USMLEWorld easier than actual Step II?

[funshine]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hey all,

I wanted to get some feedback on how similar USMLEWorld was to the Step II. Specifically, I wondered if the question stems were longer on the actual test, b/c I am a slow reader and generally have to watch my time very closely.

Several classmates have told me their actual test was a lot harder than the USMLEWorld, with longer question stems so they ran out of time.

Anyone care to confirm this?

Thanks!

 

[FutureInternist]

I definitely noticed that the stems were longer. Having said that, there was a LOT of extraneous information (lab values, UAs etc) that you did not need to answer the Q.
Step 2 is definitely a test where you want to read the last line or two first to figure out exactly what they want before reading through half a page of H&P.

 

[funshine]

thanks- yeah I was wondering whether I should supplement my studying with NMS b/c the question stems seem to be longer. Anyone have thoughts on this? I so need to do well b/c my score was lower than expected on Step I!

Also, anyone have experience using USMLE Rx?

 

[Saladin MD]

UWorld easier...? Crap. I'm doing Uworld right now and it is not easy.

 

[xyzyx]

I thought that USMLE World was harder than the real thing... The questions are super nit-picky and some of the questions seemed tricky (in an unfair way). However, I don't regret using USMLE World (uh... not that I would know since I didn't use any other question banks as a comparison). I felt that UW helps prepare you well...

If you look at the percentages, it's clear that, percentage wise, you shouldn't expect to get as many questions right on UW as on the real test.

I heard that the approx % needed to pass (so a score of 184?) on Step 2 CK is 65%. If you put that % in the score estimator under USMLE World, you can see that translates to a much better than passing score.
http://www.medfriends.org/step2_estimator/

So yeah, don't sweat it if USMLE World seems hard. It's helping you learn so you ace the real thing. 🙂

 

[jiy76]

From my experience the real thing can be perceived as more difficult in that they can really test you on everything.There were some questions on the exam that were on topics I just didn't review thoroughly. You can't know everything and the real test can get you on certain topics if you don't know them that well.UWorld tests the common stuff that you are very likely to see on the exam but sometimes tests it in a way thats very nitpicky and needlessly difficult. So both uworld the real thing can be tough but for different reasons.

 

[astronomylover]

I'm doing usmleworld right now and for the Internal Medicine portion, these nit-picky details are starting to concern me. For OBGYN and Surgery they were descent in some way but for IM its making me really think I do not know IM whatsoever. This is after I watched Kaplan videos and did their kaplan flash cards. Is the exam really like that? Are these topics really tested? Just when I thought I knew everything about CML, Usmle world finds a way to show me that I do not. Its a bit frustrating. Am I just stupid or is anybody else having this problem?

 

[Ashers]

I thought USMLE world was harder than the actual thing. My predicted score on USMLEWorld was something like 205, and I got way above that (and above average) even though I didn't finish the q-bank, nor did I take CK very seriously. The prometric people commented when I left, "Wow, she finished Step 2 with over one and a half hours left."

 

[Law2Doc]

...The prometric people commented when I left, "Wow, she finished Step 2 with over one and a half hours left."

While I tend to agree that the World questions are a bit harder than what's seen on the real thing, I actually found the questions on the real thing significantly longer than anything you see on world, such that time is a big factor in this test (it wasn't on world for me).

 

[Ashers]

While I tend to agree that the World questions are a bit harder than what's seen on the real thing, I actually found the questions on the real thing significantly longer than anything you see on world, such that time is a big factor in this test (it wasn't on world for me).

I'm a fast test taker, and I read really fast. So there was definitely a difference between World and CK. The world blocks would take me about 20-25 min, and CK took >30min per block. However, I didn't treat it like step 1 where I got the time warning because I was reading through each block and reread/analyze questions 6 or 7 times; I'd go through the blocks 2-3 times. And if I wasn't sure about a question at all, I'd make an educated guess and move on.