USMLE Step 2ck, anyone passed after feeling good post-exam?

[valid username]

Preface: I generally do NOT feel good leaving exams. I did not do very well in basic sciences or on step 1. I left many exams feeling I had failed. I usually performed at around 30th percentile.

Things changed post-step 1. Although I had two tests that felt awful, most were okay feeling. My lowest shelf was my first, and I have improved since then. My shelf scores ranged from a low of 70 on the first, to 90 on my highest. Granted, those are low by most SDN standards but they were decent for me.

I passed my CCSE (comp) on my first attempt with a 235 converted score. I thought maybe it was just luck so I took it a second time and did a bit better. Then I studied for another month.

Two weeks ago I took Step 2 fully expecting that dreaded "i failed" doom feeling. Oddly, I found the exam to be doable. I was not exhausted at the end. Sure, there were plenty of things I was 50/50 abour, and several wt¿ questions. But overall, it wasn't so bad. I found it to be the most logical test I have encountered since beginning med school.

So now I am completely confused. My peers are not having the same experience and I hear residents and attendings reassuring them that it's a good sign to feel you failed. They claim that feeling good about an exam is a sure sign of failing. Every time I hear this factoid I become more worried. Surely someone has felt okay about this test and still managed to pass.

Please respond if you felt good post exam. Did you fail or did you pass?

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[Jabbed]

Preface: I generally do NOT feel good leaving exams. I did not do very well in basic sciences or on step 1. I left many exams feeling I had failed. I usually performed at around 30th percentile.

Things changed post-step 1. Although I had two tests that felt awful, most were okay feeling. My lowest shelf was my first, and I have improved since then. My shelf scores ranged from a low of 70 on the first, to 90 on my highest. Granted, those are low by most SDN standards but they were decent for me.

I passed my CCSE (comp) on my first attempt with a 235 converted score. I thought maybe it was just luck so I took it a second time and did a bit better. Then I studied for another month.

Two weeks ago I took Step 2 fully expecting that dreaded "i failed" doom feeling. Oddly, I found the exam to be doable. I was not exhausted at the end. Sure, there were plenty of things I was 50/50 abour, and several wt¿ questions. But overall, it wasn't so bad. I found it to be the most logical test I have encountered since beginning med school.

So now I am completely confused. My peers are not having the same experience and I hear residents and attendings reassuring them that it's a good sign to feel you failed. They claim that feeling good about an exam is a sure sign of failing. Every time I hear this factoid I become more worried. Surely someone has felt okay about this test and still managed to pass.

Please respond if you felt good post exam. Did you fail or did you pass?

Felt good immediately after both Step 1 and 2, did great on both. I did have days/weeks of self-doubt between test day and result day though, which I felt was somewhat unavoidable.

It's really all a matter of how confident you felt with your preparation. If you scored 5th percentile on all your shelves and spent 1 week bum rushing UW but felt good after Step 2-- you probably failed. If you're scoring 70s-90s on your shelves and spent adequate time reviewing UW and felt like you did well-- you probably did.

 

[Anicetus]

I posted in the experiences. First block felt easy, went to the bathroom for 15 mins after that block having a grand ol time.

Blocks 2-8: all hell broke loose. Felt like I knew only 30% of the material and the rest was just a bunch of educated guessing and a line of glaring red flags on the left side of my peripheral vision for 8 hours straight. It literally became a word game by the end of it where I was just desperately piecing together crap to make up a reason for an answer to a vague as **** question stem. Walked out feeling like I just killed 200 patients.

Score: 255

 

[doctakay]

Hahahha I love you

I posted in the experiences. First block felt easy, went to the bathroom for 15 mins after that block having a grand ol time.

Blocks 2-8: all hell broke loose. Felt like I knew only 30% of the material and the rest was just a bunch of educated guessing and a line of glaring red flags on the left side of my peripheral vision for 8 hours straight. It literally became a word game by the end of it where I was just desperately piecing together crap to make up a reason for an answer to a vague as **** question stem. Walked out feeling like I just killed 200 patients.

Score: 255

 

[USMLE_Pro]

Feeling good is not a sign of failing--plenty of my students have felt great, and done great. Everyone has a different style. I often feel bad after exams, and as I expected, felt awful (like I had failed), but scored a 281.