Usmle Step 2

[Swaydaa]

Hey guys just took step 2 today. I hope this is legal?? I scored a 230 on Step 1 and I thought it was a little tougher. You will probably hear many more people say it was easier, so take my statement with a grain of salt!

1. I had no less than 20 questions (yes 20) on amenorrhea (all types), womans fertility, and womens endocrine......CANT STAND THAT CRAP!! What sucked the most is they ALL stated...the mans sperm count was good....I was waiting for one of those. Had many OB questions (35-40) I was pleased at that...I like OB

2. I had about 10 questions on congenital heart defects...know the blood gases and symptoms that go with each (I hate that crap). One associated with an XRAY. They don't give the "classical" buzzwords.

3. I finished my last 5 days of studying with surgery.....cant even recall 2-3 freakin pure surgery questions....what a total waste time (in my opinion).

4. about 40-50 questions concerning what test you would do next.

5. I consider myself pretty darn good at reading EKG's and recognizing dysrythmias....NOT A Single rhythm strip or EKG....damn. I did have a question that stated the patient had peaked T-waves.

6. I had exactly 5 questions on epi/stats. sensitivity, PPV, NPV, power....ONE asking about relative risk. Do a quick run through on doing the math for these things...I thought I was good, but I proved to be a little rusty (spent 4-5 minutes on one question trying to figure out where to put the numbers).

7. Had a good number of trauma questions...definatley worth a little extra time.

8. I was lucky mine did not have a bunch of DERM...I was scoring mid to low 60's on Q-bank for DERM. As a whole, I thought the Q-bank was good/OK for step 2. It was nowhere close to being as detailed as the actual test....but It does cover all the topics. MKASP was pretty darn good I must say.....real close to the actual IM questions!!

9. I hear the test bank has over 10,000 questions. I only had 376 questions, so everyones test may be totally different.

10. The test was freakin looooooooooooong as hell. 9 HOURS. the last block and half I was shot. My eyes were the only thing holding me to the computor...the rest of my body was FALLING AWAYYYYYYYYYYy. Get some good rest. Lot tougher than step 1 concerning getting through and reading the page long question with labs.

11. About 4 to 5 questions on acid base with the actual blood gas in the question...pure respiratory, compensated, etc.

12. OB/GYN blueprints in my opinion is the absolute gold standard for USMLE step 2. Best of the bluprints series. Pediactric blueprints follows OB at a close second. I thought internal medicine blueprints stunk like Sh-t for the exam. I wil post my results when I receive them and then offer my study plan if it worked???


Thanks for listening...just had to get it off my back. GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE. I hope you do well.

Anyone ELSE please feel free to add your experience!!!!

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[Scooby Moo]

4. about 40-50 questions concerning what test you would do next.

I've grown to hate this type of question.

Thanks for posting your experience, and congrats on being finished with this obstacle!

 

[sony]

hi
im goin to take on step 2
your thread is extremely helpful

 

[andwhat]

hi, this is a very very useful thread! can you please tell me approximately how long did you study, how many hours per day, and what were youre Qbank scores, to begin with and then eventually?
thanks so much and good luck! maaan I freakin HATE amenorrhea
thanks man!

 

[LovelyRita]

Swaydaa congrats on getting step 2 overwith. Is the score reporting the same as step 1 (~6 weeks?). Good luck!
M.

 

[inositide]

Excuse the ignorance, but what is MKSAP?

 

[Swaydaa]

I spent about 6 weeks studying during reallllllly light rotations. Was at 71% on Qbank. MKASP is the "Medical Knowledge Self-Assessment Program" through the American College of Physicians.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who hates non-bleeding women!!

 

[Swaydaa]

I hear it's 4 to 5 weeks to get results.

 

[bloodsaver]

I took my Step 2 yesterday. I had about 10 derm questions. Four rhythm strips. Three biostats. Suprisingly large amount of surgery. Oodles of OB/Gyn. And wierd immunology questions x 4. This test honestly felt easier than Step 1 by 20%. I got a 249 on Step 1, I hope that my feeling about this one is right.

 

[Spang]

As a whole, I thought the Q-bank was good/OK for step 2. It was nowhere close to being as detailed as the actual test....but It does cover all the topics. MKASP was pretty darn good I must say.....real close to the actual IM questions!!

Are you talking about MKSAP 2 for med student or the MKSP 12/13 for residents?

Thanks!

Spang

 

[Swaydaa]

I used the MKASP for students. I will post my results as soon as I receive them. I will wait till then to offer advice as where I could have improved/changed things. As you can see by the post by bldsaver, life is like a box of chocolates....... you never know whatcha gonna get!

 

[undecided05]

was it me or was the 148 questions put out by USMLE way too easy? Much easier that the Q bank?

 

[Swaydaa]

You are 100% correct about the USMLE questions. I did those questions the night before STEP 2 . Lets just say, I went to bed feeling like a king!! I woke up the morning after next feeling like a Piece of SHEEEEET. There must be a good reason why they are "released".

 

[Amy]

Thanks for this thread, it's very helpful! How/ where do you get MKSAP? I'm tackling the Step 2 beast in September....

 

[Swaydaa]

There are a few on EBAY now and they also have them at amazon.com

 

[smellycat]

Just finished my step2....
i must say it was a lot harder than either qbank or the released but much more like qbank than any questions.
I did the lecture series and qbank questions.
I had quite of neuro questions (where is the lesion), i had 4 EKGs, two stats questions (specificity/sens), tons of trauma (know your trauma or else ya mama!), a few breast CA what to do next, and just questions i had no idea what the answer was.
Qbank doesn't prepare you for the A-M questions where they give you 2 questions and have to choose the same answer choices. That you'll have to get practice from the released. And they aren't at the end liked the released. They threw them throughout the exam. I thought those were a bit easier though.
My exam started hard but got easier as i took it. Not sure if it is because i got warmed up, but i swear it seemed like it got easier ( mebbe because i got them wrong hehe)
I'm glad it is over with and now i can relax a bit until my electives. Good luck all!

 

[BatmanMD]

Also finished step 2 yesterday.

Glad its over, but kinda curious about the score. It didn't seem to be THAT bad, granted some ? were just way out there. Secrets and Crush step 2 nailed a lot of questions (hopefully, what they said is what I answered). I had a lot of psych ?, conduct disorder, schizophrenia , phreniform, oid.... I had a couple of very specific ? on which drug should you use... and they were of course psych. They all look the same to me.

Other than that, I say mine was very well balanced. Now just to wait that 6 weeks....

 

[ginger_flower]

amy,

I ordered my copy off the acp website. If they don't have the book in your uni bookstore, then that would be the best bet to look since the book is published by acp.

 

[ginger_flower]

first of all, thanks to all that posted and congrats on finishing!

did any of you use the kaplan center prep with the videos or the live prep? the kaplan peeps at our school are really trying to press us to get this as third years. i really don't think there will be the time in third year to sit down and watch videos for hours when one has the option on those rare days off to have a semblence of a normal life. is kaplan merely a greedy, money making machine? any opinions would be appreciated.

finally, for those that used step 2 ck qbank, did a qbook come with your 1 month subscription or did you have to buy the qbook separately? thanks so much!

 

[starayamoskva]

Swaydaa congrats on getting step 2 overwith. Is the score reporting the same as step 1 (~6 weeks?). Good luck!
M.

3 weeks and 6 days from my test date until the Dean's office called me my results. I don't have the score report in hand yet, so I don't know the mean and standard deviation yet, but I scored over 240 .

My study concentrated on USMLE secrets, boards and wards and Q-bank (Kaplan). I know a lot of people didn't like Q-bank for Step 2 but it worked well for me. I did all the questions and repeats until all questions were answered correctly. My Kaplan scores ranged from high 80-90's in OB and psych to high 60's to 70's on medicine and psych (these are the scores without the repeat questions). I really think it is imperative if you are going to get the full benefit to go back and review the questions you missed. I would generally jot down a short note on the missed questions and then went back and reviewed this a few days before the big day.

 

[Scooby Moo]

3 weeks and 6 days from my test date until the Dean's office called me my results. I don't have the score report in hand yet, so I don't know the mean and standard deviation yet, but I scored over 240 .

Congrats on the awesome score!

 

[Gauss]

so I don't know the mean and standard deviation yet,

mean = 216
std dev = 23
pass = 182

pretty big jump in mean - about 2-3 months ago it was 212
of course it could change later in the year again

 

[smellycat]

first of all, thanks to all that posted and congrats on finishing!

did any of you use the kaplan center prep with the videos or the live prep? the kaplan peeps at our school are really trying to press us to get this as third years. i really don't think there will be the time in third year to sit down and watch videos for hours when one has the option on those rare days off to have a semblence of a normal life. is kaplan merely a greedy, money making machine? any opinions would be appreciated.

finally, for those that used step 2 ck qbank, did a qbook come with your 1 month subscription or did you have to buy the qbook separately? thanks so much!

the lectures...hrm..don't think it is necessary but would help when you study before the step 2. As for the lecture books, they are great during rotations and i mostly used those as my study aids for the shelf exams. You may want to use other sources to get more info, but i thought they were pretty inclusive.
The month of qbank does NOT include the qbook. try and find it on ebay.

 

[Carm]

Just finished Step 2 Saturday. Would like to echo the advice given previously. After taking the test I am happy with my stategy.

Crush / B & W's / QBank / NMS

Qbank was very much like the real deal. I feel that the real one was tougher, but very comparable. It helps you relax when the format on the screen is exactly like what you have been staring at for two weeks. Length and type of questions, lab values, etc were dead on.

The eight blocks were rough. Take some coffee. Felt like Step I in that most of the questions I didn't know (quite a few) I wouldn't have known no matter how much time I spent studying. Crush and Qbank will get you passed and a good score, but an excellent score depends just on how test savvy you are (ala Step I).

Overall, I was pleased with this strategy (that many others layed out for me on this forum). I guess we'll just wait to see how my score turns out.

 

[Carm]

BTW, it feels great to have that dark cloud removed from my head. Glad I knocked Step II out early. Maybe I can focus on learning for the sake of learning rather than learning with a test looming.

 

[Jeff698]

I just got home from taking Step II. Damn, that thing was long. While I finished about 1 1/2 hours early, I still had to push myself through that last block.

I did QBank (most of it, anyway) and B&W. That's about all I could stand. I'm still burned out from studying so much for Step I. I'm pretty clear THAT didn't help much so I figured I'd try the minimalist approach this time. I doubt it made much of a difference. I'm pretty sure I past and did roughly what I did for step I. Not great, but good enough (I hope).

I thought QBank was a pretty good approximation of the real thing, although the real thing didn't have as many questions where I was screaming "NO, you idiot!". QBank's approach to ACLS drove me crazy (they confuse symptomatic VT and pulseless VT...repeatedly!) but the real test did a good job on these.

I also had a ton of OB/GYN questions. Also, lots of pscyhiatry and pediatrics; fair amounts of trauma, not so much congenital immune deficiency (thank GOD!), not much oncology.

I'd recommend looking at the actual question first, then glancing at the choices and then, if necessary, reading the dissertation above the question. There were many questions where, after three paragraphs of text and tons of lab values, the actual question then says "the patient has condition X", what should you do?

I had two 12 lead ECGs, several pictures and XRays and a couple of graphs. These were all well done, clear and easy to see (even if I didn't know what I was seeing).

Well, that's about all I can remember. Time for a nap. Unfortunately, I'll probably have a nightmare about my check bouncing for II CS.

Take care,
Jeff

 

[Swaydaa]

I just got done talking with 2 guys who had different types of questions than me. Although, the one common theme with all of us was....TRAUMA!! It seems to always be there.

And after looking at the many posts...you can tell it's a lot of info to cover. I do like that we have a running thread with topics covered!

 

[Swaydaa]

But....I still stand firm in the fact that I was shocked at my # of sugery questions (2-3) I guess I'm still a litte sore that I spent the last 5 days studying surgery!

 

[joaquin13]

what does everyone think of the NMS questions vs. the real USMLE step II questions?

 

[melonque]

Did any of you guys did USMLEworld? I heard their questions are a lot more similar to the real things in term of difficulty. What do you think?

 

[Swaydaa]

Hear NMS is good, not sure about USMLEworld? I did find out that I passed today. Did that old trick of trying to register for step 2. So, I'm slightly relieved. Hear it takes another 3-4 days after the "trick" to get the actual score....can't wait much longer! So, it took exactly 4 weeks to get the grade reported and the results sent out.

 

[smellycat]

When i tried registering again for the step 2 it says that
"An open Step 2 CK registration already exists. Try again"
Does that mean i passed or am i just giving myself false hopes

 

[Swaydaa]

I believe your reply means the scores are not in yet. When I tried it before today it said "you have already registered for this exam". When I did it today it said "Our records indicate that you have already passed this Step or the equivalent NBME? Part. The USMLE Policy on Reexamination generally does not allow applicants to retake a Step examination if they have already passed that Step or the equivalent NBME Part".

 

[puffy1]

Took step 2 today...I'll echo nearly everyone's sentiment here in saying that it was loooong. When you were done reading over a nice two-paragraph question, there was a three paragraph question right after it. And when there was a nice one-sentence question, it turned out to be tougher than the longer questions.

It seemed to me the majority of questions dealt with management and most likely's. What surprised me was the number of pathophysiology/etiology questions (i.e. Step 1 stuff), as well as risk factors and "what is this person at greatest risk for with this disease" questions I ran into. It felt like there were between four to six of those types of questions every block. The ethics questions were tough as well...you could narrow it down to the best two and then make your gut call.

Personally, I felt like I definitively knew 1/3rd of the answers, sorta knew 1/3rd, and took a best guess on the final 1/3rd. I definitely had to fight through mental fatigue on the last three blocks. As far as what I studied, here in order is what I thought helped most:

1. Step 2 secrets/Mock Exam
2. Qbank/Qbook
3. Pretest Clinical Vignettes Step 2
4. Boards and Wards
5. Combo of First Aid Step 2/Cracking the Boards/Platinum Vignettes

I wish I could correlate this with a score, but I don't have a firm feel of how I did (I think many other people taking the same exam could have done as well or better). I'm glad I took it when I did and felt ready to take it. As for being really happy or regretting the decision to take it relatively early, I won't know for another 3+ weeks. Good luck everyone.

 

[GrandMasterB]

hey puffy, congratulations on getting through that beast! thanks for the great post. were there any areas of focus on your exam? ie. did you have a ton of ob/gyn etc. i have a couple of days left and am trying to direct my studying. i am especially weak in cardio and am hoping there isnt a ton on there

 

[joaquin13]

Hello all,

I just took Step II today...and since Im a DO student I get to take COMLEX on Tues-Wed this upcoming week! FUN FUN!

Anyway...here are my 2 cents:

I agree with everyone, extremely loooong. I kept trying to make it through. Step I for some reason seemed a lot shorter.
1. Lots of OB/GYN questions, either pregnancy conditions, ie how to prevent neonatal infx, etc and also what to do next, ie bad pap smear.
2. Lots of ID questions, which antibiotic to give.
3. Lots of questions on congen heart defects--with assoc murmurs.
4. Vaccine ?s-what to give, what not to give.
5. Weird psych questions---and I really thought I had psych DOWN! Apparently not.
6. Anemias.....
7. I had a couple of questions giving info on lab data from thoracentesis/paracentesis...and what they had...??!?! I apparently did not spend enough time memorizing exactly what the ratio had to be to be a transudate vs. exudate, etc.

That's about all I can remember. Oh...one pet peeve. When you show up take your NINE hour exam and there are people there taking the CPA exam or something and you're all sitting in the waiting room and theyre talking about how horrible an dlong the test is goin gto be----a whole 2 hours!!!

 

[smellycat]

there was some guy getting his certification in computing and he took a whole 1 hour!

 

[giznut12]

I'm a DO and was wondering if you take USMLE step 2, do you have to take the clinical skills part for USMLE too, or is that separate? In other words, can you take the written for USMLE and both written and clinical skills for the COMLEX?

 

[jf]

As a DO, you don't have to take the allopathic CSA only the DO CSA. Remember, you are not taking the USMLE for licensure, but rather to give the PD's a better way of comparing you to MD students.

I just took the USMLE step 2 and I can definitely attest to the length of the exam. I needed to take a break after each block. Be very careful of your time limit during the blocks. When I was taking Q bank, I would finish with 10 -20 minutes left. I just barely finished the first and last blocks yesterday. It gets very stressful, when you have 10 questions left and only 10 min's on the clock, so use your time accordingly.

As far as content, there was a ton of OB/GYN, Peds, and of course medicine. Surprisingly, I had a lot of surgery on my exam, which is a departure from what other students have said. I expecially had a lot of trauma, so make sure you know your stuff.

Ob emphasized management of vaginal bleeding during pregnancy, arrest of descent/dilatation, etc.. Know how to determine these and know your normal durations of each facet of labor, (ex. active phase 1.2 cm prima vs. 1.5 cm multi/hr).

Gyn emphasized bleeding, amenorrhea, cancer, vaginosis,etc..

Medicine everything you can think about

Peds - know congenital cardiac problems, immunizations, a lot of congenital immune deficiency (brutons, IgA, SCID, etc.)

Psych - a lot of questions on this exam, bipolar was emphasized (I HOPE), depression, tx, etc. Make sure you know your psych pretty well.

Surgery - a lot of management of biliary problems and know your TRAUMA cold!!!

As far as how I was scoring on q-bank, I finished all the questions with an average of 76. My weakest points were in peds and surgery, which was emphasized in my exam of course.

I used kaplan notes, first aid, b's & w's, and crush step 2 along with qbank and nms.

Qbank was right on and in fact I remember exact questions that were asked on qbank and the real exam. NMS q's were too short for the most part and I found them easier.

As far as how I feel about the exam, I couldn't judge very well. I feel like I passed the exam, but I don't feel like I did well. I felt that way about the COMLEX last year and ended up with a 93%, which I was very happy about. I hope the same happens this year!!!!!

Well, now I get to study OMM for a grueling 2 days (800 questions) of the COMLEX on tuesday and wednesday. I really wish the NBOME would get their head out of their rumps and make a computerized one day exam, this is ridiculous. I was so burnt after yesterday, I can only imagine how I am going to feel after 2 days of filling in scantron bubbles!!!!

Good luck to all!

 

[puffy1]

grandmasterb:

For my exam, I think the breakdown was 45% medicine, 20% peds, 15% ob/gyn, 10% surgery, 5% psych and 5% biostats/ethics/basic sciences. To tell you the truth, all of the questions seemed like a big blur after about the third block.

What I found interesting was the number of questions that dealt with the same diagnosis...I think I had about three or four different questions with the answer involving aortic dissection (at least I think it was aortic dissection). I had about two or three ekgs the entire test. The cardio questions averaged about two to three per block, and most dealt with a clinical scenario and "What is the most likely diagnosis" or "Next appropriate step".

If you've read Step 2 secrets already, you may want to flip through Brochert's Mock Exam and do some of his questions. I felt it summed up the important parts of his book, and he forces you to think about "next appropriate step" type questions.

Good luck, and take as many breaks as you can.

 

[Swaydaa]

Thanks Puffy! I'm really excited we started this thread. A good source of step 2 questions. GOOD LUCK!

From multiple posts including mine, your results should be posted in 4 weeks with scores arriving in the mail 3 or 4 days later.

 

[andwhat]

jf, great great feedback.. a question to Puffy, can you please inform me if Mock covers the questions and topics that were asked directly or indirectly on the real deal.. I plan on going through the questions and explanations in that book - Mock, I feel that for the most part it is a basic book, but I like the twist , the occasional negatively phrased questions.. those make you think a little... Secrets I cannot really feel as of yet.. I mean questions and then the answer right in front of you.. I like the suspense of checking my scores and answers.. so anyways can you please please tell me if you think that Mock was good? I think that Qbank and USMLE World were good assessments and learning tools, but how good is Mock, not as an assessment, but as a learning tool.. I mean are the explanations on the
$$$.. I know what youre probably thinking.. you are thinking that no question book out there really sums up what is actually on the exam.. but do the explanations in Mock at least hit the hy points.. thanks so much.. and I wish you a great score.. and if anyone else knows please do let me know as well!

 

[andwhat]

man I just gotta say.. this sure became one amaazing Step II thread!!!!

 

[puffy1]

It's hard for me to say if there were similar questions between Mock and the real deal. What I will say is that the Mock exam makes you think about other things that you wouldn't ordinarily think of. How many questions on the Mock showed up on my test? Probably very few, if any. But Secrets and Mock got me thinking beyond diagnosis and treatment, and got me paying attention to more things like next steps, things to order, what not to do, etc.

Let me say that the Mock exam is the Secrets book in question format, just like Crush Step 2 is the Secrets book in outline format. If I had to choose between one or the other, I'd pick Secrets first. The most helpful thing in the Mock exam isn't the clinical vignettes questions...it's the "most common and most likely" questions, because you're going to get hammered on Step 2 with those.

Of course, you have to have a good knowledge base (which, if you've gotten this far in medical school, you probably already have). I can't sit here and say "just do Secrets and Mock and you'll do fine". It's hard to come up with the next step in management if you don't know what you're dealing with in the first place. For knowledge base, I mainly did questions. I have a rule of threes...three different text sources, three different question sources; that way I won't get too comfortable with one publisher's style. For text, I did Secrets (hanley and belfus), Boards and Wards (blackwell), and a little First Aid (mcgraw-hill). For questions, I did Kaplan Qbank/book, Mock exam and Pretest Clinical Vignettes (which is simply 400 of the 'best of' questions in the Pretest series).

So what am I saying? You're way is probably the best way, my word isn't the gospel, and you will do great on the test if you put enough time into it.

 

[joaquin13]

I took the exam on Friday, and to prepare I did NMS questions, followed by going through all the answer summaries and correlating them with Crush, and then going through Crush on its own a couple of times, along with OB/GYN and Peds Blueprints, and then I also did the downloaded questions from the NBME website (which were way way way too easy!) If I actually got asked any question of that level on the uSMLE I would have jumped out of my seat with joy (obviously I didnt!).

Anyway good luck to everyone! I still feel like I got hit by a truck after being hunched over the computer for nine hours.

 

[neilc]

any advice on what a reasonable score for the mock exams are? i would like to do well on step 2. i am getting an average of 72% on the mock exams. i haven't put really any work into it yet, and i think that 72% feels pretty decent, but i was hoping for some input from others.

thanks.

 

[Swaydaa]

Got my scores in the mail today. I was above average. I'm just glad the wait is over. A huge weight has been lifted. Now I can focus on which programs I need to apply.

What I used:

1. Started out with Crush the Boards- very good review, would use again
2. Started using Q-bank at the same time(used the entire time while reading other sources). Finished about 71%- an absolute must use! As, I stated before it was not as detailed, but It covered EVERY topic.
3. I Read all the blueprint series after I finished crush- good books were peds (AWESOME), OBGYN (AWESOME), NEURO, and Emergency Medicine. internal medicine & Family practice were terrible...my two lowest areas were IM and preventitive medicine. Wish I had chosen something else for those areas.
4. Surgery recall- awesome, but had very few surgery questions.
5. Finished with boards and wards- very good review.

What I would change:

1. Study more Often! I'm the type of person who does 3-4 hours a day period. I just feel shot after 3 -4 hours. Also study without interuption
2. Wish I Tried the NMBE questions...many people do these, I didnt. NMBE is an extra 400 questions and from what I hear closely predicts your score.
3. Wish I Found a good IM and FP book to read..dont get me wrong, I know a 229 is not too shabby, but I credit that to B&W's, QBANK, and Crush. Once again, do not waste your time with IM or FP blueprints. I must also mention again that PEDS and OBGYN for bluprints are GOLDEN. I scored really well on both (from the score report on back) and I really struggled in those areas during my clerkship.

Thanks for all the posts!!


Make sure you post your results, what you used, and how you feel about your studies!

 

[GrandMasterB]

BUMP me baby, one more time!

 

[DireWolf]

Qbank doesn't prepare you for the A-M questions where they give you 2 questions and have to choose the same answer choices. That you'll have to get practice from the released. And they aren't at the end liked the released. They threw them throughout the exam. I thought those were a bit easier though.

What are A-M questions?

 

[smellycat]

what i mean were the choices were A to M ...(lots of choices)

Man, i just went back to the NBME site now and it is letting me go all the way to the credit card without stopping now...
geez...kinda scaring me now