USMLE - Official 2015 Step 2 CK Experiences and Scores Thread

[WBecks0]

---

Members do not see this ad.

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!

 

[Watshoody]

What do ppl believe were the most accurate and must do / most accurate ? UWSA ? NBME 3,4,6,7 ?

 

[Phloston]

What do ppl believe were the most accurate and must do / most accurate ? UWSA ? NBME 3,4,6,7 ?

My real deal = UWSA = NBME 7

NBME 4 and 6 both undershot me considerably.

 

[Watshoody]

hmm sounds good, thanks. Yea I was thinking of doing 2 NBMEs and UWSA to assess where Im at

 

[amoms]

Hi All .. I am an IMG setting for the exam on THURSDAY 26\2 ...
I started my preparation back in September and studied extensively for 3 months ... I studied UW 2013 offline subject-wise ... I was planning to sit for the exam in November but I scored low on NBME 4 (214) so postponed the exam and revised my notes after that i did the NBME 6 and scored (235) so i postponed my exam and extended my eligibility period ... I got back to work and was working full time work with 12 on-calls a month ... I tried hard to study extenisively but it was impossible to study more than 4-5 hours a day ..
I took off from work for 3 weeks and opened the UW Online and finished 37% of it with accumulative score of 85 % ..
- I did (NBME 7) 3 days ago and scored 244 ..
- I did UWSA yesterday and scored 261 ..
- Free-131 (88%) ...
All the assessments showed that psychiatry and immunology and blood are my weakest points ... what should I do on the remaining 5 days .. ???
- Should I continue the UW qbank as much as i can ??
- Should I do the Clinical mastery series ?? or at least my weakest subjects ??? but they don't offer answers .. right?
- Should I do the weakest subjects from UW Qbank????

I am aiming to score 250+ but I am afraid I couldn't achieve it 🙁 ... I really don't know what is the best to benefit my score with the remaining days ... Can you help me .. please ..
Thanks in advance

 

[blaqmamba]

Hi All .. I am an IMG setting for the exam on THURSDAY 26\2 ...
I started my preparation back in September and studied extensively for 3 months ... I studied UW 2013 offline subject-wise ... I was planning to sit for the exam in November but I scored low on NBME 4 (214) so postponed the exam and revised my notes after that i did the NBME 6 and scored (235) so i postponed my exam and extended my eligibility period ... I got back to work and was working full time work with 12 on-calls a month ... I tried hard to study extenisively but it was impossible to study more than 4-5 hours a day ..
I took off from work for 3 weeks and opened the UW Online and finished 37% of it with accumulative score of 85 % ..
- I did (NBME 7) 3 days ago and scored 244 ..
- I did UWSA yesterday and scored 261 ..
- Free-131 (88%) ...
All the assessments showed that psychiatry and immunology and blood are my weakest points ... what should I do on the remaining 5 days .. ???
- Should I continue the UW qbank as much as i can ??
- Should I do the Clinical mastery series ?? or at least my weakest subjects ??? but they don't offer answers .. right?
- Should I do the weakest subjects from UW Qbank????

I am aiming to score 250+ but I am afraid I couldn't achieve it 🙁 ... I really don't know what is the best to benefit my score with the remaining days ... Can you help me .. please ..
Thanks in advance

Sounds like you just need some confidence and to focus on your weak points for the next few days. You've been doing well if you scored a 261 on UWSA which seems to be a decent predictor for many people.

 

[suarad32]

So I've come to understand there are a lot of "educated guesses" on the real deal, which depending on your basic understanding and a bit of luck determine which end of your (potential) score range you fall in. Did you guys feel the same way about doing UW? I find myself to be making a lot of guesses while doing UW, mostly based on a vague gut feeling sort of thing, especially for the next step in Mx questions. Is that a bad sign? Also averaging low 70s with about 50% of UW done, but I take Step 2 in 3 weeks. Any other advice to push up my score would be great! Concurrently going through MTB2 for a second time (annotated with extras from FA).

 

[SQar]

Also got my CK report today.
Step 1: 240s
NBME 3 (6 wks out): 248
NBME 4 (4 wks out): 250s
NBME 6 (3 wks out): 250s
NBME 7 (2 wks out): 242
UWSA (1wk out): 256
Free 131Qs: 92% I think
UWORLD avg: high 70s I believe
Step 2 CK: 260s
I took a month and a half to study (including over Christmas holidays). I studied from 8AM-noon, took a break for lunch then started up again at 1:30 until dinner (break again), followed by studying again until about 10PM. I made sure I did at least 2 sets of UWORLD questions per day. To study I watched the Kaplan videos first at the end of my last core rotation. My main sources were Step Up to Medicine, FA 2CK, UWORLD and MTB2. From these sources I had made my own set of notes for each core rotation during my 3rd year clinicals. I used these notes to study from and added extra from UWORLD questions, NBMEs to them. I had done a first pass of UWORLD during my 3rd year rotations but did not recall any of them when doing UWORLD this time around. I also made sure to go over the questions I had gotten incorrect during my last week of studying. Towards the end of my study period I tried to read Step 2 Secrets, but gave up with that.

Left the test feeling horrible, as I felt like I was guessing on way too many questions and it felt much more subjective compared to Step 1. Timing on blocks was fine. While doing UWORLD I always had 10-15minutes left over, however on exam day it would be 5 minutes, with one or two sections being less than 1 minute of time. I did not feel as worn out/tired during the day in comparison to how I felt for Step 1. Took a break after each section to keep myself sane and get back in the zone. All blocks were 44 questions, except one block in the middle was 42.

Hope this helps!

Hi. Congratulations on your score. 🙂

Could you tell me whats free 131? Any link to it?

 

[EmanO]

Could you tell me whats free 131? Any link to it?

U will find it on the official usmle website itself!

 

[sail_29er]

Congrats man! Which Kaplan videos are you talking about? Is it the $3000 comprehensive review or $500 HY/MTB2 course? I've started doing old Kaplan videos ( i think they are from 2007-2008, didn't like internal medicine as it had a lot of old wrong stuff for management), but then dropped it and purchased HY kaplan from conrad fischer. Which book would you recommend as a core book?

I did the comprehensive review videos that I had from a friend..they were the 2010 version but still pretty decent. I also had the 2013 notes from a friend, but didn't use those.

 

[sail_29er]

Hi. Congratulations on your score. 🙂

Could you tell me whats free 131? Any link to it?

Thanks!
It can be seen on this site: http://www.usmle.org/practice-materials/

 

[oncology2020]

what a brutal exam..sorry for venting but how is this a licensing exam when it doesnt even test major topics of medicine and instead focuses on esoteric questions...thats not how a licensing exam should be

anyways, I felt like I was guessing on at least 15 questions if not more a block out of 44 questions. There were only a 3-5 questions per block where the diagnosis and answer were obvious, the rest were ambiguous. I studied for 5 weeks but my exam was heavily focused on pediatrics, infectious disease, prevent medicine, and surgery/emergency/trauma. A lot of pysch, gyn, derm, and odd biostats/epi questions (I had no calculations). Several optho, ENT, genetics questions--some with esoteric presentations and descriptions. Several path mechanisms and pharm questions. Several EKGs and heart sounds.

UWord questions were more reasonable than this exam. I did not get any questions on many of the important medical diseases which is very odd--no questions on diabetes, no questions on heart failure, MI, endocarditis, PUD, IBD, etc etc--instead it focused on esoteric stuff. Neurology was basic although a lot of localizing lesion questions.

Felt like day went by much quicker than Step 1 but timing was not an issue but because I often marked many I would only have ~10 minutes to go back to review 15 or so marked questions.

I felt defeated and horrible after leaving this exam--much worse than I did after Step 1. Step 1 was very doable just had a lot of information to learn which made it difficult but it was an otherwise very reasonable exam but Step 2 CK was just unreasonable IMO.

 

[Watshoody]

dont worry bro , sure u will get a really good score.

 

[navneet85]

Got my step 2 ck results, got 260.🙂🙂. Thank you Almighty.

 

[Watshoody]

General question for recent test takers , since all im doing is UW + NBMES , are there any tests or clinical procedures that they u were asked about which u had never heard of and if so how often ? Did u automatically just eliminate them if they were an answer choice ?

 

[Watshoody]

Got my step 2 ck results, got 260.🙂🙂. Thank you Almighty.

Advice ?

 

[suarad32]

My real deal = UWSA = NBME 7

NBME 4 and 6 both undershot me considerably.

So UWSA doesn't over-predict like for Step 1?

 

[navneet85]

Hi all.. Just recieved my Step 2 CK results on Feb. 25 , my score is 260.

First of all I want to thank Almighty for helping me get through tough times.
I have been silent reader of these forums for a while and now since I have got my results I will like to contribute my 2 cents. As experiences of others have inspired and guided me, I just hope my experience may be of help to somebody.
I am an old IMG graduated in 2009 and after that I did residency in my home country and now I am preparing for residency in USA.

Material Used:

• MTB 2(Complete)

• MTB 3 (whole except Int. Medicine)
• Uworld twice (First time average 78%)
• Conrad Fischer comprehensive cases
• NBME clinical mastery series assessment exams (Did a few days before exam when I came to know about it through forums. But these are really helpful and one should try to do at least 15 days before exam so that you can get time to go through these questions once again as they closely resemble the questions on real exam)

Prep. Time: 3.5 months (after taking Step 1 in Oct. 2014)

Assessment Scores:

NBME 4(offline) - 246 (15 days before exam)

NBME 7 (ONLINE) - 260 ( 5 days before exam)

UWSA - 259 ( 3 days before exam)

FRED 150 - around 93% ( 1 day before exam )

Real deal : 260
I would just say although the exam is more difficult than uworld, NBMEs ; still it is doable. Stay calm and keep on working hard. Finally I would like to thank my husband and my family for the support they have provided me to get through.

If you have any questions I 'll be happy to help.

 

[suarad32]

Hi all.. Just recieved my Step 2 CK results on Feb. 25 , my score is 260.

First of all I want to thank Almighty for helping me get through tough times.
I have been silent reader of these forums for a while and now since I have got my results I will like to contribute my 2 cents. As experiences of others have inspired and guided me, I just hope my experience may be of help to somebody.
I am an old IMG graduated in 2009 and after that I did residency in my home country and now I am preparing for residency in USA.

Material Used:

• MTB 2(Complete)

• MTB 3 (whole except Int. Medicine)
• Uworld twice (First time average 78%)
• Conrad Fischer comprehensive cases
• NBME clinical mastery series assessment exams (Did a few days before exam when I came to know about it through forums. But these are really helpful and one should try to do at least 15 days before exam so that you can get time to go through these questions once again as they closely resemble the questions on real exam)

Prep. Time: 3.5 months (after taking Step 1 in Oct. 2014)

Assessment Scores:

NBME 4(offline) - 246 (15 days before exam)

NBME 7 (ONLINE) - 260 ( 5 days before exam)

UWSA - 259 ( 3 days before exam)

FRED 150 - around 93% ( 1 day before exam )

Real deal : 260
I would just say although the exam is more difficult than uworld, NBMEs ; still it is doable. Stay calm and keep on working hard. Finally I would like to thank my husband and my family for the support they have provided me to get through.

If you have any questions I 'll be happy to help.

Congratulations - sounds like you got what your hard work deserved. I am really impressed by your 15pt jump from NBME 4 to NBME 7 in just 10 days. What do you think helped you achieve that?

 

[jsustakethewheel]

Hi all.. Just recieved my Step 2 CK results on Feb. 25 , my score is 260.

First of all I want to thank Almighty for helping me get through tough times.
I have been silent reader of these forums for a while and now since I have got my results I will like to contribute my 2 cents. As experiences of others have inspired and guided me, I just hope my experience may be of help to somebody.
I am an old IMG graduated in 2009 and after that I did residency in my home country and now I am preparing for residency in USA.

Material Used:

• MTB 2(Complete)

• MTB 3 (whole except Int. Medicine)
• Uworld twice (First time average 78%)
• Conrad Fischer comprehensive cases
• NBME clinical mastery series assessment exams (Did a few days before exam when I came to know about it through forums. But these are really helpful and one should try to do at least 15 days before exam so that you can get time to go through these questions once again as they closely resemble the questions on real exam)

Prep. Time: 3.5 months (after taking Step 1 in Oct. 2014)

Assessment Scores:

NBME 4(offline) - 246 (15 days before exam)

NBME 7 (ONLINE) - 260 ( 5 days before exam)

UWSA - 259 ( 3 days before exam)

FRED 150 - around 93% ( 1 day before exam )

Real deal : 260
I would just say although the exam is more difficult than uworld, NBMEs ; still it is doable. Stay calm and keep on working hard. Finally I would like to thank my husband and my family for the support they have provided me to get through.

If you have any questions I 'll be happy to help.

Good job. What did you get on your step 1? Too bad no one cares about the step 2 score 🙁. The only time they care is if you perform worse than your step 1.

 

[navneet85]

Good job. What did you get on your step 1? Too bad no one cares about the step 2 score 🙁. The only time they care is if you perform worse than your step 1.

I got 254.

 

[navneet85]

Congratulations - sounds like you got what your hard work deserved. I am really impressed by your 15pt jump from NBME 4 to NBME 7 in just 10 days. What do you think helped you achieve that?

I revised the notes I made from uworld and gave MTB2 &3 one more read

 

[PapezCirDead]

I revised the notes I made from uworld and gave MTB2 &3 one more read

Fist of all Congratulations for the great scores..
My question is:
So do you think that MTB are good enough and we can totally depend on them??,
but many of the newly made review say that those books out of date and that they are very unhelpful even some of them said that they were a waste of time ,
I have the books but after reading those reviews I thought that I should not use them, BUT, Then I read your experience, now I am confused... especially that I am in a similar situation to yours, IMG graduated 2010 and did Step 1 in Sept.
So, Can you please tell me how did you use the books? because I read through MTB 2 and after doing all IM part, I felt that wasn't helping!!!!

Thanks alot

 

[PapezCirDead]

Good job. What did you get on your step 1? Too bad no one cares about the step 2 score 🙁. The only time they care is if you perform worse than your step 1.

Why nobody cares about Step 2 score?
What do you mean by the only time they care is when you perform worse than step 1? How do you mean by worse? So if someone with both Steps scores above the average but step 1 is like 15 points more than step 2 would that be a bad thing???

Thanks

 

[navneet85]

Fist of all Congratulations for the great scores..
My question is:
So do you think that MTB are good enough and we can totally depend on them??,
but many of the newly made review say that those books out of date and that they are very unhelpful even some of them said that they were a waste of time ,
I have the books but after reading those reviews I thought that I should not use them, BUT, Then I read your experience, now I am confused... especially that I am in a similar situation to yours, IMG graduated 2010 and did Step 1 in Sept.
So, Can you please tell me how did you use the books? because I read through MTB 2 and after doing all IM part, I felt that wasn't helping!!!!

Thanks alot

Actually I didn't have much time for prep. So I just stuck with MTB2 &3.But I did watch some Meded videos online. these are brief and informative if you think you are not confident enough after reading MTB and doing uworld, you can watch these videos.

 

[blaqmamba]

how long after taking the exam are scores released?

 

[Kerfuffle]

how long after taking the exam are scores released?

From what I've gathered on these boards and anecdotally, if you take it on a Saturday thru Tuesday, results usually come out on the 4th Wednesday after your exam. If you take it on a Wednesday thru Friday, results are usually out on the 3rd Wednesday after your exam.

I took mine on Friday (1/30/15) and got my results on the 3rd Wednesday (2/17/15).

 

[PapezCirDead]

how long after taking the exam are scores released?

The rule for Step 1 and 2 is the 3rd Wednesday from the test.. unless there is something special ... like what happened last July when they were changing the question pool.
If you take the test on Monday or Tuesday some times you have to wait the 4th Wednesday That's why they say 3-4 weeks ...

 

[blaqmamba]

From what I've gathered on these boards and anecdotally, if you take it on a Saturday thru Tuesday, results usually come out on the 4th Wednesday after your exam. If you take it on a Wednesday thru Friday, results are usually out on the 3rd Wednesday after your exam.

I took mine on Friday (1/30/15) and got my results on the 3rd Wednesday (2/17/15).

The rule for Step 1 and 2 is the 3rd Wednesday from the test.. unless there is something special ... like what happened last July when they were changing the question pool.
If you take the test on Monday or Tuesday some times you have to wait the 4th Wednesday That's why they say 3-4 weeks ...

I guess there is no rule, because yesterday was the 3rd Wed. from my test and I had taken it on a Friday

 

[PapezCirDead]

I guess there is no rule, because yesterday was the 3rd Wed. from my test and I had taken it on a Friday

Well, For every rule there are exceptions
Hopefully you will get it by next Wednesday, I know how hard it is to wait all that , But unfortunately you have no other choice, moreover the USMLE website says that you can not contact to ask for your test result unless it is 8 weeks from you test day (very cruel)
But, you can look at the bright side you are almost 99.99% sure that you will get your result by next Wednesday, Good things always take longer
Wish you best of luck on your score.

 

[blaqmamba]

Haha thanks. I'm not in any rush, was just curious.

 

[wonderbread12]

The rule for Step 1 and 2 is the 3rd Wednesday from the test.. unless there is something special ... like what happened last July when they were changing the question pool.
If you take the test on Monday or Tuesday some times you have to wait the 4th Wednesday That's why they say 3-4 weeks ...

Any chance this happens again this year? Don't wanna be blocked in a special delayed reporting circumstance

 

[PapezCirDead]

Any chance this happens again this year? Don't wanna be blocked in a special delayed reporting circumstance

Actually I have the same concerns ... I don't know and I tried to search ECFMG and USMLE.org, but did not find anything about it...

Because, those people took the test during from as I recall July twenty something until the beginning of September had their results reported by third week of September 2014...
This is very critical because this would mean that you will not be able to do you application on the fist day of the match application is opened.. or you have to file without the CK score and then upload the score afterward either way I don't think this is as good as having all the scores..
The good thing that as I recall they provided some information ahead with the exact timing and the expected delay,
So if it is going to happen this year I think they will post about it on their website

 

[blaqmamba]

Many schools don't even download your application until October 1st, so it isn't really that big of a deal as long as you upload your score before then

 

[wonderbread12]

Actually I have the same concerns ... I don't know and I tried to search ECFMG and USMLE.org, but did not find anything about it...

Because, those people took the test during from as I recall July twenty something until the beginning of September had their results reported by third week of September 2014...
This is very critical because this would mean that you will not be able to do you application on the fist day of the match application is opened.. or you have to file without the CK score and then upload the score afterward either way I don't think this is as good as having all the scores..
The good thing that as I recall they provided some information ahead with the exact timing and the expected delay,
So if it is going to happen this year I think they will post about it on their website

Many schools don't even download your application until October 1st, so it isn't really that big of a deal as long as you upload your score before then

Thanks for the responses... I see your point about Oct. 1 date

 

[SQar]

Hey guyss.

I feel pathetic. I dont know where im going wrong. I studied kaplan then MTB 2 alongwith uworld.

Nbme 6 in jan failed. I studied then.
uwsa in feb 216 i studied again and scheduled my paper for 20th march.
nbme 4 just yesterday scored 204 (340)
Rescheduled to the 1st of april.

I dont understand where im going wrong! Im in desperate need of help 🙁(((

 

[Dactino]

Exam in a weeks time. Wondering what to do. Ive done uworld once and completed half of it again. Gave UWSA last week with a score of 260 (which i keep thinking is a fluke :/) Should i do MTB 2/3 (i did them once properly and then a few chapters in between that i felt i was weak in) or should i continue with revising uworld? :/

 

[Phloston]

Exam in a weeks time. Wondering what to do. Ive done uworld once and completed half of it again. Gave UWSA last week with a score of 260 (which i keep thinking is a fluke :/) Should i do MTB 2/3 (i did them once properly and then a few chapters in between that i felt i was weak in) or should i continue with revising uworld? :/

Neither. Focus on UpToDate for the HY topics and review your incorrect NBME and Clinical Mastery series questions; if you've already reviewed these questions, then do it again. And be sure you do Free-131 from the USMLE website.

 

[Phloston]

Hey guyss.

I feel pathetic. I dont know where im going wrong. I studied kaplan then MTB 2 alongwith uworld.

Nbme 6 in jan failed. I studied then.
uwsa in feb 216 i studied again and scheduled my paper for 20th march.
nbme 4 just yesterday scored 204 (340)
Rescheduled to the 1st of april.

I dont understand where im going wrong! Im in desperate need of help 🙁(((

You're too close to your exam (April 1st) to go through USMLE Rx or Kaplan, so I'd say just focus on reviewing all of the NBME questions you got wrong and figuring out why you got them wrong. And review HY topics in UpToDate. There's really not much else you can do at this stage this close to the exam.

 

[Phloston]

I guess there is no rule, because yesterday was the 3rd Wed. from my test and I had taken it on a Friday

No, there is no rule. USMLE tries to release after 3 weeks, but the process can take longer. They release whenever they feel like it. I waited 5 Wednesdays to get my Step 1 score back and 4 for 2CK, and took both late in the week IIRC.

 

[Phloston]

Hi All .. I am an IMG setting for the exam on THURSDAY 26\2 ...
I started my preparation back in September and studied extensively for 3 months ... I studied UW 2013 offline subject-wise ... I was planning to sit for the exam in November but I scored low on NBME 4 (214) so postponed the exam and revised my notes after that i did the NBME 6 and scored (235) so i postponed my exam and extended my eligibility period ... I got back to work and was working full time work with 12 on-calls a month ... I tried hard to study extenisively but it was impossible to study more than 4-5 hours a day ..
I took off from work for 3 weeks and opened the UW Online and finished 37% of it with accumulative score of 85 % ..
- I did (NBME 7) 3 days ago and scored 244 ..
- I did UWSA yesterday and scored 261 ..
- Free-131 (88%) ...
All the assessments showed that psychiatry and immunology and blood are my weakest points ... what should I do on the remaining 5 days .. ???
- Should I continue the UW qbank as much as i can ??
- Should I do the Clinical mastery series ?? or at least my weakest subjects ??? but they don't offer answers .. right?
- Should I do the weakest subjects from UW Qbank????

I am aiming to score 250+ but I am afraid I couldn't achieve it 🙁 ... I really don't know what is the best to benefit my score with the remaining days ... Can you help me .. please ..
Thanks in advance

No, don't look at UW during the final days. You don't want to over-think questions on the real deal because you're still thinking in QBank mode. Only focus on NBME, Clinical Mastery Series and Free-131 questions because those are the real deal.

And what you think are your weakest subjects really won't equate to your results on the real deal. The questions will be a total toss-up. I was the worst at obgyn and peds in UWorld, the Clinical Mastery Series and on the NBMEs, AND had not done either of those rotations going into the 2CK, and I scored highest on those two on my real deal. I was strongest in psych going into the 2CK and did worst on it. I am certain there is no way that reflects my actual strengths. I think it was really just a fluke of the questions asked. I've seen students' NBME exams where they star subjects on opposite ends of the score report depending on the form; the standard errors often aren't precise.

 

[Dactino]

Thanks for your reply. Hmm i dont have access to up to date but i have yet to go through my mistakes in clinical mastery series. I'l go through them again. Any advice on what to read up from step 1 for the exam?

 

[mjmdjd1]

Neither. Focus on UpToDate for the HY topics and review your incorrect NBME and Clinical Mastery series questions; if you've already reviewed these questions, then do it again. And be sure you do Free-131 from the USMLE website.

@Phloston I've been meaning to ask you about this. I know towards the end of your prep you reviewed high yield topics in uptodate. Is there a list of high yield topics on the uptodate website? Or do you mind sharing a list of high yield topics that way I can search each topic on uptodate. For now I just refer to uptodate when I need any clarification regarding info I read in books or Uworld. However if I can have a list of high yield topics which I could review with uptodate(towards the end of my prep), that would be perfect!

 

[BlondieeMD]

has anyone recently taken step 2ck? I took it 3/12 and i think i lost a piece of my soul. so brutal. i also noticed that there werent many questions on the usual, common topics like there are on the shelf exams. ughhhh. send help.

 

[oncology2020]

has anyone recently taken step 2ck? I took it 3/12 and i think i lost a piece of my soul. so brutal. i also noticed that there werent many questions on the usual, common topics like there are on the shelf exams. ughhhh. send help.

I took it few weeks ago. Was definitely brutal and if you look at my post on top of this page from few weeks ago I commented on same thing as you did---my exam did not test many of the major diseases. It was a really weird exam, don't know how they claim it to be a licensing exam and then don't even test many of the major diseases. Very difficult to properly prepare for it besides doing questions (even UWORLD questions tested major diseases).

 

[wonderbread12]

I took it few weeks ago. Was definitely brutal and if you look at my post on top of this page from few weeks ago I commented on same thing as you did---my exam did not test many of the major diseases. It was a really weird exam, don't know how they claim it to be a licensing exam and then don't even test many of the major diseases. Very difficult to properly prepare for it besides doing questions (even UWORLD questions tested major diseases).

but it's a 9 hour test...do you feel like you are just remembering the bizarre questions and the common diseases you simply answered and moved on w/o remembering them?

 

[oncology2020]

but it's a 9 hour test...do you feel like you are just remembering the bizarre questions and the common diseases you simply answered and moved on w/o remembering them?

Yes, I'm sure there is some recall bias but overall impression is that a major portion of the questions on the exam could not have been studied for with the current books on the market--have to do many questions once you have a foundation of knowledge of course. And even the questions that did test a major topic it did not always use standardized clinical vignettes like Step 1 did. In fact, the key to Step 2 CK is to develop a quick mental differential diagnosis with the top 2 or 3 diseases in the unclear cases and then use that to answer some of the best step in management questions based on the answer choices provided. If the answer choices don't fit any of the diseases on your quick differential cross that answer choice out. During test day, it was eliminating a lot of answer choices for majority of the questions in order to come to the potentially correct answer-- which is a weird way to take an exam for many of us and why it creates so much doubt and uncertainity because it's not an obvious answer.

 

[CaliAtenza]

Yes, I'm sure there is some recall bias but overall impression is that a major portion of the questions on the exam could not have been studied for with the current books on the market--have to do many questions once you have a foundation of knowledge of course. And even the questions that did test a major topic it did not always use standardized clinical vignettes like Step 1 did. In fact, the key to Step 2 CK is to develop a quick mental differential diagnosis with the top 2 or 3 diseases in the unclear cases and then use that to answer some of the best step in management questions based on the answer choices provided. If the answer choices don't fit any of the diseases on your quick differential cross that answer choice out. During test day, it was eliminating a lot of answer choices for majority of the questions in order to come to the potentially correct answer-- which is a weird way to take an exam for many of us and why it creates so much doubt and incertainity because it's not an obvious answer.

I felt the same way when I took my exam (on 3/14). A good portion of the questions had some wierd answers choices and I'd sit there thinking WTF should I pick cause none of these make any sense. In the end, I just pick the one that seemed the least strange and moved on. The vignettes tended to obfuscate things as well, at times. Psych was a big culprit in this. They love to mess with your head in that subject. To be fair, there were a lot of questions that I could recognize and get the answer to quickly.

 

[Phloston]

@Phloston I've been meaning to ask you about this. I know towards the end of your prep you reviewed high yield topics in uptodate. Is there a list of high yield topics on the uptodate website? Or do you mind sharing a list of high yield topics that way I can search each topic on uptodate. For now I just refer to uptodate when I need any clarification regarding info I read in books or Uworld. However if I can have a list of high yield topics which I could review with uptodate(towards the end of my prep), that would be perfect!

Screening guidelines, endocarditis prophylaxis; proper imaging studies to use for most conditions

 

[Zully]

Hi everyone,
New to this forum and liking it so far 🙂 I have a few questions that I'd love to get an answer for from those studying for the test or have taken the test:

1) Does anyone know if Kaplan's "Classroom anywhere" videos are any good? I'm not talking about signing up for a course, I just found the videos online and was wondering if its worth going over them as they are somewhat lengthy. I have a couple of borderline areas (per my Step1 report) that I am trying to work on so I don't know if watching those videos will be helpful?

2) I am barely able to do 44 Kaplan questions/day when I watch the videos/review notes/rotate. Should I just ditch kaplan qbank? I feel like everyone in my class keeps telling me to stop doing kaplan questions....My test is in 2 months, I have not touched uworld yet. Should I re-evaluate?

I know ultimately its my decision but it'd be nice to hear what other experienced ppl think 🙂

 

[Watshoody]

so im ready to take the NBMEs and UWSA ? Hoping to take CK on May 1st or 2nd, which NBMES should I do before UWSA ?