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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[Phloston]

@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!

I'd usually start with the summary/recommendation section and then work backwards to whatever I was looking for (if needed). Searching a key word (using Ctrl + F on a PC) was sometimes helpful.

Rx vs Kaplan is hard to say. Two days ago (i.e., before my exam) I would have hands-down said Rx over Kaplan because I was so sick and tired of Kaplan's minutiae and irrelevance to Step prep. However there were two questions I got right because of Kaplan (and I only did 2-300 Qs in their QBank), whereas with Rx, there was no point during my exam where I was like "oh wow, Rx saved me here." In fact, one of the incorrect answer choices in Rx on a certain question was correct on the real exam; in this particular question, they didn't list the correct answer that was in Rx and it actually frustrated me.

So to answer your question: I'd say Kaplan over Rx.

 

[Watshoody]

Congrats Philoston,
Im sure you killed it. Im studying for CK right now, prob taking it in 2-3 months. Unlike Step1, for Step 2 ck Im focusing completely on Uworld, reading absolutely everything in UW and rereading things I didn't get the first time. Besides knowing UW cold (which seems to be the most important) and testing yourself w NBMES. Is there anything else you recommend as must haves for CK prep , even CK has a lot of resources , but I feel its best to stick to 1-2 resources and know em cold. Im currently working through UW first pass and am gonna do it again , goal for CK is 230-240 . Thanks and congrats again

 

[reverieinvictus]

I'd usually start with the summary/recommendation section and then work backwards to whatever I was looking for (if needed). Searching a key word (using Ctrl + F on a PC) was sometimes helpful.

Rx vs Kaplan is hard to say. Two days ago (i.e., before my exam) I would have hands-down said Rx over Kaplan because I was so sick and tired of Kaplan's minutiae and irrelevance to Step prep. However there were two questions I got right because of Kaplan (and I only did 2-300 Qs in their QBank), whereas with Rx, there was no point during my exam where I was like "oh wow, Rx saved me here." In fact, one of the incorrect answer choices in Rx on a certain question was correct on the real exam; in this particular question, they didn't list the correct answer that was in Rx and it actually frustrated me.

So to answer your question: I'd say Kaplan over Rx.

One more thing- what did you think of the OBGYN on the exam? It's the only subject I'm worried about going into the test. Did you feel as if UWorld and UpToDate were good enough?

 

[Phloston]

Congrats Philoston,
Im sure you killed it. Im studying for CK right now, prob taking it in 2-3 months. Unlike Step1, for Step 2 ck Im focusing completely on Uworld, reading absolutely everything in UW and rereading things I didn't get the first time. Besides knowing UW cold (which seems to be the most important) and testing yourself w NBMES. Is there anything else you recommend as must haves for CK prep , even CK has a lot of resources , but I feel its best to stick to 1-2 resources and know em cold. Im currently working through UW first pass and am gonna do it again , goal for CK is 230-240 . Thanks and congrats again

Make sure you do the Clinical Mastery Series questions on the NBME website. These come with extended feedback and are gold. They are subject-specific, with two blocks of 50 questions per subject. At the minimum, I recommend doing the 100 questions for IM, surgery, peds and OBGYN = 8 50-question blocks = 400 questions. Do these before the NBMEs. And I recommend putting your incorrects as PrntScr images into a PPT. I had a PPT that I reviewed prior to my exam that had all of my incorrects from the Clinical Mastery Series, Free-131 (that's right, not 150 like with Step 1) and the NBMEs.

There are also Clinical Mastery Series questions for psych and neuro but I didn't do these cuz psych was my strongest subject going in and neuro isn't HY at all for 2CK (and I'm also not terrible in it). But yeah, definitely do the IM, surg, peds and OBGYN Clinical Mastery Series questions, at a minimum, in addition to the NBMEs, free-131 and UW.

 

[Phloston]

One more thing- what did you think of the OBGYN on the exam? It's the only subject I'm worried about going into the test. Did you feel as if UWorld and UpToDate were good enough?

Funny that you ask this because I was petrified of obgyn and peds going in (worst subjects in UW and I haven't done obgyn or peds rotations yet).

Prep for these subjects was really scattered for me, especially since there's no fully trustworthy compendium for 2CK like there is for Step 1 (i.e., you can't rely on FA for 2CK). All of the obgyn and peds I learned came from the smallish sections in MTB2, MTB3 and FA 2CK, as well as from Case Files Peds, Case Files OBGYN (went through ~1/3 of each of the Case Files books but didn't have time to finish them; I do recommend them though), USMLE Rx, UW, the Clinical Mastery Series questions, the NBMEs and UW. When I was going through UW, I'd frequently source UpToDate, which helped a lot. But furthermore, the questions I got on my exam I answered based on multiple sources, so no, UW + UTD are not enough for peds and obgyn on 2CK. I've heard UWise (that's right, not UWorld) has really really good obgyn questions. You should check those out if you're freaking out about obgyn. I had done the 10-question sampler on their website and liked it, but I didn't have time so I didn't go through their QBank.

On my actual exam, obgyn was pretty HY. My first 6 blocks and 8th block were 44 questions; my 7th block was 42 questions = 350 questions total. I think every 10th question or so was in obgyn, which = 350/10 = ~35 questions on my 2CK (Or I'd say there were at least 4 questions/block on it = 32-35 Qs on my form). It's hard to gauge "how hard it was" because so many of the scenarios seemed subjective rather than objective. But put it this way: compared to my other subjects, I sucked at obgyn going in and I felt fine about it walking out.

However I got one really stupid question wrong that was the first in a 3-question sequence where I couldn't change my answer. It was 11 questions into my exam so I think I was still waking up / not sure how to best use my time, and I made the decision that instead of going back to the sequence at the end of the block that I'd just answer it straight-up then and there (kind of like someone on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? who isn't sure of the 1000-dollar question but just answers it straight-up w/o a lifeline cuz it's too early in the game). Anyway, when I got it wrong I was like "well there goes my 280" (which was an obvious joke), but it is what it is.

 

[au3s]

So Phloston, how were the drug ads and the abstracts on the real exam like? You think the ones in UW and Fred are enough to prepare?
Also in UW there were a few questions regarding lipid lowering therapy. There's print screen of the risk calculator e.g. if the risk is > 7.5% or less than, what you would do e.g. give high intensity statin or low intensity. So on the actual exam you never have to do such calculations right?

Thanks

 

[Phloston]

I always ignored the 7.5% pedanticism in UW because I knew that was only for teaching purposes and that it would be horribly unlikely to show up on the real deal. In real life, no physician on a ward round stands there and plugs a patient's risk factors into a calculator and says "ohh yeah..we're at 7.2% today, better change that statin." The things that factor into which statin someone gets are usually cost, feasibility and subjectivity on the part of the physician. What you need to know for the 2CK is merely when to give a statin (e.g., 40-yr-old diabetic w/ high blood pressure; where niacin, aspirin, a statin, etc. are answers, and risk is decreased with a statin).

I had one 3-question-long drug ad sequence on my real deal and it was in the 7th (penultimate) block. The first question was a biostats one based on the results in the ad. The second question was a little strange, but you could see that one answer choice made no sense, three of them "worked together" and then there was an odd one out. The third question I can't remember (which means it didn't give me an issue). If I were you, I would never once care or freak out about the drugs ads going into the exam because there's nothing you can do but wing them anyway. The only thing I recommend though is saving the drug ad sequence for the end of the block rather than doing it mid-block. This way you know whether you have enough time to critically read or just skim the ad.

 

[Watshoody]

Will def do those clinical mastery questions, would u say to do them after 2 runs of UW to have a solid base ?

 

[2maitaisplease]

Long-time lurker here. Took the test recently and thought I would contribute in case it helps someone.

Step 1: 248.
NBME 4: 242 after studying a few days
NBME 6: 252 after studying another week
Free 131: 90% correct
UWorld self assessment: 259 after another week
NBME 4 (again... retook it the day before the test for some reason): 238. PANICKED!!!! At this point had studied for 2.5 weeks total. Cancelled test, moved it a month later.
NBME 7: 263 (1 month later without studying in between)
Step 2: 258. Got score back a few mins ago after waiting 3 weeks. A little disappointed that it was 5 points lower than my last practice test, but happy that it's over.

What I did:
- Uworld once through with avg score 70%
- 1 month later, re-did half of Uworld with avg score 85%
- Browsed Secrets for a few chapters
- Browsed through First Aid step 2
- Browsed through MTB 2
- Read through MTB 3 in the 3 days before the test

What the test was like:
I went into the test thinking it would have tons of weird stuff on it like Step 1 did (felt like I was guessing on every question on step 1). But to my surprise it was almost all basic questions. Nothing weird. No weird drug names, no odd science experiments and graphs. It was a very fair and reasonable test. Could figure out many questions with key words without completely reading the question. I think I had some questions on the test that were directly from Uworld. Lots of ID, ob/gyn, pulm, and cardio on the test.

Impression:
If I was to do it over, I would have really hammered in those basics by doing MTB2 and Uworld x2. MTB3 was so unnecessary-- lots of meds and protocol-specifics that were not tested. Way too detailed! Don't waste your time. Hammer in the basics. Do Uworld as much as possible. As for books, would probably choose MTB 2 and make flashcards out of it and not bother with everything else. Agree with Phloston that ob/gyn stuff can be tricky, and that Uwise is a great resource and that it should be used to study for step 2. I didn't do so because I was lazy, but had toyed with the idea and now wish I had actually done it.

I regret not doing Uworld 2x, and not for setting aside a solid 3 weeks to study and just getting it over with. Also regret browsing through too many resources and not memorizing any of them. Even though the test was often very straightforward, I just wasn't solid on so many of these things. I felt really scattered and unmotivated with studying for this test and feel like it's going to bite me in the butt. Predicting that I get a 245 on it. Could also be much worse but am trying to stay positive. Will update this when get results back.

 

[hoot504]

I wrote the exam on the same day as Phloston and generally had the same impression as the poster right above me. It felt like a very fair and "do-able" exam. Unfortunately I had a few questions testing relatively basic topics that I still struggled with, and I probably made dumb mistakes on more than a few of these. However as the other poster mentioned there were very few strange or unexpected questions.

My assessment coming out of the exam was that 60-70% of the questions were relatively straight-up and "easier" (maybe closer to 60%), 20-30% were difficult and essentially required me to make an educated guess between 2 (sometimes 3!) remaining options. The remaining 0-10% were the sort of questions you see on Uworld that ~30% of people get right (at least it felt that way to me). There were 3 questions on the exam where I had absolutely zero idea what was going on, and had to blind guess. Like Phloston I missed the first "2-part series" question mid-way through the first block and that really didn't feel good.

I think one of the keys to this exam is knowing when the obvious answer is in fact the correct answer, and knowing when to ignore the obvious answer and think a little harder about exactly what concept the question is testing. I'm sure I breezed by some questions that I thought were easy but actually threw out red herrings I didn't pick up on, and vice versa.

Good luck to everyone!!

 

[Phloston]

Will def do those clinical mastery questions, would u say to do them after 2 runs of UW to have a solid base ?

I wouldn't recommend doing two runs of UWorld. UWorld trains you to over-think. I'd spend any time you're considering on a second pass of UW instead critically analyzing NBME, Clinical Mastery Series and Free-131 questions; these are the USMLE! UWorld is not the USMLE.

 

[Watshoody]

Whats the best order to do the NBMES , clinical mastery series and the free 131 ??? After we have done UW at least once ??? And how close to the actual exam ?

 

[CaliAtenza]

I wouldn't recommend doing two runs of UWorld. UWorld trains you to over-think. I'd spend any time you're considering on a second pass of UW instead critically analyzing NBME, Clinical Mastery Series and Free-131 questions; these are the USMLE! UWorld is not the USMLE.

Its kinda lame how the NBME does not provide correct answers to ANY of their exams, be it Clinical Mastery Series or the NBME practice exams for the Steps.

 

[WBecks0]

I take my exam in 2 days. I'll post all my scores, prep, and experience on the 2015 experiences thread.
Happy New Year!

 

[597622]

Have been using this thread for the last few months and been very helpful. Got my score back last Wednesday! My experience:
World first pass, one pass only: 77% overall
NBME 6, 2 months out: 232
NBME 4, 3 weeks out: 255
UWorld 1 week out: 260
NBME 3, 1 week out: 258

Actual Exam: 266

 

[CaliAtenza]

Have been using this thread for the last few months and been very helpful. Got my score back last Wednesday! My experience:
World first pass, one pass only: 77% overall
NBME 6, 2 months out: 232
NBME 4, 3 weeks out: 255
UWorld 1 week out: 260
NBME 3, 1 week out: 258

Actual Exam: 266

A few things I found to be noteworthy about CK (take with a grain of salt as everyone's exam experience is different): it is a long-ass test and I felt way less confident coming out of the testing center than after step 1. I only studied for this test for 2 months a few hours a day and the entire test day felt like educated guessing. Seriously, I don't think there were more than 5 questions in a 9 hour exam that I was absolutely certain I got correct. The questions are all tricky. I genuinely get the impression on every question that I was being tricked because more than one answer almost always made sense to me. You literally have to just sit there and educated guess and use your best intuition for every question. You will come out of the exam feeling like you could have failed. I had a panic attack at the end of every block because I had no time left (something that was never an issue in UWorld) and I felt like I just threw my career away. But BELIEVE me the score will come and it will be similar to your practice tests. Just trust the process, give the exam day your absolute best and believe me at the end of the day you will score similarly the aggregation of your practice tests. Don't freak out, just be patient for your score and it will be fine.
Another word of advice is don't do Uworld more than once. It won't help you. The exam tests logic and understanding of concepts not necessarily the exact thing that is taught in a question in Uworld. I also found that the material in general is way smaller than Step 1 (something most will agree on). You can definitely study and do well on this exam on a 4-6 week review even if you don't know anything about CK topics a the start. If you are busy on rotations pertaining to CK and know the material well, I think 2-3 weeks even would suffice.
I used mostly MTB2 and Uworld. I read through the non-IM sections of MTB3 and actually wish I had used MTB3 exclusively, but just at that point didn't have enough time. Uworld is the whole thing though. I can easily picture not using a text at all and getting the same score.
I also would recommend if someone in the future is debating between taking CK and getting a lower score or putting it off and doing better (with timing for ERAS) I would go with getting your score as early as possible. I got 4 interview offers within 3 days of posting a complete USMLE transcript even late December, so I think for some programs especially in more competitive specialties, having the CK score is key.
Other than that, I would recommend to just trust the process: Uworld and good NBME scores=success. As simple as that. Use your best instinct on the actual exam and don't over think.
I found OBGYN to be relatively easy on my exam and the majority of my sequential items were OB. Basic Peds issues come up a lot- especially ENT. I had 2-3 drug adds, and an abstract or two. leave them for the end and don't worry if guessing on those if strapped for time. Knowing vaccine guidelines is so important. It sucks cause I hate memorizing stuff like that but know it! Know every detail of TB testing results and when to treat and when not to. I got 2 very particular scenarios on that. Management is a huge part of the exam. A lot of the time you will get an elaborate case scenario and you have Dx-ed the patient in your head and you know the definitive treatment, but the question is asking what is the best initial thing to do. ALL of your instincts will tell you that they are asking do you know what the treatment is for this disease and that is the answer, but the question is asking what are you going to do first. And it might be as trivial as type and cross or getting IV access, and you better believe they will give you answer choices that are all part of the Tx protocol but only the first thing to do is the answer. I got a lot lof next best step MGMT questions and they can be tricky.
Some people said UWorld doesn't prep well for the biostats on CK, but I found it was fine. I got pretty basic q's on biostats. Those were straightforward. The most tricky questions in my opinion were Psych- they always threw something in there to make 2-3 Dx make sense. Make sure you know at least basic Dx criteria for Psych.
Also do whatever you can to get sleep the night before! If that means getting an Rx for sleeping meds from your doctor, do it. I didn't sleep at all before CS and it was such a brutal long day as a result. For CK I went to my doctor who understood how important sleep is before a 9 hour exam and I felt fine the next day and fully rested.

Congrats on the Kick-Ass score! . Did you feel like the questions were more like Uworld or the NBMEs?

 

[597622]

Congrats on the Kick-Ass score! . Did you feel like the questions were more like Uworld or the NBMEs?

For me, the real deal was more similar to the NBME's although he Uworld self assessment was a better predictor in terms of score. The questions in NBME tend to repeat a lot of the topics I got on the actual exam, some of which I discussed above.

 

[rierodz]

Did u guys get the kaplan survey at the end of your exam?

 

[au3s]

have any one of you guys tried or heard about conrad fischer's medquest step 3 HY, the Internal medicine videos & the internal medicine question bank? are they good? Would they help with step 2 ck? Or its kind of an overkill?

 

[CaliAtenza]

For me, the real deal was more similar to the NBME's although he Uworld self assessment was a better predictor in terms of score. The questions in NBME tend to repeat a lot of the topics I got on the actual exam, some of which I discussed above.

Ah okay, then I guess I will really go through the NBMEs then.

 

[597622]

Ah okay, then I guess I will really go through the NBMEs then.

Yeah I hate the entire concept of the NBME's and they cost a lot of money- something that really is so unnecessary considering the expenses we all incur with all these exams and interviews and fees, but I would say do one or two of them. What I understood was that 4 is the most accurate predictor, but seriously it is so easy it's not even funny. It's a test of can you pay attention for 4 hours and pay $60 for it. I think I got 10 wrong or something like that. NBME 6 and 3 I found had longer questions and were more like the real exam.

 

[Phloston]

Yeah I hate the entire concept of the NBME's and they cost a lot of money- something that really is so unnecessary considering the expenses we all incur with all these exams and interviews and fees, but I would say do one or two of them. What I understood was that 4 is the most accurate predictor, but seriously it is so easy it's not even funny. It's a test of can you pay attention for 4 hours and pay $60 for it. I think I got 10 wrong or something like that. NBME 6 and 3 I found had longer questions and were more like the real exam.

I scored 12 points lower on NBME 4 than on NBME 7 (which = my UWSA). Took them like 5 days apart. I definitely found 4 to be the hardest and 7 the easiest. Not sure what the hype was around 7.

But anyway, great job on the exam. I agree that the answers on Step 1 were much more objective (e.g., you know the answer is Aspergillus because you're looking at a picture of it), but on 2CK, it felt very subjective and dependent on gut instinct.

 

[Apoplexy__]

Have been using this thread for the last few months and been very helpful. Got my score back last Wednesday! My experience:
World first pass, one pass only: 77% overall
NBME 6, 2 months out: 232
NBME 4, 3 weeks out: 255
UWorld 1 week out: 260
NBME 3, 1 week out: 258

Actual Exam: 266

A few things I found to be noteworthy about CK (take with a grain of salt as everyone's exam experience is different): it is a long-ass test and I felt way less confident coming out of the testing center than after step 1. I only studied for this test for 2 months a few hours a day and the entire test day felt like educated guessing. Seriously, I don't think there were more than 5 questions in a 9 hour exam that I was absolutely certain I got correct. The questions are all tricky. I genuinely get the impression on every question that I was being tricked because more than one answer almost always made sense to me. You literally have to just sit there and educated guess and use your best intuition for every question. You will come out of the exam feeling like you could have failed. I had a panic attack at the end of every block because I had no time left (something that was never an issue in UWorld) and I felt like I just threw my career away. But BELIEVE me the score will come and it will be similar to your practice tests. Just trust the process, give the exam day your absolute best and believe me at the end of the day you will score similarly the aggregation of your practice tests. Don't freak out, just be patient for your score and it will be fine.
Another word of advice is don't do Uworld more than once. It won't help you. The exam tests logic and understanding of concepts not necessarily the exact thing that is taught in a question in Uworld. I also found that the material in general is way smaller than Step 1 (something most will agree on). You can definitely study and do well on this exam on a 4-6 week review even if you don't know anything about CK topics a the start. If you are busy on rotations pertaining to CK and know the material well, I think 2-3 weeks even would suffice.
I used mostly MTB2 and Uworld. I read through the non-IM sections of MTB3 and actually wish I had used MTB3 exclusively, but just at that point didn't have enough time. Uworld is the whole thing though. I can easily picture not using a text at all and getting the same score.
I also would recommend if someone in the future is debating between taking CK and getting a lower score or putting it off and doing better (with timing for ERAS) I would go with getting your score as early as possible. I got 4 interview offers within 3 days of posting a complete USMLE transcript even late December, so I think for some programs especially in more competitive specialties, having the CK score is key.
Other than that, I would recommend to just trust the process: Uworld and good NBME scores=success. As simple as that. Use your best instinct on the actual exam and don't over think.
I found OBGYN to be relatively easy on my exam and the majority of my sequential items were OB. Basic Peds issues come up a lot- especially ENT. I had 2-3 drug adds, and an abstract or two. leave them for the end and don't worry if guessing on those if strapped for time. Knowing vaccine guidelines is so important. It sucks cause I hate memorizing stuff like that but know it! Know every detail of TB testing results and when to treat and when not to. I got 2 very particular scenarios on that. Management is a huge part of the exam. A lot of the time you will get an elaborate case scenario and you have Dx-ed the patient in your head and you know the definitive treatment, but the question is asking what is the best initial thing to do. ALL of your instincts will tell you that they are asking do you know what the treatment is for this disease and that is the answer, but the question is asking what are you going to do first. And it might be as trivial as type and cross or getting IV access, and you better believe they will give you answer choices that are all part of the Tx protocol but only the first thing to do is the answer. I got a lot lof next best step MGMT questions and they can be tricky.
Some people said UWorld doesn't prep well for the biostats on CK, but I found it was fine. I got pretty basic q's on biostats. Those were straightforward. The most tricky questions in my opinion were Psych- they always threw something in there to make 2-3 Dx make sense. Make sure you know at least basic Dx criteria for Psych.
Also do whatever you can to get sleep the night before! If that means getting an Rx for sleeping meds from your doctor, do it. I didn't sleep at all before CS and it was such a brutal long day as a result. For CK I went to my doctor who understood how important sleep is before a 9 hour exam and I felt fine the next day and fully rested.

Thanks for sharing exactly how you felt after the test. Very reassuring. Did you feel the same way (e.g. using intuition, making best guess, feeling tricked) while going through UWorld and the NBMEs the first time?

 

[Phloston]

Ah okay, then I guess I will really go through the NBMEs then.

Yeah. MaliOMali is right about a lot of NBME topics being repeated on the exam. There was a really tough NBME question that I had gotten wrong and ended up getting a very similar (and equally nebulous) question on the real deal. And I still wasn't 100% sure, because, as MaliOMali has said, it will sometimes feel like 2 or 3 answers really can be right. So I just went with the answer that was correct on the NBME because I figured that must be one of the topics they repeatedly assess that way.

 

[Watshoody]

What if were scoring mid 60s to 70s percentage wise in Uworld, missing easy questions alot of times, something to be worried about ?? More focused on learning the material than the question as ppl say to use UW more as a learning tool rather than an assessment one

 

[freudianslip908]

I just took my CK and I'm afraid I failed since I didn't get the Kaplan survey after the end of the exam, and I still had time left. Did you guys all guy the survey at the end?

 

[CaliAtenza]

Yeah. MaliOMali is right about a lot of NBME topics being repeated on the exam. There was a really tough NBME question that I had gotten wrong and ended up getting a very similar (and equally nebulous) question on the real deal. And I still wasn't 100% sure, because, as MaliOMali has said, it will sometimes feel like 2 or 3 answers really can be right. So I just went with the answer that was correct on the NBME because I figured that must be one of the topics they repeatedly assess that way.

I hate that feeling when 2-3 answers could really be right . Thats when my brain starts freaking out, lol.

 

[Phloston]

What if were scoring mid 60s to 70s percentage wise in Uworld, missing easy questions alot of times, something to be worried about ?? More focused on learning the material than the question as ppl say to use UW more as a learning tool rather than an assessment one

Would agree with this. My impression during/after the 2CK was that UW covered the info on the exam well but that the NBMEs were the real deal (and they are).

 

[NNoor]

Step 2 CK: 264

I'm very pleased with this score. My step 1 score was a bit lower than I expected (231), but this is right in line with what I was scoring in UWorld.

Prep: I scheduled about 2 weeks of study time but only used one. Just did 2/3 of UWorld. No NBME practice exams. I read a couple chapters in MTB. I was scoring about 80% consistently in my UWorld question blocks and because I scored above average in all of my shelf exams I eschewed studying to play video games and ingest ethanol. I felt awful after taking the exam (I had a question block with 4 missing answers - I didn't even have time to guess!) but everyone seems to these days.

Congrats... i'm doing my 3rd-yr clinical... i have shelf coming soon. I want to do what you did... do well on shelf and it translates into doing well in CK. How should I study for shelf exam (oby-gyn)? Case Files Ob perhaps?

 

[NNoor]

how should one study for step2ck?

 

[TheOcean]

Hey guys, just took Step 2CK so I wanted to share the experience of the test with you before I brain dump it.

Step 1 - 233
(a little disappointed, was shooting for >240, I was stupid and didn't drink any water, and only drank energy drinks and almost passed out for 2 blocks where I sat there sweaty, tachy, and saw everything as a blurry tunnel vision, was flexing my calves like a mo-fo)

Test Prep - eh ran out of juice this year, only spent maybe 2 weeks studying...got through maybe 50% of UW a second time. First time was during MS3. Did so-so on the shelf exams, mainly in 70s. Didn't read a thing. Tried to read MTB2 and secrets but was so dry I wanted to shoot myself. Average UW was high 70s-low80s. Didn't do any NBMEs because they give me anxiety.

Test Day
I thought the test was very fair and do-able.I didn't feel like it hit me with anything surprising or new. Sure there were a lot of questions where I was like "damn it! I should of read up on this...and I can't remember from step1".
- Very very little genetics/biochem questions, I think I had maybe 5 all together? Was trying really hard to remember from step 1 info and they weren't like hard ones. I think if you just glanced (15 min) over glycogen storage disease, lysosomal storage disease, and Prader-willii, those trinucleotide repeats, etc. you'll get it. They gave a lot of buzz clues on those.
- Biostats and drug adds - super easy, just make sure you know sensitive and specificity, NPV, PPV inside and out, didn't need to make a table or calculate anything, all conceptual. Bias questions were weird......maybe only 3? 2 were easy and one had answer that I don't think anyone of us had seen. A few like study design problems that were not in UW. Most were think-through-able. I think if you've written papers or something then these will be a piece of cake. I didn't get any drug adds - thank god. I got one about a trial with 3 parts. I triaged it for the end. 2/3 were really easy if you just read the trial you'll get it. One I think needed more consideration and calculation so I just made an educated guess due to time. Overall very simple and you can POE it or think through it.
- Psych, I had quite a bit of. One block had like 15-20 psych questions, sometimes 3 in a row. It was towards the end like block 6 so it was a nice little break. Overall very easy. UW questions are just fine if you understand how its diagnosed. Don't have to memorize like DSM5 but just know main highlight differences between let say adjustment disorder and MDD, acute stress and PTSD, etc.
- OBGYN, geez....so much OBGYN. UW was not enough if you wanted to ace these. Sure it had a few easy ones but most were kind of weird and specific. A lot of things I just didn't know, or remember learning in OB actually. Risk factor questions were kind of random. Some questions didn't give you the answer you wanted, so you had to search for another next best. But I think overall if you did well on your OBGYN rotation and shelf you will be ok. I heard blueprints was gold but didn't end up reading it. I did Uwise and I think I got a 75 on the shelf.
- MSK/CT - not a lot of questions, obviously maybe 5 ppl with back pain, but no like complicated bone tumor you had to know. The rest were obvious, nothing you didn't expect for example RA or something. And you know they are going to ask about AS...I mean come on, when was the last test you took that didn't have it.
- Peds - I suck at peds. I don't know what to do with these little ppl. A fair number of questions. Wish I studied these more. But overall I thought UW questions were good enough. I just really didn't study for my peds rotation, literally did like 10 questions and read nothing, barely passed with 65. So if you studied during peds you'll be fine.
- Card + pulmonary - a lot of questions but then who is surprised? Know your heart sounds and what increases with hand grip and all that jazz. For me it was more pulmonary than cards ( too bad and cuz I love cards). I thought the pulmonary ones were tricky. A lot of POEing. Everybody coming in with wheezing and rales and can't breath and SOB and blah blah, you had to look for more specific clues like age, gender, sex, what were they doing, what other diseases do they have?
- Trauma - easy for me cuz I love trauma, did my sub I in trauma surgery so these were super easy for me. Don't be surprised if ask about multiple situations going (not from the test but just an example, guy with tension pneumothorax, and tamponade, and abdominal bleed) I think we are more used to one thing at a time but don't be surprised if your patient got more stuff going on. UW is sufficient I thought. I thought PESTANA was GOLD here. His trauma section helps you to understand the process. Super helpful.
- CT/XRAYS - super easy, I mean you had to be blind to not know where the defect was. CXR I thought were a little harder, but then again I'm not the best at these. I can usually just say "Ok something is wrong in this area" and that was enough I think.
- Pictures - super easy, except for one where I thought the quality was really bad, I couldn't tell if there was a shadow or what. I mean it was like 1998 quality and you can't make them bigger or zoom in. But over all super easy, like you see it and just think thats obvious...most were from family medicine stuff, ulcers, etc. But nothing were you are sitting there trying to figure it out. Honestly I found helpful as a strategy to read the question first, then click on the "exhibit" button and then have an idea right away before reading the question.
- EKGs - quite a few...8-10 maybe? Nothing hard. Like I said I would see it first and try to read it and for example think oh this is pericarditis, then read the question and as soon as the story is fitting i'd just skim quickly the rest and answer.
- ID - quite a few of these........ugh I'm not very good at antibiotics so I just gave everyone ampicillin or amoxicilin. This probably isn't right so brush up on your antibiotics a little bit. Diseases weren't hard to diagnose just didn't know what to give ppl...and thats totally my bad.
- Getting 2-3 questions of these same thing - this happens don't be surprised, I had 2 question about the same thing in one block with the same answer.
- Not a lot of eyeball, ENT, ortho questions. The ortho ones I thought were weird esp in the adults. The kid ones are easy. More ortho than eyeball or ENT questions.
- Surgery - I thought were very doable questions, Pestana is awesome here. Nothing complex.
- Heme/Onc - Heme were obviously all anemia. So seriously review that RBC chapter in Pathoma, it'll save your butt. I totally just sipped reviewing the WBC stuff....there weren't a lot of questions maybe 4-5? 2 I thought were easy. The others I just guessed cuz I didn't study. But maybe rewatching the pathoma lectures on WBC would have helped. Know your bleeding/clotting disorders.
- Nephrology - not as many as i thought, maybe 3 questions on nephritic/nerophtic crap (thank god).
- Autoimmune - a lot of questions...they sure love their SLE and graves and blah blah. Know mechanism and treatment.
- Got very few on treatment of bread and butter stuff, HTN, COPD, asthma, DM, Afib, MI. Maybe like 1 of each. I think they know that we should know so they weren't hard just like if this guy has these drugs whats the next drug to add? Now you'll get questions about asthma regarding other things than treatment, but for overall treatment very few questions.
- Immunology - basic stuff, renal rejections, allergies, analphaxis. Nothing crazy like what B cell receptor is on this or that. Hot-T-Bone-StEAk didn't come in handy. But know your immuno deficiency disorders and how to distinguish between them.
- GI - lots of abdominal pain, but thats not surprising. I thought these were okay. I like acute abdomens so they weren't bad to me.
- Endocrine - quite a few....don't get lazy here. Symptoms didn't have a lot of "buzz" words. But UW is very sufficient. And of course know the difference between MENs (duh, you know they love that ****).
- Ethical questions - not too many unfortunately, maybe 1 in each block? I don't know what to say about these because you obviously can't know every situation that will present it self. So just go with your basic instincts. UW helped a little but the ones I got were different. Nothing from UW. You just have to remember the basics, HIPPA always with few exceptions, and don't be a jerk.
- Overall, test was fair, doable, a very good mix of a little bit from everything with more stuff from Cards, Pulm, GI, OBGYN. But not one topic was particularly heavy. Very even and broad exam in terms of systems but within each system nothing surprising, just stuff we've learned already and key diseases. This is nice because if you just focused on the main things, you will do will. Unlike step 1, very little minutiae and testing on diseases that haven't been around since the 1900s.

Test timing - I was super worried here, thought I would run out like everyone was saying. Didn't have an issue....I read the question and answer and exhibits first which really saved time. Went with gut feelings. If I was reading it and thought oh this is ___, I just marked answer and moved on. Here is the thing about POEing. You can knock out a couple right away. You might be left with 2-3, I mostly got it down to 2 answers that both were "right". But the question is asking about "MOST likely", "MOST appropriate next step", etc. So know some stats and don't pick zebras pick the horse. When in doubt, go with what you SEE during rotations, don't go with that random disease you learned in Step 1 but never seen. Cuz you can sit there and masturbate on these answers forever, trying to justify why one is more right than the other. The questions aren't asking you which of the following can describe these symptoms, they are asking you which of the following is MOST likely giving the symptoms. Its a really long test so take your breaks. I took one almost after each block, went to drink water and eat something, stretch and use the bathroom. Don't wear yourself out. Focus on the question at hand. Don't think about the last question and whether A or B was right. Click, move on, go with your instinct, and focus on the next question and you won't have an issue with timing.

Will get scores back in 3 weeks so just take everything with a grain of salt. Overall not as hard as step 1. Very doable. Very basic stuff. Very little surprises. If I were to do it all over, I'd do UWx1 with GOOD notes, read ALL the answers choices because its teaching you how to POE which is key. I would totally 100% rewatch/re-read Pathoma. First Aid was good for the mnemonics or things that weren't covered in Pathoma...I also did read over the high yield quick hits in First Aid at the end of the book. Those were actually pretty helpful, do it day before exam or something. Just gives you the little buzz words that you might have forgotten. If you type in "extremely high yield" into the search function on UW, it will pull up the 25ish questions, but you need to have used all the questions first. These were in fact rather high yield. Not all of them came up, but 3 came up for me multiple times....I was like really? Apparently once wasn't enough.

Okay PM me if you have questions....Hopefully I didn't fail it. Fingers crossed...anything >230 I will be very happy with. I know most of you guys on here study a **** load. If you studied and did well on step 1, studied and did well during third year, you will be fine. I don't see how if I actually got through UW 2x and rewatched Pathoma, I couldn't get like 250+. Test was very fair, very doable, wasn't trying to mess with your head.

 

[TheOcean]

I just took my CK and I'm afraid I failed since I didn't get the Kaplan survey after the end of the exam, and I still had time left. Did you guys all guy the survey at the end?

lol this is so classic SDN neurotic syndrome....okay so you ONLY get the survey if you had time to answer it. If you took all your breaks and stuff then you don't get the survey. Very few ppl get it because most ppl take the whole 9 hours. So don't freak out...it doesn't mean anything.

 

[597622]

I scored 12 points lower on NBME 4 than on NBME 7 (which = my UWSA). Took them like 5 days apart. I definitely found 4 to be the hardest and 7 the easiest. Not sure what the hype was around 7.

But anyway, great job on the exam. I agree that the answers on Step 1 were much more objective (e.g., you know the answer is Aspergillus because you're looking at a picture of it), but on 2CK, it felt very subjective and dependent on gut instinct.

I didn't take NBME 7 so I can't comment, but what I meant was the actual NBME 4 test questions were easy. The curve is not forgiving at all. 4 is 180 or whatever very easy questions and if you falter on one every 20 questions then you're down to a 250. My point was that the questions themselves were easy but as you said the curve is outrageous.

 

[597622]

Thanks for sharing exactly how you felt after the test. Very reassuring. Did you feel the same way (e.g. using intuition, making best guess, feeling tricked) while going through UWorld and the NBMEs the first time?

Definitely felt tricked on NBME's and UW. I think CK questions in general are more tricky than Step 1. Particularly next best step in mgmt questions. The real difference is the entire mood of the situation. When you're doing a Uworld block at home you're not worried about making educated guesses and hoping you did well on said block. The point is to learn, and while you want to get good percentages, you're not going to cry over getting questions wrong (I definitely had a few blocks in UW where I scored 40% by bad luck but didn't lose sleep over it). But when you sit down at the testing center and you start picking answers, the thought that this exam is potentially tarnishing to your residency app is always at the back of your head (at least it was for me). The worst part is at the end of the test you don't get to see your answers and get a feel for how you did. You have to wait 3 weeks for a score on a 9 hour best educated guess exam and hope your instincts were correct. I just felt like I was either doing fine or I was way off and could have failed. It's actually amazing that this test can make you feel like you failed when you actually scored 90+ percentile.

 

[Apoplexy__]

Definitely felt tricked on NBME's and UW. I think CK questions in general are more tricky than Step 1. Particularly next best step in mgmt questions. The real difference is the entire mood of the situation. When you're doing a Uworld block at home you're not worried about making educated guesses and hoping you did well on said block. The point is to learn, and while you want to get good percentages, you're not going to cry over getting questions wrong (I definitely had a few blocks in UW where I scored 40% by bad luck but didn't lose sleep over it). But when you sit down at the testing center and you start picking answers, the thought that this exam is potentially tarnishing to your residency app is always at the back of your head (at least it was for me). The worst part is at the end of the test you don't get to see your answers and get a feel for how you did. You have to wait 3 weeks for a score on a 9 hour best educated guess exam and hope your instincts were correct. I just felt like I was either doing fine or I was way off and could have failed. It's actually amazing that this test can make you feel like you failed when you actually scored 90+ percentile.

Haha, your thought process is exactly in line with how I currently feel and experience, and how I'll probably feel. Good to hear.

 

[CaliAtenza]

I didn't take NBME 7 so I can't comment, but what I meant was the actual NBME 4 test questions were easy. The curve is not forgiving at all. 4 is 180 or whatever very easy questions and if you falter on one every 20 questions then you're down to a 250. My point was that the questions themselves were easy but as you said the curve is outrageous.

I haven't taken either yet, but I bet the curve on 7 is better.

 

[DangerousBacon]

Step 1: 234

Step 2 UWSA 1 week out: 244

USMLE Step 2 CK: 257


Went over MTB2, Secrets, MedEdOnline vids, and Uworld several times. Read kaplan lecture notes once, just to kind of organize things in my mind.

What helped most for the exam? Taking the day off before the exam and getting a ton of sleep. I finished every block with 5-10 minutes to spare although I was consciously trying to hustle along.

 

[lordman]

Step 1: 234

Step 2 UWSA 1 week out: 244

USMLE Step 2 CK: 257


Went over MTB2, Secrets, MedEdOnline vids, and Uworld several times. Read kaplan lecture notes once, just to kind of organize things in my mind.

What helped most for the exam? Taking the day off before the exam and getting a ton of sleep. I finished every block with 5-10 minutes to spare although I was consciously trying to hustle along.

Congrats bro. Any NBME? 257 from UWSA just one week before is HUGE. Interested in knowing advice and hints

 

[colonelmustard]

Step 1: 234

Step 2 UWSA 1 week out: 244

USMLE Step 2 CK: 257


Went over MTB2, Secrets, MedEdOnline vids, and Uworld several times. Read kaplan lecture notes once, just to kind of organize things in my mind.

What helped most for the exam? Taking the day off before the exam and getting a ton of sleep. I finished every block with 5-10 minutes to spare although I was consciously trying to hustle along.

Did you find the Kaplan lecture notes to be helpful? Were those concepts tested on 2CK?

 

[DangerousBacon]

Congrats bro. Any NBME? 257 from UWSA just one week before is HUGE. Interested in knowing advice and hints

I might've underperformed a bit on the UWSA which could explain the jump. I feel like I didn't "bear down" on it like I did during the real thing. I had the same problem with step 1 self assessment (outperformed both UWSAs but 10+ points), which is another reason why I didn't do any NBMEs, I guess.

In terms of advice/hints, in the week leading up to the exam, I didn't study a whole lot. Tried to rest my brain and get lots of sleep because I was fairly comfortable of where I was at after the UWSA. Did more good than I initially realized because I felt really fresh on exam day.

edit: typo

 

[DangerousBacon]

Did you find the Kaplan lecture notes to be helpful? Were those concepts tested on 2CK?

I actually liked them quite a bit, easy to read, lots of stuff that would've helped with my first pass of UWorld, but they are definitely not necessary for the exam imo. Only reason I read em was because they were available for free on kindle through amazon. Seemed like most of the content can be found in other more popular step 2 resources. They probably would have done more good for me if I had read them earlier on.

Anywho, I can't recall a single question where I was like: 'aha, I read that in Kaplan lecture notes!' but again that's because I'd probably learned it from someplace else already.

 

[bearboots]

Would agree with this. My impression during/after the 2CK was that UW covered the info on the exam well but that the NBMEs were the real deal (and they are).

Hi Pholston, I had to register and thank you for your detailed feedback. I have a few questions for you when you have time and to anyone who can spare some moments

With the NBMEs, how many of the clinical mastery + NBME-USMLE forms had extended feedback? Do you recall how much all of that would cost for all of those?

When you may have gotten a wrong question in the NBME+Clinical Mastery , how did you go back to study what might be the right or better answer? If I recall, you're just told that the question is incorrect only? I think you said you used UpToDate a lot but I'm wondering how I would keyword or search for this. There is a library nearby me that has access to this software to use for free.

I had a few dilemmas that I'm debating and need guidance on what to do : I passed step 1 nearly 3 years ago and took personal leave from school for more than 1 year during my main clinical rotations. I have to pass CK to resume my final year to graduate. During that year off, I didn't do anything in regards to clinical studies...

I was doing UW CK questions and it seemed like a lot of my foundation memories have been long gone - would you recommend redoing UW Step 1 or just reading First Aid Step 1 altogether just to rejog my memory on terminology/what the diseases are (I remember many but there's a lot of finer points which seem to build from having some recent step 1 knowledge).

Would I benefit instead in just really going through MTB CK + MTB 3 in its entirety really fast to get a general overview on things (without memorizing algorithms/next step managements like Pholston said)?

Has anyone tried any of the MCQs-portion only (not CCS) from UW Step 3 (since it has more psych-peds-obgyn-surgery questions) and/or the UW IM questions? Would they help or is that way too advanced for this exam? I was only considering this as an alternative to doing kaplan qbank since I'd be still in UWorld mode....

I have 2 months of preparation time set aside and would like to start a better plan for the new year.

Thank you for all the advice in advance! Sorry for the long posts (I tried highlighting in bold to make it easy to read) but I have to pass this exam and have been out of the loop for ages!

 

[colonelmustard]

I haven't taken either yet, but I bet the curve on 7 is better.

Yeah the curve is definitely better on 7. I'd like to see them get rid of 4 and have a better version of it up.

 

[colonelmustard]

I actually liked them quite a bit, easy to read, lots of stuff that would've helped with my first pass of UWorld, but they are definitely not necessary for the exam imo. Only reason I read em was because they were available for free on kindle through amazon. Seemed like most of the content can be found in other more popular step 2 resources. They probably would have done more good for me if I had read them earlier on.

Anywho, I can't recall a single question where I was like: 'aha, I read that in Kaplan lecture notes!' but again that's because I'd probably learned it from someplace else already.

Thanks for the info. I have the Kaplan lecture notes and I'll read through the Ob/Gyn and Peds books since I don't have any good sources for those subjects.

What do you think of the Kaplan surgery lecture notes? I was considering getting the Pestana notes for surgery but I just don't want to have too many sources.

 

[DangerousBacon]

Thanks for the info. I have the Kaplan lecture notes and I'll read through the Ob/Gyn and Peds books since I don't have any good sources for those subjects.

What do you think of the Kaplan surgery lecture notes? I was considering getting the Pestana notes for surgery but I just don't want to have too many sources.

If memory serves, the surgery notes were basically the same as pestana's notes, as he was one of the authors.

 

[colonelmustard]

If memory serves, the surgery notes were basically the same as pestana's notes, as he was one of the authors.

I didn't take a look at the surgery notes but that's good to know. So it's safe to assume that the Kaplan surgery notes, MTB, and UWorld should suffice for surgery?

 

[DangerousBacon]

I didn't take a look at the surgery notes but that's good to know. So it's safe to assume that the Kaplan surgery notes, MTB, and UWorld should suffice for surgery?

should be more than enough, IMO

 

[WBecks0]

I agree, those should be enough.

 

[WBecks0]

I'll post my experience soon. Just drained.

 

[Phloston]

Hi Pholston, I had to register and thank you for your detailed feedback. I have a few questions for you when you have time and to anyone who can spare some moments

With the NBMEs, how many of the clinical mastery + NBME-USMLE forms had extended feedback? Do you recall how much all of that would cost for all of those?

When you may have gotten a wrong question in the NBME+Clinical Mastery , how did you go back to study what might be the right or better answer? If I recall, you're just told that the question is incorrect only? I think you said you used UpToDate a lot but I'm wondering how I would keyword or search for this. There is a library nearby me that has access to this software to use for free.

I had a few dilemmas that I'm debating and need guidance on what to do : I passed step 1 nearly 3 years ago and took personal leave from school for more than 1 year during my main clinical rotations. I have to pass CK to resume my final year to graduate. During that year off, I didn't do anything in regards to clinical studies...

I was doing UW CK questions and it seemed like a lot of my foundation memories have been long gone - would you recommend redoing UW Step 1 or just reading First Aid Step 1 altogether just to rejog my memory on terminology/what the diseases are (I remember many but there's a lot of finer points which seem to build from having some recent step 1 knowledge).

Would I benefit instead in just really going through MTB CK + MTB 3 in its entirety really fast to get a general overview on things (without memorizing algorithms/next step managements like Pholston said)?

Has anyone tried any of the MCQs-portion only (not CCS) from UW Step 3 (since it has more psych-peds-obgyn-surgery questions) and/or the UW IM questions? Would they help or is that way too advanced for this exam? I was only considering this as an alternative to doing kaplan qbank since I'd be still in UWorld mode....

I have 2 months of preparation time set aside and would like to start a better plan for the new year.

Thank you for all the advice in advance! Sorry for the long posts (I tried highlighting in bold to make it easy to read) but I have to pass this exam and have been out of the loop for ages!

Typing a sentence from the question you got wrong + "NBME" into Google will often bring up a page/forum w/ people discussing it. That will help you get the answer.

No, don't redo UW1. Reading FA1 is too much indirect studying and won't help you. 2CK relies on you having a strong Step 1 foundation, but studying FA1 directly veers from the focus of the 2CK. I'd say the only part of FA1 that's really HY on the 2CK is the congenital immunodeficiency syndromes (e.g., WAS, CGD, etc.). The 2CK somewhat assumes you can Dx a condition but then instead wants the Mx (e.g., you'll get a vignette on lupus, but they want to know the Tx for a flare --> steroids; not just what's the diagnosis). The questions they ask you straight-up for the Dx are usually clinical (eg. tension pneumothorax, aortic rupture, mesenteric ischemia), not basic science-oriented (eg Duchenne), although yeah, obviously you do get the occasional Q like that.

Yeah, MTB2 and MTB3 without obsessing/memorizing Txs can be a good approach. Use any Mx info in those books as mere ideas for how to Tx something (ie. if he lists 3 drugs and 2 different surgeries as Tx, just be aware that they exist as possible Tx, but don't say "oh yeah, I do this first, then this, then this." That will really screw you over if you do that).

I didn't venture into Step 3 questions/assessment. I originally thought about it because I tend to get OCD about stuff / love learning, but I just 1) didn't have time, and 2) it's summer here in Australia, so you try sitting inside without getting ADD.