USMLE World Scores and Step II Scores

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lmh14

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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!!
 
I took it last Friday and felt pretty bad when I left as well. I'm also hoping for >240 but it seems like that isn't going to happen... I had plenty of time for every section but my issue was lots of preclinical stuff (especially biochem and path) and tons of questions that as I read I thought I know this but as I looked at the answers treatment/diagnostic study of choice wasn't one of the options. Hoping to pass...
 
yes even i would like to know what was related to biochem ??? was it AD , AR , XR diseases and PKU type stuff ???

I had 1 question about inheritance patterns, a few on inborn errors of metabolism (so maybe this is technically peds but I'm counting it as biochem), a couple of vitamin/mineral deficiencies/toxicities (not easy ones like folate/b12 but more like selenium and heavy metals) and one on amino acid metabolism.

There were also lots of questions that I KNOW what the next step was in treatment/diagnosis but it wasn't one of the answer choices (for example treating a certain dysrrhythmia with a certain electrolyte but that wasn't an option). They were all in the first 4 sections and after that I thought I was doomed. The questions got better halfway through but I still felt so disheartened after studying for so long and having so many questions that I couldn't even try to fathom an educated guess.

I used Uworld primarily but used first aid for step 2 some after trying step up to step 2 and hating it. I studied for 3 weeks, for 7-9 hours each day.

I don't want to scare anyone and I don't think you should go out and study up on biochem (my friend took it the same week and didn't have a single biochem or path question). I am hoping everyone that took that test is like me and doesn't remember that crap either... I had a lot of difficult and detailed anatomy question that I was completely clueless about on step 1 but anatomy ended being starred for a high performance so I'm hoping the same holds true with Step 2.
 
Things like inheritance patterns and storage diseases are covered pretty well and extensively enough in UWorld. These were lacking in both Step Up and Secrets. So I just wrote the tidbit of each one down on a note card.

They were useful to me as I had a question over Von Gierke's and Beckwith Wiedemann.

Oh, I also had your classic Prader-Willi (vs Angelman)...know which parent it relates to. It's from Step 1, but I guess they expect you to still know some of it...

Secrets covers vitamin toxicity/deficincy well in a table at the end. Also, know your ADR's, these are also covered in secrets....I had at least 3-4 on the test (and I only knew half of them hah). Inheritance patterns are also covered in Secrets.

Really, if you have to guess though, choose AD for the inheritance pattern.

Bryan
 
I had 1 question about inheritance patterns, a few on inborn errors of metabolism (so maybe this is technically peds but I'm counting it as biochem), a couple of vitamin/mineral deficiencies/toxicities (not easy ones like folate/b12 but more like selenium and heavy metals) and one on amino acid metabolism.

There were also lots of questions that I KNOW what the next step was in treatment/diagnosis but it wasn't one of the answer choices (for example treating a certain dysrrhythmia with a certain electrolyte but that wasn't an option). They were all in the first 4 sections and after that I thought I was doomed. The questions got better halfway through but I still felt so disheartened after studying for so long and having so many questions that I couldn't even try to fathom an educated guess.

I used Uworld primarily but used first aid for step 2 some after trying step up to step 2 and hating it. I studied for 3 weeks, for 7-9 hours each day.

I don't want to scare anyone and I don't think you should go out and study up on biochem (my friend took it the same week and didn't have a single biochem or path question). I am hoping everyone that took that test is like me and doesn't remember that crap either... I had a lot of difficult and detailed anatomy question that I was completely clueless about on step 1 but anatomy ended being starred for a high performance so I'm hoping the same holds true with Step 2.

Thank you , Appreciate it . good luck for your score .....👍
 
Hi everyone!
i took CK on sept 13, but then went away so did not have a chance to post.
Step 1: 238 with 3.5 weeks studying
for Step 2 i studied for 3 weeks, not as intensely as step 1. I read all of MTB, half of secrets and did half of uworld (started in low 60's% and then got into mid-high 70's towards the end). I prefer reading to doing questions.
Did UWSA 1.5 weeks in and got a 240.

Overall, I thought the test was ok. LOTS of ob/gyn though oddly enough.. every freaking person was pregnant. only a few choose the antibiotic questions, which i hate. decent amount of peds too.

Anyone know when I should expect to get the score back? mid oct?
 
I imagine 3-4 Wednesday from your test date.

The hold up with the Sept 26 scores from August should hopefully be just a one time deal.

Bryan
 
Yeah, I felt pretty bad coming out of the test too, but I ended up with a 242. It was lower than what I was expecting, but good enough considering how I felt after the test (and the fact that my Step I score was a much bigger disappointment).

I can't believe you already took 2CK. I feel like you just sat Step1 a few months ago. Congrats on the improvement, btw, Shan.
 
Took the exam on Friday and I thought it was a lil harder than Uworld. For starters, the question lengths were longer and the questions were written in a weird way, very unlike UWORLD and KaplanQbank.

Second, I cant just get over the fact that I wasted too much time on easy questions trying to decipher whatever trick I may be overlooking and I feel like shyt right now.

Third, Does anyone know if the questions are real clinical cases? I have this feeling that some of the questions arent real and that they are just a product of someone's imagination and creative writing skills. And NBME seems to have gone to a great length to present the vignettes in such a way that they wouldnt look anything like Uworld. Simply stated, the questions were more vague and more convoluted that Uworld and even the easy questions were so easy that you keep wondering if you werent falling for their tricks. Some of the questions were like 20 lines long, a handful of them longer. Going in I was hoping for a 240+, now I am just hoping I wont have to take this shyt again. This sucks!

Cant believe how many easy questions I got wrong, Is there any way to void the exam after the fact?

I feel like killing myself. FML!


I took it on Aug 22nd and also feel like shyte. It sucked. :scared: I will find out my score in two days and am scared as hell. I was getting at least 75-85% on USMLEworld and finished the whole thing - but on the real thing they asked bizarre questions. It was the exam of ambiguity and obscurity for me. UW seemed to be much more straight forward.
 
I took it on Aug 22nd and also feel like shyte. It sucked. :scared: I will find out my score in two days and am scared as hell. I was getting at least 75-85% on USMLEworld and finished the whole thing - but on the real thing they asked bizarre questions. It was the exam of ambiguity and obscurity for me. UW seemed to be much more straight forward.

So your score is predicted to be 260+ and you feel like the sky is falling? I love the irony here. Don't get me wrong, I finished a virgin uworld at 77% correct and thought the test was challenging, but if I felt that way than imagine what the guy that was doing 60% right feels like.

Sometimes I wish SDN would keep their neurotic tendencies off posts and just keep them in their head. Come Wed. there will be a post from you saying you got a 261.
 
So your score is predicted to be 260+ and you feel like the sky is falling? I love the irony here. Don't get me wrong, I finished a virgin uworld at 77% correct and thought the test was challenging, but if I felt that way than imagine what the guy that was doing 60% right feels like.

Sometimes I wish SDN would keep their neurotic tendencies off posts and just keep them in their head. Come Wed. there will be a post from you saying you got a 261.
I hope you're right. That made me feel better. I can tell you right now, a 260+ is NOT going to happen. The problem is that paper patients and multiple choice exams rarely show what I really know. I end up making stupid mistakes and barely passing. This fear is real, believe me. My final step 1 score was terrible (failed it twice) - but I did not do any questions at all before hand. Somehow by the grace of God I passed it the 3rd time.

I do fear these step exams. It's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get!
 
So your score is predicted to be 260+ and you feel like the sky is falling? I love the irony here. Don't get me wrong, I finished a virgin uworld at 77% correct and thought the test was challenging, but if I felt that way than imagine what the guy that was doing 60% right feels like.

Sometimes I wish SDN would keep their neurotic tendencies off posts and just keep them in their head. Come Wed. there will be a post from you saying you got a 261.

Wait, we're suppose to be feeling bad? Scared? Dang it. :scared:

Even though a 60% is predicted to be around 235. 😕
 
Wait, we're suppose to be feeling bad? Scared? Dang it. :scared:

Even though a 60% is predicted to be around 235. 😕

The guy that gets a 260 should walk out of the exam feeling "better" than the guy that scored a 230 (or in my post a guy who was scoring 80% vs 65% on uworld).

My comment has nothing to do with feeling bad about a particular score, but the feeling that one has after leaving the test.

Just tired of SDN posters who are in the top 5% of scores raising everyone's tension and fear about the test.
 
The guy that gets a 260 should walk out of the exam feeling "better" than the guy that scored a 230 (or in my post a guy who was scoring 80% vs 65% on uworld).

My comment has nothing to do with feeling bad about a particular score, but the feeling that one has after leaving the test.

Just tired of SDN posters who are in the top 5% of scores raising everyone's tension and fear about the test.
I agree with your last point.

But I do fall into the "60%" you described, and I didnt feel "bad" after leaving my exam. I'm just wondering if that's such a good thing after all. I do want to state that I had the "old" version of the exam administered on Aug 20th I believe (if that makes any difference).
 
The guy that gets a 260 should walk out of the exam feeling "better" than the guy that scored a 230 (or in my post a guy who was scoring 80% vs 65% on uworld).

My comment has nothing to do with feeling bad about a particular score, but the feeling that one has after leaving the test.

Just tired of SDN posters who are in the top 5% of scores raising everyone's tension and fear about the test.
if it bothers you so much may be you should skip the post.
 
I going to try and hold off on checking my score till I get off work. That way I'll be able to drink my sorrows away immediately.
 
D-day is here. Good luck to everyone getting their scores today. I get mine next week, insha Allah/God willing/In Jesus name.
 
This is so aggravating. I'm on an incredibly boring rotation and all I can focus on is interviews and stupid CK.

Good thing this sub-I is pass-fail, right? 😛
 
I just got my score at 8:50 am.

I studied during my internal medicine rotation, didn't really read any books. Only skimmed Secrets, and referred to Step Up to Medicine when I needed to.
Did all of UWorld, 64% on first time. Mixed, timed, unused.
Then re-did all of the ones I marked.
Then re-did all of the ones I got wrong until there were no longer any wrong questions.

UWSA one week out: 230
NBME Form 4 3 days out: 244
Actual Step 2 CK score: 242
("The mean for first time examinees from US and Canadian medical schools is approximately 237")
 
I just got my score at 8:50 am.

I studied during my internal medicine rotation, didn't really read any books. Only skimmed Secrets, and referred to Step Up to Medicine when I needed to.
Did all of UWorld, 64% on first time. Mixed, timed, unused.
Then re-did all of the ones I marked.
Then re-did all of the ones I got wrong until there were no longer any wrong questions.

UWSA one week out: 230
NBME Form 4 3 days out: 244
Actual Step 2 CK score: 242
("The mean for first time examinees from US and Canadian medical schools is approximately 237")

Nice. What day did you take it?
 
After several weeks of waiting, my score is finally up.

Step 2 CK:261
Step 1:252
Uworld average:75%
I did most of kaplan before and averaged ~65%
I did DIT, and read MTBs, and watched most of the kaplan videos during the respective rotations.
I took all for NBMEs and scores ranged from 230-249.
UWSA had me at 252

I felt the exam was not too bad. I am hoping this will help get my IMG application some attention.
 
After several weeks of waiting, my score is finally up.

Step 2 CK:261
Step 1:252
Uworld average:75%
I did most of kaplan before and averaged ~65%
I did DIT, and read MTBs, and watched most of the kaplan videos during the respective rotations.
I took all for NBMEs and scores ranged from 230-249.
UWSA had me at 252

I felt the exam was not too bad. I am hoping this will help get my IMG application some attention.

How far from the real deal did you take UWSA?
 
After several weeks of waiting, my score is finally up.

Step 2 CK:261
Step 1:252
Uworld average:75%
I did most of kaplan before and averaged ~65%
I did DIT, and read MTBs, and watched most of the kaplan videos during the respective rotations.
I took all for NBMEs and scores ranged from 230-249.
UWSA had me at 252

I felt the exam was not too bad. I am hoping this will help get my IMG application some attention.

Congrats!... interestingly enough mine is not up, took it on the 25th of August.
 
How far from the real deal did you take UWSA?
I took my exam August 22nd. I felt like it was easier then UWSA. However during study time when i took UWSA I was in a constant state of burnout from studying 12-14 hours per day. I took the last day and a half off before the exam, so I am not sure if it was legitimately easier then UWSA, or I was just more well rested and fresher. Day of the exam, I did a block of missed questions from Uworld before going to prometric.
 
do all scores get released at the same time? or is it still possible to get mine todya? took it the 24th of august
 
Took mine Aug 18th. No score yet. For step 1, I got an email around 9:30 saying "your scores will be released soon". For those who have gotten their step 2 score, did you get this email this morning?

Good luck everyone!
 
Test Date: Aug. 15th
UWorld (1 pass through, random, timed): 74%

CK Score: >250

Only did UWorld, didn't do any extra reading or take any predictive exams.
 
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Thanks for all the posts- here's my contribution. Took my test 8/9, got the score report this morning 9/26. I put in a tl;dr at the bottom for those of you who want it short and sweet.

Background:
Scored very well on Step 1, decided to take 2CK just to get it out of the way while I had some free time this summer. Took out 4 weeks of dedicated study time. Didn't study specifically for this during third year.

Resources used:
-CramFighter to set an initial schedule for the 4 weeks because I was too lazy to figure one out.
-USMLEWorld x2 (1 pass through during M3 year = 77%, 1 pass during dedicated study time = 91%)
-First Aid for Step 2 CK (1 pass through the book, annotated as needed similar to Step 1)
-USMLE Secrets (read through book once in the last week)
-occasional reference to clerkship books, e.g. Blueprints OB/GYN, etc. PRN
-UWSA at the 2 week mark (254)
-NBME 4 and 2 at the 3 and 3.5 week marks (258 on both)

Test day:
Harder experience than I expected. It's a long 8 block exam and by the last 2-3 blocks, I was running on fumes. Nevertheless, I felt I got the easy questions, most of the medium and a good amount of the hard WTF questions. The chocolate and coffee I ingested after each of the last 4 blocks probably helped. The best thing I did this time around was to relax the last 3 days (and every single weekend I did something like tubing down the river or camping) and do no studying while fixing my sleep patterns for the test. It was more of an endurance race than anything else. You might be a study monster and memorize the entirety of UWorld, but its no use if you're flagging and make mistakes.

Final score: >260

Bottom line:
-2CK is basically testing everything you've learned from shelf study during third year- I don't think I really learned anything fundamentally new while reviewing- it just had the effect of solidifying what I already learned during third year.
-USMLEWorld was by far the #1 resource that everyone should have for this test.
-First Aid was actually a very useful resource to complement UWorld. I prefer more complexity in my review and MTB2 is more useful to people who have just 2 weeks to study. If you have more time, I recommend First Aid.
-Secrets was helpful as an auxillary review after my major study time was complete and I didn't want to do any more UWorld blocks. It's good to use it to pimp a study buddy with.
-UWSA and NBME 4/2 are all very good practice tests; UWSA the most useful because it comes with answer explanations. The NBMEs are good mainly for pacing and practice. I didn't take too much stock in the estimated scores based on my Step 1 experience.

tl;dr
UWorld+FA worked wonders for me. Having 4 weeks to review was also probably huge. #1 thing for the test day experience is to make sure you're on the right sleep cycle and feel well-rested for the actual endurance test.
 
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Figure I'll add a bit more...


Step 2 - 260

NBME4 - 232
UWSA - 242


Study plan:

- Used UWorld throughout the year for shelf exams, finished probably 60-70%
- 3 weeks of dedicated study time for step 2
- Reset UW at the beginning of my 3 weeks and did 1 pass. Set it on random/tutor for first half, then random/timed for second half - 75% correct overall
- Master the Boards for Step 2. Went through it in ~2 weeks and then flipped through notes I had made in the week before the exam. Had mixed feelings about the book but it turned out OK.
- Did a few of the Kaplan flash cards which I actually thought were pretty helpful
- Went through secrets in the week prior to the exam. This seemed pretty vanilla after MTB and finishing UW, but I think it did a great job helping to solidify things.

In retrospect, I'm not sure what all I would change. I was worried about doing the same UW questions from during the year, but I really didn't remember that many of them. I wasn't happy with my Step I score (low 220s) and wanted to really thump this one.

For what its worth, I thought that I bombed this exam. I had an hour long drive home from my testing center and probably remembered 20 or 30 questions along the way. I (stupidly) looked them all up right when I got home and was missing EVERYTHING. Bottom line... don't freak yourself out. I felt significantly worse than I did after each of my practice exams.

Good luck!👍
 
Finally! The wait is over!

UWorld: my final average was around 71%. I only completed about 3/4 of the Q bank, though. I believe I still had around 400 questions left.
I also skimmed SUTM, but I didn't read the whole thing.

Step 1: 202
NBME 4 one week prior to step 2: 225
Official Step 2 score: 245 🙂

I felt terrible walking out of the prometric center, but I had predicted my score would be between a 220 and a 230, so I was pleasantly surprised this morning.

As everyone else has said, UWorld is money. I wish I had taken time to finish the whole thing and then maybe look at the ones I missed. I thought the actual exam was much harder that UWorld. There were very few "gimmies" on the actual exam. Unlike Uwolrd, where I felt 10-15% of the questions were easy.

Does any one know what to make of the two digit score? I improved my three digit score by over 40 points from Step 1 to Step 2, but my three digit score only went from an 83 to an 84. Seemed really odd.

Hope everyone else is happy with their score!
 
Finally! The wait is over!

UWorld: my final average was around 71%. I only completed about 3/4 of the Q bank, though. I believe I still had around 400 questions left.
I also skimmed SUTM, but I didn't read the whole thing.

Step 1: 202
NBME 4 one week prior to step 2: 225
Official Step 2 score: 245 🙂

I felt terrible walking out of the prometric center, but I had predicted my score would be between a 220 and a 230, so I was pleasantly surprised this morning.

As everyone else has said, UWorld is money. I wish I had taken time to finish the whole thing and then maybe look at the ones I missed. I thought the actual exam was much harder that UWorld. There were very few "gimmies" on the actual exam. Unlike Uwolrd, where I felt 10-15% of the questions were easy.

Does any one know what to make of the two digit score? I improved my three digit score by over 40 points from Step 1 to Step 2, but my three digit score only went from an 83 to an 84. Seemed really odd.

Hope everyone else is happy with their score!

Congratulations doc. May your days be long.
 
Took it today.

Step 1: 255+

Prep for step 2: Took 3 weeks and did Uworld from scratch. Random and timed. Ended up with 77% correct as my overall average and 80% for the last 20 blocks. Used SU2S2 exclusively. I have a brand new copy of Secrets that I never opened.

Test:
Test was harder than I expected it to be. I don't know if it was simply due to the fact that it was different than I was expecting or what. I had 2-3 stat questions per block and went 41, 43, 44, 45, 45, 45, 44, 41 or something like that. Felt good for about 4-5 of the 8 blocks. Had two blocks that were harder than the other ones. Strange applied physiology stuff that would have been reasonable if the writers would use normal terminology and such, but instead they use cryptic language and try to view an organ from all possible angles. Can't really say what it was in particular or it would give away too much. I feel like I have a great background in physiology and struggled with some of these questions.

Unlike some others on here, I had 3-4 pharm questions per block as well. Nothing too crazy, but there were a couple of really strange, that even with all of my books and the internet I still can't find the answer to.

Other than that there were a lot of freebie questions as well. Uworld had a quite a few that were virtually verbatim to the questions on the test. I didn't take a practice exam so I can't talk about that. I did not do Secrets either.

I'll post again once 9/26 comes.. Unless I'm crying in the corner. Lol.

270+. Oh happy day!
 
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This post is for average students like myself, who arent great test takers😀

Step 1 was a disaster (failed and passed with a very low score), my NBMEs never correlated, so approaching Step 2, I figured I'd study from day 1.

In my earlier rotations, with no UW yet, took NBME 1, bombed it with a nice 150😱

So I started UW, used it throughout the rest of 3rd year (well about 6mths), ended up with about 50% subject mode, took notes initially.

I reset it, and did it random, got through maybe 90% of it, and finished with a 68%.

All I used was UW and nothing else. I skimmed through Secrets, but nothing was sinking in. Have a brand new FA that I never used. Looked at Master the boards but it didnt stick.

Took Step 2, without doing OB/Gyn rotation, bombed that section on the exam(all the way to the left), it was my weakest subject studying, but I just dont get that Pregnancy stuff, no matter how I try!

School doesnt give a dedicated studying period, so didnt have one.

UWSA: 205
NBME 2/4: 229

Step 2: 207

It was more on par with my UWSA. I should be fine for FM...

I'm sure if I did borderline on OB even, I probably would have gotten closer to a 220, but phewwww this is over, happy to PASS! All I have to do is show up for the next few mths and I'll finally have a degree.
 
This post is for average students like myself, who arent great test takers😀

Step 1 was a disaster (failed and passed with a very low score), my NBMEs never correlated, so approaching Step 2, I figured I'd study from day 1.

In my earlier rotations, with no UW yet, took NBME 1, bombed it with a nice 150😱

So I started UW, used it throughout the rest of 3rd year (well about 6mths), ended up with about 50% subject mode, took notes initially.

I reset it, and did it random, got through maybe 90% of it, and finished with a 68%.

All I used was UW and nothing else. I skimmed through Secrets, but nothing was sinking in. Have a brand new FA that I never used. Looked at Master the boards but it didnt stick.

Took Step 2, without doing OB/Gyn rotation, bombed that section on the exam(all the way to the left), it was my weakest subject studying, but I just dont get that Pregnancy stuff, no matter how I try!

School doesnt give a dedicated studying period, so didnt have one.

UWSA: 205
NBME 2/4: 229

Step 2: 207

It was more on par with my UWSA. I should be fine for FM...

I'm sure if I did borderline on OB even, I probably would have gotten closer to a 220, but phewwww this is over, happy to PASS! All I have to do is show up for the next few mths and I'll finally have a degree.
FM for me too. My score was near yours. We WILL achieve our dreams!
 
All I did was UW 1 time through in timed, random blocks over a month. I didn’t read any books other than the first 3 chapters of secrets.

Step I Score: 265/99

NMBE 4, end of 3rd year: 270 (680)
UW 1st pass: 80% - medfriends and the sdn formula both predicted 276
USWA, 10 days out: 263 (770)

Step II Score: 276/90
 
Only used Uworld, once through over the course of second half of 3rd year and through aug of 4th year while still on rotations, random, timed, averaged ~60%
step 1 --> 211
step 2 --> 251 (test date aug 31)
VERY relieved that I improved my score, especially considering I auto-released it on ERAS
 
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