Lena Step 2 CK Experience

[Lena]

NBME 2 ------- 232 (17 days out)
UWSA ------- 206 (5 days out)
NBME 4 ------- 221 (2 days out) missed 38

I thought UWSA was hard. I like the NBME 4 better, was easier to understand, and seemed easy. Studied exclusively from UW, while doing rotations over the last few months (still in schl), used it like a text book. Best thing ever. 1st run through 49% (Subject tutor mode). 2nd time around its 68% (random, timed), almost done with it. Funny did the IM blocks ages ago, most of the questions seem brand new, I prob only remember 5%.

Supplemented with MTB/Secrets, but only a little bit, I dont really learn from books. I took some good notes from UW. Reviewed them somewhat before, plan to review them these last days. CK makes sense, Step 1 didnt, seemed like a lot of memorization, with no real meaning. This is more my thing.

GOAL: 250+, considering how poorly I did on step 1/attempts, obviously the higher the better, but its easier to define success ahead of time. Hope to update this thread, after Sep 26, or sooner.

Best wishes to all studying. God bless you all.

[Hitman]

goodluck........

[patelMD]

Good luck Lena! You're in good shape.

When is your exam?

[Lena]

Originally Posted by patelMD

Good luck Lena! You're in good shape.

When is your exam?

Thanks. Its Wednesday. So ready to get it done with. Hoping to see the day as one long NBME. I keep reassuring myself that the scores cant all be a fluke.

[patelMD]

Originally Posted by Lena

Thanks. Its Wednesday. So ready to get it done with. Hoping to see the day as one long NBME. I keep reassuring myself that the scores cant all be a fluke.

They're not! You'll be fine.

[step_enhancer]

Good luck !!

[Novobiocin]

Based on your recent posts I believe that you are firing on all cylinders...........you have a good knowledge base and that's all that matters.
Good Luck

[K06100]

best of luck Lena......!!

[dr.Zh]

God bless you, Lena!!!

[usmledr]

All the best Lena & please share your experience.Thanks.

[EDDY]

good luck

[lamode]

get it gurl

[Lena]

Ok done with exam!

Wow,

1) God is really amazing!!

2) UW
3) UW
4) UW


UW UW UW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll echo everyone else!!!

Seriously!!!
Start it as early as possible!! Go over it as much as you can! Learn the concepts!!! Even the drug-ad questions were structured like UW, but mine were simpler. I got about 4-6 questions for that. 1 was SOOO simple, I had to go back and make sure I read it right Exam seemed like a mix of UWSA and NBME 4.

Go over your weaknesses in UW.

When I realized how much Psych kicked my behind in UWSA, I went back and reviewed it. Best thing I did. Got so many "gimme" questions there and easy points. OCD treatment, panic disorder treatment, sexual side effect, best drug to use and avoid. Psych can make the diff between a 200 and a 220, or a 230 and a 250!!!! At least get 80% of it right!

My exam was IM>OB>Peds and then everything else.

UW UW UW!!!!
I didnt use Kaplan and I'm so glad I didnt. So many questions, had me putting my fist up like "Yes! got it! I remember from UW!".

Please dont ask me about specific questions, or send Pms. I'm swamped with work, and wont reply. Plus I'm not trying to remember stuff and think "did I miss that?"

So many on cystic fibrosis, alpha tryp, fetal acceleration patterns, MS, incontinence, cystitis, posterior urethral injury...

Block 1--tutorial, skipped it
Blocks 2-6 were alright (Like a 60-70% on UW), 5 seemed like the easiest of them (Like 75%+ on UW). I marked about 10 in each block
Block 7 was going ok, till I started running out of time, so had to guess on 3-4. Wasnt trying to leave anything empty.
Block 8 was straight forward.
Block 9 was the easiest. It had 36 questions, and most claim online that the shorter blocks are hard, but I loved it. I only marked 6, and got done with 11 mins left! I even went back and reviewed the entire block, and looked to see if it was really the end


Please stay away from posts were people are screaming about the new CK!! There are people online who are trying to force their own fears on others! Let God be your guide! Everyone has a different exam, and you can do like me, and put your best effort, and then pray that the ones you just dont seem to get, not sure up

Behavioral Science was kind of tricky, NBME really tries to make it complex, so you narrow it to 2 and make your best guess.


Again use UW as a study guide, dont focus on your %, as much as learn from it. If I could do it again, I'd review UW 3x Know why the right answers are right, and why the wrong ones are wrong. I took notes, which I reviewed night before the exam, and even before leaving for exam.

Took at least a 2-4mins break between blocks, took 20+mins for lunch and loaded up on caffeine. So I was wired, didnt lose focus, and was super energized. People say the day is long, but it reminded me of Step 1, just an hr longer. Plus since its easier, I was ok with it being longer.

Off to watch the Olympics, and have dinner now. The amount of work that starts tomorrow is insane, I wont even get to really work on ERAS for another 2 weeks

[patelMD]

Awesome! Congrats Lena! I'm sure you did well.

I had this thread on push mail to see your post as soon as you posted it.

Also, I wanted to ask, how do you feel about MTB / Secrets during the last week?

[XpaezX]

Awesome! Hope you rock it!

[sanakalim82]

thank you so much for sharing your experience..i am sure u did great...just wanted to ask about the length of qs..is it like uworld or more lengthy qs? as some 1 posted on forums that new pattern has really lengthy qs...thanks and good luk for a great score

[Hitman]

good luck ahead ...thanks for the post ........

[Lena]

Originally Posted by sanakalim82

thank you so much for sharing your experience..i am sure u did great...just wanted to ask about the length of qs..is it like uworld or more lengthy qs? as some 1 posted on forums that new pattern has really lengthy qs...thanks and good luk for a great score

Yup some are long, but I used the tip I saw online. I'd quickly scan to the end to see whats being asked. Then I'd see if its something easy, that I can quickly find, or if I had to read the entire thing.

Block 7 was full of those, hence me not having time in that block.

For some of the exhibits, you dont need the long stem to answer. If you see an image of a sickled cell, or hereditary sclerosis, and they are asking for mechanism. Then you already know the answer.

For example had a question with a guy with pale skin, diabetes, sexual dysfunction and there was a long stem of crap. I had already looked to the end, and all they wanted to know was what the disease was, so I went ahead and picked Hem...

[dr.Zh]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience!!!

[doc412]

You mentioned Biostats was tricky. Did you use any resources besides UWorld? Have any recommendations?
(I understand if you are too busy to respond. No problem.)

[usmleworkout]

Hello Lena,

Thanks you so much for your wonderful post. May I ask you few questions that I have. I am taking my exam soon.

1. How lengthly were the questions, was it similar to UW or UWSA. 15 lines or 20 lines. How many questions were like that.

2. Where did you take your exam? i.e your exam center?

[axax]

Great post . Thank you for sharing your experience

Good luck

[Lena]

Originally Posted by usmleworkout

Hello Lena,

Thanks you so much for your wonderful post. May I ask you few questions that I have. I am taking my exam soon.

1. How lengthly were the questions, was it similar to UW or UWSA. 15 lines or 20 lines. How many questions were like that.

2. Where did you take your exam? i.e your exam center?

Who counts them? Lol sorry this is funny. Can't answer either. Why on earth should I state my exam center? It's a standardized exam! You do know they monitor these posts, we arent even supposed to discuss questions. I'd much rather stay anonymous!

[usmleworkout]

Hey Lena,

You can laugh & be funny coz you are done with the exam. There are several including myself are yet to take it. You are the only test taker who is telling the exam was similar to uw the rest are telling the question were not even close to UW standard. They were telling that more than 65 % of questions were 12 - 22 lines in length. I was wondering were you took the exam, may be the change did not happen in your center. If you wish you can say your exam center was in the US, South america, canada or asia.

but truely its up to you.

[patelMD]

Originally Posted by usmleworkout

Hey Lena,

You can laugh & be funny coz you are done with the exam. There are several including myself are yet to take it. You are the only test taker who is telling the exam was similar to uw the rest are telling the question were not even close to UW standard. They were telling that more than 65 % of questions were 12 - 22 lines in length. I was wondering were you took the exam, may be the change did not happen in your center. If you wish you can say your exam center was in the US, South america, canada or asia.

but truely its up to you.

NBME officially said the change would change in early Aug 2012. Even if her centre did change, chances are yours could not have changed and viz verza. I would think that the change would be implemented within hours because the questions are pulled off of servers which the NBME controls.

So more than likely, Lena saw the same types of questions you're going to see. Geographical location now, really doesn't matter.

[mpz013]

how much biostats did you have?

[Lena]

Originally Posted by doc412

You mentioned Biostats was tricky. Did you use any resources besides UWorld? Have any recommendations?
(I understand if you are too busy to respond. No problem.)

No I said Psych was. There wasnt much biostats on my exam, again everyone has different exams. Just them describing a case, and asking you what its testing for. Whether its PPV, Likelihood ratio, Sensitivity, etc.
They had example where someone was going to review a whole bunch of studies and asked what kind of analysis that was...

@usmleworkout, dude believe whatever you want to. If you want to buy into every scare tactic, then go ahead. I saw all those posts online before my exam, but to think I now got a special and selective exam is hilarious to me. In life, people get scared of any kind of change, when its unknown, and so they freak out. Its human nature!!! The main issue is that passing went up 7 points to 196.
Again I'd say focus on UW. I think a lot of folks on here leave UW till last min, after spending mths reading books, then its UW for only a mth, meanwhile if you go to SDN (AMG), folks get UW 6mth subscription, and use it during rotations, and reset it afterwards again.

[doc412]

Lena, will you marry me? you're awesome.

[Lena]

Originally Posted by doc412

Lena, will you marry me? you're awesome.

Nope, its my husband who had me get UW early enough worked for him in the past

[step_enhancer]

Originally Posted by Lena

Nope, its my husband who had me get UW early enough worked for him in the past

Never knew uworld can be used to get girls even

[DR. Rare]

doctora lena can u share ur experience with reading and answering the long questions
where was ur test ?
ur post motivate me ,, thanxxx

[stepdoc1]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I will start using UW sooner then.!

[p4a99]

Did you get your score?

[mitsua]

After reading your posts, I feel so much better!!
We must not fear!!

As they say in my culture, "deaf ears to fool words"

[ziad]

Wish u best of luck

[Lena]

Thank you Lord!!!!!!!

205

Not pleased, but thankful, could have been better I guess, way lower than my NBMEs, but similar to UWSA. I guess I wont be hard on myself, thank God for a pass. It'll be sufficient for me.

No more USMLE till end of intern yr, in 2014!!!

UW! UW! UW!!!

[dr.Zh]

I am so happy for you, Lena!!!
No more USMLEs .... except residency ....
It is amazing to be appreciated person (as you are) for every things that God does in our life!!

[Lena]

Originally Posted by dr.Zh

I am so happy for you, Lena!!!
No more USMLEs .... except residency ....
It is amazing to be appreciated person (as you are) for every things that God does in our life!!

Thank you very much. I pray all the best for you.
It's easy to overlook the good things in life. I'll say to compensate for my low scores, God gave me great contacts that are helping me, and that makes it easier for me to breathe

I checked, saw a Pass, was happy, looked at score and was like had to remind myself to snap out of it. Thank God I wont go into OB though, it was my lowest section in the assessment tests and I completely bombed it on the exam

[Lena]

Oh this is to serve as inspiration to other medical students who have no time off, to set aside to study for CK studying. I didnt have any time, and studied through rotations, couldnt even afford to take a mth off outside of clerkships. Studied an hr somedays, 2-3 hrs other days. Mainly used UW, no Kaplan and was able to "make it" through. In retrospect, I should really just say again Thank You Lord!!

[stepdoc1]

Originally Posted by Lena

Oh this is to serve as inspiration to other medical students who have no time off, to set aside to study for CK studying. I didnt have any time, and studied through rotations, couldnt even afford to take a mth off outside of clerkships. Mainly used UW, no Kaplan and was able to "make it" through.

Congratulations Lena. Your positive attitude towards life and challenges is an inspiration to everyone. Wish you all the best!