USMLE World Scores and Step II Scores

[lmh14]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Probably been discussed before, but can't find a recent thread....

I'm just curious about what scores people were getting on USMLE World, and then how you ended up doing on Step 2.

All you have to do is post two numbers...... 🙂

Thanks folks, and good luck with everything!!

 

[Bill_Brasky]

Well I have finished all the UWorld qbank and I marked every q I missed or needed to go over and now I'm going back and writing the explanation out for each one of them after I take a timed test covering them to see if I learned it after the first time through. I finished FA, B&W, and most of Secrets. I take COMLEX on the 23rd and STEP2 on the 4th. I'm nervous....I have alot to cover and I haven't gotten to Savarese yet (DO junk).

 

[Bandit]

well, not too good 🙁

85% (about) of usmle world comleted at 63%

usmle step 2 221/91

really thought I did better. oh well

 

[bjackrian]

UWorld: 59% overall (100% completed with 65% on my last 300 questions).
Kaplan (new Qbank, 50% completed after finishing UWorld): 62% overall, 66% on last 300 questions
NBME free test: 76%
NBME Form 2: 640 = 247

Step I: 248

Actual score: 247/99

I'm super-excited/happy (even if I found out at 5 a.m. because I'm on my PICU rotation right now)! I am the epitome of the story that the best predictor of Step II performance is Step I performance followed by the NBME practice exams. I studied almost exclusively from the UWorld and Kaplan questions, which I think is most of the reason that my scores are lower than a lot of people (I used them more as a learning tool than as a progress marker). I skimmed through First Aid once, and everything else was based on questions and previous studying for shelves (I took the medicine shelf in May and Step II in June, so I still had a lot of information fresh in my mind). Good luck to everyone else still studying--it's definitely much better than step I!

 

[bbtbay]

Wow great scores, and congrats to you both. It looks like NBME II was a pretty good predictor of your actual score. When did you take it Bjackrian, in relation to the actual test?

 

[Freddie]

😀 Step 2ck - 258 / 99

usmle world - overall avg 76%; pretty much same avg from beginning to end

( step 1 - 250 / 99)

read blueprints med, Bp surg, Bp obg, kaplan peds, and usmle world once thru whole bank.

questions in exam were longer than in uworld; took me forever to finish. managed to finish all blocks just in time; didnt have time for the first block though, did 3 qs in last min of first block.

 

[bjackrian]

Wow great scores, and congrats to you both. It looks like NBME II was a pretty good predictor of your actual score. When did you take it Bjackrian, in relation to the actual test?

Thanks! I took it about one week before the actual test, so it should definitely have been predictive for me.

 

[Dr McSteamy]

(I took the medicine shelf in May and Step II in June, so I still had a lot of information fresh in my mind). Good luck to everyone else still studying--it's definitely much better than step I!

yeah, that is key.

Medicine was my 1st rotation. so i'm really rusty. the last time i opened my kaplan book was september last year.

 

[Bandit]

just go comlex back

657/93 I am much happier with that than my usmle score (221/91)

 

[Dr. Ditka]

UW average=60% (64% over last 300 questions) with 90% complete
USMLE CK=?

I took the test yesterday and I have never felt so in the dark about what kind of grade I will get. My goal was a 230 and I expecting anywhere from a 210-240. It felt like a more straightforward UW to me and had a lot more gimme questions. There were at least 8 questions that were extremely similar to UW too. I would say that the timing of UW is very similar to the real test. I will let you know how I did in 3-6 weeks.

 

[tig3r]

Scores were posted at 12:00 am wednesday.
I had no idea how I did after the test was over and the nbme progression was erratic.

nbme 1: 222
2: 229
3: 217
Step 2: 235

Extremely thankful! 🙂
Did World 2 times through. Around 60% average.
Didn't read any books because I had 3 weeks and wanted to do pump out as many questions as possible. Between world and the nbme's I felt like I had a good idea of what to expect.

 

[GLW102]

Just got my results (by email? didn't know!). Pretty happy with them:

Step 1: 245/99
Step 2 CK: 251/99 🙂

Kaplan Qbank (new): 74% last 300, 70% overall (did all of it)
NBME #1: 266/770 (seemed a little easier than the real thing and turned out so)
Read Crush Step 2 twice and no other books at the end (mostly high yield throughout 3rd year).

Didn't do USMLE World like everyone else...school paid for Qbank and hey, it worked out fine! Now I just have to get some LOR and impress on away rotations. Good luck everybody!

 

[KWiz79]

Got the results today. Took the exam on 6/20. Overall, I thought the exam was quite fair. There were only one or two questions that I felt that I hadn't encountered the material before. But, the test was LOOOONNNNGGG. I suggest mentally preparing for a grueling test experience.

To study, I used USMLE World, Step Up to Medicine (excellent text for USMLE prep and the Medicine shelf) and First Aid for the other topics (e.g. Psych, Peds, OB, etc.). I took Medicine later in the year, and that definitely helped. I studied ~5 hours a day x 4 weeks.

Practice test from website: 86%
NBME 1: 800
NBME 2: 800
UW: ~67%

So, by the above results, I was going to score anywhere from a 234 to a 280. I know I'm not that smart, so I chalked up the NBME practice tests projections as statistical anomalies.

Step I: 235/95 (took it in 2004)
Step II CK: 258/99

Overall, I'm very pleased. Best of luck to anyone who is still preparing or is waiting for his or her results. Now for that Step 2 CS...

 

[Babycatcher2B]

Got the results today. Took the exam on 6/20. Overall, I thought the exam was quite fair. There were only one or two questions that I felt that I hadn't encountered the material before. But, the test was LOOOONNNNGGG. I suggest mentally preparing for a grueling test experience.

To study, I used USMLE World, Step Up to Medicine (excellent text for USMLE prep and the Medicine shelf) and First Aid for the other topics (e.g. Psych, Peds, OB, etc.). I took Medicine later in the year, and that definitely helped. I studied ~5 hours a day x 4 weeks.

Practice test from website: 86%
NBME 1: 800
NBME 2: 800
UW: ~67%

So, by the above results, I was going to score anywhere from a 234 to a 280. I know I'm not that smart, so I chalked up the NBME practice tests projections as statistical anomalies.

Step I: 235/95 (took it in 2004)
Step II CK: 258/99

Overall, I'm very pleased. Best of luck to anyone who is still preparing or is waiting for his or her results. Now for that Step 2 CS...

That is awesome!!!! How did you use step up to medicine? Did you read the whole book? I am using it now, I am just using it for a refresher on topics as I go through USMLE World. Out of all your sources, which did you think prepared you the most?

 

[premiergator]

Got the results today. Took the exam on 6/20. Overall, I thought the exam was quite fair. There were only one or two questions that I felt that I hadn't encountered the material before. But, the test was LOOOONNNNGGG. I suggest mentally preparing for a grueling test experience.

To study, I used USMLE World, Step Up to Medicine (excellent text for USMLE prep and the Medicine shelf) and First Aid for the other topics (e.g. Psych, Peds, OB, etc.). I took Medicine later in the year, and that definitely helped. I studied ~5 hours a day x 4 weeks.

Practice test from website: 86%
NBME 1: 800
NBME 2: 800
UW: ~67%

So, by the above results, I was going to score anywhere from a 234 to a 280. I know I'm not that smart, so I chalked up the NBME practice tests projections as statistical anomalies.

Step I: 235/95 (took it in 2004)
Step II CK: 258/99

Overall, I'm very pleased. Best of luck to anyone who is still preparing or is waiting for his or her results. Now for that Step 2 CS...

did u feel that uworld did a good job covering the topics tested on step 2 and did u feel that uworld's questions were close in length and difficulty to the actual test.

congratulations btw that's a great score.

 

[KWiz79]

I used Step Up almost exclusively when studying the Medicine part of Step II. It really does have everything you need to know about certain topics (chest pain, ARF, and pneumonia come to mind). For Step II studying, I would read the CV chapter, do a block of UW on CV, and then go back and see what I missed. Usually, the answer was there - I had just glossed over it. I did about 1 chapter every 1-2 days, and that worked well. Then, use First Aid to solidify key points.

As for UW, I felt that the question stems were similar, and if anything, were more difficult (picky) than the actual test. For the long questions, I read the question at the end of the stem first. Sometimes, I didn't even need the whole stem to answer the question. For example, "you expect diagnosis X, now what is the best diagnostic test/treatment/etc." I had to practice this though. It's very easy to just take off reading the whole vignette.

Where UW really earns its price tag is in the nuances of the "testable" items. Just familiarizing yourself with how some diseases/syndromes present "USMLE-style" is very useful. Remember, sometimes it's not what you know, but in what context that you know it.

Thank you for the kind words, and again, best of luck to all.

 

[discreet44]

Thank you to those who have posted before me, all advice and info was very helpful. I prepared for Step II by studying for shelf exams during 3rd year and then spent 3 weeks using USMLE WORLD, FA for Step II, and Boards & Wards. I spent about 2/3 of my time doing practice questions, 1/3 reading. I believe this is sufficient unless you want to score extremely high, in which case you should supplement with another concise review book and spend more time reading. As some have noted, the best strategy to ace Step II is to ace shelf exams and study during 3rd year.

Shelf exams: Surgery (77), Psychiatry (90), Medicine (88), Obstetrics (77)
NBME #1 (3 weeks prior): 245
NBME #2 (1 week prior): 250

USMLE WORLD: 72% cumulative (completed all questions, timed, random, 46q blocks).

Step I: 246
Step II: 248

Good luck to all.

 

[step2taken]

Hello all,

Thanks to everyone for their advice on step 2 -- i wanted to post my experience and advice in case it is of benefit to anyone.

I didn't do that well on any of my shelf exams -- usually in the mid to high 70's.
I studied off and on using first aid for step 2 during light electives for about 3 weeks, doing questions on USMLE world based on the section i just read about. I took an NBME at that point and got a 236.
I then focused more on the sections I did poorly for the nbme test using 1st aid and did random blocks of usmle world during 2 weeks of intense studying during vacation time I took before my Sub-I.
My average was 68% with the last 2 weeks being around low to high 70s
I found my test to be heavy on basic science and had very little material on ob/gyn or peds. I left feeling that the test had gone very poorly, but i was very happy to find that my studying (and praying) paid off - I got a 255
I looked into other books, such as boards and wards and secrets, but found that the material in 1st aid was MUCH more complete. I felt that USMLE world was very important, but I thought supplementing it with 1st aid worked the best for me.
good luck to everyone!

 

[rjb]

'hey Step2taken when did you take your exam?

thanks

 

[Krazykritter]

Hi everyone,

I just took Step 2 today & all I can say is DAMN. My test was easily as difficult as UW almost the entire way through &, I feel, harder than NBME 2 for sure. I had an absolute ****load of OB/Gyn questions in EVERY block. According to my UW scores & NBME I should get somewhere near a 225-230. After today, I will honestly be happy with anywhere around 215-220. It was really hard & maybe I had a more difficult time since I just took the COMLEX last week & went into Step 2 fairly confident.

The more & more I think about the exam, the more & more I think I got a crazy form.

BTW...WTF is with the new audio/visual elements to Step 2?!?! I only had 3 A/V questions & they were pretty easy but I didn't think that was starting until mid-August.

 

[GASanova]

Hello - I am a DO student who took step 2 CK last month and just received my score.

For most shelf exams I scored right at an 83
UWorld Final Avg (100% complete) - random, 46 q blocks, no repeats: 57%
NBME II - taken 10 days before the exam: 229

Step I: 229
Step II: 246

I studied for 3 weeks. I spent probably 80% of my time doing practice questions on UWorld. After finishing all questions the first time I went back and repeated the 500 Q's that I had marked. I also read all of Step Up to Medicine and selected chapters from First Aid not covered in Step Up (OB/Gyn, Peds, Psych). I felt the test to be very comparable to the difficulty seen in UWorld.
Needless to say, I am very pleased with the results of my scores.

 

[turkdlit]

Hello - I am a DO student who took step 2 CK last month and just received my score.

For most shelf exams I scored right at an 83
UWorld Final Avg (100% complete) - random, 46 q blocks, no repeats: 57%
NBME II - taken 10 days before the exam: 229

Step I: 229
Step II: 246

I studied for 3 weeks. I spent probably 80% of my time doing practice questions on UWorld. After finishing all questions the first time I went back and repeated the 500 Q's that I had marked. I also read all of Step Up to Medicine and selected chapters from First Aid not covered in Step Up (OB/Gyn, Peds, Psych). I felt the test to be very comparable to the difficulty seen in UWorld.
Needless to say, I am very pleased with the results of my scores.

Damn, a 246 w/57% in UW?! Nice work...shows there is hope for everyone and that your UW scores probably don't tell much of the story.

 

[GASanova]

Damn, a 246 w/57% in UW?! Nice work...shows there is hope for everyone and that your UW scores probably don't tell much of the story.

Well...towards the beginning of my studying, I was scoring in the low 50's on most blocks in UW but by the end I was consistently scoring in the mid 60's to low 70's. The overall avg is probably skewed a little low due to my early low scores.

Honestly what truly matters is that if you miss a question (or guess it correctly) - you use it to LEARN and REMEMBER a concept so that if it comes up again you NAIL it. In this way, if you miss a question, you tend to learn its concept MUCH better than if you "happen" to get it correct the first time. Your UW average is just a measure of what you did not know prior to the REAL studying (missing questions and memorizing the explanations/concepts).

 

[Dr McSteamy]

did anyone go nuts over UW and do it 3x or more? or rely on it 99%?

I'm wondering if UW alone would boost my score a little.

I just started my 2nd time through, and i'm still getting half the wrong questions wrong. I just don't remember the explanations when i did it the first time.

i hope going over this UW 3x will get me 220 at least.

i have no time to read any books, except maybe Secrets one more time.

i'm betting all my money on this UW. I have to do decently. 😕

 

[premiergator]

i took the test. and like the other poster said DAMN! that was really tough..i dont know how ppl can study just 2 weeks for that test and just do world.... i really didnt think world was very represented of what kind of questions i saw on the test. in fact i felt world was more straight forward didnt really try to trick you. however, on the actual test i felt this to be quite true. i had a lot of questions that i had no idea what they were tryin to get at. in my opinion u really have to know medicine very well and understand the management behind the diseases. i dont know ive read many ppl who've taken it to say that the test was just like or even easier than world well im with the above poster cuz my test was def not.

i'll be very lucky to break a 200..whatever. good luck to the rest of you

 

[MaxMoonMD]

i took the test. and like the other poster said DAMN! that was really tough..i dont know how ppl can study just 2 weeks for that test and just do world.... i really didnt think world was very represented of what kind of questions i saw on the test. in fact i felt world was more straight forward didnt really try to trick you. however, on the actual test i felt this to be quite true. i had a lot of questions that i had no idea what they were tryin to get at. in my opinion u really have to know medicine very well and understand the management behind the diseases. i dont know ive read many ppl who've taken it to say that the test was just like or even easier than world well im with the above poster cuz my test was def not.

i'll be very lucky to break a 200..whatever. good luck to the rest of you

Same here.
I took the exam yesterday and personally I do not think it was easier than Step1.
Although I found UW to be a very effective learning tool, the real exam is a little different.
There were less no-brainers than I had hoped, and many times you had to read the question stems (which were ridiculously long sometimes) carefully not be tricked into a distractor.

Bottom line: As many people already stated earlier, Step2 requires a solid knowledge of medicine, which is nothing you can aquire in 1 month or even 2 weeks.
I guess 50% of the questions were solvable due to UW, the other 50% due to 5 years of medical study ;-)

Can´t really tell in what area I will score, there were just too many questions where I was unsure of. (hope most of them were experimental)

Will post my score later...just hope that our score reports won´t be affected by the delay due to the new test layout (which I think is very nice)

 

[Dr McSteamy]

i took the test. and like the other poster said DAMN! that was really tough..i dont know how ppl can study just 2 weeks for that test and just do world....

are you saying that the CONTENT of UW was not broad enough to cover what was on the real test?

did anything look familiar on 2ck after reading UW answers?

 

[premiergator]

i mean i think u can get decent knowledge from uworld but the type of questions they ask are different on the actual test. like was stated above there were no "no brainer" type questions where u can easily say oh yeah its that. i mean there are some but most of them u really have to think about the question cuz there are a lot of distractors in long passages. yeah that was the other thing the passages were very long and they had so many lab values to sort out. what uworld i think doesnt do a good job of doing is really management type questions. dont get me wrong i think world is a good question bank to do practice questions. i didn't do kaplan qbank(i did qbook) so i cant really comment on that one. but i think u need a bit more than just that to do well on step 2. but then again that's my opinion and u've seen other ppl on here who just used that and didn't well. so i guess just be as prepared as u can be and do what u can to make sure u have a solid foundation.

 

[Krazykritter]

Same here.
I took the exam yesterday and personally I do not think it was easier than Step1.
Although I found UW to be a very effective learning tool, the real exam is a little different.
There were less no-brainers than I had hoped, and many times you had to read the question stems (which were ridiculously long sometimes) carefully not be tricked into a distractor.

Bottom line: As many people already stated earlier, Step2 requires a solid knowledge of medicine, which is nothing you can aquire in 1 month or even 2 weeks.
I guess 50% of the questions were solvable due to UW, the other 50% due to 5 years of medical study ;-)

Can´t really tell in what area I will score, there were just too many questions where I was unsure of. (hope most of them were experimental)

Will post my score later...just hope that our score reports won´t be affected by the delay due to the new test layout (which I think is very nice)

I'm glad I'm not the only one who took the test yesterday & thought it was freaking hard. Thinking back on it, I can't believe how much OB/Gyn I had on my exam!!! I had at least 4-5 (if not more) in every block on OB alone. I'm wondering if we all yesterday just got a weird form? Hopefully our scores will be scaled against each other with the apparent difficulty.

I still think that UW is an excellent resource. At the very least, it will teach you the way they ask questions about disease processes & give you an idea what to look for in the question stems.

 

[Ypo.]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who took the test yesterday & thought it was freaking hard. Thinking back on it, I can't believe how much OB/Gyn I had on my exam!!! I had at least 4-5 (if not more) in every block on OB alone. I'm wondering if we all yesterday just got a weird form? Hopefully our scores will be scaled against each other with the apparent difficulty.
.

Why would 4-5 questions on OB/Gyn per block surprise you? Considering that it is one of the core rotations in third year, one might easily expect more than that.



Anyways, I took the test last week and will say that it was not as hard as UW, but it was very long. I took a break after nearly every block.

Sections which were much harder on UW and not comparable to the real test; ID, cardiology, ENT, optho.

Had one question on calculating fluids for a burn patient, and dang it if I hadn't forgotten the formula. 🙄 What is it, 2ml/kg times something...

 

[cgrays3]

Just finished the test a little while ago. Overall i though it was a pretty fair test. I didnt feel like there were too many distractors. And i even found myself suprised by the question on a few after reading the vignette. They asked about the disease instead of treatment...etc. I had a lot of easy questions and not too many really hard ones. I thought the media questions sucked but i only had 2. Only like 3 ECG's. Didnt have any calculations to do. Very little biostat and ethics. I thought NBME 2 was a very good representation of the difficulty of the test and hopefully i will do as well. UW is great and pretty close to what i got, maybe a little harder. New kaplan q bank was way harder than the test with much pickier questions. The old q bank is a lot easier than the real thing.

Step 1: 238
UW: 100% completed at 67
Kaplan: New: 50% complete at 64%; Old: 15% complete at 80%
NBME 2: 640 (250)

Hopefully my score is reflective of how i feel right now. Oh well just glad to be done with studying and ready to get back to working. Good luck to everyone

 

[bbtbay]

Wasn't sure where I should post or when, but just took the test and I've been looking at this site a lot so I thought I'd give a brief reply.

I was unsure if I was going to take this test "early" in the year since I was okay with my Step 1, but I just did my Medicine clerkship, so I thought it'd be a good time to take it and get it over with --- hopefully the strategy of doing this won't backfire by doing worse!

Random Thoughts: Well, I thought the test was a beast. I think "fatigue" is definitely something to consider. I also feel like there are some sections that are just easier than others --- i'm not sure if this is just randomization. After doing the first 4 sections of the test, I thought it was going fine. There were obviously some questions that I was like "WTF" but that didn't happen often. After that though, the next 2 sections were brutal. I was thinking to myself --- I should not have taken this test. I was surprised at the high content of OBGYN/Peds on the test --- do not glaze over these subjects. Also, there were quite a few questions on random topics --- optho, ENT, preventative medicine --- more than I expected. Those were tough.

How I studied: 3-4 weeks of USMLE world. I got through World about 1.5 times. I took notes on it, and reviewed them the last few days (highly recommend this). I also read Kaplan notes for OBGYN/Peds/Surgery. Also First Aid Psych was good for the psych questions (those were the easiest of all questions---in my opinion. For Medicine, I read Step Up. I highly recommend it. There were definitely questions that were strict recall, but there were also questions that really required a good understanding of mechanisms/pathophysiology. Step Up really helped for that. I though the medicine questions were also relatively easy.

What I recommend:
USMLE World
Step Up to Medicine
Kaplan Notes / OBGYN/Peds
First AID Psych
Secrets (leave this for the last week --- very high yield and perfect for Boards --- I read ophtho and biostatistics the night before --- probably got me 5-6 questions hopefully)

How I did before:
USMLE World --- 1.5X --- so my percentage is inaccurate (76% by end)
NBME II -- 620 (243) --- 2 weeks before
Step I --- 235+ (99)

I hope I didn't screw myself over by taking this test early to get it out of the way. At least now I have fourth year to look forward to and have fun. Good luck to everyone --- test is tough, but will get through it --- feel free to PM and I will post when I get results...

 

[Bill_Brasky]

DO student took Step CK today. Finished (in increasing order of importance) FA, Secrets, B&W, and World. In world my average was terrible but I used it all year to study along with rotations so much of the material I was seeing for the first time. I went back over 1200 of the 2300 questions I wanted to see again with my gf's laptop and wrote out scenarios/answers, then printed for my perusal.

I feel alot better about this test than step I (219). It isn't nearly as hard as one in terms of information to process and fully 35% of the questions I saw today I could have answered with my Step I prep. The key to this test is recognizing uncommon presentations of very common diseases. One of my clerkships was under the guy who did board prep for Columbia's med school when he was in training to get his U.S. accreditation. He put it well, the step II exam wants to make sure that you as Joe Blow MD/DO could cut it as an FP working the ER/Clinic in Bum%&#@, Iowa. You need to know the common things, and the pathology behind the things you need to turf and why you are doing so. Get a good handle on simple things, (though for my test immunodeficiencies were huge) and you'll ace this test.

 

[Dr McSteamy]

in UW, i'm marking a lot of the questions because I don't know enough info to confidently answer the question. I do get maybe half of the marked questions right, but it's just luck i think.

am i part of the few who feel this way?

test in 2.5 weeks. starting to go into panic mode. I still have to go through UW a 2nd time.

 

[OddNath]

First off, a *huge* thank you to everyone who has posted their experiences in this thread. I spent hours procrastinating here, and y'all's stories calmed me down when I had post-UW freak-outs 🙂 My turn to add a data point:

Step 1: 241/99
UW: 63% overall (69% for the last 6 blocks)
NBME 1: 237 (~3 wks before)
NBME 2: 241 (1.5 wks before)
NBME 3: 255 (2 days before)
138 free questions ~84% (don't quite remember now)

3rd year shelf exams kicked my @ss for the most part: Surgery 77, Peds 74, Psych 78, OB 77, Neuro 78, IM 77, Family 82.

Studied for 3 weeks after ending the year on medicine and family. That was helpful. Just did UW and Step 2 Secrets, using Step Up to Medicine as a reference.

Test itself was easier than Step 1 and easier than UW. Some blocks I had 5-10 questions marked, one block I had none marked. Finished with time to spare on each block. Took breaks between almost every block and munched (I was the girl with the locker full of food). Didn't really feel worn out, just kind of slouched in my chair for the last couple blocks. There were some concepts which were tested over and over again, even within a single block!

Step 2: 252/99

My advice:
1) Don't worry about random low UW scores. Seriously. Just keep chugging through it.
2) Step 2 Secrets is money. Trust it.

 

[Bill_Brasky]

i know its been asked before but the average to get your results back seems to be around 3 weeks does that sound right?

 

[OddNath]

i know its been asked before but the average to get your results back seems to be around 3 weeks does that sound right?

It was 3 weeks for me~ (took it on July 15, score @ midnight eastern August 6)

 

[will try my bes]

Hi ,did you receive your score at the time the date changed from 4th to 5th?
Congrats on a great score!

 

[OddNath]

Hi ,did you receive your score at the time the date changed from 4th to 5th?
Congrats on a great score!

Question for me, I suppose? 😳 Thanks

My score came as the date changed from 5th to 6th-- Tuesday night @ 11:01pm central time.

 

[xoomn]

I'm in similar situation. Moreover, I feel like the more I study I'm getting lower scores where as I started with 65% now I'm way below that. Any suggestions? I am freaking out. 2.5 wks to go and I'm very much in the panic mode.

 

[will try my bes]

Thanks Odd Nath still waiting for my score.Enjoy your success.

 

[domer621]

Studied 3 weeks total. Read Crush Step 2 the first 2 days (good overview), then did 50% of QBank (very difficult!), then finished UW in 10 days. I took notes on things I didn't know and ended up with about 10 pages of random stuff that I reviewed the last 2 days before the test.
I thought UW was spot-on in terms of topics covered, question length, and difficulty. The similar computer interface also helps a lot on test day. My average was 68%, random, untimed, first time through. It really helped that I did pretty well on my shelf exams as an MS3 (raw scores ranging from 78-88)
Step 2: 251/99 (feels good to have a "99", since my Step 1 wasn't a 99 😉)

 

[gonogo]

Studied 3 weeks total. Read Crush Step 2 the first 2 days (good overview), then did 50% of QBank (very difficult!), then finished UW in 10 days. I took notes on things I didn't know and ended up with about 10 pages of random stuff that I reviewed the last 2 days before the test.
I thought UW was spot-on in terms of topics covered, question length, and difficulty. The similar computer interface also helps a lot on test day. My average was 68%, random, untimed, first time through.
Step 2: 251/99 (feels good to have a "99", since my Step 1 wasn't a 99 😉)

Nice, congrats on your score!

Did you feel lot of the material on the real test wasn't covered in Crush? Do you think Crush is enough (+UW)? My test is in 5 days and I've done UW in the last 3 weeks and read FA once, but I feel the material tested on NBME 1 was very nitpicky sometimes.

 

[Dr McSteamy]

well, i'm out of time pretty much.
2 weeks to go, and I have to read Secrets and do UW again.

i'll post back in 8 weeks and see if it pays off.

i'm just an average student

 

[will try my bes]

I got my result today morning
CK 247(99) 🙂 I am soooo happy
step 1 248 (99)
Uworld:65%
USMLE 2008 material : 80%
KAplan was my only study material- read 3 times over 3 months.
Exam I thought had pretty easy questions and was straightforward expcept for may be 20 qs.
All the best to everybody

 

[domer621]

Did you feel lot of the material on the real test wasn't covered in Crush? Do you think Crush is enough (+UW)?

I thought Crush was a good overview, but not that good of a source in and of itself. It's very "bare bones". I glanced at FA during my peds rotation and it had a lot more info than Crush, so I would read that over Crush in your last 3 weeks.

UW was the best source I used, hands down. If you've finished UW all the way through, you're already in good shape.

 

[turkdlit]

Osteopathic student here. Wanted to improve on step II because of marginal step I (89). Used UW and some Kaplan QBank. Only used Kaplan lecture notes for studying. These notes are all you need and are extremely thorough. I promise you will do very well if you go through the Kaplan notes twice, and do UW twice. This method takes a bit of time (~1.5 months), but if doing well is important to you, I feel like this is the gold standard.

My 3rd year rotations were not that great, and we don't have NBME shelf exams. If you do have shelf exams, then something less extensive than the Kaplan notes would surely suffice (i.e. crush, secrets, FA, whatever). If you want to leave no stone unturned, get the Kaplan CK notes, they're amazing.

UW 1st time (all random, timed)- 66%
UW 2nd time - 86%
Kaplan Qbank (only did 30% of it, didn't like the questions) - 76%
Step 2 CK - 249 (99)

Very happy indeed 😀

 

[climbingdocs]

Got scores today, almost passed out when I was trying to log in hehe
so....
Step1 236/99
CK 246/99
Studied: read FA once, did 100% of UW and then went over all the ones I got wrong. Had 63% (before I went over the wrong ones)

Good luck

 

[UNFADABLE858]

I took the exam today and I was completely shocked at the difficulty. Of course there are the gimmes but overall I felt it was difficult. I ran through UW with last 300 questions of low 60%

I think Crush is just too damn basic to do any good its a good overview but it misses alot of pounts. UW was decent but there was alot of things not dealt with at all.

I ran


Also, does everybody get a 99 on step 1 and step 2 I mean has that become the average?

cuz im below average then

 

[Dr McSteamy]

I took the exam today and I was completely shocked at the difficulty. Of course there are the gimmes but overall I felt it was difficult. I ran through UW with last 300 questions of low 60%

the real test felt like a whole new set of UW questions huh?

 

[gonogo]

I think Crush is just too damn basic to do any good its a good overview but it misses alot of pounts. UW was decent but there was alot of things not dealt with at all.

This is exactly what I think about crush/secrets, but also about FA and B&W (although haven't taken the test yet, will take it in 4 days). Opposite to step 1, where FA contains everything you need to know to do good in the test, for step 2 it seems that the material they test is totally random. I've been going to the questions I got wrong in UW (most of them only 20-30% of people got them right), and none of that stuff is in either FA or B&W, and if it is, in the case of management questions, usually differs on what is the "next best step".

Also, does everybody get a 99 on step 1 and step 2 I mean has that become the average?

cuz im below average then

I wouldn't say average, but close to average. At least for step 1.