USMLE Official 2014 Step 2 CK Experiences and Scores Thread

[exudate]

With all the changes going on, I think it is a good time to start a new thread and keep all the scores and experiences organized in one thread. Similar thread was really helpful for step 1, so I am hoping this one will be equally great and helpful to all.

Good luck to all the Step 2 CK'ers in 2014!

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[kagman]

Hey guys,
I took me half a day to skim through Page 1 through to 16, lol, but I've finally reached here. Thanks all for your valuable guidance !

I'm an IMG. I'm thinking of doing the NBME Subject wise review tests along with MTB2/3 and UW( MTB and UW being my primary resources). Followed by Reps of UW and MTB. And in between, squeeze Secrets, KLN vids(other than Med) . Maybe do DIT as well. I hope I pull it off. I'm giving CS in between of my CK prep too.

Qn is should I do the subjectwise NBME reviews ,are they worth it or something like Case Files which a couple of people here have recommended ?

 

[R94]

Hey guys,

I am a US IMG. I just got my Step 1 scores back and am in the initial stages of getting ready for Step 2 CK. I am planning on using MTB, some Kaplan lectures, UWorld and DIT 2 (as a final review. I wanted to establish a baseline, which self assessment would be the best one to use for this purpose? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[lordman]

Guys no longer post their experiences anymore

 

[Phloston]

Guys no longer post their experiences anymore

Yeah dude. Agree. Haven't seen a score on here in forever. Exam is on Dec 29th so I've been checking.

Maybe everyone just enters an F-off state after the 2CK and can't be bothered. Would be helpful though to get some advice.

 

[colonelmustard]

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe it's because fewer people take it this time of year. I would think most try to have their scores in by the fall so they can get interviews.

If anyone has taken it recently, would you mind paying it forward and letting us know how it went?

 

[Bancrofti]

Posted his in another thread, but might get a quicker answer here. If we are interested in repeating a subset of questions in Uworld i.e. Surgery, is it possible to pass through all the questions again and not continuously randomly sample from the questions you've already completed without resetting the entire question bank?

 

[Fox800]

Can anyone comment about studying for Step 2 during third year rotations? I'm considering doing that and taking Step 2 & COMLEX 2 right after my third year ends. My last two rotations are OB (6 weeks) and peds (6 weeks). I'm hoping to be able to get through USMLERx and UWorld during that three month period (April through June), take Step 2, and be done with everything prior to starting my first sub-I in July.

That would let me save a vacation month to either ski some more this winter/go on interviews, or end the year early.

Crazy? Doable?

 

[colonelmustard]

Can anyone comment about studying for Step 2 during third year rotations? I'm considering doing that and taking Step 2 & COMLEX 2 right after my third year ends. My last two rotations are OB (6 weeks) and peds (6 weeks). I'm hoping to be able to get through USMLERx and UWorld during that three month period (April through June), take Step 2, and be done with everything prior to starting my first sub-I in July.

That would let me save a vacation month to either ski some more this winter/go on interviews, or end the year early.

Crazy? Doable?

Not crazy and very doable.

 

[amberphana]

Hey, i'm entering my third year and I was wondering which books i should get for step 2 and for clinical rotations.. I already got MTB 2 and 3. Some friends are doing step up for IM... what are your take on the books guys?

 

[colonelmustard]

Hey, i'm entering my third year and I was wondering which books i should get for step 2 and for clinical rotations.. I already got MTB 2 and 3. Some friends are doing step up for IM... what are your take on the books guys?

I would stick to the Step Up books during rotations.

 

[lordman]

Many people in the prior 1-3 pages, with excellent NBME and assessment tests, never reported their scores

 

[snamuh]

I haven't taken it in a few months but I will report my experience.

Step1 - 244
Was aiming just to do a little better than that on CK.
Studied about 4 weeks after my acting internship rotation in internal medicine. I was feeling rather complacent and burnt out during this time after a previously busy third year so I found it pretty difficult to study. ~4-8 good hours studying/day
MTB2/3 x1 and USMLEworld Qbank (finishied all but about 700 questions with an average of about 75-80%).
Uworld Assessment 253 ~5 days before hand.

Test Day - I felt terrible about the first block and pushed through to the second block hoping for a change. Second block came and I wasn't certain about any question. I contemplated a good 10 minutes during that block about leaving the testing center and taking an incomplete to prevent myself from failing. Feeling demoralized, I talked to the proctor after that block about rescheduling and found I would have to pay for the full amount again. I decided to push forward and the test became gradually better but at the end of the day I was uncertain whether I passed or not.

3 weeks later I got my score report and was surprised to have received a 250 which I was happy about.

So it seems even though I felt terrible about the test day and considered leaving - the Uworld Assessment was only off by 3 points.

 

[CaliAtenza]

I haven't taken it in a few months but I will report my experience.

Step1 - 244
Was aiming just to do a little better than that on CK.
Studied about 4 weeks after my acting internship rotation in internal medicine. I was feeling rather complacent and burnt out during this time after a previously busy third year so I found it pretty difficult to study. ~4-8 good hours studying/day
MTB2/3 x1 and USMLEworld Qbank (finishied all but about 700 questions with an average of about 75-80%).
Uworld Assessment 253 ~5 days before hand.

Test Day - I felt terrible about the first block and pushed through to the second block hoping for a change. Second block came and I wasn't certain about any question. I contemplated a good 10 minutes during that block about leaving the testing center and taking an incomplete to prevent myself from failing. Feeling demoralized, I talked to the proctor after that block about rescheduling and found I would have to pay for the full amount again. I decided to push forward and the test became gradually better but at the end of the day I was uncertain whether I passed or not.

3 weeks later I got my score report and was surprised to have received a 250 which I was happy about.

So it seems even though I felt terrible about the test day and considered leaving - the Uworld Assessment was only off by 3 points.

Thanks for posting! Congrats on the great score btw . Why did you feel like the first and second blocks were so terrible? I tend to hear A LOT of doom and gloom about this test over on the other forum, which is IMG heavy (I'm a USIMG, so that forum does tend to freak me out sometimes).

 

[snamuh]

Thanks for posting! Congrats on the great score btw . Why did you feel like the first and second blocks were so terrible? I tend to hear A LOT of doom and gloom about this test over on the other forum, which is IMG heavy (I'm a USIMG, so that forum does tend to freak me out sometimes).

Thanks! The first few blocks just caught me off guard. I was used to being able to at least narrow down the answer to 2 possibilities but there were many questions I had no idea about and felt an impending doom. There were some odd Step1ish pathophysiology questions early on as well. I have generalized anxiety disorder and felt like I was nearing a panic attack.

Actually I just went out for drinks with someone who finished CK today. Felt terrible about it as well for the same reasons. In fact everyone I know left feeling ****ty and everyone has done well so far.

I feel like there must be a huge curve on this exam.

 

[snamuh]

Hey, i'm entering my third year and I was wondering which books i should get for step 2 and for clinical rotations.. I already got MTB 2 and 3. Some friends are doing step up for IM... what are your take on the books guys?

I would study for the shelfs in third year. Studying for the shelfs will help you for step 2ck in the long run. I would always usually use casefiles, FA for psychiatry, step up for medicine, and NMS/pestrana for surgery. MTB2/3 is a good review at the end but I feel that most of your knowledge will come from rotations/shelfs. MTB2/3, especially 2, is brief.

 

[CaliAtenza]

Thanks! The first few blocks just caught me off guard. I was used to being able to at least narrow down the answer to 2 possibilities but there were many questions I had no idea about and felt an impending doom. There were some odd Step1ish pathophysiology questions early on as well. I have generalized anxiety disorder and felt like I was nearing a panic attack.

Actually I just went out for drinks with someone who finished CK today. Felt terrible about it as well for the same reasons. In fact everyone I know left feeling ****ty and everyone has done well so far.

I feel like there must be a huge curve on this exam.

So everyone feels like that, good to know I guess lol :/. Do you think the NBME's are worth it? I was planning on doing all of them and UWSA1 before I go in for the real thing. I noticed that you only did the UWSA.

 

[Phloston]

So everyone feels like that, good to know I guess lol :/. Do you think the NBME's are worth it? I was planning on doing all of them and UWSA1 before I go in for the real thing. I noticed that you only did the UWSA.

I think it is wise to do the NBMEs. They are the USMLE.

 

[Menacer]

Just got my score back today, happy to have slayed this beast after a year of many ups and downs. My experience might be a little different than others in this thread, so I'll try and outline it as much as I can for people out there going through what I did. I initially took this test at the end of August 2014 after finishing my 3rd year cores, and was not happy at all to have found out I failed with a score of 205. The first time I'd ever failed something in medical school, and worse still, the results were released after I had already submitted ERAS applications.

I got those results back end of September, and had 2.5 months (while doing 4th year clinical electives) to try and re-take this test and bring my score to a respectable level. I retook it in early December, and just found out I scored a 244.

The first time around, I focused on too many resources and not sticking to what works best. I'd done UWorld throughout the year for shelfs, and re-set it during dedicated CK study time. I only managed to get through 70% of it, and was jumping around from book to book, like First Aid, Secrets, MTB2+3.

The second time around, I focused solely on UWorld. I did every single question, digested every single explanation, and scribbled down a 2-3 sentence summary of each question I either got wrong or guessed right. After going through UWorld once via this painstaking process, I reviewed my notes 3x until I had fully committed them to memory. I also used MTB 2+3 for quick review when I didn't feel like doing questions anymore.

I was fortunate enough to achieve a ~40 point improvement in 2.5 months time by minimizing the amount of resources used and focusing primarily on UWorld not only as an evaluation tool, but as a primary study resource. Make the most out of your question banks people, and utilize them in a way that goes beyond just plugging away at MCQ's.

 

[CaliAtenza]

I think Tis wise to do the NBMEs. They are the USMLE.

Yeah I figured I would do them. Many people say 4 is the best and 7, the newest one, is lame, but I will do them all. Exam numbers 4,6 and 7 have the extended feedback. Number 3 is available, but no extended feedback on that one anymore.

 

[CaliAtenza]

Just got my score back today, happy to have slayed this beast after a year of many ups and downs. My experience might be a little different than others in this thread, so I'll try and outline it as much as I can for people out there going through what I did. I initially took this test at the end of August 2014 after finishing my 3rd year cores, and was not happy at all to have found out I failed with a score of 205. The first time I'd ever failed something in medical school, and worse still, the results were released after I had already submitted ERAS applications.

I got those results back end of September, and had 2.5 months (while doing 4th year clinical electives) to try and re-take this test and bring my score to a respectable level. I retook it in early December, and just found out I scored a 244.

The first time around, I focused on too many resources and not sticking to what works best. I'd done UWorld throughout the year for shelfs, and re-set it during dedicated CK study time. I only managed to get through 70% of it, and was jumping around from book to book, like First Aid, Secrets, MTB2+3.

The second time around, I focused solely on UWorld. I did every single question, digested every single explanation, and scribbled down a 2-3 sentence summary of each question I either got wrong or guessed right. After going through UWorld once via this painstaking process, I reviewed my notes 3x until I had fully committed them to memory. I also used MTB 2+3 for quick review when I didn't feel like doing questions anymore.

I was fortunate enough to achieve a ~40 point improvement in 2.5 months time by minimizing the amount of resources used and focusing primarily on UWorld not only as an evaluation tool, but as a primary study resource. Make the most out of your question banks people, and utilize them in a way that goes beyond just plugging away at MCQ's.

Amazing stuff man. Love to hear stories like this . Congrats on that 244! I'm pretty much doing the same thing you did for your second go. I do have FA, SU2M and Secrets to reference on the side though. I've found FA is really good for Psych and Hem/Onc, but in general, I've liked FA overall.

 

[Phloston]

Yeah I figured I would do them. Many people say 4 is the best and 7, the newest one, is lame, but I will do them all. Exam numbers 4,6 and 7 have the extended feedback. Number 3 is available, but no extended feedback on that one anymore.

I'm going to do 7 tomorrow so hopefully that one is alright. And I don't know what impression to make of 4. It seems to fluctuate pretty much all over the place in terms of predicting people's scores.

 

[CaliAtenza]

I'm going to do 7 tomorrow so hopefully that one is alright. And I don't know what impression to make of 4. It seems to fluctuate pretty much all over the place in terms of predicting people's scores.

Let us know how 7 goes . I hear horror stories about it

 

[CaliAtenza]

Just got my score back today, happy to have slayed this beast after a year of many ups and downs. My experience might be a little different than others in this thread, so I'll try and outline it as much as I can for people out there going through what I did. I initially took this test at the end of August 2014 after finishing my 3rd year cores, and was not happy at all to have found out I failed with a score of 205. The first time I'd ever failed something in medical school, and worse still, the results were released after I had already submitted ERAS applications.

I got those results back end of September, and had 2.5 months (while doing 4th year clinical electives) to try and re-take this test and bring my score to a respectable level. I retook it in early December, and just found out I scored a 244.

The first time around, I focused on too many resources and not sticking to what works best. I'd done UWorld throughout the year for shelfs, and re-set it during dedicated CK study time. I only managed to get through 70% of it, and was jumping around from book to book, like First Aid, Secrets, MTB2+3.

The second time around, I focused solely on UWorld. I did every single question, digested every single explanation, and scribbled down a 2-3 sentence summary of each question I either got wrong or guessed right. After going through UWorld once via this painstaking process, I reviewed my notes 3x until I had fully committed them to memory. I also used MTB 2+3 for quick review when I didn't feel like doing questions anymore.

I was fortunate enough to achieve a ~40 point improvement in 2.5 months time by minimizing the amount of resources used and focusing primarily on UWorld not only as an evaluation tool, but as a primary study resource. Make the most out of your question banks people, and utilize them in a way that goes beyond just plugging away at MCQ's.

Did you feel like the real exam was in any way similar to Uworld or the NBMEs?

 

[abelabbot]

Just got my score back today, happy to have slayed this beast after a year of many ups and downs. My experience might be a little different than others in this thread, so I'll try and outline it as much as I can for people out there going through what I did. I initially took this test at the end of August 2014 after finishing my 3rd year cores, and was not happy at all to have found out I failed with a score of 205. The first time I'd ever failed something in medical school, and worse still, the results were released after I had already submitted ERAS applications.

I got those results back end of September, and had 2.5 months (while doing 4th year clinical electives) to try and re-take this test and bring my score to a respectable level. I retook it in early December, and just found out I scored a 244.

The first time around, I focused on too many resources and not sticking to what works best. I'd done UWorld throughout the year for shelfs, and re-set it during dedicated CK study time. I only managed to get through 70% of it, and was jumping around from book to book, like First Aid, Secrets, MTB2+3.

The second time around, I focused solely on UWorld. I did every single question, digested every single explanation, and scribbled down a 2-3 sentence summary of each question I either got wrong or guessed right. After going through UWorld once via this painstaking process, I reviewed my notes 3x until I had fully committed them to memory. I also used MTB 2+3 for quick review when I didn't feel like doing questions anymore.

I was fortunate enough to achieve a ~40 point improvement in 2.5 months time by minimizing the amount of resources used and focusing primarily on UWorld not only as an evaluation tool, but as a primary study resource. Make the most out of your question banks people, and utilize them in a way that goes beyond just plugging away at MCQ's.

Wow congratulations man! Really happy for you! Thank you for posting this experience.

 

[Transposony]

Yeah dude. Agree. Haven't seen a score on here in forever. Exam is on Dec 29th so I've been checking.

Maybe everyone just enters an F-off state after the 2CK and can't be bothered. Would be helpful though to get some advice.

Based on my experience of CK, time was the major issue for me and it did reflect on my final score.
Question stems were long (especially for the first two blocks) and they tend to get even longer as you approach the end of the block.
For example, in the first block I was left with 6 long stem questions at the end of the block with 3 minutes to spare. There no time left to think so I just read them fast and clicked on my answer.
Things got much better after those 2 blocks and last block only had ?32 odd questions.
Biostats questions were very easy but took time to go through them.
I has 1-2 questions from surgery (but YMMV). Just make sure you know the mechanism/classical features of conditions like pilonidal sinus, various cysts etc.
I had 2-3 murmur Qs where you have to place the stethoscope over various areas without any clue (not even age) about the condition in the vignette.
All I could hear was a faint sound and went with my gut.
Pictures/slides/CT/MRI were easy peasy and probably saved my behind.
Everything else is a blur...............since it went so fast!
Based on my score report, I did not do very well on those weird ethics as well as psychiatry questions (I am not good at those and it reflected on my performance).
Despite all this I did manage to get 250+
In hindsight, I relied way too much on UW whereas I should have reviewed NBMEs more thoroughly.
CK is a very much doable test with most Qs straightforward and all you need is time management, keeping your cool with WTF Qs and going with your gut.
I might have missed something so feel free to ask any questions.
Hope this helps and good luck for your test.

 

[Phloston]

Let us know how 7 goes . I hear horror stories about it

NBME 7 = my UWSA

 

[stronghold]

NBME 7 = my UWSA

What was your score? 265?
NBME 7 = the lowest possible score you can get

 

[SQar]

Hey. Im an IMG. planning on giving my step 2 ck by end of Feb 2015. Started with reading kaplan for med and ob gyn this past month.
Is my goal realistic? I mean is step 2ck with a good 250+ score possible in just 2 months?
Also is UW and MTB enough?

 

[SQar]

Got score today. 251 no percentile given. Very happy given how I left feeling like I failed.

Edit: Used Uworld and MTB 2 and 3. Didn't do NBME or UWSA. Studied about 3-4 hours for 3 weeks.

Your statement 3 weeks as study time gives me a lot of hope? Im taking 2 months. Could you please tell me what my study plan should be? Thanks.

 

[rodmichael82]

Hey guys! Congrats to everyone that's done with Step 2 CK.

I registered for Step 2 CK and I'm scheduled to take it after doing all my clerkships except OB/GYN. I have 4 weeks fully dedicated to Step 2 CK. Is that doable?

My goal is to score > 255 on Step 2 CK. One of my buddies that did extremely well on OB/GYN Shelf exam said that everything is pretty much on Uwise, Pretest and Uworld. I figured I could dedicate 1 week out of the 4 weeks to OB/GYN and cover all that material.

 

[medicineinmyblood]

So I took CK yesterday. I went thru USMLE World 2.5x but felt like the questions in World were not like the questions on CK at all. Did anyone else have this experience? I was slightly freaking out during the exam...

Yea, I totally agree

 

[medicineinmyblood]

est result today:248

Thanks though it did not feel like I got much of anything during this exam. Time is everything. I am a very very fast test taker, NBME's I had about 25 min left per section. I was down to about 10 min/ section on real thing leftover. Worst is the drug ads/abstracts. There were 2 sections in which I had neither. There were also 2 sections where I had 2. Each was 2-3 questions, so its quite a bit of time to get through them



Thanks man, I know exactly how you feel now. It was a really frustrating exam. The worst part of it was how each time I wasn't sure about the answer to something (which was >50% of the test), I wouldn't know where to find that information in any of the books I had. I felt like there were a shockingly few amount of questions that were like "what is the next best step in management" and a huge amount of step 1 type questions. Like what chromosome is this disease on?

It really is not like Uworld and not like the NBME's at all.. I seriously thought I was taking the wrong test multiple times. My theory is that too many people are using the same sources (like Uworld) and so they have to go out of their way to ask obscure stuff that not everybody will know. My test was very light on OB/GYN, but there were a lot of really tough psych questions.

For those that haven't taken it, really look at psych alot, because there were some very very tricky ones. way harder than U world.

There was only one set that you cannot change your answer on the first one (and like an idiot i got that wrong, was #2 on block 1, so that was not a good way to start the exam).

BTW the "next best step in management" were mostly gimmes, part of the reason why I felt like it just plain wasn't a good representation of what I should have learned on rotations.

Thing is also, I had a bad step 1 experience, so I was prepared to feel crappy coming out of it (esp after talking to autmnwoods and one of my buddies who recently took it) but it was still surprising how frustrating it was. I just pray that I wont do worse than step 1 so I don't look like I dont have good clinical common sense.

Worst part of it all is I could have taken it a month ago and it wouldn't have made a difference. The gimme's are super easy but they are rare. Everything else is a guess anyways. Could have been goofing off instead of killing myself trying to learn every fact in Uworld that isn't tested on.

Amen to that!

 

[Phloston]

Took the 2CK today. I'll write a larger review later on most likely. Right now I obviously can't be bothered. But it will be a good way to sublimate.

I know of three I got wrong already, two of which were the first Q in different multi-sequence sets where you can't change your answer. The first one was 11 questions into the first block. It was pretty unbelievable but at least that's two fewer questions I have to "realize" I got wrong 10 days from now hypnopompically. What I can say though is that they asked a DIRTY question about renin/aldosterone that I would have never thought they'd have the balls to pull. Iow, the situation the patient experienced is nothing I've ever heard of before. Realized I got it wrong five blocks later because of a similar question where the only possible answer would have been the "unlikely" one from the previous question.

 

[deleted634419]

@Phloston Get some rest brother. You need it!
Waiting for your review before i decide in which order to take the NBMEs.

 

[Transposony]

Took the 2CK today. I'll write a larger review later on most likely. Right now I obviously can't be bothered. But it will be a good way to sublimate.

I know of three I got wrong already, two of which were the first Q in different multi-sequence sets where you can't change your answer. The first one was 11 questions into the first block. It was pretty unbelievable but at least that's two fewer questions I have to "realize" I got wrong 10 days from now hypnopompically. What I can say though is that they asked a DIRTY question about renin/aldosterone that I would have never thought they'd have the balls to pull. Iow, the situation the patient experienced is nothing I've ever heard of before. Realized I got it wrong five blocks later because of a similar question where the only possible answer would have been the "unlikely" one from the previous question.

Looks like that you are all set for a 270+ ?

 

[au3s]

So Phloston, what you think helped you the most throughout your preparation? You still think UW & uptodate and NBME?

 

[colonelmustard]

Took the 2CK today. I'll write a larger review later on most likely. Right now I obviously can't be bothered. But it will be a good way to sublimate.

I know of three I got wrong already, two of which were the first Q in different multi-sequence sets where you can't change your answer. The first one was 11 questions into the first block. It was pretty unbelievable but at least that's two fewer questions I have to "realize" I got wrong 10 days from now hypnopompically. What I can say though is that they asked a DIRTY question about renin/aldosterone that I would have never thought they'd have the balls to pull. Iow, the situation the patient experienced is nothing I've ever heard of before. Realized I got it wrong five blocks later because of a similar question where the only possible answer would have been the "unlikely" one from the previous question.

You worked your butt off and you deserve to not have to think about anything USMLE for a while.

Yeah, get plenty of rest and enjoy the New Year!

 

[Phloston]

So Phloston, what you think helped you the most throughout your preparation? You still think UW & uptodate and NBME?

Yeah. UW, UpToDate, the NBMEs, the clinical mastery series and Free-131 were the staple.

I'm mixed about the MTBs. On my real 2CK yesterday, had I adhered to MTB, I would have answered at least one question incorrectly. For instance, they had an HIV(+) pregnant woman with a normal CD4 count; MTB says initiate ART if CD4<400 (IIRC); UpToDate, however, says "All pregnant HIV-infected women should receive a combination antiretroviral drug regimen, regardless of CD4 cell count or plasma HIV RNA copy number, to prevent perinatal transmission." So on my exam, I went with UpToDate.

The only extent to which I'd vouch for the MTBs would be to merely be aware of certain conditions/findings (e.g., umbilical hernia is associated with congenital hypothyroidism), but do not, by the pain of death, memorize the algorithms/Txs in MTB as though those are the answers/correct sequence of things. The correct answer on the exam is almost always based on the specific patient scenario they give (and that can be extremely varied). In MTB, there is some strange obsession with best initial test vs most diagnostic test. On the real exam though, they pretty much always ask for "the most appropriate next step in management." And sometimes, the most diagnostic test is the first test you'd do.

 

[au3s]

Thanks Phloston for the reply, so do you recommend only reading certain sections of MTB？ or can I completely skip it. Also you mentioned earlier that the clinical mastery series are very difficult and picky, do you still recommend doing thatÉ do those questions reflect what the actual exam is like？

 

[Phloston]

Thanks Phloston for the reply, so do you recommend only reading certain sections of MTB？ or can I completely skip it. Also you mentioned earlier that the clinical mastery series are very difficult and picky, do you still recommend doing thatÉ do those questions reflect what the actual exam is like？

Now that I've taken the actual 2CK, I would say it's OK to read MTB2 and MTB3, as I said, to get a mere idea of the topics that could show up, but do not memorize the treatment algorithms, diagnostic test sequences, or screening guidelines as though they're what you should answer on the test. Be aware that certain imaging modalities or pharmacologies have been useful for certain conditions, for instance, but don't, by the pain of death, memorize the MTBs. A lot of the information is significantly outdated. As I said earlier with the HIV example, I would have gotten a question wrong plain and simple had I gone with MTB over UpToDate. UpToDate is way more accurate. It even got me a potentially nebulous pediatrics question right because it comes out and makes firm guidelines/recommendations, so I didn't have to hesitate when answering the question.

And YES YES YES to doing the clinical mastery series questions. I had several questions on my exam that were very similar to vignettes I had in those. In fact, doing those questions definitely got me points.

 

[au3s]

Thanks again Phloston. I have some other doubts if you don't mind. I have already finished 1 around of UW. What I have found for a lot of questions (that were recently updated) contain a lot of long algorithms with a lot of arrows (a lot in endocrinology) and a lot of tables for certain conditions e.g. hemachromatosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, etc. Do you have to remember ALL THOSE?
Also e.g. in obgyn, cervical cancer screening and prevention. Like when do u screen for cervical cancer, and if its normal what u do, how many years you would repeat it if its abnormal then what you do (eg like do you repeat the test few years, depending if its just atypical cells or CIN? or do you do another diagnostic test, stuff like that). Do you have to know all those algorisms too?
What I hate the most about doing questions is the fact when they ask "the next step in management". They may have already included the 1st step, 2nd, 3rd step in management, then if you ask what is the next best step in management, u have to recognize the steps that have already been done to the pt, and now you have to know the 4th step in management, you know what I mean？Does the actual exam ask a lot of stuff like that？

thanks

 

[Phloston]

Thanks again Phloston. I have some other doubts if you don't mind. I have already finished 1 around of UW. What I have found for a lot of questions (that were recently updated) contain a lot of long algorithms with a lot of arrows (a lot in endocrinology) and a lot of tables for certain conditions e.g. hemachromatosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, etc. Do you have to remember ALL THOSE?
Also e.g. in obgyn, cervical cancer screening and prevention. Like when do u screen for cervical cancer, and if its normal what u do, how many years you would repeat it if its abnormal then what you do (eg like do you repeat the test few years, depending if its just atypical cells or CIN? or do you do another diagnostic test, stuff like that). Do you have to know all those algorisms too?
What I hate the most about doing questions is the fact when they ask "the next step in management". They may have already included the 1st step, 2nd, 3rd step in management, then if you ask what is the next best step in management, u have to recognize the steps that have already been done to the pt, and now you have to know the 4th step in management, you know what I mean？Does the actual exam ask a lot of stuff like that？

thanks

Regarding UW, I generally do trust their algorithms if they've been updated within the past month or so. It's not that a particular imaging modality would all of a sudden become inappropriate a month later as much as it is that current recommendations are subject to change. UW algorithms for things like blunt abdominal trauma and screening guidelines are pretty good. But I ALWAYS checked anything from UWorld against UpToDate, especially for things like cervical cancer screening (and all of the technicalities about pap smears and LGSIL/HGSIL for the different age groups, etc.), regardless of when they were supposedly updated. Funny that you mention cervical cancer, because UpToDate was brilliant for that stuff. I recommend having UpToDate open as a tab on your browser and then checking it after you've read an important topic in UW. UpToDate is especially important for stuff like the current recommendations on endocarditis prophylaxis. I was glad I read UpToDate's info on this a few days before my exam because I had two borderline-tricky questions on prophylaxis recommendation on the real 2CK that I didn't have to second guess. Be very clear going in exactly when you'd use prophylaxis vs when you wouldn't.

The actual exam is a F-fest in terms of "what's the most appropriate next step in management?" That line was a joke for me during prep and also during the exam. I remember the 5th and 6th blocks I was notably tight on time, and then I'd click to the next question and it would be a massive, 12-line paragraph ending in "what's the next best step in management?" Then I'd pray for the following question to be slimmer, but it would be another 15-line paragraph asking the same thing. It was pretty much wave after wave. One had an exhibit taking up the right half of the screen so the question was greater than the vertical length of the whole page; it was a joke. In terms of the actual answers, it was really subjective and mostly based on gut instinct. There wasn't a pattern to it other than just needing to get the gist of the patient's unique story and then choosing what seemed least unreasonable. You reach a point during the final few blocks where you realize you don't really have time to analyze anything or reread. You kind of have to blitz through the questions, go with your gut and then move on. As I said, the whole thing was a booty bang / banana festival.

 

[au3s]

You think a lot of step 1 concepts showed up? Do you recommend skimming through FA step 1 again?

 

[Phloston]

You think a lot of step 1 concepts showed up? Do you recommend skimming through FA step 1 again?

The congenital immune syndromes are exceedingly HY on Step 2 (e.g., WAS, XGA, CGD, etc.). I would briefly look at those if you have time. Otherwise FA Step 1 doesn't really have high direct utility. Iow, the content of FA Step 1 is obviously important as a foundation (which is why we took Step 1), but I wouldn't recommend looking at it before the 2CK. Just breeze over the immuno diseases.

 

[skyblue2000]

would you recommend doing kaplan qbank or rx having completed ck now?

 

[kagman]

Thanks phloston for sharing your experience. I had read your short( ) step 1 experience(the pdf) and it really helped. Scored a 240 in the end. I'm currently blitzing through the kapln vids, but it is so much of step1 that is boring the hell out of me...

I'm weak in these Heart sounds and Lung breath sounds. I had done Litmann's Cardiac audios for my step 1 which were kinda helpful. But now these Lung sounds are a lil confusing.. Does anyone know of a good resources to get a hang of 'em ?

 

[Phloston]

would you recommend doing kaplan qbank or rx having completed ck now?

Unlike Step 1, where I had finished Kaplan QBank, for 2CK, I did about 2-300 questions before realizing that all of the questions I was getting wrong were lame tricks or minutiae, so I didn’t bother with the rest. I definitely learned a lot through Kaplan QBank for Step 1, but after I had sat the actual Step 1, it was very clear that the real USMLE questions were nothing remotely like Kaplan’s. So for 2CK, I took this as an indicator not to waste my time.

The reason this proved to be extremely ironic, however, is that during my 2CK, there were two questions I got right specifically because of those 2-300 Kaplan questions I had done. In other words, as much as I hated Kaplan, they got me two questions on my real deal (this was notable such that mid-exam I was like “wow, this was in Kaplan QBank”; in retrospect, I believe I may have been able to reason through one of them, but the second I know I would have gotten wrong had it not been for Kaplan). So (un)fortunately I’m going to have to say that I do recommend Kaplan QBank for 2CK.

Overall, in terms of question quality, I’d say UWorld > Rx ≈ Kaplan. Rx was definitely higher quality for Step 1 than for Step 2, which is why I’d say either Kaplan or Rx could be done prior to UWorld. That being said, it’s important to save UWorld for reinforcement after you’ve done a different QBank first (whether you choose Rx or Kaplan [or both], it doesn’t matter).

 

[Phloston]

Thanks phloston for sharing your experience. I had read your short( ) step 1 experience(the pdf) and it really helped. Scored a 240 in the end. I'm currently blitzing through the kapln vids, but it is so much of step1 that is boring the hell out of me...

I'm weak in these Heart sounds and Lung breath sounds. I had done Litmann's Cardiac audios for my step 1 which were kinda helpful. But now these Lung sounds are a lil confusing.. Does anyone know of a good resources to get a hang of 'em ?

I had three heart sound questions on my exam. The first was absurdly obvious such that even people who are deaf could have picked it up. The second didn't require listening to the sound at all to answer the question correctly (even though it corroborated the vignette accordingly). The third actually required you to listen intently and then make a clinical decision based off of it; in this case, there was no murmur and I said the patient was healthy.

I had no lung sound questions (thank Gd). Quite honestly, I wouldn't even bother obsessing over heart/lung sounds during prep. If they present you with something on the real deal, it will be flamingly obvious.

 

[kagman]

Thanks.

 

[reverieinvictus]

@Phloston
How exactly did you use UpToDate? Did you read all of the information in a topic or just the summary/recommendations section at the end?

Also, if you had to pick one of either Rx or Kaplan, which one would you recommend?

Thanks!