have been doing on shelves/how you did on Step 1 in comparison to your goal score (ie if someone had a 220s step 1/scoring below avg on shelves and wanted a 260s Step 2 then yeah 6+ weeks may be needed) but this is just my speculation
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I’m only taking 2 weeks of pure dedicated but my last third year rotation is an elective with decent hours so it’ll be more like 6 weeks of board prep since I won’t have a shelf exam to study for. You probably don’t need more than 4 weeks of dedicated given your killer Step 1 score and your performance the shelf exams.
 
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Deecee2DO said:
Thats what I was originally thinking, but yeah I feel like 6 weeks may be too long? I was going to shoot for 4-5 and people thought I was nuts lol. I think it really depends on the score you want and also how you have been doing on shelves/how you did on Step 1 in comparison to your goal score (ie if someone had a 220s step 1/scoring below avg on shelves and wanted a 260s Step 2 then yeah 6+ weeks may be needed) but this is just my speculation
Click to expand...
6 sounds awful. I just don't think I have it in me again lol and I think step 2 is just different because you've been basically studying for it all year while studying for shelfs (which clearly has been working out well for you). I'm doing 3 weeks and will probably solely do UWorld and keep up with Anki during that time. Maybe listen to some Divine. My goal is just to at least hit my step 1 score (255+). Would also be curious to hear from @FindersFee5 on this.
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
6 sounds awful. I just don't think I have it in me again lol and I think step 2 is just different because you've been basically studying for it all year while studying for shelfs (which clearly has been working out well for you). I'm doing 3 weeks and will probably solely do UWorld and keep up with Anki during that time. Maybe listen to some Divine. My goal is just to at least hit my step 1 score (255+). Would also be curious to hear from @FindersFee5 on this.
Click to expand...
Yeah that sounds like a good plan! Step 2 is def different for the reasons you described. Yeah I really want to hear what findersfee has to say he/she literally got a 270+ which is absolutely bonkers
 
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Deecee2DO said:
Yeah that sounds like a good plan! Step 2 is def different for the reasons you described. Yeah I really want to hear what findersfee has to say he/she literally got a 270+ which is absolutely bonkers
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Absolutely insane. Yeah definitely would like to hear especially since I have room in my schedule to make my dedicated 4 or 5 weeks if necessary.
 
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@FindersFee5 well I just went back and found your step 2 guide, looks like what you did is basically my plan. 3 weeks, UWorld incorrects, UWSA1 and 2 and the free 120. Solid. I had thought about resetting UWorld but ibcorrects alone will probably be easier and a better use of my time than doing all nearly 4k questions again.
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
@FindersFee5 well I just went back and found your step 2 guide, looks like what you did is basically my plan. 3 weeks, UWorld incorrects, UWSA1 and 2 and the free 120. Solid. I had thought about resetting UWorld but ibcorrects alone will probably be easier and a better use of my time than doing all nearly 4k questions again.
Click to expand...
This is my plan as well. I should have plenty of incorrects to get me through dedicated lol.
 
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Deecee2DO said:
I remember you absolutely murdered Step 2 so I have a question for you..My goal is a 270+ since I am shooting for T25 IM as a DO but would still be happy with a 260+ (my Step 1 is mid 250s and average shelf score is 97th-98th percentile for reference)-Do you think that having UWorld finished before dedicated and having a 4-5 week dedicated of doing my UWorld incorrects plus Amboss/Divine would be good enough for 260s/270+? Whats the secret to breaking 270 (im assuming a little bit of luck and test taking strategy?)
Click to expand...
I think 4 - 5 week true dedicated might be overkill for you, 3 would probably be enough. Maybe 5 - 6 if you're trying to do it as the same time as something else (light clinical rotation, TAing, whatever). Amboss could be helpful, but I would recommend leaving some novel UWorld questions for your dedicated as these are the closest in style to step. I would worry about overthinking on the real thing if I was primarily seeing amboss questions in the leadup. I think I had about 400 - 500 unused UWorld Qs I still hadn't seen when I started dedicated, a few hundred that I hadn't done and a few hundred that had been added as I went through the year. Being consistently 90+ percentile on shelves is a really good sign.

I don't think there's a trick to guarantee a 270+ - it's a lot of luck of the draw for questions on that range. I'd say the biggest thing to stack the odds in your favor is mindset. You can't freak out when you get unexpected questions - you need to be able to think through things clearly without panicking under a pressure situation. Peaking at the right time (by continuing to do unique questions in the correct style) is another thing that will help.

fldoctorgirl said:
@FindersFee5 well I just went back and found your step 2 guide, looks like what you did is basically my plan. 3 weeks, UWorld incorrects, UWSA1 and 2 and the free 120. Solid. I had thought about resetting UWorld but ibcorrects alone will probably be easier and a better use of my time than doing all nearly 4k questions again.
Click to expand...
Yeah, incorrects is probably the right move. Make sure you're seeing more unique questions than just the UWSAs though. See above for why I think that's important.

maieutic said:
Not yet, I still have to start.

For the divine intervention podcasts, IMGs typically recommend a few as mandatory (the ones with risk factors, some military stuff, and a couple of others). I downloaded the pdf, and noticed each of these podcasts is covered in 1-1.5 pages. Is the pdf as good as the podcasts (ie, accurately transcribed), or do they leave out a lot of info? Otherwise, like you suggested, I can go through relevant podcasts depending on what my weak areas are. How good are they, btw? Does he add extra info, or is he just very good at explaining overall ideas and stressing salient points to watch out for?
Click to expand...
I thought they were a decent thing to listen to while doing something else, like going for a run or driving somewhere. I glanced through the pdfs as well, they seem to contain mostly the same information, though I did find some mistakes in the PDF. Stuff didn't stick as well from the PDFs as it did from listening to him.
 
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FindersFee5 said:
I think 4 - 5 week true dedicated might be overkill for you, 3 would probably be enough. Maybe 5 - 6 if you're trying to do it as the same time as something else (light clinical rotation, TAing, whatever). Amboss could be helpful, but I would recommend leaving some novel UWorld questions for your dedicated as these are the closest in style to step. I would worry about overthinking on the real thing if I was primarily seeing amboss questions in the leadup. I think I had about 400 - 500 unused UWorld Qs I still hadn't seen when I started dedicated, a few hundred that I hadn't done and a few hundred that had been added as I went through the year. Being consistently 90+ percentile on shelves is a really good sign.

I don't think there's a trick to guarantee a 270+ - it's a lot of luck of the draw for questions on that range. I'd say the biggest thing to stack the odds in your favor is mindset. You can't freak out when you get unexpected questions - you need to be able to think through things clearly without panicking under a pressure situation. Peaking at the right time (by continuing to do unique questions in the correct style) is another thing that will help.


Yeah, incorrects is probably the right move. Make sure you're seeing more unique questions than just the UWSAs though. See above for why I think that's important.


I thought they were a decent thing to listen to while doing something else, like going for a run or driving somewhere. I glanced through the pdfs as well, they seem to contain mostly the same information, though I did find some mistakes in the PDF. Stuff didn't stick as well from the PDFs as it did from listening to him.
Click to expand...
Amazing advice thank you!!
 
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