USMLE World Scores and Step II Scores

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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!!
 
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HanselH said:
Well...got score back...High 260's. So maybe I overreacted a bit....

-Preparation was ~ 3 weeks, 6 - 8 hours a day.
-Used Uworld x 1 and a little bit of Step up to Step 2 and a little of MTB, but really only as references and did NOT read either cover to cover (no way, lol)
-As I stated earlier, this did NOT resemble any Q bank I'd ever encountered. Honestly, I still don't know what I would have done differently except for maybe taking it a week earlier as I wasn't really learning anything new after 2 weeks of studying. Uworld was still a really solid primary source, but more as a refresher of information vs. mimicking the test.
-glanced at other qbanks but thought the questions were pretty rudimentary, and after having taken the test I'd have to say that Kaplan, USMLERx, etc. should be giving money back to the poor souls who purchase those qbanks as they are the furthest thing from the real deal.
-MOST IMPORTANTLY, if you've done moderately well through M3 year and have put in at least a moderate amount of effort, I think you have to have confidence that you'll crush this test. I wish I would have trusted myself more and just taken the test earlier instead of building it up...but, such is life....

Best of luck to all future test takers, I hope this helps instill some confidence into you guys as I know what you're feeling if your test date is still looming. You got this!
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Strong work. Your study plan and test experience was almost identical to mine. I thought Kaplan sucked as a qbank (and confused me a few times), and UW was otherwise pretty decent with the material. Unfortunately there is no qbank which serves as an accurate version of what you might expect on test day. I also came out of the exam thinking I dropped 20 points from my Step 1 score and actually went up a little.

In all, I'm so glad these stupid exams are over (Step 3 notwithstanding) and that your knowledge in M3 definitely helps - I'm pretty vocal about my disagreement with preclinical stuff being directly helpful for Step 1, but I think doing well on your shelf exams and studying hard in M3 definitely and directly correlates to success on Step 2. I would also in retrospect have used a book like Secrets or MTB; I didn't like Step Up to Step 2 that much even though I did fine, and thought First Aid looked somewhat better (having foolishly flipped through it AFTER my exam).
 
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Transposony said:
Thanks and congrats on a great score.
Did you get many Step 1 like questions? I mean, Lysosomal/Glycogen storage diseases etc
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I had zero of these. However, I did have a few tough immunodeficiency questions which I got lucky with since I had the foresight to read through it the day before (CVID, selective IgM deficiency, etc).
 
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HanselH said:
Nope. Really there wasn't any questions that I'd say were Step 1 type material, no biochem, no enzymes, though N =1 and I'd heard some had gotten a Q or two abou them, but I had zero and I think that's the way its trending. The real deal was WAAAAY more clinical. Honestly, the questions were well-written and most of it is just good, clinical common sense. I think I felt so uneasy because the questions are just so different from any qbank out there and they present things in ways that really make you think. There is NO way, NO way you can rely on memorization like you could for much of Step 1. They made sure of that. This is a clinical judgement test, NOT a what have you memorized test.
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Hi Hansel,

Great post and congrats on your score. I anticipated this happening on the Step 2. My Step 1 test also felt very unfamiliar to Uworld (dont get me wrong, much of it was easy trigger points) in that it had a lot of reasoning questions, which I've noticed I'm not very good at. Doing pretty well in MS3 thus far, but thats moreso b/c I think im killing it on evals which is mostly due to all my showing off from Studying Uworld/CF/pretest/kaplan (and whatever else SDN indicated).

Guess my question is, any advice on how to improve at clinical judgement questions? Much appreciated, Thanks!
 
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ArcGurren said:
It only pops up once your score report is available. Anyway I'm guessing you got your score today too! And I guess for future ref, unless eligibility period has expired, if your permit link disappears the Monday before its typically a sign that your score will be released that week.
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This was discussed on the previous page (#79) in this forum, regarding your CK score being released the week that the "permit link" disappears on Monday.

Does anyone know if the same is true for CS?
 
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neo64 said:
I took the exam yesterday, in spite of hearing all kind of weird things about the exam, I did not find it that hard, A lot of qs where UW verbatim, and other where extremely easy like the ones from nbme's, on the other hand there where a lot of qs that I could not have known even with MTB or secrets on my hand. I had very difficult Neurology questions ( I applied to Neurology this year 🙂 ) but I think some of them where really hard on the differential, I had tons of behavioral science qs, with the dd being quite hard also.. (you have to know the peds development cold, and SNC pharmacology ) I expected the worst based on what people were saying on here, but It was not thaaaat bad, and many questions have buzzwords also.

Background.
Southamerican IMG, Usmle Step1 score: 257, took it on june 2012

Materials used: Kaplan books (no videos), UW, MTB 2+3, Secrets ( total prep time 2 and 1/2 months)

I will update when I get my score back.
Click to expand...

GOT MY SCORE YESTERDAY WHILE I WAS IN AN INTERVIEW 276 I could not be happier!! I knew I did good, but this is unexpected. final UW % 78, last ten blocks 84%. UWSA predicted 265. I took NBME 4 offline, failed 10 qs .
Good luck !
 
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finally got my scores this week. nowhere near sdn numbers. this is for the extremely poor test takers. i've always been a borderline student. took all 4 nbme exams and had abysmal scores in all of them. 159, 177, 184, 196. after the 196 i just said "F$@# this" and took the beast. i got 202 on the real deal. i am so ecstatic to pass. i am applying for family med residency this year
 
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neo64 said:
GOT MY SCORE YESTERDAY WHILE I WAS IN AN INTERVIEW 276 I could not be happier!! I knew I did good, but this is unexpected. final UW % 78, last ten blocks 84%. UWSA predicted 265. I took NBME 4 offline, failed 10 qs .
Good luck !
Click to expand...

That's brilliant. Well Done! 🙂
 
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mike james said:
finally got my scores this week. nowhere near sdn numbers. this is for the extremely poor test takers. i've always been a borderline student. took all 4 nbme exams and had abysmal scores in all of them. 159, 177, 184, 196. after the 196 i just said "F$@# this" and took the beast. i got 202 on the real deal. i am so ecstatic to pass. i am applying for family med residency this year
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Good job! I'm a crappy test taker myself and understand the struggle! Good for you!
 
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mike james said:
finally got my scores this week. nowhere near sdn numbers. this is for the extremely poor test takers. i've always been a borderline student. took all 4 nbme exams and had abysmal scores in all of them. 159, 177, 184, 196. after the 196 i just said "F$@# this" and took the beast. i got 202 on the real deal. i am so ecstatic to pass. i am applying for family med residency this year
Click to expand...

Wanted to say, I'm glad you are happy with your scores. You'll be solid for FM and congratulations on finishing!
 
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I am using SU2M and UW. What should I use for peds, surg, and OB? I've heard people recommending master the boards for step 3? Any other suggestions?
 
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Pardon my ignorance, but is there a good guide to Step 2 CK preparation on this forum? Materials, study method etc. (something similar to the Taus method for Step 1)? Plz point me in the right direction; I'd appreciate it!

Is the gold standard for Step 2 FA & UW also? Or is Step Up to Step 2 favored? What other resources, etc... thanks!
 
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neo64 said:
GOT MY SCORE YESTERDAY WHILE I WAS IN AN INTERVIEW 276 I could not be happier!! I knew I did good, but this is unexpected. final UW % 78, last ten blocks 84%. UWSA predicted 265. I took NBME 4 offline, failed 10 qs .
Good luck !
Click to expand...

is the top score on uworld practice exam caped at 265? if so what was ur % score if you dont mind.
 
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jarmen said:
is the top score on uworld practice exam caped at 265? if so what was ur % score if you dont mind.
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I do not think it is the top score, UWSA is a 4 block exam, ( 78%,88%,91%,83%). It is actually similar to the real exam in terms of difficulty.
 
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So i was two weeks away from taking the exam, fell sick with high fever and was in bed for the past 8days - didnt study a word. Now my exam's gonna get delayed to third week of jan cos no exams in first two weeks.
UW expires 5th jan.

Any advice how to stay in touch and in the flow till 3rd week jan? whats the most productive use of this time?
 
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what has been the average mean on your score report for those of you who took usmle step 2 ck recently?
 
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Anybody take CK late in the week of December 3rd?

I took it December 7th and was wondering if our score reports could be delayed 2 weeks due to Christmas and New Years.
 
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Took the test today; I have no idea how it went. UWSA gave me a 230, but I didn't do any other practice exams and I only studied for 2 weeks, so not a lot of statistical power there.

1. I wish I had taken notes on Master The Boards instead of Step Up. So much more relevant, even though it seems less detailed.
2. That said, I agree with everyone who said it's more about clinical judgement than memorizing algorithms. CK was tricker than UWorld, but not as ridiculously detail-oriented as Kaplan.
3. Biostats Qs can be gimmees if you put in a couple hours of route memorization. I literally crash-memorized the 2x2 tables and equations the morning of the test, wrote them down on the dry erase board during the tutorial, and was grateful every time one came up.
4. Not sure how effective my 2 weeks of studying were. I know I needed to review OB/GYN and specialized stuff like that, but in reality - a 9 hour test is gonna test your knowledge so thoroughly that flashcarding details last-minute can't really help you out in a statistically significant way. You either have 9 hours worth of clinical knowledge, or you don't.

That said, I'm going for pediatrics, so I'll be content as long as I stay out of the "red flag" zone. I'll update when I get the score back.
 
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Good stuff marele86, hope you aced it! MTB is definitely a much more relevant book compared to SUS2.
Regarding your biostats questions, which equations are you talking about to be exact? sensitivity specificity formulas?
 
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Transposony said:
I'll be very skeptical submitting your info online like that. There is no name, address or contact details in there. Could be a scam.
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nah not a scam, what is there to lose by submitting the application?? application isnt asking for any personal info (people post their resumes/CV online all the time--check linkedin)...anyways friends and classmates have been working on the project for several months now, for people interested PM me if you want contact info for more information before submitting anything or if you feel uncomfortable submitting your resume you can talk to them directly via e-mail
 
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took step 2 CK yesterday. was originally slotted to take it earlier in the month but had to push it back 2/2 to interviews.

step 1: 273
Uworld avg (50% complete): 82%, last ten blocks 85%
dedicated ~ 2weeks to studying, used UWorld and read First Aid cover to cover
shelf exams: 94-99

thought CK was much more vague than UWorld. UWorld seemed to resemble step 1 a lot more for me. but maybe it was just my questions. i had tons of medicine, and minimal OB, peds, and psych. Peds was neonatal too, not much infant/toddler. all biostats were from pharm ads or abstract (only had 2 ads and one abstract). short on time on 6 out of the 8 blocks having to guess or leave blank 1-2 questions.

results supposedly come day after ophtho match...
 
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BMBPSU2008 said:
Anybody take CK late in the week of December 3rd?

I took it December 7th and was wondering if our score reports could be delayed 2 weeks due to Christmas and New Years.
Click to expand...

My friend took it Dec 3 and I took it a week later; we haven't heard anything (though not as surprising for me). I think December peeps are all pretty screwed for getting scores back in the calendar year.
 
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LovelyBRass said:
My friend took it Dec 3 and I took it a week later; we haven't heard anything (though not as surprising for me). I think December peeps are all pretty screwed for getting scores back in the calendar year.
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My "print permit" link disappeared last night. Hopefully that means it's coming on Wednesday.
 
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I took my ck exam on Dec 31st. When should I expect my results? People say 3 weeks from your test, and some say 4 weeks. Secrets, MTB, and Uworld are the way to go!
 
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I doubt they will come out this Wed. (today). The print permit thing disappeared because our testing block was from Oct 1 - Dec 31. For Step 1 some other thing appeared the night before and this did not happen last night. Looks like it will be next Wed.
 
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studentdoc5 said:
I doubt they will come out this Wed. (today). The print permit thing disappeared because our testing block was from Oct 1 - Dec 31. For Step 1 some other thing appeared the night before and this did not happen last night. Looks like it will be next Wed.
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I have a feeling you might be right. 🙁
 
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studentdoc5 said:
I doubt they will come out this Wed. (today). The print permit thing disappeared because our testing block was from Oct 1 - Dec 31. For Step 1 some other thing appeared the night before and this did not happen last night. Looks like it will be next Wed.
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Yeah, I took mine last Friday (12/28), and my scheduling permit is gone. My testing block was also Oct - Dec. Hope your scores come out soon, though. Good luck.
 
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Question:


For those who chose to not automatically send updated Step scores in ERAS, resending your USMLE transcript will NOT cause any pending Step scores to be automatically sent, correct?
 
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BMBPSU2008 said:
Question:


For those who chose to not automatically send updated Step scores in ERAS, resending your USMLE transcript will NOT cause any pending Step scores to be automatically sent, correct?
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Correct. You will have to resend each time a Step score is released.
 
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skinMD said:
got my score today too. took it 12/2. seems like for those who took it later in december the print permit link disappeared because you're past your eligibility period.[/]

Would anyone who got their score yesterday mind sharing their experience? For example, did the practice exams accurately estimate your score? If so, which one? Is there anything you would have done differently in terms of prep?
Click to expand...
 
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Syncity said:
Would anyone who got their score yesterday mind sharing their experience? For example, did the practice exams accurately estimate your score? If so, which one? Is there anything you would have done differently in terms of prep?
Click to expand...

i dont find these experiences threads to be useful nor do i advocate using them. everyone knows what the resources out there are. unfortunately for CK all the books are flawed so there is no clear answer for what works.

i will say that as always the practice NBME exams are very accurate (i did the most recent one) aand uworld is a must.

overall CK is much easier than step 1. i studied with about 1/3 of the intensity that i had for step 1 and scored 4 points higher. then again, the CK average is about 12 points higher!
 
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skinMD said:
i dont find these experiences threads to be useful nor do i advocate using them. everyone knows what the resources out there are. unfortunately for CK all the books are flawed so there is no clear answer for what works.

i will say that as always the practice NBME exams are very accurate (i did the most recent one) aand uworld is a must.

overall CK is much easier than step 1. i studied with about 1/3 of the intensity that i had for step 1 and scored 4 points higher. then again, the CK average is about 12 points higher!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.

I'd dispute the fact that 'everyone knows what the resources out there are'. Look through the Step 2 forum alone and you'll see the preponderance of 'what are the best books for CK' threads. Indeed, the most widely used books can attribute their popularity to those who've taken the exam vouching for them.

Furthermore, I found threads such as this one invaluable in my prep. I attend a school where three or so others have taken CK. I gained a lot of information from these threads and based a large portion of my study plan on the consensus arrived at through these threads.

Information on exam content is valuable for those who are about to take the exam - e.g. I can say that the UWorld explanations covered me for well over 50% of the material. Information on correlates between practice exams and the actual exam is also helpful. Posts limited to 'I got my score today' help absolutely nobody and would be better situated in a 'January 2nd Score Release' thread.
 
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Hey guys been studying for the exam on and off for the last three months

I want to take a nbme to gauge where I'm at...which one should I take? I'm planning to take all of them and the uworld exam

Thanks
 
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EaglesAllDay said:
Hey guys been studying for the exam on and off for the last three months

I want to take a nbme to gauge where I'm at...which one should I take? I'm planning to take all of them and the uworld exam

Thanks
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NBME 4 is the most recent and probably the best to take. Having taken all 4, I'd say the fourth resembles the exam most in terms of format. However, all are outdated - particularly 1 and 2 which feel very archaic (NBME 1 was, I believe, written in 2005). The most similar exam to the real thing is UWSA in terms of question style. The free USMLE.org questions are also very useful as they include some drug ad questions which, for me, resembled the drug ad questions which appeared on the actual exam quite closely (a lot closer than the ones in UWorld).
 
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Syncity said:
NBME 4 is the most recent and probably the best to take. Having taken all 4, I'd say the fourth resembles the exam most in terms of format. However, all are outdated - particularly 1 and 2 which feel very archaic (NBME 1 was, I believe, written in 2005). The most similar exam to the real thing is UWSA in terms of question style. The free USMLE.org questions are also very useful as they include some drug ad questions which, for me, resembled the drug ad questions which appeared on the actual exam quite closely (a lot closer than the ones in UWorld).
Click to expand...

Thanks...appreciate it!
 
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Syncity said:
No worries - you can always feel free to PM me along the way. I've recently taken the exam and have a fairly robust experience. Score should be out in around 2 weeks.
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Thanks, Will do...

around how much time did u take to study for it? Im planning on end of march March since I have to take CS in May and then take 3-4 months for some USCE.
 
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