STEP 2CK EXPERIENCE
Test Date: 12/22/16 Result Date: 3/1/17 (long delay due to some problem with graduation date) Prep Duration: 10 months (with interruptions like electives and step 2 CS) Step 1- 261 (Feb 2016) Step 2CS- passed (May 2016)
Resources
Uworld online- 2 times with revision of marked questions 3rd time (87% first time; 93% second time)
Kaplan books- all subjects- 1.5 times
MTB step 2 ck- 2 times
MTB step 3- once
Kaplan qbank with practice tests- 1 time
CME questions
NBME 4,6,7 and UWSA 1
Resource
Opinion
Uworld
Best resource for step 2 ck by far as everyone knows; do it atleast twice, including the correct questions. 5/5 I like Kaplan books. I did obgyn, surgery and psych twice and peds and medicine once. They are good for all subjects. Timeconsuming but I prefer them a lot more than MTB. I did not watch any videos for step 2. 4/5 I did all subjects in both books. Some people do different subjects in different book. I did not personally like MTB but I do know many people use it. There are mistakes and MTB misses a lot of topics. I used this resource mainly because everyone uses it. I think it is good as a resource to review important high-yield topics but please, do not expect MTB to cover everything. 3/5 I used this mainly to get exposed to more questions. This qbank has a lot of mistakes and few contradictions with other resources. The kaptests are tough and out-dated with some flat out wrong answers. In the two practice tests, I got like 82% and 85%. I do not
Kaplan
MTB step 2 ck and MTB 3
Kaplan qbank
CME questions
NBME 4,6,7 online
UWSA 1
know if it helped me answer even a single question in the real exam. Do not use this resource. 1/5 I did all the CME questions. Surgery online and rest offline. I highly recommend everyone to see all the questions. You can do 1200 additional questions and they are made by NBME, so they are relevant to the exam. I think I got a few questions right thanks to CME, but it is difficult to say exactly how much of an impact it made. 4/5 NBME 4- 3 months before exam- score 260 NBME 7- 1.5 months before exam- score 266 NBME 6- 3 weeks before exam- score 278 NBMEs are known to be bad predictors for step 2. They worked well in my case for both step 1 and 2. I think NBME 6 is ridiculously easy and you can avoid it because it is just too easy and no way like the real exam. I would say real exam is more like nbme 7 and tougher than nbme 6 and 4, so I think nbme 7 is a good test to take as assessment. Problem is that NBMEs are different for each individual. I took this 5 months before exam when I was only 30% done with uworld. I got 260. This exam is not too easy or difficult but the scoring system is too liberal. I got many questions wrong but ended up with 260. I suggest to take this exam to get exposed to more questions but it is not a good predictor. Recently many people got lower scores than UWSA by 20-30 points. I suggest to only use NBME 7 as a predictor. UWSA-2 did not exist when I took my exam, so I can’t comment on that test.
The way I prepared for step 2 ck is: I started with Kaplan and went through a subject/system, and then read the same in MTB and then went to uworld and did questions on the same subject/system. I think this is an effective way to study, which I did not do for step 1. I took practice tests midway during uworld prep, so that I can assess myself from early on. Step 1 helped me a lot with CK, so I usually do suggest to take step 1 before CK. I do not think CK helps much with step 1. There were step 1ish questions on my exam. One question even asked for histology of a particular disease.
EXAM DAY:
I took the exam at the same center as step 1 (Tampa). I was not nervous at all and it just felt like a practice exam (I had palpitations for the first 2 hours of step 1). Some blocks were harder than others, especially block 1. There were some vague questions and I did feel that the exam was tougher than step 1. However, I think that I answered questions more intelligently this time and, I rarely switched answers after I selected them. In step 1, I had so much time to review that I reviewed every single question and ended up changing some answers, most of them turned out to be wrong. Step 2 questions are longer, trickier and more time consuming and did not have much time to review every question, however, I did have the chance to review the tougher ones. Please do not ask me specifics about which topics were asked; this is illegal. I would say 60% of questions are super easy, 20% medium, 18% required heavy critical thinking and 2% were wtf questions. So, this means that almost all questions will be covered by uworld, mtb, Kaplan etc. However, many will require you to think hard before answering.
I suggest everyone to please share their experiences on the forum, regardless of their score. To read other’s experience and not posting yours is selfish. I have read many past experiences during my prep, therefore, I am posting them. These last few months, hardly anyone is posting. This makes others think that everyone is getting avg or low scores. I want to wish everyone the best of luck and aim for more because the exams did not become suddenly difficult. People are just not posting their scores. 260s and 270s are very much possible for step 2.
