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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skk3 said:
Timing question.

With 8 blocks of questions and 1 block of rest would this be an appropriate breakdown of the time?

1 - 5 min break - 2 - 5 min break 3 - 5 minute break - 4 - 10 min break - 5 - 15 min break (lunch) - 6 - 10 min. break - 7 - 10 minute break - 9

what do you all think?
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Play it by ear. If you find yourself making too many mistakes or unsure about a bunch of stuff or feeling tired take a break.

I wish I could have taken a break before the first block, as ridiculous as that sounds. In going over my mistakes I've counted around 5 dumb mistakes from that first block alone and I can remember about as many from the rest of the test combined. :laugh:
 
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I've noticed that the psych section in MTB2 is quite UNDERwhelming. Should I supplement with another book? Is it sufficient for the exam? (By sufficient, I mean that if I memorized and understood the psych section in MTB2 would I be able to correctly answer 95% of the questions on the exam)
 
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Get MTB 3...I started off with MTB 2, and realized that MTB 3 is actually a better step 2 than MTB 2. Really like it...especially for psych, peds, OB/GYN, and surgery.
 
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Hey guys! I haven't posted on here in a looong time, but I just took CK yesterday. Does anyone know if I should expect my score in 4 weeks? Or are they doing that weird cut-off date thing like last year where if you were after May 18th or something you had to wait 6-8 weeks?
 
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VBaller12 said:
Hey guys! I haven't posted on here in a looong time, but I just took CK yesterday. Does anyone know if I should expect my score in 4 weeks? Or are they doing that weird cut-off date thing like last year where if you were after May 18th or something you had to wait 6-8 weeks?
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Congrats!

I'm not sure on that specifically, I'd guess 3-4 weeks.

Care to post your opinion of the exam, and your study timeline/plan?
 
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Sure! I guess I'll start with stats.

Step 1: 245
Step 2: just want higher than my step 1 score, since getting lower looks bad

Shelf Scores:
Med: 82
Surg: 95
Rad: 86 (not real shelf)
Neuro: 83
Family: 76
Psych: 80
OB/GYN: 82
Peds: don't know yet, just took it 1.5 weeks ago

NBME (8 wks out, without peds rotation): 223
NBME (8 days out, no studying for step 2 yet other than shelf exams): 231
NBME (2 days out): 254 <--- liking this score, hoping it's close to actual CK

Study Method:
I'm not good at sticking to schedules, so my method is not very strict. I did all of the UW questions for each rotation during the rotation, so I was finished with my first pass about a week before my test. (UW first pass = low 70s) I forgot most of medicine by the end of 3rd year because it was my first rotation and I did all of those UW questions during the rotation, so I never went back to them. My last shelf exam was May 10th, so I didn't have very long to strictly study for Step 2. I relied on NBME practice tests to tell me which sections I really needed to work on. I used Step up to Step 2 mostly and Kaplan Internal Medicine for the sections I was really struggling with. I managed to get through 50% of UW a second time before running out of steam the day before my test.

Test Day:
I felt more prepared for Step 1 since I had actually studied for 3 weeks straight without worrying about classes or rotations. Because my NBME scores jumped 231-->254 in only a few days, I'm not sure which one is more accurate right now, but obviously hoping for the 254. The real test felt about the same to me as the NBME exams: ranged from being 100% sure of the answer to not having any idea. I actually had a lot of biostats questions, which I was not at all prepared for. I haven't looked at biostats since studying for Step 1 and my practice tests barely had any. For the most part, those were the questions I had no idea and just chose an answer randomly. The test is just so long that during the last two blocks I didn't want to think anymore and literally started eliminating obviously wrong answer choices, but not thinking through questions enough to narrow the choices down any more and then just picking one. I wish I had the focus and stamina to think for 350 questions straight, but I don't so that will probably hurt my score in the end.

And now the waiting begins...
 
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VBaller12 said:
Sure! I guess I'll start with stats.

Step 1: 245
Step 2: just want higher than my step 1 score, since getting lower looks bad

Shelf Scores:
Med: 82
Surg: 95
Rad: 86 (not real shelf)
Neuro: 83
Family: 76
Psych: 80
OB/GYN: 82
Peds: don't know yet, just took it 1.5 weeks ago

NBME (8 wks out, without peds rotation): 223
NBME (8 days out, no studying for step 2 yet other than shelf exams): 231
NBME (2 days out): 254 <--- liking this score, hoping it's close to actual CK

Study Method:
I'm not good at sticking to schedules, so my method is not very strict. I did all of the UW questions for each rotation during the rotation, so I was finished with my first pass about a week before my test. (UW first pass = low 70s) I forgot most of medicine by the end of 3rd year because it was my first rotation and I did all of those UW questions during the rotation, so I never went back to them. My last shelf exam was May 10th, so I didn't have very long to strictly study for Step 2. I relied on NBME practice tests to tell me which sections I really needed to work on. I used Step up to Step 2 mostly and Kaplan Internal Medicine for the sections I was really struggling with. I managed to get through 50% of UW a second time before running out of steam the day before my test.

Test Day:
I felt more prepared for Step 1 since I had actually studied for 3 weeks straight without worrying about classes or rotations. Because my NBME scores jumped 231-->254 in only a few days, I'm not sure which one is more accurate right now, but obviously hoping for the 254. The real test felt about the same to me as the NBME exams: ranged from being 100% sure of the answer to not having any idea. I actually had a lot of biostats questions, which I was not at all prepared for. I haven't looked at biostats since studying for Step 1 and my practice tests barely had any. For the most part, those were the questions I had no idea and just chose an answer randomly. The test is just so long that during the last two blocks I didn't want to think anymore and literally started eliminating obviously wrong answer choices, but not thinking through questions enough to narrow the choices down any more and then just picking one. I wish I had the focus and stamina to think for 350 questions straight, but I don't so that will probably hurt my score in the end.

And now the waiting begins...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the write-up. Sounds like you were pretty solid all-around (even without significant prep) so I bet your score will be reflective of that.

The length of this exam both overall and individual question stem length is certainly a concern of mine as well.

Good luck with the result!
 
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Ronin786 said:
Just got out of my test. Definitely a long test, and its challenging to stay focused all the way through.

As far as prep goes, I started around February along with my regular coursework. I only had 2 weeks of dedicated time, which was in the middle of my prep. I began with MTB and UWorld, didn't like my scores so I switched to Step up to Step 2, didn't see an improvement so I switched back to MTB. Definitely didn't like SUS2, and I'd recommend sticking to one main source (MTB series, Step Up series) since it allows better retention.

Like everybody else says, UWorld is the way to go for Step 2. No book is going to have all the info, but UWorld sure does. I did it around 1.75 times and I annotated into MTB which I did twice.

I was originally planning on taking it on April 1st, but a week earlier I took an NBME and didnt like my score so I scheduled it for today. Another tip is to not schedule your test until you're ready, as long as you have an available test center. I scheduled mine around 20 days before the exam.

As far as tests and scores:
Step 1: 23x
NBME 4 (1 week before first date, 30% UWorld left): 244
UWorld first pass: 72% (did the first half in timed, non-random blocks, and the second half in random blocks)
UWorld second pass: 90% with 800 questions left.
UWSA (10 days before the actual exam): 259

Test itself felt very fair. I marked a lot of questions, but there were 2-3 questions per block that I was sort of stumped by. I had some transfusion reaction stuff on my first block, and surprisingly 3 questions where I'm pretty sure the answer was Epinephrine. A lot of allergy IMO, but I felt that MTB and Uworld covered all the basics.

Thankfully I didnt have too many OBGYN questions, cause that was a weak point throughout which made me go out and buy MTB 3. I think for OBGYN MTB 2+3 is a good combo, but neither is sufficient as a standalone.

Biostatistics were a lot easier than the stuff in UWorld. Lots of calculations, but no so much bias and stuff. The drug ads were hilariously funny. Like reading comprehension funny.

Time management is essential for the test, as every block I finished on time except the last block which was 60 minutes but only 28 questions surprisingly. One personal recommendation that I found helpful was to take a break after the first block to calm your nerves. I made a lot of silly questions in the first block, but I went outside immediately afterwards, used the bathroom and calmed myself down.

Good luck to everybody, and now for the wait. Anybody know if Sunday tests need a 3 Wednesday or a 4 Wednesday wait?
Click to expand...

Just got my report, 25x thank God.
 
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Ronin786 said:
Thanks. Was hoping to break the 260 mark, but I'll take it any day of the week.


Interestingly, I felt the wait for this score was more gut-wrenching than Step 1. Even though I felt better coming out of the exam.
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Damn. I didnt even check my score till 3-4 days after Step 1 cause I figured I actually failed. Better go into this way more prepared.

Any hindsight 20/20 advice now that you officially killed it?
 
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CDI said:
Damn. I didnt even check my score till 3-4 days after Step 1 cause I figured I actually failed. Better go into this way more prepared.

Any hindsight 20/20 advice now that you officially killed it?
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Surprisingly, no. After Step 1 I felt that I should have done more UWorld and First Aid instead of other materials I used. After Step 2, I honestly didn't feel that the questions I got wrong were from a lack of knowing material.

I probably wouldn't have done Step up to Step 2 at all, but I think the test is so much about management and your thought process that really being calm has a huge effect. I've said this before, but my biggest regret is not being more relaxed during my first block.
 
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Ronin786 said:
Surprisingly, no. After Step 1 I felt that I should have done more UWorld and First Aid instead of other materials I used. After Step 2, I honestly didn't feel that the questions I got wrong were from a lack of knowing material.

I probably wouldn't have done Step up to Step 2 at all, but I think the test is so much about management and your thought process that really being calm has a huge effect. I've said this before, but my biggest regret is not being more relaxed during my first block.
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Sounds pretty similar to many I've spoken to.

I'd like to reach the US average (or better this time). So, hopefully I can follow your advice to get there.
 
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I will add that there should be a separate COMLEX thread, like there is for Step 1. It reduces clutter and confusion.
 
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Hi ronin,

congrats on the awesome score!

few questions:

you said there were a lot of calculation for biostats. do you recommend reviewing stuff from step 1 because there is so much bias stuff as you said in uworld and not many calcuations in the uworld qbank?

Did you read MTB3 for all subjects, or just non- IM subjects?

I know you mentioned you saw a question or two in MTB that wasn't in UWORLD on your exam. Was it really that few, and if you could be honest about it, do you think you would have done the same on your exam using UWorld as a sole study source versus doing MTB2 and MTB3? thnks
 
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Phloston said:
Congrats, bud. 🙂
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Thanks man!

Bagheera said:
Hi ronin,

congrats on the awesome score!

few questions:

you said there were a lot of calculation for biostats. do you recommend reviewing stuff from step 1 because there is so much bias stuff as you said in uworld and not many calcuations in the uworld qbank?

Did you read MTB3 for all subjects, or just non- IM subjects?

I know you mentioned you saw a question or two in MTB that wasn't in UWORLD on your exam. Was it really that few, and if you could be honest about it, do you think you would have done the same on your exam using UWorld as a sole study source versus doing MTB2 and MTB3? thnks
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I'd say just make sure you have all the Sensitivity, Specificity, PPV and NPV down. Also had a question about NNT, which is in UWorld. I think the biostats section in Step 2 Secrets is pretty good, but just have those basics down. There is no section in the CK profile breakdown about my biostat performance, but I think I did well.

I only did OBGYN from MTB 3. I don't think I would have done otherwise if I had to do it over. MTB2 and UWorld was really enough. Interestingly, Psych was my lowest performance but I think thats cause I didnt have that many questions on my test and I messed up on an extremely easy one.
 
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did 1 pass through uworld during my 3rd year and i plan on doing a second pass during my 4 weeks of dedicated step 2 studying, and Im planning on added mksap bc i know Ill have time for some extra questions

are you guys using mksap 4 or 5? As I understand, 5 is new and contains completely new and different questions than 4. anyone have experience with both, or even with just one that could offer up some advice?
 
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What is the one additional book people recommend to use in addition to uworld?

I like to stick to one book and just review that multiple times, but I've read people using multiple books.

If people could continue to post their scores with their study materials and how many times they used each of those materials with how long their study period was that would be great

Thanks!
 
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colts said:
What is the one additional book people recommend to use in addition to uworld?

I like to stick to one book and just review that multiple times, but I've read people using multiple books.

If people could continue to post their scores with their study materials and how many times they used each of those materials with how long their study period was that would be great

Thanks!
Click to expand...

...SSN and DOB too please?
 
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After reading the thread, I made a study plan. I'll post with results in what sounds like 10 weeks or so. I have about 5+ weeks of dedicated time.

Uworld x 2-3 (about 200 qs left on first pass)
Uworld Biostats x 1 (need help w/ biostats)
DIT Step 2 x 1 (didn't feel like I learned a lot in third year, my shelfs were all around the national average)
Step up to Step 2 x 1 (I'll go through it once on my own and DIT I think covers it a 1-2 times in the course)
Secrets x 1 (if time permits)

I will supplement with MTB, wikipedia, uptodate on sections that aren't covered well with the above. I don't want to overwhelm myself with sources considering it seems that the money is in Uworld. Anything else I should add/subtract?
 
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kimbosliced said:
After reading the thread, I made a study plan. I'll post with results in what sounds like 10 weeks or so. I have about 5+ weeks of dedicated time.

Uworld x 2-3 (about 200 qs left on first pass)
Uworld Biostats x 1 (need help w/ biostats)
DIT Step 2 x 1 (didn't feel like I learned a lot in third year, my shelfs were all around the national average)
Step up to Step 2 x 1 (I'll go through it once on my own and DIT I think covers it a 1-2 times in the course)
Secrets x 1 (if time permits)

I will supplement with MTB, wikipedia, uptodate on sections that aren't covered well with the above. I don't want to overwhelm myself with sources considering it seems that the money is in Uworld. Anything else I should add/subtract?
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My opinion would be to subtract Step up to Step 2 and DIT and focus more heavily on MTB instead.

I absolutely hated SUS2, so I could be biased.
 
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Ronin786 said:
My opinion would be to subtract Step up to Step 2 and DIT and focus more heavily on MTB instead.

I absolutely hated SUS2, so I could be biased.
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You seen the new book? It's seems pretty good. I like the organization more so than MTB. It reminds me a lot of FA for Step 1: not the best learning tool for first pass through material but after you do other stuff like Uworld it seems appropriate. It's just all factoids unlike MTB which is much more conversational, if that makes sense.
 
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wow did anyone feel that the UWSA was a difficult exam? sheesh...

I've been building my confidence through my slowly improving UW % but this exam just felt different... How did people do in relation to their UWSA?
 
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skk3 said:
wow did anyone feel that the UWSA was a difficult exam? sheesh...

I've been building my confidence through my slowly improving UW % but this exam just felt different... How did people do in relation to their UWSA?
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Definitely felt this. Can't explain exactly "what" was different, but it was definitely different to me. Hitting above 70% over the last dozenish blocks before I took the assessment made me feel like I was ready but when I got my UWSA score that definitely wasn't the case. Just seemed... vague. Or maybe trickier.. dunno. Seems like World gives you all the info you need to make the Dx or get the answer but the assessment had a lot of distractors and weird info/subjects tested to me. Maybe I'm not the only one but it spooked the hell outta me...
 
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Yeah something was just odd about it. Or maybe I didn't know some stuff as well as I thought I did. After taking the exam this morning, I actually made the decision to postpone my exam date... ah well.. what can you do
 
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kimbosliced said:
You seen the new book? It's seems pretty good. I like the organization more so than MTB. It reminds me a lot of FA for Step 1: not the best learning tool for first pass through material but after you do other stuff like Uworld it seems appropriate. It's just all factoids unlike MTB which is much more conversational, if that makes sense.
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Lol, it's the same as the old book. Nearly identical.
 
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Anybody got any advice on which 2 or 3 NBME's to take? I figure one before my dedicated studying, one half way through, and one near the end? Thanks
 
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happyfeet123 said:
Anybody got any advice on which 2 or 3 NBME's to take? I figure one before my dedicated studying, one half way through, and one near the end? Thanks
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I took all four before my exam.

In my opinion, NBME 4 is the only one that is in any way current. Therefore, I would save this until the peri-exam period.

I would opt for NBME 3 if you're taking one before your dedicated study. It's not great, but is certainly better than the terribly outdated NBME 1 and 2.
 
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Syncity said:
I took all four before my exam.

In my opinion, NBME 4 is the only one that is in any way current. Therefore, I would save this until the peri-exam period.

I would opt for NBME 3 if you're taking one before your dedicated study. It's not great, but is certainly better than the terribly outdated NBME 1 and 2.
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NBME 6 should now be most current.
 
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QuackaDO said:
Yes, it is. #6 is just #1 redone to add multimedia questions... according to NBME it's the same test but with those multimedia questions. Not sure if that makes it worth it or not honestly.
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Just the one murmur question with that steth you can move around. Speaking of which, anybody know a good, quick resource for heart murmurs? I always get those wrong.
 
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QuackaDO said:
Yes, it is. #6 is just #1 redone to add multimedia questions... according to NBME it's the same test but with those multimedia questions. Not sure if that makes it worth it or not honestly.
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Think the only significant change is that it now has extended feedback for it

Does anyone know why they've released only 4 nbmes for CK compared to the boatload theyve released for step 1?
 
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jwalker12 said:
so is step up to step 2 basically obsolete now. everyone seems to be on this mtb2/mtb3 plan. just trying to find the best resource .thanks in advance for any advice
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I bought a copy way in advance (won't take Step 2 for a year) - I happen to see the previous version, they are exactly the same. They even carried over some errors that are 6 years old. Pretty staggering that you don't correct errata in 6 years. I returned it on that basis alone.

I think the consensus is there is no great book - the books are just to organize your thinking. You get the material from qbank or uptodate.
 
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jwalker12 said:
so is step up to step 2 basically obsolete now. everyone seems to be on this mtb2/mtb3 plan. just trying to find the best resource .thanks in advance for any advice
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I wouldn't say it is obselete. I got mtb 2 and read some it, it was missing a decent amount of information so I ended up returning it due to having read step up to step 2 and annotated almost half the book while doing UW at that point. Any book you use will not be complete and you will need to fill in the gaps because UW is the end all be all tool for step 2. Its just a matter of preference. secrets to step 2 is really good as well, quick and to the point.
 
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So what, I'm going to have to read MTB 2, 3, SUTM and SUS2 just to cover most of the bases? A classmate of mine just scored a 270 on the step 1 exam and now my pride really hurts. Another classmate told me that nothing in the books or UWorld could have prepared him for the numerous bouncers. Knowing how well the predictions worked out for me last time, am I going to have to read Harrison's textbook?

(Of course I'm not being completely serious. Yet.)
 
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