took step 2 yesterday, my experiences

[SuFiBB]

Just took step 2 yesterday and boy am I pi$$ed. I was hard as heck. I did first aid (read re-read that several times), crush step 2, all of kaplan q bank (not the lecture notes), 2 tests (360 q) on the nms book, 1400+ questions of the usmle world q bank and I don't think that was sufficient preparation. I scored 67-68% on kaplan qbank at the end, 60% on the nms, and 52% on the usmle world qbank all near the end my of study period. i also got 410 on the nmbe cssa 2.5 weeks before the test and 450 1.5 weeks before the test. here is the breakdown of the real deal:
10-15% peds, 10-15% ob-gyn, 5% surgery, 5% biostats/epidemiology, 10% psyche, the rest 55% medicine. cardiology was a huge part (about 20% of the 55%) of medicine and it was hard. if I had to do it all over again I would not have done more questions but I would have either gotten blue prints or kaplan notes because they are more comprehensive and I could have usedt he extra detail on the exam. I don't mean to dissappoint anyone by stating that the difficulty of my real exam was more difficult that any of the simulated stuff that I took. I start my residency in june and I hope to take this thing again and pass it by then. I just like to warn that I am sure that my experience is not typical and I am sure some of you will find the exam easier.
FYI I scored 205 on step 1 (i know not that hot) I got 65% on kaplan qbank at the end, and 410 and 450 on the nbme tests also (weird how were the same with step 2). i studied much harder for step 2 and I found step 2 to be much harder than step 1 but I pray to god that my test was just harder than the others and that they curve it somehow.

please post questions about the test or test preparation as I am very happy to answer them forthright and I will not let my fustration over yesterday's experience taint my response. please dont ask me to post actual questions because I think that is illegal, i think.

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[lowbudget]

Dude, I'm sure you did better than you think. It's always like that. At least you got it out of the way and can go out and party.

 

[PTCA]

i have heard of many people as Frustrated as you are ending up with decent ?great scores!Good luck

 

[SuFiBB]

thanks for all of your support, I will post my scores as soon as a I get them

 

[SuFiBB]

Originally posted by PTCA
i have heard of many people as Frustrated as you are ending up with decent ?great scores!Good luck

Dude, I'm sure you did better than you think. It's always like that. At least you got it out of the way and can go out and party.

man you guys are right because I just got back my scores and I PASSED. i can't believe it. i scored a 211/86. I was so sure that i failed that immediately after the test I started preparing for a re-take of step 2. man I cannot believe it. so for people preparing for step 2 or step 1 please post some questions about how to best prepare for the test and I will answer to the best of my ability. for those of you in real trouble feel free to send me a private message. however for those derm people aiming for a 240, I probably can't help you. but for those of you who want to pass comfortably, contact me for some advice. and if any of you failed the thing and need to retake it, contact me and I can work with you on trying to pass the re-attempt. good luck and feel free to post some questions about how to prepare for the test.
good luck and man I can't believe it.

 

[NewGuyBob]

Hey SuFiBB:
Congratulations! I want to ask ayou about usmleworld's Qbank, did u use it as an assessment or did you actually studied the answers? Do you think it was good prep?
I have the exam in 3 weeks and I based my studies in usmleworld (I had such a good experience with their CSA prep that I deicded to give it a shot). Thanks!

 

[SuFiBB]

Originally posted by NewGuyBob
Hey SuFiBB:
Congratulations! I want to ask ayou about usmleworld's Qbank, did u use it as an assessment or did you actually studied the answers? Do you think it was good prep?
I have the exam in 3 weeks and I based my studies in usmleworld (I had such a good experience with their CSA prep that I deicded to give it a shot). Thanks!

hey thanks a lot
I used it to study the answers and I only used the nbme self-assessment tests for the assessments. I don't think you can get an accurate idea of how well you would perform on the real thing by way of the nms, kaplan, or usmleworld but I think they are great for improving your knowledge base. so i think that the nbme practice tests and only those can be used to accurately lguage what you would get on the real thing because those things are very accurate for both steps 1 & 2. i hope that helps and good luck

 

[blahblahblah]

Congrats on the pass SuFiBB!!
I appreciate your honesty and willingness to help others. Here's the deal. I have a very middle of the road score on Step 1. I wanna improve upon it, but am a) confused as to how long I should study for it and b)when to take it during 4th year.
Here are my options:
1) take it at the end of july and study right after 3rd year for 4 weeks,
2) take it at the end of October or early Nov and study for 5 weeks after electives are done
3) wait till after interviews are done - but I don't know if I should really just try to improve my score and take it earlier
CONFUSION!!!
Plus, I'm wondering how you scheduled your study time.
Thanks for reading!!

 

[SuFiBB]

Congrats on the pass SuFiBB!!
I appreciate your honesty and willingness to help others. Here's the deal. I have a very middle of the road score on Step 1. I wanna improve upon it, but am a) confused as to how long I should study for it and b)when to take it during 4th year.
Here are my options:
1) take it at the end of july and study right after 3rd year for 4 weeks,
2) take it at the end of October or early Nov and study for 5 weeks after electives are done
3) wait till after interviews are done - but I don't know if I should really just try to improve my score and take it earlier
CONFUSION!!!
Plus, I'm wondering how you scheduled your study time.
Thanks for reading!!

hey how are you
I used crush step 2 and first aid as well as the usmleworld and kaplan q bank questions. those of good enough to pass comfortably and approach the mean. if you want to get like a 230, I think you need to do more like read the blueprint series (for medicine, ob-gyn, peds, psych, not for surgery though) or the kaplan lecture series notes (about 1100 combined). it took me 5 weeks to do what I did so I think studying for july and taking it in august may afford you the sufficient time to get low 200's. otherwise if you want a 230+ then you may need 8 weeks.

now here's the catch, several programs and I spoke with that did not send me an interview invite noted my not taking step 2 as part of the application. these were community program and I think larger university programs don't care. Still there may be a few programs that may not want to interview you that would do so if you were to have done well on step 2 and have those score in on time when they make the decisions on who to invite for interviews. Taking the test in late october/early november means that your scores won't be in until december. the thing with that is that most interviews are at the end of november to january so you would be cutting it close if you would want a good step 2 score to open some interview doors. the one benefit of taking it at this time is that taking the test after your application allows you to not report your scores to your programs if you feel that that would drag down your chance of acceptance.

so in summary, if you can not get the score you want by august then consider studying more and taking the test in october/november. getting your scores in in december should enable more interview invites.
I hope that helps, please post for more questions.