USMLE USMLE - Official 2016 Step 2 CK Experiences and Scores Thread

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Trogdor_The_Burninator

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Hello everyone!

With 2016 around the corner, I thought it would be a good time to start this thread and continue the 2015 thread into the new year!

Similar threads from the past have been extremely helpful to me (and I'm sure) and many others.

Good luck to everyone taking Step 2 CK in 2016!
 
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Copenhagen said:
Hi all,

I have been following SDN for a long time and thought it was time to post something. I took step 2 CK yesterday and like everyone else I feel like I totally bombed it.

Background:
IMG, graduated in 2010. 3.5 years of clinical experience, almost done with my ph.d. in cardiology.
Have not yet taken step 1. Passed step 2 CS (first attempt) June 2015. Wanted to start with step 2 CK right away and kinda did, but I have minimal change disease and had to delay my studies several times due to relapses. The last three months have been kinda dedicated, but since I am doing full time research, I also got "interrupted" by a bunch of manuscripts etc.

Study materials:
Own notes from medical school, Uptodate.com, Pestana, Kaplan Psych., Kaplan HY videos, UWorld (mostly timed, subject mode, 86% overall, but sort of a mix between first pass and marked questions), CMS (4 for pediatris, 4 for OBGYN, 4 for neurology, 2 for surgery, 2 for psychiatry, 0 for internal medicine).

Assessments:
Free 131 (3 weeks out): 95%
NBME 7 (2 weeks out): 265
UWSA (10 days out): 265 (90%)
NBME 6 (7 days out): 271

I felt I was ready after this, but I had really big trouble falling asleep the night before and probably got somewhere between 4 and 5 hours. Exam felt like it went on for ages, and I had to read a bunch of questions twice towards the end. Question stems were much longer than NBME, but only a bit longer than Uworld. Finished each block with 5-10 min left (vs. 15-20 in NBME and 10-15 in UWSA) and then went over my marked questions (up to 15 per block). Still, the main problem was that I felt they were really vague and I spent a lot of time going back and forth between two options on at least 10 questions per block - and in a not insignificant number of these questions (next step in management), one could argue heavily for both options.

OBGYN and pediatrics felt like the most difficult parts for me, and there were challenging questions in GI, ID, and hematology as well. Surgery, psychiatry, ethics, biostatistics (only one abstract with 3 questions; no drug ads) all seemed doable.

I am usually quite good at remembering the things I find difficult (and maybe even moreso because I saw most of those questions twice) so I jotted down a very long list and looked up stuff on Uptodate etc. Worst case, I probably got around 80% correct. Best case with some luck, 90%. I just hope I get more than 250. Right now, I feel like everything just sucks.

Good luck to all of you!
Click to expand...

Step 2 CK: 264.
A bit lower than estimated score, but as someone said - only minimal reduction. It probably does not come as a surprise that I was aiming for 270+ going in, but if you know the material, it ultimately comes down to the test day conditions.

I would not have changed a single thing regarding my preparation, except slept properly the day before - but that's not always up to us. I will definitely take the day before the exam off when it's time for step 1 (and buy an airconditioner, LOL!).

A tip would be to choose the simple answer even if it might seem too simple or easy. Go with your gut feeling. Don't overthink it and pick the obscure answer because "there probably is a twist that you don't see". That's where I lost most of my points. But hey, I'm not complaining 🙂

Big thanks to everyone on this forum (and those in the 2015 thread as well) who helped me come up with a plan that worked. It is probably not very hard to guess where I come from, and since no one ever takes the USMLEs there, it would have been impossible to achieve a 90+ percentile score without all your wonderful contributions.
 
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it seems only imgs have received the scores so far....none of my us-grads have received it yet...might be around 11 am
 
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My score's up! 240's. All I was hoping for and still higher than my Step 1 (also 240's). COMLEX is 710-720!

UWSA was 245 2 weeks before so I'd say it was pretty close. I think my Avg on UWorld was like 69% at the end. The last 20 or so tests I did on there I averaged about 75%.

Good luck to everyone!

Also, I didn't get an email, I just logged on and suddenly it was available.

Edit: added COMLEX score.
 
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Just so people know I never got an email, but my score is up. I'm waiting to open it with my wife during my lunch break though.


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248!

I'm not one of these SDN superstars that get >270s so I'm very happy with my score! Here's the breakdown of my UWorld percentages and practice test scores if anyone is interested:

Step 1: 239
1st UWorld pass: 70% correct
2nd UWorld pass: 90% correct (only finished about 60% before test day)
UWSA: 240 (2 weeks out)
NBME 6: 248 (1 week out)
NBME 7: 246 (4 days out)

I used First Aid for Step 2 CK throughout the whole year and annotated it to death with UWorld information. That helped a lot when it came time for dedicated study time because I had a pretty comprehensive book for review. Shelf prep throughout the year is key. UWorld and practice tests are definitely the most useful tool during dedicated study time.
 
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Took the exam a few weeks ago, got my score back today -- 270

// PREPARATION

Studied for a dedicated 2 weeks after finishing M3 year in mid-June. Utilized UW throughout the year for each clerkship plus the clerkship-specific books that everyone recommends (Pestana, Step-Up to Medicine, etc), UpToDate and OnlineMeded sporadically. Did pretty well on each shelf (99th percentile for all clerkships except for the psychiatry shelf--which was like 80th percentile). Overall, the best preparation I can recommend is to study hard during the clerkship using the clerkship-specific resources, anki/take notes for review later in dedicated, and try to ace the shelf because they will be your best overall predictor of your Step 2CK score.

After finishing UW at the end of M3 year, I ended up trying to redo the wrong/marked questions but I ended up remembering too much of the question as I had used Anki throughout M3 year as well. So I only went through UW once and ended up just reviewing the charts from UW, anki cards, UpToDate, and dabbled in First Aid Step 2CK (9th Edition) which was decent; however, still highly incomplete but better than MTB books in my opinion. I took three NBMEs and my scores are below:

NBME 6 (1.5 weeks out): 273
NBME 7 (1 week out): 263
NBME 4 (3 days out): 269

Didn't get around to taking the UWSA exam because I didn't have time/motivation but I heard it was a pretty good predictor (better than the UWSAs for Step 1). So I'd say complete it if you have time since it has explanations (vs. NBMEs).

Step 2CK score: 270
Step 1 score (for reference): 260+

Sorry I can't type up a more elaborate review, but to be honest most of my studying was done throughout the year during clerkships and utilizing anki to review. I'll be glad to answer specific questions anyone has regarding studying or preparing for this beast, just shoot me a PM. Happy studying!

// ACTUAL EXAM THOUGHTS

Felt like the exam was more straight forward than I thought it would be, which is usually a bad thing for me since I tend to overlook small details and pick an answer that corresponded to another diagnosis. I was expecting a bunch of obscure diagnoses/random factoids, but to be honest, overall it was fair. I would say it was most like NBMEs 4/6 vs. NBME 7 but that could've just been my specific form. There were a few basic science questions and I had one block of 42 questions with a drug abstract and three biostats questions following it. The stems were about UW's length and a bit longer than the NBMEs but definitely readable. I was pressed for more time than usual (10-12 minutes left to review per block) but this was probably due to nerves/re-reading the stems to make sure I didn't misread anything lol. There were a few left field questions but these were far and few (<5% of the exam). I would say majority (if not all) of the test was in UW. My form was a bit more psych heavy from what I recall, but the psych questions weren't anything super obscure, they were HY diagnoses (ie. distinguishing acute stress vs. PTSD or MDD vs. bereavement, etc). Good luck, let me know if there are any questions I can answer, shoot me a PM!
 
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Mountaineer12 said:
248!

I'm not one of these SDN superstars that get >270s so I'm very happy with my score! Here's the breakdown of my UWorld percentages and practice test scores if anyone is interested:

Step 1: 239
1st UWorld pass: 70% correct
2nd UWorld pass: 90% correct (only finished about 60% before test day)
UWSA: 240 (2 weeks out)
NBME 6: 248 (1 week out)
NBME 7: 246 (4 days out)

I used First Aid for Step 2 CK throughout the whole year and annotated it to death with UWorld information. That helped a lot when it came time for dedicated study time because I had a pretty comprehensive book for review. Shelf prep throughout the year is key. UWorld and practice tests are definitely the most useful tool during dedicated study time.
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Congrats! Go celebrate and enjoy that awesome score.

I am going to start ms3 soon and also scored a 239 on step 1. Any tips and resources to use for rotations as well as step 2 ck would be really appreciated. Planning for a >250



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Azmahkiani said:
Congrats! Go celebrate and enjoy that awesome score.

I am going to start ms3 soon and also scored a 239 on step 1. Any tips and resources to use for rotations as well as step 2 ck would be really appreciated. Planning for a >250



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Click to expand...

Thanks!! I mostly used First Aid for shelf prep and dedicated study time. I annotated pretty much every inch of it with info from UWorld. Definitely do and review all of the UWorld questions. I did Case Files for some of the rotations, but didn't like them much (personal preference; they are a pretty resource usually). Pestana's is gold for surgery. A lot of people in my class used Step Up to Medicine or Master the Boards instead of First Aid. Good luck this year!!


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Mountaineer12 said:
Thanks!! I mostly used First Aid for shelf prep and dedicated study time. I annotated pretty much every inch of it with info from UWorld. Definitely do and review all of the UWorld questions. I did Case Files for some of the rotations, but didn't like them much (personal preference; they are a pretty resource usually). Pestana's is gold for surgery. A lot of people in my class used Step Up to Medicine or Master the Boards instead of First Aid. Good luck this year!!


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Click to expand...
Thank you!

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Hello everyone! Congratulations to everyone who got their scores back this week! I took my step 2 CK on 6/27 and got my score at 11 am EST today.

I scored a 281. Here is a brief description of my preparation. I thank everyone on SDN for their wonderful advice!

Preparation:

I had prepared for approximately 3 months while finishing out my third year medical school curriculum. I had made studying for the shelf exams a priority during the year and I think this was very helpful when I had to re-visit subject matter from earlier clerkships. My general strategy was to read for 2-3 hours and do 2-3 hours of questions on most days. As the year wore on, I dedicated more time to questions (6-8 hours per day) and kept the reading time the same. I used two question banks (uWorld and USMLERx) and did all the practice exams that I could find. I took NBME 7 at the start of my study period to establish a baseline. Then, starting week 8, I would take either an NBME practice CK or a set of 4 practice shelf exams (medicine, ob, peds, and surgery). I did the psych and neuro NBME practice shelf exams at random times as I was preparing for those shelf exams. I also did the UWSA a few days prior to my exam.

Resources: I read (re-read) these books at the start of my 3 month preparation period

Books:
General: MTB3 > FA for CK >>> Crush step 2
Medicine: SU2M
Surgery: NMS casebook, pestanas
OB/GYN: Blueprints
Pediatrics: BRS Peds
Psychiatry: FA for Psych
Neurology: Blueprints

Question banks: In the 12 weeks of study time, would do 3-5 blocks of questions (sometimes more) of questions and question review per day
uWorld - did once on untimed/unused/subject specific throughout the year and took notes - 85% first pass; reset and did it again at the start of the 12 weeks on timed/unused/random - 97% second pass
USMLERx - did once on timed/unused/all difficulties with 90% first pass

Practice Exams: I would look up all the wrong answers (google search for the question stems) and try to find explanations and make notes from these
12 weeks out - NBME 7 - 157 correct/184 total; 85% total; 560 raw; scaled score of 250
8 weeks out - NBME Medicine 1 (46/50), Surgery 1 (44/50), OB/GYN 1 (47/50), Peds 1 (47/50) = 184/200 = 92%
7 weeks out - NBME 3 - ? correct/184 total; ? %; 640 raw; scaled 267
6 weeks out - NBME Medicine 2 (47/50), Surgery 2 (44/50), OB/GYN 2 (45/50), Peds 2 (47/50) = 183/200 = 91.5%
5 weeks out - NBME 4 - 176/184; 95.6%; 690; 277
4 weeks out - NBME Medicine 3 (46/50), Surgery 3 (48/50), OB/GYN 3 (45/50), Peds 3 (48/50) = 187/200 = 93.5%
3 weeks out - NBME Medicine 4 (48/50), Surgery 4 (45/50), OB/GYN 4 (47/50), Peds 4 (48/50) = 188/200 = 94%
2 weeks out - NBME 6 - 177/184; 96.2%; 690; 277
1 week out - UWSA - 167/176; 94.9%; 265+
Done at random times in the last 6 weeks - NBME Psych 1 (44/50), Psych 2 (42/50), Psych 3 (45/50); NBME Neuro 4 (44/50), Neuro 3 (47/50), Neuro 2 (49/50), Neuro 1 (49/50)

Previous shelf exam scores (so you don't have to dig thru my old posts) and step 1 score:
Step 1 (taken a while back) - 264/99
Medicine - 99th %ile
Surgery - 100th %ile
OB/GYN - 100th %ile
Fam Med - 95th %ile
Pediatrics - 100th %ile
Psychiatry - 100th %ile
Neurology - 100th %ile

My impression of the exam: I had 7x44 + 1x42 questions. I thought the questions were similar to uWorld in length and similar to the NBME practice questions in vagueness. I thought that the questions covered the same distribution of topics as did uWorld (65% medicine). I took a 5 minute break between each section. Walked out and was very tired, but was confident that it had gone as well as the shelf exams. Could only think of 5-6 questions that I had missed outright. Otherwise, had 2-4 marked per block, which is on par with how much I mark on other exams.

My advice to folks who are preparing for this exam and starting 3rd year of medical school -
1. Do well on your shelf exams! Your clerkships are very demanding, but you absolutely need to study and ace the shelfs. This is a great opportunity to identify strengths and weaknesses and figure out the resources that work the best for you.
2. Do lots of questions, but make sure to write notes on questions that give you trouble/have a flow chart/or your find interesting.
3. Don't worry about which practice exam "predicts" your score. The trend that I've seen in all my classmates is that consistently performing well on the shelf exams correlates with high step scores. If you identify a weak area during your clerkships, you know what to target when you do your dedicated studying.
4. Be efficient. Time is limited, so sample a lot of resources and pick something that works for you. SDN is a great place to ask for advice, but opinions are like flavors of ice cream - everyone has a different one.
5. Repeat repeat repeat. Try to get the material down as fast as possible on the first try and discerning what you may want to revisit on a second/third/... pass through the book. This way, you can be more directed in your subsequent readings and be more efficient.
6. try to get through the written material before you do questions. Not even knowing the subject matter before attempting questions is a waste of a question bank. Sure there is a lot to learn from the explanations from uWorld, but you may not be able to appreciate the questions or the explanations on a deeper level (initially) without having done some reading from a primary source beforehand.

Good luck to all!
 
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248...am pleased.

I'm super average, and I wanted to make up for a not-so-hot step 1

Step 1: 214
UWorld 1st pass: 65% correct
UWorld 2nd pass: 80% correct
UWSA: 226 (4 weeks out)
NBME 7: 221 (1 week out, made me super nervous but I decided to sit for the test anyway)

I used UWorld all year, finished my first pass about a month before my 3 weeks of dedicated study time (wish I had a little more, that's what my school gave us). Also used Case Files all year long and was scoring well on my shelf exams. One pass through of MTB, a second read of pestana's for surgery, and onlinemeded for weaknesses (I thought the rheum, kidney/electrolyte, and endocrine lectures were super helpful.) I felt pressed for time throughout the whole exam, which doesn't usually happen to me, but the question stems were long and I often felt like I was familiar with the concepts, but I wasn't 100% sure of the answer. (I also sat this test 3 days after COMLEX 2, so maybe it was just exam fatigue.)

Good luck to everyone!
 
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Just got my results. F$!&ing stunned in the best possible way—high 250s.

The test felt alright, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, but leading up to it I felt absolutely awful about it. My practice scores were all over the place, with one even being in the 220s. Overall I just felt like I was sort of headed for disaster. I even considered rescheduling but it would have psychologically been an awful decision for me and ruined a lot of my fourth year with anxiety and stress.

So hopefully now I'm in a pretty good place for a nice psych program.

Step 2 CK: High 250s, better than my Step 1
Step 1: 250s
Step 2 CS: Pass

Thank you to all in this thread who supported me and helped me through my freakouts. Special thanks to @pd1112 for his kindness and support.

I may post more later but now I'm gonna celebrate. Where's my Mezcal?
 
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Took NBME 4 a week before the actual test. Got a 269 on that.
Scored +/- 5 of that on CK
About 1 month or so before the exam I took NBME 3 during a rotation- scored 240.

So I'd say 4 is reliable, didn't really do much studying between the 2 practice tests. Not much advice for CK compared to my Step 1 post. I would just say, don't waste time with Firecracker and make sure you sleep well the week leading up to the test. Also... time management is kinda important. I didn't have much trouble on time with step 1 so I guess I went in cocky, I ran out of break time after block 4 lol. Oh well, glad to be done.
 
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cabergoline2 said:
@ trogdor , are you MD/PhD ? judging by the fact that u took step1 when they had the double digit scoring.. congrats man...u must be a genius...🙂
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Haha! Yep, sure am an MD-PhD! Thrilled to be almost done too! 🙂 Not so much a genius though (haha!) 🙂

Those were the good old days...(of the two digit score) lol.
 
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First pass Uwolrd 74% - did CMS tests instead of second pass in UW
UWSA- 232, used it as a diagnostic after finishing the bank
CMS - Peds, Medicine, Psyche, Surgery - 21-26 range for all.
NBME 3- 244
NBME 4 - 258
NBME 6- 248 (not reassuring, my psyche scores keep going up and down)
NBME7- 252
USMLE Free 141 - 91%
Shooting for 250-260
Read through FA-CK x2, MTBx2 and Kaplan notes x2
Step 1 - seems irrelevant but it was low 240's.
Got my score back as well, high 250's just missed 260. 🙂

As others have stated felt pretty bad after my exam. I think the best decision I made for forgoing a second pass of uworld. Thanks Pholston for the suggestion. Good luck to everyone still waiting and thank you for everyone in this thread who has contributed. Onward and upward.
 
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Long time admirer from a distance, thought I'd share some of my experience since I benefitted greatly from those who shared.

Thrilled with my score today, scored a 265 on Step 2 CK.

Background: I'm a Caribbean IMG student, and I took this exam on 7/1 with 3.5 weeks of prep after finishing my last core (peds).
Step 1: 261 (taken 2015); Passed CS taken in May
Shelf Scores (scaled percent correct, I'm too lazy to calculate percentiles, nor do I care to): scattered from 82-89 (I used Uworld and Onlinemeded as my primary study source for all rotations, and used Pestana for surgery too. The text book or literature reading I did do on rotations was to learn and self-educate, not so much for test prep)
UWorld: first pass, done along with each respective rotation, I ended with a 70% overall before resetting

The reason I'm sharing is because I was so unsure of my decision to take only 3.5 weeks. Those weeks were very much different from my Step 1 days, when I would spend 12-14 hrs/day and felt like a workhorse and hermit. For step 2, think I did a max of 6-8 quality hours of studying spread throughout the day and lived a fairly normal life outside of studying.

But I had high aspirations to cover a lot of ground, including reading MTB2 and 3, Pestana, finishing Uworld, watching onlinemeded videos in select topics, using uptodate, doing all the NBMEs and UWSA, and doing USMLERx. Needless to say I fell WAY short.

Materials: I read MTB3 OB/GYN since it felt like my weakest subject at the onset, and then I reset uworld and just dove right in. I didn't feel like I had time to make flashcards, I just reviewed blocks after finishing them. Did all in random, timed exam mode. I finished it once and had time to do my incorrects only. I "skimmed" Pestana the day before my test. I watched all the Emma Holliday videos in the days leading up to my test. And I listened to some onlinemeded in my car whenever driving (didn't come close to finishing it). And yeah checked out uptodate whenever something was unclear.

NBME3 (took as my "diagnostic" 3.5 weeks out): 237
NBME4 (2.5 weeks out): 252
NBME6 (1 week out): 271
Finished Uworld (5 days out): 82% (this was technically my 2nd pass, as the 1st was throughout 3rd year)
UWSA (4 days out): 259
Fred (2 days out): 92% (or 89% if I count the horrendous showing in the 10 question media section)

I walked out of the real exam feeling like absolute poo. I had tix to see my absolute favorite musician that night and decided to pass bc my brain was fried. I felt like I could've scored anything. I felt confident I passed, but I had no idea by how much. The test had so many odd questions that I didn't feel directly prepped for.

That's why I'm writing this. Reflecting on this exam and third year overall, I can say that I have learned to trust my gut and instinct in situations where I'm challenged and out of my comfort zone (aka pretty much all 8 blocks of my Step 2ck exam), and I encourage you to do so too! I relied heavily on what I'd seen (both the good and the bad/incorrect) and I relief heavily on gut feeling. I definitely changed some answers incorrectly and made some mistakes, and I blame the nerves for that. I did feel anxious that the time I had spent was not enough bc I hadn't covered nearly as much as I had wanted to or as others had.

I went through all of 3rd year only doing questions and learning on the floors. Ultimately, I essentially studied for Step 2 by doing questions and watching videos (much easier on my brain than reading) and without using a primary text. I didn't trust myself to be a questions-only person, but I guess that's my style when it comes to test prep. ID your study style if you can, and design your study method based on that! Definitely look to forums such as these for examples or advice, but formulate your own study plan and stay the course!

Good luck to all of you waiting for scores and to all who will eventually take this beast!
 
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Hey guys, I just took the exam yesterday and am **** scared because my timing was so bad. I missed 3-4 questions on every block. I was able to put in random answers but had no time to read them. Overall it was 27 questions out of 318 on the test. I feel like an idiot. I guess I got too psyched at questions that I wasn't sure about and spent way too much time.

I got a 220 on the UWSA the day before, but for that I only had lost time on like 1 question per block. Has this happened to anyone else before and they've passed, at least decently?

On the bright side, I didn't think the questions that I did get to read/do were that bad. I thought it was even easier than UWorld.
 
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Propofol7 said:
Hey guys, I just took the exam yesterday and am **** scared because my timing was so bad. I missed 3-4 questions on every block. I was able to put in random answers but had no time to read them. Overall it was 27 questions out of 318 on the test. I feel like an idiot. I guess I got too psyched at questions that I wasn't sure about and spent way too much time.

I got a 220 on the UWSA the day before, but for that I only had lost time on like 1 question per block. Has this happened to anyone else before and they've passed, at least decently?

On the bright side, I didn't think the questions that I did get to read/do were that bad. I thought it was even easier than UWorld.
Click to expand...

I think it'll hurt, but you'll probably still end up scoring around your practice test scores. I had the same problem. Literally every single block there were 1-3 questions that I couldn't even read in its entirety or at all because time was running out.
 
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Bancrofti said:
I think it'll hurt, but you'll probably still end up scoring around your practice test scores. I had the same problem. Literally every single block there were 1-3 questions that I couldn't even read in its entirety or at all because time was running out.
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Thx for the reassurance. Was this with the new 40 block questions or the old 44?
 
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Took it yesterday. Most questions were very vague, kept going back and forth between two options that both felt very reasonable. There seemed to be a lot of questions that would list a bunch of risk factors a patient has and then ask which part of the patients history puts him/her most at risk for X. The worst part about this exam is reading through the stem and thinking "oh ya I got this" then getting to the last sentence where they give you the diagnoses and ask some weird question about management. Expecting a score between 200-280 :nailbiting:

Didn't do any assessments, cuz I live life on the edge..

Does everyone testing after July 10th get their result on september 14th?
 
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Is it possible to do 100 questions/day or uworld qbank? plus read 30 pages of MTB? Speed while reviewing the questions is 4 hours/44 questions.
 
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dorjosam said:
it takes me even more! 🙁((( Obsession is killing me these days!
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Hey that's perfectly normal.
Most days I finsh a block in a day- usually when I start a new topic. And this is my second pass, I was expecting a fast speed.
I was less than a block in my first pass of uworld and now it's 1.5 blocks a day so I guess there is some improvement though not the 2.5 or 3 blocks in was expecting.
I will try to more mindful of the little breaks that I take in between that stretch out and make my timing even worse.
I really want to be doing 2 to 3 blocks at this time!
 
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Journeyofwisdom said:
Hey that's perfectly normal.
Most days I finsh a block in a day- usually when I start a new topic. And this is my second pass, I was expecting a fast speed.
I was less than a block in my first pass of uworld and now it's 1.5 blocks a day so I guess there is some improvement though not the 2.5 or 3 blocks in was expecting.
I will try to more mindful of the little breaks that I take in between that stretch out and make my timing even worse.
I really want to be doing 2 to 3 blocks at this time!
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I try to do atleast 2 blocks/day, without taking any notes, its hard for me to do 2 blocks daily and I feel I am very slow. I don't know how some people do 3/ blocks/day.
 
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How many hours average/day should we study - exam in 5 weeks, haven't taken any assessments yet. left with 30 % uworld qbank 🙁
 
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LovesBikes said:
248...am pleased.

I'm super average, and I wanted to make up for a not-so-hot step 1

Step 1: 214
UWorld 1st pass: 65% correct
UWorld 2nd pass: 80% correct
UWSA: 226 (4 weeks out)
NBME 7: 221 (1 week out, made me super nervous but I decided to sit for the test anyway)

I used UWorld all year, finished my first pass about a month before my 3 weeks of dedicated study time (wish I had a little more, that's what my school gave us). Also used Case Files all year long and was scoring well on my shelf exams. One pass through of MTB, a second read of pestana's for surgery, and onlinemeded for weaknesses (I thought the rheum, kidney/electrolyte, and endocrine lectures were super helpful.) I felt pressed for time throughout the whole exam, which doesn't usually happen to me, but the question stems were long and I often felt like I was familiar with the concepts, but I wasn't 100% sure of the answer. (I also sat this test 3 days after COMLEX 2, so maybe it was just exam fatigue.)

Good luck to everyone!
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Hey congratulations on your score! My step 1 score was similar to yours, I am an avg student, aiming >240+ on step 2 ck. Any suggestions on how to do this exam would be helpful. Were the concepts on exam mostly from uworld qbank? Thats the only qbank I am doing right now.
 
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curacaosasha said:
How many hours average/day should we study - exam in 5 weeks, haven't taken any assessments yet. left with 30 % uworld qbank 🙁
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I think 10 hours is minimum maybe. I am also left with that much time and just at the start of my second pass of uworld and scoring in low 60s to early 70s.
I do 1.5 blocks because I do try to learn And take notes and consult FA for step 1 for some basic concepts that are in uworld otherwise uworld is my main resource as doing 1.5 blocks takes most of time anyway and no time to read. Maybe after I am done with my second pass I might be able to give quick read to MTB
 
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Journeyofwisdom said:
Though really hoping to cross over to 2 blocks soon otherwise the second pass will take forever. 🙁
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Thats true, I guess to score well on this exam for an avg student like me, I gotta do the second pass of uworld for sure and it will be possible if we do 2blocks/day. fingers crossed! All the best with your preparation, When do u plan to give your assessment ?
 
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Journeyofwisdom said:
Hey that's perfectly normal.
Most days I finsh a block in a day- usually when I start a new topic. And this is my second pass, I was expecting a fast speed.
I was less than a block in my first pass of uworld and now it's 1.5 blocks a day so I guess there is some improvement though not the 2.5 or 3 blocks in was expecting.
I will try to more mindful of the little breaks that I take in between that stretch out and make my timing even worse.
I really want to be doing 2 to 3 blocks at this time!
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That's completely true! I jumped right away on UW, a full set of random timed mode from the beginning. I like this method because it forces my brain to expect unknown concepts each time and try to handle it under time pressure. but when I start to read explanations, I need to digest all words and tables and points, including irrelevant (but important) things about each choice. I'm improving significantly but now I'm beginning to feel nauseous when I want to read UW explanations! and there is no time to read or watch anything else! when I finish each block, it's night and tomorrow morning I should start a new block! something is wrong here but I guess I just have to persist...
 
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curacaosasha said:
Hey congratulations on your score! My step 1 score was similar to yours, I am an avg student, aiming >240+ on step 2 ck. Any suggestions on how to do this exam would be helpful. Were the concepts on exam mostly from uworld qbank? Thats the only qbank I am doing right now.
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I used UWorld for the most part, and have been using it all year to study for my shelf exams. I also really liked the case files series and used those for my shelf exams. I made notes on every question that I got wrong in UWorld, or parts of the answer explanations that I did not understand. I went over these notes about once per week, and every day for the last week of studying. I found that UWorld was a really solid resource, MTB and onlinemeded don't go into enough detail, but were still good for reinforcing concepts. I made 2 passes through UWorld and one pass through COMBANK (I go to a DO school.) Hope this helps! Good luck!
 
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LovesBikes said:
I used UWorld for the most part, and have been using it all year to study for my shelf exams. I also really liked the case files series and used those for my shelf exams. I made notes on every question that I got wrong in UWorld, or parts of the answer explanations that I did not understand. I went over these notes about once per week, and every day for the last week of studying. I found that UWorld was a really solid resource, MTB and onlinemeded don't go into enough detail, but were still good for reinforcing concepts. I made 2 passes through UWorld and one pass through COMBANK (I go to a DO school.) Hope this helps! Good luck!
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thank you !
 
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Doing my second pass of Uworld with 4 blocks a day and it's soul crushing. But it's at least comforting I am in the high 80s? Who knows. Lolz.

Those who took it recently/got their scores...is Online Meded with two passes of Uworld sufficient for a 240+? If not, anything you would differently?

My NBME 4 last week was a 240.
 
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