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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I don't know if many are aware of this, but if for whatever reason you are not able to take your exam by the end of your permit date have your school withdraw your permit. Notify NBME that you won't be able to sit for the exam. NBME will credit your account and you can use the $880 when you register again when you're ready to take the exam.
 
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Light Yagami said:
I don't know if many are aware of this, but if for whatever reason you are not able to take your exam by the end of your permit date have your school withdraw your permit. Notify NBME that you won't be able to sit for the exam. NBME will credit your account and you can use the $880 when you register again when you're ready to take the exam.
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Thanks for posting this. Do you have to contact your school or can it be done directly through NBME?
 
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I contacted my school, they pulled my permit and notified NBME. I wrote an email to NBME stating that I could not sit for the exam and am not registered for it with my school and requested a credit to my account.
 
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Coyllur said:
So you think doing more CMS and NBME is better than finishing UW? (I can only study on weekends+maybe 1 block of UW on weekdays after work so might have to choose between finishing UW and CMS)
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I would not put it that way, but if you are doing random mode, and you know that you are clearly weaker in some areas than others, then I would say that you have more points to gain by doing CMS and perhaps a bit of subject mode for those subjects instead of going through the rest of UWorld just for the sake of finishing it.
 
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Mr.wonderful said:
thx guys for responses ( I forgot to respond but read your comments)

in the last 18 days , I did most CMS ,read MTBs again then did UWAS I got 242.
I guess my weakness was with recalling facts rather than understanding concepts.
I now have 4 weeks , I am doing the rest of CMS , and will do Meded videos along with their MCQs ,will read MTBs 1-2 times , do UWORLD wrong Qs and I will just give my test.
I was really willing to hit a high score , but given the fact in Oct I will very busy , I'm not considering postponing
so if any other suggestions. I will be thankful.


and I have a question , what's the difference between Meded videos and Audios if any one knows?
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You can improve greatly as you are hitting 242 4 weeks out, just play your cards right. If you understand the concepts, do not go through MTB again, that is not how you will get the extra points. As for the rest of your plan, it looks reasonable. I cannot remember whether you had done any of the NBMEs, but since a major factor during the exam is your stamina, you could pool two of them together and simulate a real exam at home a few weeks out. In addition, if you are weak in OBGYN, and you feel as if you have the time, you can add in UWise. However, take your time with the wrong Qs in UWorld first.
 
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Mr.wonderful said:
thx guys for responses ( I forgot to respond but read your comments)

in the last 18 days , I did most CMS ,read MTBs again then did UWAS I got 242.
I guess my weakness was with recalling facts rather than understanding concepts.
I now have 4 weeks , I am doing the rest of CMS , and will do Meded videos along with their MCQs ,will read MTBs 1-2 times , do UWORLD wrong Qs and I will just give my test.
I was really willing to hit a high score , but given the fact in Oct I will very busy , I'm not considering postponing
so if any other suggestions. I will be thankful.


and I have a question , what's the difference between Meded videos and Audios if any one knows?
Click to expand...

Wow! Your post gave me so much hope. I got 228 on UWSA a week ago and I am doing 70-75% on UW and I had no idea what to do. I am now going to do exactly what you did. Do CMS,a review of MTB+my UW notes. If I can pull a 240+ on my NBME in 2 weeks I'll be so happy! Wish you a sweet 250+ 🙂
 
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Copenhagen said:
I would not put it that way, but if you are doing random mode, and you know that you are clearly weaker in some areas than others, then I would say that you have more points to gain by doing CMS and perhaps a bit of subject mode for those subjects instead of going through the rest of UWorld just for the sake of finishing it.
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Yeah, I will try to do as much of UW as I can. Thanks for the advice. I didn't even know what CMS is before reading about it here. Just have to come up with 400$ to buy all CMS forms 🙁 If I need to pick (which I will) I should do the latest one in each subject, right? What about NBME? I see here that people do NBME form 4 and 7. Why not 6 and 7?
 
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mcloaf said:
I'm not sure you can strongly advocate for or against the NBMEs given that 1) you don't have your score back and 2) you didn't take them yourself.
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Since the start of M3, I had done qbank 1.5x times and did it over again during my study period plus UWSA. The test was nothing like qbank questions, at all. By test day I could tear apart every uworld question and tell you why all the other answers choices were wrong and still finish with time to spare. I am basing my advice on doing the NBMEs because I did a few of the CMS series tests during M3. Essentially my advice is dont beat a dead horse. Uworld simply is not good enough for CK as many made it out to be.
 
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minutemen11 said:
Since the start of M3, I had done qbank 1.5x times and did it over again during my study period plus UWSA. The test was nothing like qbank questions, at all. By test day I could tear apart every uworld question and tell you why all the other answers choices were wrong and still finish with time to spare. I am basing my advice on doing the NBMEs because I did a few of the CMS series tests during M3. Essentially my advice is dont beat a dead horse. Uworld simply is not good enough for CK as many made it out to be.
Click to expand...

I felt UW was reasonably good preparation, but I have to wait to get my score back to know for sure.
 
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Copenhagen said:
You can improve greatly as you are hitting 242 4 weeks out, just play your cards right. If you understand the concepts, do not go through MTB again, that is not how you will get the extra points. As for the rest of your plan, it looks reasonable. I cannot remember whether you had done any of the NBMEs, but since a major factor during the exam is your stamina, you could pool two of them together and simulate a real exam at home a few weeks out. In addition, if you are weak in OBGYN, and you feel as if you have the time, you can add in UWise. However, take your time with the wrong Qs in UWorld first.
Click to expand...
I'm considering doing MTB bcuz I noticed that most of my mistakes were there in MTBs.
I believe I have the time so why not to go over it ?
I did NBME7 was 223 3 weeks ago. I m not willing to do anymore of them cause I'm going to take the test anyway and let's save up money to party after the test :hardy:+pity+:banana:.
Thx so much for comment .. helps me a lot


Coyllur said:
Wow! Your post gave me so much hope. I got 228 on UWSA a week ago and I am doing 70-75% on UW and I had no idea what to do. I am now going to do exactly what you did. Do CMS,a review of MTB+my UW notes. If I can pull a 240+ on my NBME in 2 weeks I'll be so happy! Wish you a sweet 250+ 🙂
Click to expand...
Happy to hear that .
CMS will be a great help as long as you got fed up with UWORLD. but try if you can after that to finish UWORLD. It's the best explanatory tool.
Wish you 260+ lol 😉
 
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Mr.wonderful said:
I'm considering doing MTB bcuz I noticed that most of my mistakes were there in MTBs.
I believe I have the time so why not to go over it ?
Click to expand...
In that case, it makes sense. If you have access to UpToDate or something similar, you might want to consider blending that in, as MTB is often outdated for Rx algorithms. If we are talking more basic stuff, it should not be a problem.
 
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Coyllur said:
Yeah, I will try to do as much of UW as I can. Thanks for the advice. I didn't even know what CMS is before reading about it here. Just have to come up with 400$ to buy all CMS forms 🙁 If I need to pick (which I will) I should do the latest one in each subject, right? What about NBME? I see here that people do NBME form 4 and 7. Why not 6 and 7?
Click to expand...
If you have to choose, then yes, def. do the latest forms first. Forms 3 and 4 were released earlier this year, simultaneously. If you have to choose between the NBMEs, do 6+7, given my earlier post. 3 is a throwaway regardless. 6 is overall the best score predictor. 7 shows best how frustrating the real exam is.
 
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Copenhagen said:
If you have to choose, then yes, def. do the latest forms first. Forms 3 and 4 were released earlier this year, simultaneously. If you have to choose between the NBMEs, do 6+7, given my earlier post. 3 is a throwaway regardless. 6 is overall the best score predictor. 7 shows best how frustrating the real exam is.
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Wait..I thought NBME 7 is the newest and 3 the oldest :O
 
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Arghh-- Got 246 on NBME 6 yesterday-- exam tomorrow. I was hitting 80% on UWorld, and have done 80% of it total--I was hoping to break 250, but this may now be a pipe dream.

I had a 241 on Step 1. How bad does it look if your Step 2 Ck is the same as or lower than your Step 1 score? I had a 235 on Nmbe 7 taken 1 month ago as well, so I might not even hit 240. Really stressed.

Since I'm not applying this year, I could push it out to next September 20th, 2017. I would study between Sept 5th-20th, but I'm worried this would be too late for residency apps next year. This seems stupid, though, and I might forget everything before then.
 
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SilverCat said:
Arghh-- Got 246 on NBME 6 yesterday-- exam tomorrow. I was hitting 80% on UWorld, and have done 80% of it total--I was hoping to break 250, but this may now be a pipe dream.

I had a 241 on Step 1. How bad does it look if your Step 2 Ck is the same as or lower than your Step 1 score? I had a 235 on Nmbe 7 taken 1 month ago as well, so I might not even hit 240. Really stressed.

Since I'm not applying this year, I could push it out to next September 20th, 2017. I would study between Sept 5th-20th, but I'm worried this would be too late for residency apps next year. This seems stupid, though, and I might forget everything before then.
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Copenhagen said:
Since the question of the reliability of self-assessments keeps popping op all the time, here is a breakdown of the last 127 test takers (2015-2016) who have reported their exact step 2 CK score as well as the exact score from at least one self-assessment. I have not included FRED or UWorld percentage as these would be nonsense.

Do not put too much into the median scores per se either, SDN scores are heavily biased - both selection bias and reporting bias. Not only are test takers with good scores much more likely to report, so are those who improved significantly from their self-assessments. In addition, remember that UWSA is most often the practice test taken closest to the real deal - and that its prediction ability for 265+ scorers should become even better, now that you can score more than 265.

Although I did stratify for NBMEs taken before and after the re-calibration in October 2015, there was no significant difference in the predictive value of NBME7 per se, but the adjusted curve has lowered the numerical difference between NBME7 and Step 2 CK scores (please see below NBME7). Also keep in mind that due to its reputation, many have taken NBME7 early during preparation.

Step 2 CK (n = 127):
Median (IQR): 256 (248-264)

UWSA (n =106):
Median (IQR): 255 (242-262)
Median difference (Step 2 CK minus UWSA) (IQR): 4 (-1 to 11)
Step 2 CK score > 265: 8 (4 to 12)
Step 2 CK score =/< 265: 2 (-2 to 11)
P-value for difference (Mann-Whitney U test): p = 0.004
Coefficient of variation: 5.0%
Spearman correlation with Step 2 CK: 0.672 (p < 0.0001)

NBME7 (n=73):
Median (IQR): 240 (229-254)
Median difference (Step 2 CK minus NBME7) (IQR): 13 (6 to 23)
Pre-calibration: 15 (7 to 24)
Post-calibration: 11 (0 to 21)
P-value for difference (Mann-Whitney U test): p = 0.07
Coefficient of variation: 7.5%
Spearman correlation with Step 2 CK: 0.743 (p < 0.0001)

NBME6 (n=74):
Median (IQR): 252 (240-264)
Median difference (Step 2 CK minus NBME6) (IQR): 5 (-4 to 15)
Coefficient of variation: 7.5%
Spearman correlation with Step 2 CK: 0.717 (p < 0.0001)

NBME4 (n=73):
Median (IQR): 246 (234-260)
Median difference (Step 2 CK minus NBME4) (IQR): 11 (2 to 22)
Coefficient of variation: 7.9%
Spearman correlation with Step 2 CK: 0.654 (p < 0.0001)
Click to expand...
 
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I couldn't find any reports of a 9-block step2ck exam anywhere and what it meant, has anyone here had one?
 
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CoolioMD said:
I couldn't find any reports of a 9-block step2ck exam anywhere and what it meant, has anyone here had one?
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Was it really 9 blocks of questions? I am asking this b/c the tutorial counts as block 1, so in the end you have 9 blocks but only 8 of them are questions
 
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Well-I took it today--highly doubt that I passed. I was guessing on pretty much everything. UWorld does not prepare you for these questions at all--I would say they are at least 3X harder than the hardest UWorld question. They are extremely convoluted.

I know scores don't come in until the third or fourth Wednesday, but how long did you guys have to wait until the permit disappeared--aka--know you passed?
 
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SilverCat said:
Well-I took it today--highly doubt that I passed. I was guessing on pretty much everything. UWorld does not prepare you for these questions at all--I would say they are at least 3X harder than the hardest UWorld question. They are extremely convoluted.

I know scores don't come in until the third or fourth Wednesday, but how long did you guys have to wait until the permit disappeared--aka--know you passed?
Click to expand...

That scares me lol. would you say the exam is more like the nbme self assessments? Uworld did not help AT ALL?
 
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SweetSyndrome88 said:
That scares me lol. would you say the exam is more like the nbme self assessments? Uworld did not help AT ALL?
Click to expand...

Uworld helps, but I think you need to know a deeper level of detail than is presented in UWorld. I took NBME 6 two days ago, and thought it was much easier than the real deal.
 
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Is it just me or are there hard and easy versions of the exam? Because I took it 2 days ago and thought the exam was much easier than I thought it was going to be. This is coming from someone who barely got average on Step 1. It may have been my exam but I though CK was much better and fairer than Step 1. The stems definitely shorter than the stems in Step 1 and were the same size as the ones from UW. The content was also rarely out of left field and UWorld did a pretty good job of covering everything and that's the only resource I used. It honestly felt like taking 8 blocks of UW with a lot of gimmes thrown in there. Idk maybe I just got lucky but I didnt' feel the same away I did coming out of this exam as I did from Step I.
 
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My opinion on this Hard/Easier version comes down to a person's strength/weakness . Most of the the forms are similar, one form might ask you to diagnosis Gout and another might ask about treatment of gout. i don't see how they can be scored equally if they are off by much. The exam is tough, very demanding and requires a lot of endurance , nothing you've done during your medical education up to that point will mirror the experience " Not even step 1 " .. This exam requires you to think/ analyze for 8 F-ing hours , Step 1 , you're basically on autopilot after 3rd block .. I think what get's people on On CK is the uncertainty , You click A .. but in back of your mind answer C also looks good . Just gotta suck it up i guess and take it like a Champ .
 
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SilverCat said:
Well-I took it today--highly doubt that I passed. I was guessing on pretty much everything. UWorld does not prepare you for these questions at all--I would say they are at least 3X harder than the hardest UWorld question. They are extremely convoluted.

I know scores don't come in until the third or fourth Wednesday, but how long did you guys have to wait until the permit disappeared--aka--know you passed?
Click to expand...
May I ask how you were doing on UW?
 
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Coyllur said:
May I ask how you were doing on UW?
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80-85%, random, tutored version

Perhaps I need to apologize-- I'm not trying to fearmonger by saying UWorld is completely useless for this exam: I just want to emphasize that the Step 2 questions are far less straightforward than the questions that UWorld presents.

If I had the chance to re-study for this exam, I would have used more than just UWorld. I think you may be able to swing UWorld as a sole study material only if you have excellent Step 1 and shelf scores--I have fairly average scores (241, and low to mid 80s on shelf exams).
 
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SilverCat said:
80-85%, random, tutored version

Perhaps I need to apologize-- I'm not trying to fearmonger by saying UWorld is completely useless for this exam: I just want to emphasize that the Step 2 questions are far less straightforward than the questions that UWorld presents.

If I had the chance to re-study for this exam, I would have used more than just UWorld. I think you may be able to swing UWorld as a sole study material only if you have excellent Step 1 and shelf scores--I have fairly average scores (241, and low to mid 80s on shelf exams).
Click to expand...
Any feedback after the exam is helpful (and of course generous) even if it sounds scary! 🙂
 
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Hey guys! Can i have some advice? Pleaseeeeeeee!
I have exam in 8 days and i am not sure what to make of my scores so far.
My scores:
NBME 3: 240
NBME 4: 242
NBME6: 275
NBME7: 231:
UWSA: 242 (today)

How can i improve?
 
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CoolioMD said:
What do you mean "disappeared"? Like the "Print Permit" button is no longer there above the "Confirm or Reschedule Exam" button in the NBME Licensing Examination Services page?
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I dont have a "Print Permit" (took exam 8/24) either but I am not sure that I ever did? Does the Print Permit stay up through when you took your exam? I didnt check.
 
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UCA2390 said:
I dont have a "Print Permit" (took exam 8/24) either but I am not sure that I ever did? Does the Print Permit stay up through when you took your exam? I didnt check.
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Is this what you see?
 

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CoolioMD said:
Is this what you see?
Click to expand...

This is what I see (cropping out the "apply" pane on the left to make it match what you posted), but my eligibility period ended last week. So the "Print Permit" and "Confirm or Reschedule Exam" boxes aren't there... but I'm assuming that's because I'm outside of the eligibility period.

zzz.png
 
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Taking mine 9/16. Do you think I can expect my scores 10/5 or will scores continue to be at least a little delayed? Thanks.
 
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sinombre said:
This is what I see (cropping out the "apply" pane on the left to make it match what you posted), but my eligibility period ended last week. So the "Print Permit" and "Confirm or Reschedule Exam" boxes aren't there... but I'm assuming that's because I'm outside of the eligibility period.

View attachment 208796
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Oh good call, my eligibility is over too. Looks like it will just be a surprise when it comes!
 
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Copenhagen said:
In that case, it makes sense. If you have access to UpToDate or something similar, you might want to consider blending that in, as MTB is often outdated for Rx algorithms. If we are talking more basic stuff, it should not be a problem.
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I have started using UpToDate (only the summaries) and I am so happy I did. MTB is just so outdated on so many subjects (mine is MTB step3 btw). They are benefiting big time from this lack of good resources for Step 2 &3 :/
 
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SilverCat said:
80-85%, random, tutored version

Perhaps I need to apologize-- I'm not trying to fearmonger by saying UWorld is completely useless for this exam: I just want to emphasize that the Step 2 questions are far less straightforward than the questions that UWorld presents.

If I had the chance to re-study for this exam, I would have used more than just UWorld. I think you may be able to swing UWorld as a sole study material only if you have excellent Step 1 and shelf scores--I have fairly average scores (241, and low to mid 80s on shelf exams).
Click to expand...

Not trying to fearmonger but saying you think you failed? Over 90th %ile on UW, well above average step1 & at least low-mid 80s %iles on shelf exams? I'll pay your loans back if you failed.

CholeCystems said:
Took it mid July and permit gone for me as well. Maybe tomorrow is the day?!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Probably not, but stranger things have happened.
 
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