USMLE Step 1: 221
UWSA Step 2 CK one week into studying: 229
NBME 4 two weeks into studying: 251
USMLE Step 2 CK actual thing: 246
Primary resources: UWORLD + FA Step 2 CK
References: Step-Up Medicine, a little bit of Kaplan Q-book
ABOUT ME-
First time poster, long time lurker. This thread was such an inspiration during my studying for both steps, and especially comforting for CK knowing people were scoring near their NBME 4 on the real thing. Thank you, awesome people!
I'll start by saying I'm not the typical SDN poster -- I'm an average med student at an average med school in cali, average step 1 score, honored only half of my rotations. At the same time, I'm also not that hardcore: I can't study more than about 9 hrs/day, I love my reality TV, I study at the starbucks in the mall so I can go shopping after. I'm planning to do ob-gyn 🙂
PREPARATION-
My step 1 was a 221. It pains me just to write it. I have no idea what happened, I was scoring 240s going into that thing. So, you'd think I would be all amped and gunning to show 'em what I got for CK but I was SOOO burnt after third year. I had 3 weeks but could NOT buckle down the first week. Instead I slept, went to the gym a lot, and even took a trip. However, during my time on the beach that week I read FA Step 2 CK (half-heartedly) and also did the medicine chapters in the Kaplan Q-book. But essentially studied hard for 2 weeks. I had finished World x1 during the year, using it as a tool to study for each shelf (~72% overall average). Shelf scores were in the 80s. I reset the bank at the beginning of that 2 week study period. My studying basically consisted of blocks of 44 questions, random, un-timed, tutor-mode. I can't speak enough about tutor-mode. There's just something to be said about getting instant feedback on questions (wrong or right) then looking up that little bit in FA. Really solidifies concepts IMO. Ended up completing 75% of a second run-through, averaging 78%. U-World is gold, I don't really have to repeat that here. However, I'm one of those who can't just use a q-bank as a primary resource -- I need a text with which to visually place everything and somewhere jot down notes in an organized manner. For that, I'll say FA Step 2 CK is pretty good, like a 7/10. Some chapters are better than others, and they are missing some important diseases. Obviously it isn't the bible like it is for Step 1. I didn't use or even look at Secrets so can't comment on that, but lots of people say good things.
THE EXAM-
Leading up to the exam I felt pretty confident with that practice NBME 251 under my belt but for some reason still felt weak in a few areas (peds rashes, eek!) and was back-and-forth about whether to push it back a week. Decided ultimately to just take it on my original test date, mostly because I was sick of studying and wanted to PLAY. But the night before the exam I could.not.sleep. Worst thing ever. Kept thinking that I should have postponed it, should have studied harder, should have finished my second round of the U-WORLD bank, needed to redeem myself for Step 1 etc etc. Then started stressing about not being able to sleep and it's just a vicious cycle - you guys know what I'm talking about. Was able to get about 4 hrs of sleep (my baseline is 9 hrs) but let the adrenaline carry me through the day.
The exam itself was VERY FAIR in my opinion. I would say the average breakdown of a block is this: 30 do-able questions that are slightly easier than World, 10 questions where you'll be debating between 2 answers 😡, and 4 WTF types. Sometimes the WTF ones are ethical dilemma. Lucky for me I had a TON of ob/gyn, probably 5-10 per section, mostly fetal heart monitoring and STDs. The biggest bulk is medicine though, the approx breakdown of mine was resp > cardio > GI > everything else. Lots of resp is infectious stuff! Had about 4 heart sound questions, the sound resolution is awful so static can sound like a murmur but in some cases the stem was enough to give it away. I felt OK, but not great after. Mostly just exhausted and glad it was done. Like everyone, I perseverated on handful I got wrong, freaked out for like a day but you can't beat yourself up over those
just stay calm, especially if your practice exams have been decent.
In terms of length of stems, what people say is true: the screen is different so questions may appear longer but they aren't so different from world. Maybe 1 or 2 insanely long questions per block (you will resent these like none other in blocks 6, 7, 8). I'm a pretty fast test taker and always finished with 7-10 minutes left to agonize over my marked questions (~10 per block).
Overall, I'm very happy. This is not a phenomenal score by SDN standards but it's a dream come true for me. Hope this helps and thanks again to all those who have posted their experiences.
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