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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Did you guys feel that the actual CK was easier, just the same, or harder than most study materials? I keep going over and over everything and there are always a few things each chapter that no matter how many times I read it its going to only remain in my mind for maybe a day or two???
 
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NRAI2001 said:
Did you guys feel that the actual CK was easier, just the same, or harder than most study materials? I keep going over and over everything and there are always a few things each chapter that no matter how many times I read it its going to only remain in my mind for maybe a day or two???
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It's the same but different. Had to really say. Most of the test is easy and the hard stuff is really challenging. I'd say it was fine when compared to Uworld, but lots of material that I studied was no where on the test.
 
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fahimaz7 said:
It's the same but different. Had to really say. Most of the test is easy and the hard stuff is really challenging. I'd say it was fine when compared to Uworld, but lots of material that I studied was no where on the test.
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So most of the test was easier than UW? When you say the hard stuff was challenging what do you mean? Challenging bc it was really minut detailed stuff? Vague? Just stuff that wasn't in the books ?
 
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NRAI2001 said:
So most of the test was easier than UW? When you say the hard stuff was challenging what do you mean? Challenging bc it was really minut detailed stuff? Vague? Just stuff that wasn't in the books ?
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I though it was about the same as UW.
 
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NRAI2001 said:
So most of the test was easier than UW? When you say the hard stuff was challenging what do you mean? Challenging bc it was really minut detailed stuff? Vague? Just stuff that wasn't in the books ?
Click to expand...

It's not step 1 if that's what you mean. There were no questions where I had to select inv (16) and t(16.2:19) as the cause for some random cancer. Hard questions are difficult as they make you APPLY knowledge that you have learned throughout the years to some clinical scenario that you are very comfortable with, but do so in a way that you've never thought about. I had some physiology questions that fit this mold and I found them challenging (even though I've tutored this crap in medical school).

Hard isn't minut details.. it's having to apply your knowledge to something that you were never taught. I could have studied for 6 months and I would have never covered the stuff that they made me apply.

270+, so I can't complain.
 
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fahimaz7 said:
It's not step 1 if that's what you mean. There were no questions where I had to select inv (16) and t(16.2:19) as the cause for some random cancer. Hard questions are difficult as they make you APPLY knowledge that you have learned throughout the years to some clinical scenario that you are very comfortable with, but do so in a way that you've never thought about. I had some physiology questions that fit this mold and I found them challenging (even though I've tutored this crap in medical school).

Hard isn't minut details.. it's having to apply your knowledge to something that you were never taught. I could have studied for 6 months and I would have never covered the stuff that they made me apply.

270+, so I can't complain.
Click to expand...

Wow awesome score... I would be happy with half that score (hahah jk)..

What did you primarily use to study? what was most representative to what you saw? MTB? I ve been using a lot of MTB, I hope its a decent represntation..
 
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NRAI2001 said:
Wow awesome score... I would be happy with half that score (hahah jk)..

What did you primarily use to study? what was most representative to what you saw? MTB? I ve been using a lot of MTB, I hope its a decent represntation..
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I did Uworld and SU2S2. Didn't do anything else.
 
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Thanks to all that have helped me through the years on this forum. Time to pay it back...

I took the exam a week ago. I gave myself exactly two weeks to prepare. Although I always wish I had just one more day before an exam, this was an appropriate amount of time.

Background on me:
Slightly above average student Med1/Med2, kicked it into high gear and got 255 on Step 1. Med 3 grades were very strong (top 25%) and I studied quite a bit (lots of reading and a good chunk of UWorld). Shelf scores: OB/Gyn 98, Peds 89, Neuro 89, Psych 91, Family 84, IM 93, Surgery 94. I also had a couple emergency medicine rotations under my belt, which I think was tremendously helpful.

I studied for those two weeks focusing on UWorld. I did 150-250 questions a day depending on my motivation and made it through all of them. I started around 75% and quickly improved to the 80s. I made it through with an 80% average overall, which medfriends.org puts at a predicted 276. The last 48 hours or so, I read through my weak areas in Secrets. I made it through probably half the book. I wish I had made it through all of it, but I don't think it made too big of a difference.

Test day went well. I expected the worst based on what people were saying on here, but the exam felt just like UWorld with most of the questions being on the easier side. Yes, there were difficult/impossible questions, but I think many people have a skewed perception of how many of these there really are. Take what people say with a grain of salt and don't let it psych you out. UWorld was outstanding preparation.

8 blocks with 41-45 questions each. I marked 4-7 per block, although there's a good chance I missed more than that. Most of those were questions that no amount of preparation would have prepared me for. A few were dumb things that I simply couldn't remember (of course, one of those appeared twice as nearly identical questions... bummer). My exam seemed well-balanced. If anything, I would say that immunology and addiction medicine seemed a bit over-represented. I was glad that I had reviewed the immunology section of Secrets immediately before my exam and would highly recommend doing so.

Overall, I'm optimistic. I want >260 just so I don't slide from my Step 1 score, but would certainly be tickled by hitting 270. I'll update as soon as I have my score.

Hope that helps someone!

Edit for additional info: I finished my UWorld blocks with right around 20 minutes to spare every time. The questions on the exam seemed slightly longer, but not dramatically so. Nonetheless, I finished each block with only 3-5 minutes on the real deal. More than anything, I think I was being more cautious and spending more time trying to figure out the really difficult ones.
 
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Both UWorld and Kaplan Qbanks aiming for about 240ish questions per day. On off days without questions I used master the boards and step 2 secrets. Studied for 4-5 weeks. Step I was about 10 points lower.
 
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Doctor D said:
Both UWorld and Kaplan Qbanks aiming for about 240ish questions per day. On off days without questions I used master the boards and step 2 secrets. Studied for 4-5 weeks. Step I was about 10 points lower.
Click to expand...
Thanks.
How useful were MTB and Secrets and if have to choose between the two which one would you recommend.
 
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Long time lurker here, I have valued the input from the board so I figured I'd share. I'm an IMG, a little older than the typical student with a family so I didn't always have the luxury of uninterrupted study time for the steps but I've managed. Took CK the 9/25/12 and felt like I got taken out back behind the woodshed. Really felt like I bombed it. Long stems, strange subjects and I was always struggling with time which I never had a problem with on UWorld or the NBME's. I did DIT '10 months in advanced and didn't find it very useful. MTB was the best resource for me. I wasn't to thrilled with step up to step 2. One thing I found useful was leaving biostats studying for the day before the exam and secrets has a great high yield biostats section. Post-exam I flipped through the new FA and I wish I had used that instead as my main resource.

Step 1- 222
UW- 65%
Kaplan QBank (90% finished)- 60%
NBME 4 (1 week out)- 227
Step 2 CK- 240

Needless to say I was quite relived and pumped with the bump from step 1. But the average was a 237 so it's nothing to brag about esp considering the Student Doc avg, but I can't complain overall pretty happy considering how I felt immediately after the step.
 
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Doctor D said:
Both UWorld and Kaplan Qbanks aiming for about 240ish questions per day. On off days without questions I used master the boards and step 2 secrets. Studied for 4-5 weeks. Step I was about 10 points lower.
Click to expand...

thank you ....🙂 was kaplan qbank helpful ???? becoz i am a slow reader and take alot of time to read explanations . will be doing uw twice and reading MTB and secrets .

thanks !
 
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I took the test 9/28, just got my score back last week.

Step 1: 260's
Step 2: 260's

I'm mostly posting to give the following advice:
-Do UWorld. While I felt like there were very few questions on my test that were directly from UW, I always think it's good to do as many questions as you can. I did this during my third year and I think was at about 65 or 68% cumulative as I was reviewing for shelf exams. I made notes in SUTM while on medicine clerkship from UW as well. Overall my % this time was at about 76%. I made a word doc with all the key points from the questions I missed, which was good because I ran out of time and couldn't do my incorrects.
-Was on my primary care rotation, so read Step 2 Secrets between patients and in breaks. Overall, I thought it was good, and I wish I had used it more seriously (to actually sit and read and study) instead of just between patients.
-Very superficially skimmed SUTM at the beginning of my study period.

The only thing I'd change is that everyone from my school said to ONLY use UW and maybe read S2S. I'm a "book" person, and I wish I had maybe gone through a book like SUTS2 just because I really was fuzzy on some of the stuff (particularly from my earlier clerkships), and I probably gave away some easy questions that I got just from not covering those little holes from UW.

Overall, when I took my test, I thought it was hard as frick. I would say I had 2 blocks where I was like "ok, I got this," 3 blocks where I was like, "shoot, this was a little tough, but I made it ok," and the other 3 blocks were a STRUGGLE for me. I never ran out of time during UW practice tests, but I found myself really crunched for time on those blocks. I made it a habit that whenever I really didn't know a question, I'd skip it and come back later so as to not waste time, and there were some blocks where I'd have skipped literally 15 or so questions. Anyway, this is not to freak people out...just to say that if you feel like you are getting destroyed, just keep your chin up and try to plow through as best you can.

Like I mentioned, I left the exam feeling totally destroyed. I (seriously) had a nightmare the night after of the testing software screen hahaha. I literally was concerned I might not have passed or that I would have dropped my score from Step 1 majorly. FWIW, I know we are all crazy type A people, but talking to my friends, a lot of them also felt this way, so I think it's pretty common.

It all worked out, and I was so relieved to see my score. I didn't shoot up from Step 1, but considering I was convinced I would have dropped 10+ points, I was happy. I'm not sure how the curve is working for these tests, but I can say that on my score report, I had at least 2-3 sections where my bars extended into the "grey zone," lots of really long bars, and for many of the sections, my bar didn't even extend/hit the top part of the graph... so clearly, I missed a good number of questions. Anyway, basically what I mean is that you can probably miss a lot of questions and still do well just from the curve. If you feel like you got killed after this, just try to put it behind you and forget about it for 3 weeks. You'll probably do better than you think

Best of luck everyone!
 
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Step 1 262
Step 2 267
UW% 2nd time through was 82% on random untimed tutor mode

My story is very similar to the poster above. I did UW through my third year and averaged somewhere in the 70's. I gave myself three weeks before step two and in that time I did UW a second time and read through first aid one time. I also reviewed flash cards that I had made for each of my clerkships. I actually walked out of step 2 feeling a lot better than I did about step 1. I didn't think there were as many random, impossible questions on step 2 compared to step 1. The questions stems were probably about 2x as long as what I saw in UW.
I think step 2 gives you a great opportunity to increase your board score with only a fraction of the work that step 1 requires.
 
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I just took the test last week and happy to be done. Now I kinda feel lost since I had focused so much on one thing. On to my experience...

I consider myself average. I work hard but at the end of the day I get average grades. Step 1 was in the 220s. For step 2 I did Uworld questions, got through most of MTB and most of secrets. I had read secrets once during the year and first aid medicine during my last rotation. Uworld was first time through with average of 62%. Finished it the night before the test. During the year, I studied the recommended books for each clerkship and made it through the shelf exams with a B average. No matter how hard I tried, I ended up with the same thing.
I would say I studied hard for step 2 but I always think I study hard. 4 weeks total, no off days (including weekends). In comparison to Uworld, some of the questions on the actual step 2 exam seemed like I had seen them before on Uworld. But this was definitely the minority. The rest were either written weirdly or would make you second guess your answer. The biostats questions were either very easy or asking you to use a formula that you either remembered or didn't. One thing that was helpful on uworld was all the dyspnea on exertion type questions. The real test is peppered with these types of questions. I don't want to say too much beyond that.
Reading this thread, I was worried about how long the questions would be but I am happy to report that they are almost the same length as on uworld. Maybe two lines extra. Not alot of unnecessary labs like I was expecting. Finished with five minutes left on average. About 44-45 questions. I marked some questions where I was in btn two answers and couldn't decide till the time expired and I was stuck with whatever answer I had marked.
Crossing my fingers for a 240.

My only advise is to pace yourself when it comes to doing the practice questions. In the beginning of my dedicated study time, I was doing one or two blocks a day but in the last week I really had to really step it up and do about 5 blocks a day so as to finish the remaining questions. I thought I would have enough time to go over all the wrong questions. Boy was I wrong...haha...

GL to everyone who has yet to take it!
 
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Just got mine from the same date back.

Uworld 68% on random, timed blocks
NBME 4 - 214
CK - 236

It's an improvement from step 1 for me, so I'm fine with that.
 
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DoctorTinyCat said:
Thanks to all that have helped me through the years on this forum. Time to pay it back...

I took the exam a week ago. I gave myself exactly two weeks to prepare. Although I always wish I had just one more day before an exam, this was an appropriate amount of time.

Background on me:
Slightly above average student Med1/Med2, kicked it into high gear and got 255 on Step 1. Med 3 grades were very strong (top 25%) and I studied quite a bit (lots of reading and a good chunk of UWorld). Shelf scores: OB/Gyn 98, Peds 89, Neuro 89, Psych 91, Family 84, IM 93, Surgery 94. I also had a couple emergency medicine rotations under my belt, which I think was tremendously helpful.

I studied for those two weeks focusing on UWorld. I did 150-250 questions a day depending on my motivation and made it through all of them. I started around 75% and quickly improved to the 80s. I made it through with an 80% average overall, which medfriends.org puts at a predicted 276. The last 48 hours or so, I read through my weak areas in Secrets. I made it through probably half the book. I wish I had made it through all of it, but I don't think it made too big of a difference.

Test day went well. I expected the worst based on what people were saying on here, but the exam felt just like UWorld with most of the questions being on the easier side. Yes, there were difficult/impossible questions, but I think many people have a skewed perception of how many of these there really are. Take what people say with a grain of salt and don't let it psych you out. UWorld was outstanding preparation.

8 blocks with 41-45 questions each. I marked 4-7 per block, although there's a good chance I missed more than that. Most of those were questions that no amount of preparation would have prepared me for. A few were dumb things that I simply couldn't remember (of course, one of those appeared twice as nearly identical questions... bummer). My exam seemed well-balanced. If anything, I would say that immunology and addiction medicine seemed a bit over-represented. I was glad that I had reviewed the immunology section of Secrets immediately before my exam and would highly recommend doing so.

Overall, I'm optimistic. I want >260 just so I don't slide from my Step 1 score, but would certainly be tickled by hitting 270. I'll update as soon as I have my score.

Hope that helps someone!

Edit for additional info: I finished my UWorld blocks with right around 20 minutes to spare every time. The questions on the exam seemed slightly longer, but not dramatically so. Nonetheless, I finished each block with only 3-5 minutes on the real deal. More than anything, I think I was being more cautious and spending more time trying to figure out the really difficult ones.
Click to expand...

Update: score released today, 275. Very happy that my preparation paid off. My Medfriends prediction was spot on (276 predicted).

Good luck to all!
 
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first time through unused questions was around 65%. got 234/95
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just took the beast today....man what a dumb test...i dunno thought it was kinda hard...first two blocks were okay and then it just got progressively harder....at this point...just hoping i pass -_-
 
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OptionMirror said:
just took the beast today....man what a dumb test...i dunno thought it was kinda hard...first two blocks were okay and then it just got progressively harder....at this point...just hoping i pass -_-
Click to expand...

Ya I took it on Monday and it was a complete joke of a test, like the test writers got together and decided to make te most odd ball test they could on all the stuff they knew students don't study that much... It was all surgery, orthopedic surgery, biostats and the most random peds ever... I hardly had any OBGYN or IM... And I studied pretty hard for this test too..
 
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NRAI2001 said:
Ya I took it on Monday and it was a complete joke of a test, like the test writers got together and decided to make te most odd ball test they could on all the stuff they knew students don't study that much... It was all surgery, orthopedic surgery, biostats and the most random peds ever... I hardly had any OBGYN or IM... And I studied pretty hard for this test too..
Click to expand...

haha same here...i had tons of freakin biostat...spent the least amount of time studying for it...i went to my default answer c for maybe most of them hahah
 
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OptionMirror said:
haha same here...i had tons of freakin biostat...spent the least amount of time studying for it...i went to my default answer c for maybe most of them hahah
Click to expand...
I took my test on Halloween, I should have just worn a halloween costume to celebrate its percentage of randomness. Captain America or Hulk anyone? Stuff was nuts, 50% UWorld, Secrets, MTB. The other 50%: Minutiae from medical school (first 2 years of pathophys and phys), random specialties, really oblique approaches to common bread and butter topics). 240+ step 1. I got 74% first pass UW. 85+ on surgery and med shelfs. 247 on UWSA 1 week away. I finished with 4-5 minutes left and just answered my marked questions the best I could and I moved on.

UWorld needs to update some of its content in its bank, it's getting old, no disrespect to them, their qbank is best on the market, I don't even know why other companies even try, their interface is spot on.

NBME has a knack for tricking you or gotcha questions for at least 30% of this test. I knew I fell victim to some of them, I remember at least getting 10-15 wrong and knowing that I marked at least 4 per block. It was also super image heavy with some very disgusting images that caused me nightmares when I slept. This was definitely harder than the UWSA, NBME, or free 150. Here's to a good curve? I'm hoping anywhere from 240-260. Trick or treat!
 
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Would you guys recommend Step Up or Secrets to read a few days prior to the exam? I haven't finished either cover to cover.
 
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<-----Some people are slow readers. I would say three days for secrets if you can sit there and focus for hours. I tried to read it in two days but still had >50pgs left


Waiting for my score release on Wednesday!! I wish it could come out earlier *sigh*
 
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Thanks for replying guys.

Did you guys feel like it helped? I heard that the exam is difficult and wasn't sure if this is the best way to spend my last few days. Not sure if I should do my incorrects on UW or something.
 
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QfeverQ said:
Thanks for replying guys.

Did you guys feel like it helped? I heard that the exam is difficult and wasn't sure if this is the best way to spend my last few days. Not sure if I should do my incorrects on UW or something.
Click to expand...
1. Do your incorrects >>>>This will clear your concepts on the topics as there is nothing like a clear concept on this test.
2. Use the search function on UW to read the HY topics/clear concepts
3. Read your own notes (if any)
OR
Read the side notes (HY notes, if any) from whichever book you used (FA, MTB etc)
 
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boanssi said:
Which books did you read besides Secrets?
Click to expand...

Just Secrets for my Step 2 prep and, as I mentioned, I didn't make it through the entire book. Really my sole studying for Step 2 was UWorld and that was enough to get me my 275. The fact that I studied hard during Med 3 and therefore already had a lot of the knowledge was likely key. (With most of my shelf scores 2-3 SD above the mean, I expected to do similarly on Step 2.)

I should have mentioned that I used the Notes function in UWorld to write down concepts I wanted to review. I went through those notes the day before the test. I've got a really awesome short-term memory.
 
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DoctorTinyCat said:
Just Secrets for my Step 2 prep and, as I mentioned, I didn't make it through the entire book. Really my sole studying for Step 2 was UWorld and that was enough to get me my 275. The fact that I studied hard during Med 3 and therefore already had a lot of the knowledge was likely key. (With most of my shelf scores 2-3 SD above the mean, I expected to do similarly on Step 2.)

I should have mentioned that I used the Notes function in UWorld to write down concepts I wanted to review. I went through those notes the day before the test. I've got a really awesome short-term memory.
Click to expand...

So what did you use during your 3rd year?
 
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I felt slammed by my test 3 weeks ago. I only got through 40% of MTB, ~500 UW questions, and 25% of Secrets. I only had ~1 week of dedicated free time. I got 250's on step 1 but averaged 50-60th percentile on MS3 shelves. Got 257 on step 2 UWSA 4 days out, so I took the test and told myself I'd be OK even if it overestimated by 20.

Anyway, on the real deal I scored 261/87
 
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WashMe said:
I felt slammed by my test 3 weeks ago. I only got through 40% of MTB, ~500 UW questions, and 25% of Secrets. I only had ~1 week of dedicated free time. I got 250's on step 1 but averaged 50-60th percentile on MS3 shelves. Got 257 on step 2 UWSA 4 days out, so I took the test and told myself I'd be OK even if it overestimated by 20.

Anyway, on the real deal I scored 261/87
Click to expand...

Congrats!!
 
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