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Step 2 CK: 260 year 2019



Hello everyone!
I just got my CK score and I want to share my experience with you.
I am a non-US IMG from Europe. I couldn’t attend the Crash series because of the time zone difference but I read most of them the next day and I want to thank everyone that made them happen, they really stimulated me to pay more attention to details.
Step 2 CK: 260
NBME 6: 256 (590 – 2 months before exam)
UWSA 1: 273 ( 3 weeks before exam)
NBME 8: 262 (620 – 2 weeks before exam)
UWSA 2: 267 (1 week before exam)
CMS: all forms 3&4 – around ~90% on all of them
UWorld 1st pass – ~75% , 2nd pass – ~90%
Step 1: 260.
Preparation time: around 5 months – first 3,5 on and off, last 1,5 full tryhard.
Resources: UWorld, OME videos&notes, UptoDate, Step 1 FA, Pathoma, Sketchy microbiology, Boards and Beyond for ethics and healthcare system, Step up to Medicine (not helpful for me)
I had a really rough period before starting to study for CK. I had some health issues and family problems after getting my step 1 score, then I had illness anxiety disorder and I was depressed for quite some time. I’m trying to say that our health and well-being should come first. It is way more important than getting a gunner score or matching in the best hospital etc. You need to be healthy yourself in order to be at 100% and help your patients.
1st phase of my study - ~3,5 months : 9am-6pm on and off (I didn’t study continuously, took 1 day a week off during which I did nothing related to studying.
I started by watching OME videos and reading their notes for each subject and then I did the uworld questions system-wise + flashcards with concepts, algorithms, tabels (basically notes). So for example I watched OME cardiology videos and then I did all Medicine – Cardiovascular questions from UW + flashcards. At the beginning (for the first 4-5 subjects) I also tried reading Step up to Medicine after watching the videos but I felt like it doesn’t help and that I’m just wasting time so I stopped doing that. For Infectious diseases I used my sketchy microbiology book – it really helped with the fungi and parasites. I also used Pathoma when I felt like I need more information on the pathology of a system – Ob&gyn for example. After I finished my 1st round of UW, I had around 3000 flashcards divided system-wise and subject-wise (so as I said these were my own UW notes, I can’t study somebody else’s notes). I took NBME 6 online, searched for the concepts of the wrong answers and took notes. After that I started the review – 2nd phase.
2nd phase of my study – ~1,5 months: 8am-8pm, sometimes even until 9-10pm and I stopped taking days off (if you’re the type of person that doesn’t get anxiety when you’re taking days off then I would recommend you to take a day off every weak).
1st part of the day – 8am until 2pm or 3pm.
I reset UW and I started each day by doing around 3 blocks of 40 questions. I read the explanations of those I got wrong or marked and I made flashcards for them (the folder was called 2nd Pass so I didn’t mix them with my 1st pass cards).
2nd part of the day – 2pm or 3 pm until 8,9 or even 10pm.
I started reviewing my OME notes and my UW flashcards (notes) - subject-wise. I tried to do a subject each day for the shorter ones and 2 days for the longer ones – Peds, OB&Gyn. This is when I started using UptoDate (Summaries and Algorithms) for things that weren’t clear or I wanted more info on.
I finished 2nd pass of UW in about 25 days, I took UWSA 1 and read all the explanations.
After that I started doing CMS forms instead of UW questions and kept revising my notes (OME, UW flashcards). I took NBME 8 after another full review and searched for the concepts I didn’t know wherever I could.
I used First Aid Step 1 for the biochemistry zebra diseases (glucose metabolism, aminoacid metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, lysosomal storage etc). I did a last full review of my notes and took UWSA 2 – read all the explanations.
During the last week I reviewed the notes for my weak areas.
The day before the exam I only watched the Boards and Beyond ethics and healthcare system (insurances and stuff) videos.
This kind of sums up my experience.
All this period I had illness anxiety and I wasn’t able to give nowhere near 100%. Maybe I wouldn’t have studied until such late hours if I could just focus properly but it is what it is.
Things I would have done differently:
There is only one that comes to mind right now and that is UptoDate. I for sure should have used UptoDate from the beginning. I’m not saying it is a mandatory source but it clears some gray areas. Their algorithms and the antibiotherapy management for different diseases and surgeries are really helpful. I know it has a lot of information but you can search really specific stuff so use it wisely.
If you have any questions just write them in the comments and I’ll try my best to answer all of them.
Sorry for long post!
I wish everyone the best! Keep up the hard work!

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