Step 2 Meta?

[bGMx]

Hi all; I was wondering what new approaches to step 2 are emerging for the class of 2024 since we had the first p/f step 1. From what I read, previous consensus seems to be: sooner rather than later, and only spend 2-3 weeks of dedicated before diminishing returns. Thoughts?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson]

I mean, there is no meta because there hasn't been an entire class of P/F folks who have taken Step 2 yet.

You're going to get a spattering of opinions, and I'll add my own - take it when you're ready. Given all your shelf exams during the year leading up to it you shouldn't need to study as long or hard as you would have for Step 1 but I'm certain more folks are going to put more time into than years previously.

I agree with you, there is diminishing returns, but I wouldn't say you'd hit it at 2 weeks.

 

[deleted1079620]

My school sent out an email with a graph based on average shelf score, length of dedicated & predicted score range. Maybe your school has something similar?

 

[PathNeuroIMorFM]

My school sent out an email with a graph based on average shelf score, length of dedicated & predicted score range. Maybe your school has something similar?

Can I see a copy of this? Or at least a summary?

Our school has nothing remotely like that, whatsoever. Very curious how the average shelf scores tie into it.

 

[Billiam95]

Including a week off at the end of 3rd year, I'll have 5 available to study. Thinking of scheduling at the 4 week mark as a compromise between 3 weeks (seems too short) and 5 weeks. Suppose I won't figure out my 'peak' until in dedicated but figure I could always work in half days or days off if it ends up being too much time.

 

[Billiam95]

Still figuring out how to approach uworld during dedicated, if anyone has any ideas. Wondering if I should reset uWorld during my last rotation to get a jump start on the questions from prior rotations, as 4k questions in 4 weeks doesn't sound feasible.

 

[AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson]

Still figuring out how to approach uworld during dedicated, if anyone has any ideas. Wondering if I should reset uWorld during my last rotation to get a jump start on the questions from prior rotations, as 4k questions in 4 weeks doesn't sound feasible.

If you reset, don't stress about finishing every UWorld question there is for Step 2.

Personally, I'd focus on doing all the NBMEs/UWSA FL exams scattered through your dedicated, supplemented with your UWorld reset. I imagine I wont get through even 50% of my reset.

1. Finish any UWorld I haven't finished
2. Do an NBME
3. UWorld questions between the days I do the other full-lengths
4. Sit for exam

 

[deleted1079620]

Can I see a copy of this? Or at least a summary?

Our school has nothing remotely like that, whatsoever. Very curious how the average shelf scores tie into it.

I’m at a DO school so I’m not sure how helpful it will be because it’s COMLEX & COMAT. But I'll try to generalize it:

If a student was averaging below the 50th percentile on shelf exams, that they would need a longer dedicated period to achieve an above 50th percentile score on COMLEX level 2. The longest dedicated period studied was 60-90 days (the max you can get at our school without taking an LOA), & the percentile increase during that time was only 1-2 percentile points. Students hovering right at a passing score on average for COMATs were encouraged to take a dedicated period of 30-60 days. Percentile scores on shelf exams correlated to percentiles on the boards scores with a deviation of about 5 percentile points with a 30-60 day dedicated period, & were higher with a 60-90 day period. Students who started with an average shelf score in the 50th percentile or above were able to achieve higher scores with a shorter dedicated period. This was also the group with the most variation though, because there's a huge score gap between the 50th & 75th percentiles.

This is common sense though...if you're doing well on the shelf exams, you're going to have a higher boards score, and if you're struggling on the shelf exams you might need to think about a longer dedicated time in order to achieve the score you want.

 

[Med Ed]

Hi all; I was wondering what new approaches to step 2 are emerging for the class of 2024 since we had the first p/f step 1. From what I read, previous consensus seems to be: sooner rather than later, and only spend 2-3 weeks of dedicated before diminishing returns. Thoughts?

The absolute best strategy is to refresh all the core topics periodically throughout third year. This is going to end up being one of the advantages of longitudinal clerkship models.

To the point @Dame_Maggie made, there is a corollary to Step 1 prep here. If you struggled on the shelf exams then you're probably ending the year with knowledge gaps. The best strategy is to shore up those gaps before really hitting a hard dedicated period. This describes a minority of students.

Conversely, if you've done okay on the shelf exams, then your gaps are probably modest, and you're better off just doing an intense review and taking Step 2 early. This describes a sizable majority of students.

 

[PathNeuroIMorFM]

This is common sense though...if you're doing well on the shelf exams, you're going to have a higher boards score, and if you're struggling on the shelf exams you might need to think about a longer dedicated time in order to achieve the score you want.

Yeah, this is why I was curious about your schools scores.

There's an old post on Reddit that made it seem like the correlation was pretty poor, with an r^2 around 0.135 for average shelf percent versus average Step 2, especially since shelves tend to be scaled or curved differently at different schools.

 

[Captain_Falcon]

There’s a score calculator online for step 2 that factors in the shelves, UW and old (no longer available) NBMEs. If you exclude the NBMEs it was still a decent indicator of how well you’d do (albeit i scored about 10 points higher than the predicted based on shelves only, the UW practice ones included in the projection made the predicted score closer)

 

[MDMechEngr]

There’s a score calculator online for step 2 that factors in the shelves, UW and old (no longer available) NBMEs. If you exclude the NBMEs it was still a decent indicator of how well you’d do (albeit i scored about 10 points higher than the predicted based on shelves only, the UW practice ones included in the projection made the predicted score closer)

Are the NBMEs better predictor for S2 in your experience?

 

[Captain_Falcon]

Are the NBMEs better predictor for S2 in your experience?

No my practice scores on those were all lower than my actual score. I say this as a high scorer though, maybe they lose predictive ability the higher the score goes. For example I scored upper 260s on Step 2 but my highest NBME I think was 256, lowest was 246

 

[AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson]

There’s a score calculator online for step 2 that factors in the shelves, UW and old (no longer available) NBMEs. If you exclude the NBMEs it was still a decent indicator of how well you’d do (albeit i scored about 10 points higher than the predicted based on shelves only, the UW practice ones included in the projection made the predicted score closer)

Did you happen to use this calculator for shelf scores before dedicated, and was it accurate to your actual?

 

[MDMechEngr]

No my practice scores on those were all lower than my actual score. I say this as a high scorer though, maybe they lose predictive ability the higher the score goes. For example I scored upper 260s on Step 2 but my highest NBME I think was 256, lowest was 246

Thank you so much for this. I hope my outcome is similar to your's with NBMEs. I have been hiting 260s on NBMEs.

 

[Captain_Falcon]

Did you happen to use this calculator for shelf scores before dedicated, and was it accurate to your actual?

The calculator takes into account your actual shelf scores, it doesn’t predict the shelf score. Just for clarification. I did use the calculator for step 2, updating it each time I got a shelf score back, and yeah it was pretty darn accurate, within 5 points

 

[AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson]

The calculator takes into account your actual shelf scores, it doesn’t predict the shelf score. Just for clarification. I did use the calculator for step 2, updating it each time I got a shelf score back, and yeah it was pretty darn accurate, within 5 points

Haha sorry that is what I meant. Was more curious if it predicted your Step 2 score assuming a dedicated period or if that's what your Step 2 would be right after finishing your shelf exams.

I really like my predicted score using the excel but tbh I sorta just crammed each shelf so was curious how much I could push it further with a dedicated period.

 

[Captain_Falcon]

Haha sorry that is what I meant. Was more curious if it predicted your Step 2 score assuming a dedicated period or if that's what your Step 2 would be right after finishing your shelf exams.

I really like my predicted score using the excel but tbh I sorta just crammed each shelf so was curious how much I could push it further with a dedicated period.

I kept up with Anki throughout m3, made my own cards for wrong questions over that time, and took 3 weeks of dedicated after rotations ended