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fat1iscool's Step 2 CK exam experience

9K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  mission 13  
#1 ·
Hey everybody,

I cannot believe that finally it is my turn to write an experience thread in the CK forum :) it has been a long journey and I hope to be able to help others too! Happy-2

First a little about me: I'm a medical student in my last year of med school. I prepared for this exam for about 8 months (4 months goofing around and 4 months somewhat serious studying). I know this is longer than most people, but because I am still a student, I had to juggle USMLE with rotations, schoolwork, assignments, tests etc. You all know how it is.

Materials I used:
KLN 2012 (purple ones) just once. Didn't read the Psychiatry and Pediatrics books
MTB 2
MTB 3
FA 2011 for Step 1
UW

How I studied: I started off with KLN (except Pediatrics and Psychiatry, as I mentioned) and just read these books a grand total of once. I found them rather dry. I then moved on to MTBs. I integrated KLN Internal Medicine into MTB 2 and used that as my sole reference for Internal Medicine. I used MTB 3 for Surgery, Pediatrics, OB/GYN, Psychiatry, Dermatology and Emergency Medicine. I did not bother integrating stuff from KLN into MTB 3. There were a few topics in MTB 2 which were missing in MTB 3 in these subjects, so I covered those also. Not too many. I believe I gave maybe 3 or 4 reads to MTB. I did UW in the last 2 months of my prep.

How the exam went: Phew. Ok. It was mostly testing me on Internal Medicine. For which I was grateful. Mostly cardio/renal/pulmonary questions. Drug ads were way easier than in UW (take it from me, I sucked at them) and I did not find time to be an issue. However, there were several questions, in which I was stuck deciding between 2 choices. And several questions in which i was like WTF and still many which were really simple, and I would reread them to make sure whether I was seeing straight. :rolleyes: I had 2 murmurs, none of which I was able to identify, and a few X rays, which I hope I interpreted right and a couple EKGs, again, which I hope I interpreted the right way. It was too long though. I got tired by about the 4th block, but a cup of coffee jumpstarted my brain again. I took a break after every 2 blocks, thus making a total of 4 blocks.

I did all NBMEs offline.
NBME 1: 220 done about 1.5 months prior to the exam
NBME 2: 235 done 1 month prior to the exam
NBME 3: 215 (!!) done about 3 weeks prior to the exam
NBME 4: 251 done 10 days prior to the exam

UWSA: 250 done 5 days prior to the exam
FRED: 85% correct, done 2 days before the exam

My cumulative UW percentage was 69% on the first round. I did it the second time, focusing only on the marked and incorrect questions, and it increased to 73%.

Now what I would like you all to do: Pray for me......please? :plz:
My exam did not go as well as I was hoping, and I am always in a huge hurry about everything in life, so I just decided to give this exam too. Man, I hope I pass with the score I want iA....and so does everybody else!! :D

Good luck to all of you!!

May we all score awesomely!!:D
 
#2 ·
God bless, thanks for experience. it is really helpful for us with upcoming exam. especially that you don't have a score yet. thank you again hope you get what you deserve.
i am glad about you opinion on drug adds, cause it really freaks me out imagining them on my long exam.
what about time issue again were you able to finish in time luck for nbme, it was like UW blocks or compare with anything in question length.
also: would you advise doing NBME 2 and 3 also i have done 4 and 6. and not planning to do any more. just thinkin about simulating exam with two nbmes.

thank you. enjoy your normal life now.
 
#3 ·
hi

thanks a lot for sharing your exp .....
if you don't mind i have some questions , can you compare it UW i mean in the level of difficulty ? how about NBME are they really outdated and there is no relation to exam ???
what is the most thing you find it useful in the last few days b4 the exam ?


thanks
 
#5 ·
Hi everybody,

So sorry for the late replies, I was out of town.

@tamta: time was not an issue at all. The question length was similar to UW. I feel that NBMEs are outdated, so in my opinion since you've already done 2 of the better ones, you don't need to do the older ones. Just my opinion.

@EMMY24: well, some questions in my exam were hard, and some were easy. And some were like WTF questions. I guess UW is really the best resource for this exam. In my opinion, NBMEs are too easy. As was UWSA. But just my opinion. I would still recommend doing the NBMEs just as an assessment tool. As for your second question: while I was doing my last read, I was making a list of forgettables at the same time. I also included those things which I found hard. I just reviewed that list on the last day, as well as some dermatology images on google, and ekgs and heart murmurs.

@SuperSonic: there was this table for converting scores...i believe it was on scribd.com, I actually don't have that link anymore, or I would post it here.
 
#6 ·
GL

If you could help me with my queries...
1. i dont have time for doing KL for paeds , so opting for MTB 2N3 and UW. Do u think it will be enough?

2. Bio stats.. are d questions same like step one.?

3. i am almost done wid UWORLD for the first time. My avg says 60% but 30th percentlie. Have only two mnths to go.. What shud i infer from ds?

4.In the end .. i just want to know is ds exam doable with compl MTB2 N 3 n uw n readind kaplan once ??

5 oh yes .. About the drug ads and the absracts? What r they and where to do them from..??
6.The length of the questions......? Everybody is tellin me that the questions line from ten to twenty lines with twenty choices:toosad::eek::scared:......IS ITREALLY TRUE??:confused::(

THANKS A TON ..

I know they are too many questions....

God bless N Good luck..IA U will do good ..
 
#7 ·
Hey mission 13,

You don't need to apologize for asking questions, I am happy to help. :)

1) I did not do KLN for Pediatrics either. I just did MTB 2 and 3 along with UW. It seemed sufficient in my opinion.

2) Ummmm, the questions in my exam had less calculations, and more of concept application. In my Step 1 exam, I had more calculations, so I can;t really compare. It is a weak subject of mine, so I found it hard both times.

3) Use UW as a learning tool. Are you done with it completely? Do go through the explanations. They solidify your knowledge.

4) There have been people with stellar scores who used only the resources you mentioned.

5) I found drug ads really hard in UW, but easy in the actual exam. UW should be enough for this.

6) Question length was similar to UW. Did not have any question with 20 choices ;)

Hope this helps. Good luck with your exam
 
#8 ·
hey

Hey thanks a ton buddy..:)

Yea , am done with UW once.. I hve noted down almost the ninety percent of the UW.. So am revising the notes.....

thanks for all the advice.. its a compl boost..

Am just goin to focus on the MTB2N3 n the UW... goin to revise it all thru for the exams..

Keep me in ur prayers....

God bless