USMLE - Official 2015 Step 2 CK Experiences and Scores Thread

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WBecks0

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With 2015 right around the corner I think it's a good time to begin a Step 2 CK experiences and scores thread for 2015. Let's keep the all experiences and scores in this thread.

Good luck to everyone taking the exam in 2015!

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Just got my score....first, some background.

I scored in the mid-240s on step 1. During third year, I was usually in the mid-80s on the shelf exams with a few in the low 90s.

I started doing questions about two months before the test. However, it wasn't until about three weeks before my test that I started doing more than 20 questions or so per day. My prep consisted of UWorld, UWorld, and UWorld. Oh, and one NBME (I didn't want to take any more because I scored well and didn't want to freak myself out by scoring lower). On UWorld, I was consistently scoring high-70s and low-80s on full blocks in tutor mode. I took notes on all of the questions, regardless of whether or not I got them incorrect. I took NBME 6 about two weeks before the test and scored 265.

On test day, I had mixed feelings. Some of it seemed very easy (almost too good to be true) while other blocks made me think that I had mistakenly been given the wrong test. I left the center feeling completely drained, and somewhat sad. I also worried that my skimpy prep of UWorld and one NBME was not nearly enough, as a lot of people on SDN rattle off a ton of "MUST READ/TAKE" prep materials.

Step 2 CK score: 261

While it is lower than my practice test, which I had taken two weeks before the exam, I am still very happy.

My advice: trust yourself. Stay calm. Whether you realize it or not, you have learned everything that is being tested within the last twelve or so months.

Hope this helps at least one person. Good luck to all who are waiting on their scores/haven't taken the test yet.
Which NBME/what score did it predict?
 
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Took it June 9th. Look at the previous post and msg me if you have any questions. UWSA was on par with my score -2pts. Others that I have talked to were almost the same with there UWSA.
 
I am trying to avoid studying so I figured since I am taking this beast on the 31st, I would start a post, and then just come back and update it since I am pretty sure I'll just feel like crying afterwards:
Prep time: 4 weeks

UWorld first pass (did not do it during third year, which was stupid as I realized later): 74% correct
NBME 4 (4 weeks left): 229
UWSA (2 weeks left): 253
NBME 6 (1 week left): 260
NBME 7 (2 days left): 246

What I used to prep: I had made a lot of study guides during third year, so I incorporated all of them into my studying.
- IM (shelf: 92th percentile): SUTM notes from third year, UWorld annotated separately
- Peds (shelf: 87th percentile):: Pretest notes + Uworld
- Surgery (shelf: 92th percentile):: Pestana + UWorld + Pretest
- OBGYN (shelf: 81st percentile):: Blueprints notes + Uwise
- Neuro (shelf: 91st percentile):: Blueprints notes + Pretest
- FM(shelf: 50th percentile):: FM shelf prep notes since there was no good resource
- Psych (shelf: 84th percentile): First Aid + Lange Q&A notes
- I tried using Step 2 Secrets, and even though I liked the format, I just didn't think it was comprehensive enough
- I didn't like MTB 2 since it felt too barebones
- I also went through First Aid Step 1 for all the syndromes

Will come back and post later how the exam went :D

Good luck to everyone taking it!
 
I just scored a 236 on the UWSA (75,70,75,68). Exam is tomorrow. Wish me luck.

ULTRON
 
Step 1: 232
Step 2 CK: 263

I plan to apply in EM. Anyone have any insight on how such a jump in score might be viewed during interviews? That is, could this actually be viewed negatively by residency programs? I at least expect residency programs will want to hear my thoughts and/or explanation. The only thing I can think of right now is I just did a lot more Q bank for Step 2. I'd also appreciate input on more eloquent ways of saying that.
 
Step 1: 232
Step 2 CK: 263

I plan to apply in EM. Anyone have any insight on how such a jump in score might be viewed during interviews? That is, could this actually be viewed negatively by residency programs?

You scored above average on both exams....
Think you'll be alright
 
Step 1: 232
Step 2 CK: 263

I plan to apply in EM. Anyone have any insight on how such a jump in score might be viewed during interviews? That is, could this actually be viewed negatively by residency programs? I at least expect residency programs will want to hear my thoughts and/or explanation. The only thing I can think of right now is I just did a lot more Q bank for Step 2. I'd also appreciate input on more eloquent ways of saying that.
Never heard doing better on an exam as a weak point. You are fine.
 
All the best! Have you done any nbmes? let us know your experience. Also, believe in yourself and the prep :)

Thanks! I moved my exam to August 20th; I need a 250+. I'll post my experience here. I took NBME 7 back in April when I just began studying and scored 210. I went to a crappy Caribbean medical school so need to work extra hard.

ULTRON
 
is it worth it to do all CMS exams? I've done 1 form for each topic, but my exam is in 3 weeks and I'm not sure if it'll be beneficial. or maybe select ones like IM/OBGYN? Thanks!
 
Hi.
I did NBME 4 on Monday with 1000 questions in UW to finish and UW is at 70%. I got 221 on NBME 4. I did not review psychiatry thinking I was ok before the nbme and the results came back that it was my worst performing. So I did the psyche questions in UW and got 91%, 86%. I definitely missed some imp concepts on the test.

I am going through incorrect questions on NBME and I cannot get a hold of corrected questions. Anybody has these?
 
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Took it this week. I don't really have much to add aside from echoing what others have said. Felt it was well-balanced, there wasn't any particular area I walked away saying, "Man, I wish I had studied topic x a lot more!" Definitely true about the ambiguity. I was truly confident in my answer only ~60% of the time. 30% I was between 2 answers, maybe with a slightly greater confidence in the one I ended up choosing. 10% I had no clue. They are really good at asking questions about random things that you can't possibly prepare for. The most frustrating part of the ambiguity is feeling like I truly have no idea how I did on instinct alone. I can only trust my practice exams.

Questions stems were a bit longer, but it wasn't unreasonable. You need to be good at skimming and pulling out the essential information - there's a LOT of filler info. I finished sections with about the same time left over as I had on the NBMEs/UWSA. I took small breaks and had a quick snack after every block and this helped me stay fresh. I was not as exhausted by the end as I was for step 1. It was a very traditional step 2: no drug ads, 4 or 5 two-part questions where you locked your first answer, 3-4 heart sounds, a good amount of pictures, one abstract with 42 questions, 44 questions in all other blocks (including the last one). Maybe I'll post more about my prep once I get my score.

Getting 7.5 full hours of sleep the night before made a big difference, as did taking it pretty easy in the 2-3 days leading up to the exam.
 
Took it this week. I don't really have much to add aside from echoing what others have said. Felt it was well-balanced, there wasn't any particular area I walked away saying, "Man, I wish I had studied topic x a lot more!" Definitely true about the ambiguity. I was truly confident in my answer only ~60% of the time. 30% I was between 2 answers, maybe with a slightly greater confidence in the one I ended up choosing. 10% I had no clue. They are really good at asking questions about random things that you can't possibly prepare for. The most frustrating part of the ambiguity is feeling like I truly have no idea how I did on instinct alone. I can only trust my practice exams.

Questions stems were a bit longer, but it wasn't unreasonable. You need to be good at skimming and pulling out the essential information - there's a LOT of filler info. I finished sections with about the same time left over as I had on the NBMEs/UWSA. I took small breaks and had a quick snack after every block and this helped me stay fresh. I was not as exhausted by the end as I was for step 1. It was a very traditional step 2: no drug ads, 4 or 5 two-part questions where you locked your first answer, 3-4 heart sounds, a good amount of pictures, one abstract with 42 questions, 44 questions in all other blocks (including the last one). Maybe I'll post more about my prep once I get my score.

Getting 7.5 full hours of sleep the night before made a big difference, as did taking it pretty easy in the 2-3 days leading up to the exam.

Sounds you did very well on exam. Could you share your NBMEs and UWSA scores?
 
Officially freaking out. I seriously should've done the Free150. Dammit, too late now. Wish me luck for tomorrow! Will come back with war tales soon.
 
Hey guys, took the exam today.
Walked out feeling stunned/ wtf just happened.
Pros: the vignettes werent as long as people made it seem, it was on par with uworld
-time wasnt an issue, had around 10min/ block to look over
-the gimmies were super easy
Cons: everything else
-random questions on RF for diseases were 2 answer choices are equal....f*cking splitting hairs ffs!
-always 2nd line treatment, never first line
-treatment where you had to know uptodate.....but you would have never read about that certain topic in that great detail
-some really poorly worded questions
-ethics....dont even get me started
-biostats....again, first aid step 1 wasnt enough, got asked random crap from lord knows where [fyi NBME I have no plans to do research, if I know the basics, i.e. how to read a research study, I think that should be good enough]
-heart sounds werent bad at all [although changed one correct to incorrect....fml]
-they pulled scenarios out of nowhere, gave you multisystemic problems then asked an offshoot question on one of the problems that really had no merit
-I screwed up on some easy ones which really sucks...kicking myself honestly, I can think of 10
-I had to guess on quite a few bc I have never seen it before/ wasnt in anything I was reading/uworld....seriously....left field!
Anyway, probably failed the damn thing, I think I missed too many easy ones and guessed too often [then again idk WHO the heck knows what they were asking].
NBMEs were in the 250s, UWSA 252.....kind of embarrassing I probably failed the damn thing :(
 
Hey guys, took the exam today.
Walked out feeling stunned/ wtf just happened.
Pros: the vignettes werent as long as people made it seem, it was on par with uworld
-time wasnt an issue, had around 10min/ block to look over
-the gimmies were super easy
Cons: everything else
-random questions on RF for diseases were 2 answer choices are equal....f*cking splitting hairs ffs!
-always 2nd line treatment, never first line
-treatment where you had to know uptodate.....but you would have never read about that certain topic in that great detail
-some really poorly worded questions
-ethics....dont even get me started
-biostats....again, first aid step 1 wasnt enough, got asked random crap from lord knows where [fyi NBME I have no plans to do research, if I know the basics, i.e. how to read a research study, I think that should be good enough]
-heart sounds werent bad at all [although changed one correct to incorrect....fml]
-they pulled scenarios out of nowhere, gave you multisystemic problems then asked an offshoot question on one of the problems that really had no merit
-I screwed up on some easy ones which really sucks...kicking myself honestly, I can think of 10
-I had to guess on quite a few bc I have never seen it before/ wasnt in anything I was reading/uworld....seriously....left field!
Anyway, probably failed the damn thing, I think I missed too many easy ones and guessed too often [then again idk WHO the heck knows what they were asking].
NBMEs were in the 250s, UWSA 252.....kind of embarrassing I probably failed the damn thing :(

I totally understand the stress. I felt the same way. Before receiving my score, I actually went as far as to look up info on different specialties because I was convinced I had blown my chances for matching into something competitive. However, don't fret. As I am sure people have told you, everyone walks out of that test feeling dazed and confused. You just have to trust yourself, trust your preparation, and pat yourself on the back for completing a truly monumental task.
 
Hey guys, took the exam today.
Walked out feeling stunned/ wtf just happened.
Pros: the vignettes werent as long as people made it seem, it was on par with uworld
-time wasnt an issue, had around 10min/ block to look over
-the gimmies were super easy
Cons: everything else
-random questions on RF for diseases were 2 answer choices are equal....f*cking splitting hairs ffs!
-always 2nd line treatment, never first line
-treatment where you had to know uptodate.....but you would have never read about that certain topic in that great detail
-some really poorly worded questions
-ethics....dont even get me started
-biostats....again, first aid step 1 wasnt enough, got asked random crap from lord knows where [fyi NBME I have no plans to do research, if I know the basics, i.e. how to read a research study, I think that should be good enough]
-heart sounds werent bad at all [although changed one correct to incorrect....fml]
-they pulled scenarios out of nowhere, gave you multisystemic problems then asked an offshoot question on one of the problems that really had no merit
-I screwed up on some easy ones which really sucks...kicking myself honestly, I can think of 10
-I had to guess on quite a few bc I have never seen it before/ wasnt in anything I was reading/uworld....seriously....left field!
Anyway, probably failed the damn thing, I think I missed too many easy ones and guessed too often [then again idk WHO the heck knows what they were asking].
NBMEs were in the 250s, UWSA 252.....kind of embarrassing I probably failed the damn thing :(

ahhhhhhh!!!! panic attack..
 
guys, I'm still in shock from yesterday's step 2. Wtf was that. I felt majority of questions unsure about and definitely ran out of time on each section. That was terrible. I went through Uworld 1.5 times, took notes, reviewed those notes, all NBMEs and did decent on those, UWSA score was good...but why do I seriously think I failed this exam? Is this a normal way to feel? Is it too late to quit med school and live on an island eating coconuts all day? I still felt NBMEs were easier and shorter stemmed than the real deal. Ahhh wtf.
 
guys, I'm still in shock from yesterday's step 2. Wtf was that. I felt majority of questions unsure about and definitely ran out of time on each section. That was terrible. I went through Uworld 1.5 times, took notes, reviewed those notes, all NBMEs and did decent on those, UWSA score was good...but why do I seriously think I failed this exam? Is this a normal way to feel? Is it too late to quit med school and live on an island eating coconuts all day? I still felt NBMEs were easier and shorter stemmed than the real deal. Ahhh wtf.
Don't worry, I think a lot of people feel that way after the test. What were your predicted scores from UWSA and NBMEs?
 
Hey guys, took the exam today.
Walked out feeling stunned/ wtf just happened.
Pros: the vignettes werent as long as people made it seem, it was on par with uworld
-time wasnt an issue, had around 10min/ block to look over
-the gimmies were super easy
Cons: everything else
-random questions on RF for diseases were 2 answer choices are equal....f*cking splitting hairs ffs!
-always 2nd line treatment, never first line
-treatment where you had to know uptodate.....but you would have never read about that certain topic in that great detail
-some really poorly worded questions
-ethics....dont even get me started
-biostats....again, first aid step 1 wasnt enough, got asked random crap from lord knows where [fyi NBME I have no plans to do research, if I know the basics, i.e. how to read a research study, I think that should be good enough]
-heart sounds werent bad at all [although changed one correct to incorrect....fml]
-they pulled scenarios out of nowhere, gave you multisystemic problems then asked an offshoot question on one of the problems that really had no merit
-I screwed up on some easy ones which really sucks...kicking myself honestly, I can think of 10
-I had to guess on quite a few bc I have never seen it before/ wasnt in anything I was reading/uworld....seriously....left field!
Anyway, probably failed the damn thing, I think I missed too many easy ones and guessed too often [then again idk WHO the heck knows what they were asking].
NBMEs were in the 250s, UWSA 252.....kind of embarrassing I probably failed the damn thing :(

Took it yesterday too. Felt the exact same way you felt walking out of the exam. Some of those questions I never would have gotten unless I hadn't read UpToDate. The second line treatment for dumb things like essential hypertension, and no-name diseases I hadn't ever heard of but had to be the answer because by exclusion everything else was wrong.....it definitely felt like "WTF"? That last section felt more like the COMLEX from what I've heard with vignettes providing incomplete amounts of information in order to answer a question. I felt that you really had to know your diagnoses in order to get those questions! I've already come up with 5-6 questions that I know I got wrong.

At this point, I'm wondering if I came within 10 points of my NBMEs and UWSA (250's - 260's).
 
guys, I'm still in shock from yesterday's step 2. Wtf was that. I felt majority of questions unsure about and definitely ran out of time on each section. That was terrible. I went through Uworld 1.5 times, took notes, reviewed those notes, all NBMEs and did decent on those, UWSA score was good...but why do I seriously think I failed this exam? Is this a normal way to feel? Is it too late to quit med school and live on an island eating coconuts all day? I still felt NBMEs were easier and shorter stemmed than the real deal. Ahhh wtf.

This is exactly how I felt last week too and still thinking about it. Trying to trust what everyone has been saying and my practice scores but its REALLY unsettling.
 
Feel like I must have taken a different exam than the one being described above. After reading through this thread, I was expecting it to be pretty impossible. Thought mine was pretty fair overall. Sure, there were a handful of head scratchers and random questions each block, but for the most part, the majority of the questions were surprisingly straight forward and very much resembled something between NBME 6 and 7. Was also expecting the stems to resemble Great Expectations but instead they were comparable to Worldand the shelf exams. No drug ads, only one section of 42 that had an abstract, no long list answer choices that applied to 2 sequential questions (and now that I think about it, don't really recall many questions having more than the standard 5 answer choices), a handful of locked questions and heart sounds. Was concerned about time going into but routinely had 10-15 minutes to review marked answer choices. I realize that I must have had a pretty benign form, and I am sure the curve will be pretty stiff so it all evens out. Not nearly as defeated as I felt after Step 1, and feel confident that I will fall somewhere around my NBMEs (267-275).
 
I am trying to avoid studying so I figured since I am taking this beast on the 31st, I would start a post, and then just come back and update it since I am pretty sure I'll just feel like crying afterwards:
Prep time: 4 weeks

UWorld first pass (did not do it during third year, which was stupid as I realized later): 74% correct
NBME 4 (4 weeks left): 229
UWSA (2 weeks left): 253
NBME 6 (1 week left): 260
NBME 7 (2 days left): 246

What I used to prep: I had made a lot of study guides during third year, so I incorporated all of them into my studying.
- IM (shelf: 92th percentile): SUTM notes from third year, UWorld annotated separately
- Peds (shelf: 87th percentile):: Pretest notes + Uworld
- Surgery (shelf: 92th percentile):: Pestana + UWorld + Pretest
- OBGYN (shelf: 81st percentile):: Blueprints notes + Uwise
- Neuro (shelf: 91st percentile):: Blueprints notes + Pretest
- FM(shelf: 50th percentile):: FM shelf prep notes since there was no good resource
- Psych (shelf: 84th percentile): First Aid + Lange Q&A notes
- I tried using Step 2 Secrets, and even though I liked the format, I just didn't think it was comprehensive enough
- I didn't like MTB 2 since it felt too barebones
- I also went through First Aid Step 1 for all the syndromes

Will come back and post later how the exam went :D

Good luck to everyone taking it!

Well, let's just say I was right. I think the worst part about this exam was it was nothing like what was described by previous posters. Bc then I would've felt okay- you know, being steamrolled by something that is evil and impossible is a lot better than feeling like it was all my fault because I didn't study enough. The exam was very reasonable, I just think I had some unfortunate knowledge gaps. As 4thQTHailMary said, my exam felt very close to NBME 6. I think there wasn't one topic on there that I hadn't seen somewhere at some point in my med school education or practice. The stems were also not that long. I had close to 10-15 min per block for marked questions, which is pretty close to how my regular practice exams were (and this does not bode well for me because me running super fast through tests = absolute disaster). I thought I would come back and do a detailed review, but honestly, I don't remember much from the exam. It's like I deleted everything as soon as I left the exam. I feel like crying, I feel numb, and I just don't know what the heck I am going to do if I fail this exam because that would absolutely suck. I have NEVER walked out of an exam thinking I did poorly and not done poorly, so you know, the odds are not in my favor with this one.

Not sure if this is helpful since everyone's exam is different, but this is what I remember:
- I had three or four ethics questions
- I had a crap ton of fluid and renal questions.
- 2 heart sounds
- 3 gram stain questions
- 4-5 derm questions with pics
- Lots of resp questions- EVERYBODY had SOB and reticulonodular infiltrates.
- CRC trt
-10 or so peds questions
- question on volvulus
- crap ton of obgyn questions
- 2 drug ads- very reasonable
- most sections had 44 questions, one had 41 I think
 
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Feel like I must have taken a different exam than the one being described above. After reading through this thread, I was expecting it to be pretty impossible. Thought mine was pretty fair overall. Sure, there were a handful of head scratchers and random questions each block, but for the most part, the majority of the questions were surprisingly straight forward and very much resembled something between NBME 6 and 7. Was also expecting the stems to resemble Great Expectations but instead they were comparable to Worldand the shelf exams. No drug ads, only one section of 42 that had an abstract, no long list answer choices that applied to 2 sequential questions (and now that I think about it, don't really recall many questions having more than the standard 5 answer choices), a handful of locked questions and heart sounds. Was concerned about time going into but routinely had 10-15 minutes to review marked answer choices. I realize that I must have had a pretty benign form, and I am sure the curve will be pretty stiff so it all evens out. Not nearly as defeated as I felt after Step 1, and feel confident that I will fall somewhere around my NBMEs (267-275).

I think we took the same exam in regards to it not feeling as bad as I feared, and my practice exams weren't nearly as high as yours. I took NBME 4 3.5 weeks before and got a 246, then took UWSA 2 weeks out and got 258. Didn't take any other practice tests. I'm worried that the weighting will so tight that you will need to have gotten 90+% correct to break a 255.
 
Well, let's just say I was right. I think the worst part about this exam was it was nothing like what was described by previous posters. Bc then I would've felt okay- you know, being steamrolled by something that is evil and impossible is a lot better than feeling like it was all my fault because I didn't study enough. The exam was very reasonable, I just think I had some unfortunate knowledge gaps. As 4thQTHailMary said, my exam felt very close to NBME 6. I think there wasn't one topic on there that I hadn't seen somewhere at some point in my med school education or practice. The stems were also not that long. I had close to 10-15 min per block for marked questions, which is pretty close to how my regular practice exams were (and this does not bode well for me because me running super fast through tests = absolute disaster). I thought I would come back and do a detailed review, but honestly, I don't remember much from the exam. It's like I deleted everything as soon as I left the exam. I feel like crying, I feel numb, and I just don't know what the heck I am going to do if I fail this exam because that would absolutely suck. I have NEVER walked out of an exam thinking I did poorly and not done poorly, so you know, the odds are not in my favor with this one.

Not sure if this is helpful since everyone's exam is different, but this is what I remember:
- I had three or four ethics questions
- I had a crap ton of fluid and renal questions.
- 2 heart sounds
- 3 gram stain questions
- 4-5 derm questions with pics
- Lots of resp questions- EVERYBODY had SOB and reticulonodular infiltrates.
- CRC trt
-10 or so peds questions
- question on volvulus
- crap ton of obgyn questions
- 2 drug ads- very reasonable
- most sections had 44 questions, one had 41 I think

Awww, don't worry. You are being hard on yourself. If you think it was like nbme 6, well you did well on nbme 6. I think since you prepared so hard for it, you figured like you should have known 90% as a reflex, which obviously is never the case. SO, just go out and celebrate this weekend. I haven't taken it, but listening to the experiences is giving me enough anxiety already. So, I am sure you must be stressed. Its done thought.

Also, why do you think you had knowledge gaps? was it because you think you didn't have it memorized to the T or that you couldn't apply it? or the resources didn't cover it? Well, just wanted to know of myself.

Ugh! hate RS. Well, congrats on being done :)
 
I think we took the same exam in regards to it not feeling as bad as I feared, and my practice exams weren't nearly as high as yours. I took NBME 4 3.5 weeks before and got a 246, then took UWSA 2 weeks out and got 258. Didn't take any other practice tests. I'm worried that the weighting will so tight that you will need to have gotten 90+% correct to break a 255.
I don't know about, but I'm sure you did fine and will be in the same range as your practice tests, if not better. I don't think it was a walk in the park by any means, and I know I missed plenty. I was just kind of caught off guard how easy the gimmes were, which was a solid 40-50% of the test.
 
I just want to share my study and exam experience with you guys. I realized that most of the people here are in the top 1 percentile from their crazy scores. What they don't tell you is that most of them have been practicing physicians in their countries for years and spend months and years studying for this exam because they need to acquire a residency position in the US (which is totally understandable).
As for me, I am an American FMG student who recently took the exam. Honestly, reading these forums over time did not help me because I wasn't aiming for a 260/270 or these ridiculous scores that are kind of unrealistic for US or US FMGs who study only a few weeks or few months. I obviously wanted to get the best score I can but I was your average student that studied my butt off because the school I went to didn't prepare me well for my USMLE examinations.

I want to share my experience because there are people who are actually struggling and don't really want to see "OMG I THINK I FAILED", but then end up with a ridiculous score. So hopefully my post helps the people who really need help.

My step 1 score was a 210 (could've done better but just not a great test taker).
As far as ck studying, I found it much easier to study for step 2 compared to step 1. Step 1 was a b**** to study for.

NBME Scores:
Nbme 3 (2 months out) : 206
Nbme 7 (1 month out): 210
NBME 4 (few weeks out): 230 (never got a score like that in my life)
UWSA (few days out) : 231 (was happy that i was consistent with the last assessment)

Materials used:
UWORLD (60% first time, 70's second time)
MTB 2 (IM) few times
MTB 3 (other subjects) few times
Kaplan 1 x (videos and notes)
MTB conrad fisher kaplan videos

Exam experience:

Not gonna lie, I felt great going into my exam. Everything made sense to me and felt like the material was very easy. I felt way more prepared for Ck more than step 1 (even though i studied longer for step 1). My last 2 assessments made me feel really confident.
After I left the exam, I honestly couldn't believe what I just took. I really really really felt like I bombed the exam. Everyone used to tell me it was normal but I never believed them because they would get these ridiculous scores. I just thought they were talking crap. But I honestly felt horrible after the exam. I told my family and friends that I failed it 100%. Questions were too long, very vague. There was never a clear answer. Always stuck between 2 or 3 choices. All the answers seemed to make sense. When you do uworld questions or NBMEs, there is always one clear answer. Even when you get the question wrong, you realize theres 1 answer for that question. But thats not how it was in the real exam. You can get a super easy question, but the choices on the exam would be so damn complicated. I freaked out. I found myself guessing 50% of the time. I realized that all the study material i used was literally just 50% on the exam. The other 50% was information I couldn't study for. So whats why I thought I failed. I couldn't sleep that whole month till I got my score back a few days ago. I was already making alternative plans because I honestly thought I wasn't going to make this years match. But before I knew it, I passed. I got a 216 thank god. I was hoping to get a 225-230 just like my assessment but honestly after coming out my exam I was praying just to pass. No lie. I want to keep stressing to you guys that its VERY VERY normal to feel like you failed.

I honestly can't tell you guys what to study for because its completely random and they throw at you random questions and topics. A big portion of the exam you cant really study for. All the study material was literally just like 50% of the exam. So I suggest you study as much sources as you can. Don't just stick to the regular sources because i feel like the test-makers know that we depend on these sources. But these materials are enough to help you just pass the exam. I wouldn't really rely on assessment scores because the exam is completely different than all the assessments out there. But I would use the assessment scores as basically a tool to see if you're ready for the exam or not. If you get a comfortable score that means you know your info and that your ready to take the exam. But Step 2 Ck was by far the hardest exam I've ever taken. Much more difficult than step 1 for sure.

I hope I helped someone reading this. If you guys have any questions or anything please let me know. This is the first time I ever wrote a post, but honestly I really want to help someone out there who really needs it. I had a lot of help studying for these exams and I just want to pay it forward, especially for the average test takers out there, not just the ones aiming for 260-280's. I'm sorry if I have any grammatical or spelling errors, I am using my phone to write this lol. Good luck to all the test takers out there, this exam is really difficult. You're going to feel great going into the exam and you WILL feel horrible coming out. I honestly felt super lost coming out but I happy and proud that I ended up passing it. Good luck guys!!!
 
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Took the exam June 9th. Some background, First two years I passed all classes, no honors. Step 1: 220. Third year, a couple honors, shelf exams in the 80s and 90s except for OBGYN which I did terrible on. Long story short, I skated by the first two years and I probably didn't study enough for step 1. I really busted it third year and had medicine last in my clerkship schedule, so I prepared during that clerkship as if I was preparing for step 2. I did Uworld with each clerkship and finished it 1x halfway through my last clerkship. Reset it and did random question sets. I read MTB2 and not much else. Used UTD sparingly, and mostly just relied on Uworld and the knowledge base I had built throughout third year. After I finished third year, I spent two weeks as dedicated study time made it completely through Uworld a second time, and took notes on my incorrects. I would periodically review my notes each week.

NBME 3 (4 weeks out): 225
NBME 6 (3 weeks out): 246
NBME 7 (2 weeks out): 254
NBME 4 (1 weeks out): 248
UWSA (6 days out): 246
Free 131 (5 days out) 89%
Real deal: 264

The test itself wasn't too bad. I was tired by the end, but that was because it was 8 sections. The stems were on par with uworld. I really don't know what anyone is talking about when they say they feel like they read a novel by the end. No drug ads on mine. One research abstract. One heart sound question per section. I was a little annoyed about this because I had to keep taking out my ear plugs to put on the head phones. Otherwise, the test felt pretty fair, and I agree with above posters that there wasn't anything in particular that I noticed that I said to myself, "I wished I had studied that more."

All of my practice tests underpredicted. I was honestly blown away and stunned beyond belief when I saw my score. My advice for those yet to take the exam is trust your gut. There are going to be multiple answers that seem like they could work, and there's not a clear definitive choice. That's how medicine is, and if you have worked hard during your third year then you can go off of what feels most appropriate. I'm also writing this because after I took step 1 I was a little down. I had scored below average, and I thought that I had a big hill to climb, and I did. But you can really turn it around third year with a good work ethic and consistent, every day studying. Every night, read 1 hour and do some questions. It doesn't matter too much what you are reading, so much as that you actually make yourself do it. So pick a review book, and read it cover to cover for your clerkship. Find a question bank and do it. Take the clinical mastery series tests, and go over them with your clerkship director (if they are kind enough to do so). I think this is the secret to doing well academically in your third year. The other stuff like presentations and doing an h&P take practice, but the act of studying consistently each night is how you can succeed, even with a sub-par performance in the first half of med school.
 
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Step 2 CK experience

Did all of UWorld over the course of MS3. Have no idea what my percentage was during this year long pass. Studied hard for most shelf exams. Preparing well for shelf exams during MS3 is by far the most important part of doing well on Step 2. Here are my shelfs:
-OB/GYN: 83
-Medicine: 92
-Psych: 88
-Neuro: 90
-Family: 92
-Surgery: 99
-Peds: 99

During my last rotation of MS3 I read step 2 secrets. Don't think this book helped all that much but it's an easy read and gives a brief reminder of the big topics you need to know.

Re-set UWorld after finishing MS3. Made it thru only about 60-70% of the Qbank in 2 weeks. Did not use any sources other than UWorld. Only other thing I read before the exam was the biostats and ethics sections of first aid for step 1.
-UWorld (random tutor, made it thru about 60-70% of questions): overall ~88%

Practice tests. Only took nbme 4 and UWSA. Heard so many bad things about NBME 7 I did not want to take it and psych myself out.
-NBME 4: 268 (4 weeks out)
-UWSA: 265 (1 week out)

Test day. Felt pretty difficult. Seemed harder than UWorld and the practice exams I took. Some question stems longer than what I was used to. Quite a few heart and lung sound questions which take more time. Finished each section with about 8-10 min left to review the 15 or so questions I marked on each section. Overall felt pretty bad walking out and did not look up a single question because I hate doing that. So I cannot say "I know I missed ___ amount of questions" because I didn't look up a single one. I feel that is a good way to reduce anxiety about doing bad. Trust your prep and practice exam scores. Most importantly focus on the shelf exams during MS3.

Results
-Step 1: 255
-Step 2: 275
 
Just took the test recently. I agree with the above in that it was heavy on biostats (felt like 20+ Q's). I felt that reading FA Step 1's Biostats section beforehand helped significantly. You still have to know pretty much everything in that section, including biases, type I/II errors, etc.

Lots of insane bioethical scenarios. Stuff you could never prepare for. It'll frustrate you, and you just have to deal with it.

Speaking of frustration, this test sucks. It felt like the faculty from my school wrote the Q's, not the masterminds I came to respect from Step 1. In Step 1, I was confident that the question conveyed all the necessary information to answer the question; failure to answer the question was my fault. In Step 2, I absolutely did not feel that way. As the poster above said, they really cut back on the tips they give you in the question stem in such a way that prevents you from choosing between two correct answers. But even more than that, I felt the problem was that two answer choices were correct depending on how you looked at it. You have to use a lot of clinical feeling to discern what's probably better. So frequently, I had to ask myself what they wanted me to know, or what they were probably testing in a given question. I felt this way in the NBME practice tests, but more so on the exam.

My test felt most similar to the NBME exams (not UWorld or the free 131), just with longer stems. I took NBME 4, 6, and 7 as well as the free 131. I felt that these 4 tests added a lot of value in my knowledge base by thoroughly reviewing my corrects and incorrects, and I encountered probably 10-20 Q's that were very similar on my real deal.

The time constraint is real. On the NBME's, I usually finished with ~15 minutes to go to review all the Q's in a block one time through. On the real deal, mostly because of how consistently long every question was, I only had 5-7 minutes per 42/44 Q block and was lucky if I got through my marked questions. On a test that so heavily emphasizes thinking and deliberation over mindless word associations, time constraints are stressful.

Sorry to be so negative. Guess I just wanted to add another warning that you'll feel like crap after the exam and that's normal. I could go on and say more, but I'll reserve it for when I get my score. Hopefully I'll be one of those people that gets like 20+ higher than their last diagnostic, lol. I'm happy to answer any questions that anyone has.

Ended up with a 260. Did NOT think I'd get that score walking out of the test center, as you can guess from my post above. I feel very lucky. Here's my prep and diagnostics:

USMLE Step 1: 260+
MS3 shelf exams: Mostly 80's
UWorld during MS3: 72%
UWorld during Step 2 prep: 85%
School NBME: 240 (3 weeks out -- baseline)
NBME 7: 254 (2.5 weeks out)
NBME 6: 267 (1.5 weeks out)
NBME 4: 258 (0.5 weeks out)
Free 131: 88%

Notably, the average of my last 3 NBME's perfectly predicted my score.

The resources I used, in summary, were USMLERx (50-60% complete, before dedicated), UWorld, and OnlineMedEd, with everything occasionally supplemented by UpToDate. I actually left a significant amount of my UWorld 2nd pass and OnlineMedEd incomplete in favor of reviewing my flashcards more.

USMLE Step 2CK, just like Step 1, is all about memorizing disease scripts. In Step 1 you had the script of "...female athlete with a BMI of 18.3" clinching that the question was about anorexia nervosa. On Step 2CK however, the scripts are a little more varied and subtle, and they always throw in some unique scenario modifier that changes the way you have to think about the question. That all just means that questions are once again very important for Step 2CK; the more you do, the more you memorize the key things they like to ask about:
-Intermittent abdominal pain in a kid = Intussusception, and the answer is probably air contrast enema
-Kid with a painful limp = Legg-Calve-Perthes vs. slipped capital femoral epiphysis until proven otherwise, then use age to differentiate

The sooner you get these knee-jerk reflexes down, the sooner you'll be able to delve deeper and think about 2nd and 3rd steps in management, or about situational modifiers.

USMLERx was just okay. Good to hammer in some points and to get experience memorizing disease scripts, as mentioned above. Most of the utility is sucked out of it by doing roughly half of it.

UWorld was very good, but not as good as it was for Step 1. Alas, it's all we've got. I felt that for Step 2, there was no need to read into every single word of every UWorld explanation as I tried to do for Step 1. Step 2CK is just too diverse and divergent of a test to put so much stock into one resource.

It's hard to say how helpful OnlineMedEd was. It was basically my "text" resource. I was told that one should have some text resource, no matter what it is. So while OME scored me some points for sure, I don't know if Crush/SUTM/etc. could have done the same. I appreciated the logic that OME gives for things, which I feel is something a text doesn't often have. That logic (e.g. we do this because...) is important for that often-referenced gestault/clinical feeling that you need for the questions on the real deal. I thought OME really shined in Ob/Gyn, as well as for Peds, but maybe it's because those were my two weakest areas.

Some general pieces of advice:
-The "best next step in management" implies that you know when to proceed with a diagnostic step vs. proceed with a treatment step; as such, pay attention to empiric treatments. Iron therapy in infants with microcytic anemia, steroids in temporal arteritis, etc. There are certain scenarios when you proceed with treatment before the diagnosis is confirmed, whether it's because the diagnosis is so common that it's presumed (e.g. iron deficiency in infants) or because the consequences of not treating early are high-impact (e.g. steroids in temporal arteritis).

-Bifurcations in management, especially when treatments oppose each other/contraindicate each other, are key. Example: In chest pain, you rule out MI and often empirically treat before MI is confirmed. But before you give a B-blocker, make sure it's not cocaine-induced. And before you give ASA, make sure it's not aortic dissection.

-Looking closely at answer choices is far more important than for Step 1. Consider the scenario of baking a cake. The instructions after "add sugar" are "add eggs". So obviously you'd pick "add eggs" in a scenario that asks what the next best step is after adding sugar...unless you saw an answer choice that says "remove eggs from the refrigerator". You get the idea -- even if you see an answer choice that is classically the answer for a type of question, they may throw in another answer choice that technically supersedes.

-Interpreting pictures is now important. I don't really have any advice on how to excel considering this point, but just be ready for it. Whereas in Step 1, they always tell you that you can answer the question without the picture, the picture is now sometimes the only thing you can use to answer the question. While studying, try to memorize the characteristics of a given exemplary picture.

Best of luck, everyone. As usual, I'm open to PM's for questions or further information in general, whether you're an MS-0 or a day before your Step 2. Alternatively, I tutor Step 1 and 2CK via Skype, so feel free to message me about that too (but don't feel obligated if you have some questions and don't want tutoring!).
 
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I must first start off by giving thanks to this community. I owe a lot of my success to the experiences of other people on this board, and I would like to give back as much as I can. As always, I must recommend that you read the write-up by Phloston. Also, I feel that my school's internal medicine clerkship prepared me extremely well for this test. I owe my medicine clerkship director a lot for my performance.

I worked pretty hard third year and did fairly well on most of the shelf exams. Ob-Gyn was my weakest during third year, and it ended up being a weakness on the real deal as well according to my score report. I elected to use a fairly simple prep method because I felt that I didn't have much time to study. Fortunately, my last rotation of third year was medicine. During my first 1.5 months of medicine, I read the non-medicine sections of MTB 2+3. Each week I worked 72 non-medicine UWorld questions on my day off. The other 6 days of the week I worked 20 IM Uworld questions per day. After finishing medicine, I had 1 week of dedicated time to study. During this time, I worked some notecards I had made from MTB, and I took the NBME and UWSA practice tests. Taking into account the advice of this community, I studied the biostats section of FA as well.

Practice tests
NBME 4: 260 (9 days)
NBME 6: 283 (7 days)
NBME 7: 254 (5 days)
UWSA: 264 (4 days)
Free 150: didn't record (2 days)

I took NBME 4 first because I needed to decide whether or not I wanted to postpone my test. I was happy with my score and decided that I would keep my test at its originally scheduled date. After taking NBME 6, I thought that it must have been a fluke. When I was preparing for step 1, there was a very easy practice test that way overpredicted my score. I assumed that this is what was happening with this test. I then made sure to take NBME 7 because I wanted to get a more realistic assessment of what kind of score to expect. As others have described, NBME 7 is a very tough test. I highly recommend that everyone take it in order to prepare mentally for the difficulty of this test. UWSA is nice because its essentially extra UWorld questions. I took a rest day the day before my test. Another tactic I highly recommend.

Test day was grueling. This is a long test and mental and physical fatigue can play a big part. I skipped the tutorial to add an extra 15 mins break time, and I used all of my breaks to urinate, eat a snack, and caffeinate. I left the test feeling really bad. I was expecting a 240s-250s score.

Step 2 ck: 278
 
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Hi guys what were the fluid questions like? Did you have to calculate values or just choose between the type of fluids?

Well, let's just say I was right. I think the worst part about this exam was it was nothing like what was described by previous posters. Bc then I would've felt okay- you know, being steamrolled by something that is evil and impossible is a lot better than feeling like it was all my fault because I didn't study enough. The exam was very reasonable, I just think I had some unfortunate knowledge gaps. As 4thQTHailMary said, my exam felt very close to NBME 6. I think there wasn't one topic on there that I hadn't seen somewhere at some point in my med school education or practice. The stems were also not that long. I had close to 10-15 min per block for marked questions, which is pretty close to how my regular practice exams were (and this does not bode well for me because me running super fast through tests = absolute disaster). I thought I would come back and do a detailed review, but honestly, I don't remember much from the exam. It's like I deleted everything as soon as I left the exam. I feel like crying, I feel numb, and I just don't know what the heck I am going to do if I fail this exam because that would absolutely suck. I have NEVER walked out of an exam thinking I did poorly and not done poorly, so you know, the odds are not in my favor with this one.

Not sure if this is helpful since everyone's exam is different, but this is what I remember:
- I had three or four ethics questions
- I had a crap ton of fluid and renal questions.
- 2 heart sounds
- 3 gram stain questions
- 4-5 derm questions with pics
- Lots of resp questions- EVERYBODY had SOB and reticulonodular infiltrates.
- CRC trt
-10 or so peds questions
- question on volvulus
- crap ton of obgyn questions
- 2 drug ads- very reasonable
- most sections had 44 questions, one had 41 I think
 
Hi guys what were the fluid questions like? Did you have to calculate values or just choose between the type of fluids?
Just lots of picking between different types of fluid (and a lot of these people had intrinsic kidney failure if memory serves properly). No calculations whatsoever.
 
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I took my exam on July 13... should be hearing back as early as this week... anyone else take their exam around that time?
 
I took my exam on July 13... should be hearing back as early as this week... anyone else take their exam around that time?
I though there was a delay in score reporting.

Also, did anyone use the UWorld separate biostats review or know if it's helpful to do?
 
Hey guys - thanks for everyone's experiences. Just like for Step 1, this forum and these posts have been a great resource and support system :)

Background: US school, Step 1: 260s

Took the 2CK Aug. 1st. Had July off, CS the second week of the month, and then studied hard from around the 10th-31st.

Prep:
uWorld- 1x during 3rd year clerkships, then 1x again in July. All timed tutor, reading explanations for reinforcement. Definitely the best resource for exam overall. Questions are structured and feel just like Step.

DIT- I liked it. Those guys are entertaining. Good for jump starting your memory and getting you in go mode, but you're probably not going to learn anything new. I would watch DIT in the morning for a few hours then do questions the rest of the day.

OnlineMedEd- during 3rd year clerkships. This stuff is GOLD for getting you prepared for clerkships. Do them early in your rotations. Soon these guys will be the premier clerkship/Step 2 resource. If I had time I would have re-watched all of them.

USMLEasy- during clerkships. Online resource that is essentially the PreTest books online. Best resource for family med. About 500 family med questions and I rocked the shelf because of it. Definitely some minutiae in PreTest that will most likely never be on 2CK, but it's good stuff.

No NBMEs. Kinda ran out of time. Would have done 7, since it's the most recent.

UWSA 1 day before exam: 260

Step 2 CK: TBD. Pounded a Monster before going in then did 3 blocks straight. Felt very familiar. I had seen all the stems before, felt very comfortable, but in typical NBME style the question and the answers are always a little squirrelly.

In any case, had a brief lunch between block 5/6, then back to business as usual...until block 8. 32 questions in that block, the full 60 minutes, and felt just as pressed for time as the other blocks of 44 (one had an abstract and 42 questions)...finishing with about 3 minutes to spare. It could have been fatigue, but I'm not so sure. I felt like the questions in that block were incredibly long and vague. It felt more like Step 2 CS where patients don't always have one unifying diagnosis...and then the questions were just as messy. Felt good til that last block. Oh well. Fingers crossed. No drug ads, 4/5 heart sounds, some weird ethics/management type questions.

Perhaps the questions in these 32 q blocks are part of the reason why the score reporting is being delayed this summer? Perhaps they need to collect more data to average together?
 
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you mind land up in trouble to repeat the questions here, i think. But, thank you for being so kind.
 
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Just sharing scores for comparison...a 255 on Step 1 (used mainly UW and DIT), then a 264 on Step 2 (very little prep, really...browsed UW a little)...took them 3 months apart. Close to same percentile (92nd). It IS a long day of reading! Take your caffeine and energy food!
For some reason, looked up best guesses were all right on 2, whereas that was not also true on 1 (might have been experimental questions there?).

Heading into Ortho (doing aways now). Good luck! :)
 
First post!

NBME 1,2,3 offline 85-88%
Free 131: 89%
NBME 6: 237 -- 1 month out
UWSA: 238 -- 3 weeks out
NBME 4: 250 -- 1.5 weeks out
Step2 CK: 257 :soexcited:

I couldn't stop perseverating on the 20 or so questions I felt like I missed/ knew I got wrong.... was convinced I scored <240. Anyways, I'm historically a terrible test taker so, there's some hope for us all. Used onlinemeded, MTB2-3, the purple pocket medicine book, and pestanas. Also used clinical mastery series.

Total prep time: 6 weeks of dedicated study
 
First post!

NBME 1,2,3 offline 85-88%
Free 131: 89%
NBME 6: 237 -- 1 month out
UWSA: 238 -- 3 weeks out
NBME 4: 250 -- 1.5 weeks out
Step2 CK: 257 :soexcited:

I couldn't stop perseverating on the 20 or so questions I felt like I missed/ knew I got wrong.... was convinced I scored <240. Anyways, I'm historically a terrible test taker so, there's some hope for us all. Used onlinemeded, MTB2-3, the purple pocket medicine book, and pestanas. Also used clinical mastery series.

Total prep time: 6 weeks of dedicated study


Hello there! Great job! When did you write your exam?
 
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