Skip to main content

USMLE CK experience.---268



Took my Exam on March 27th, just received my Score. Got a 268. I spent a lot of time reading these experiences and obsessing over the score correlations. Here's my CK experience.
Background: Step 1 in April 2017 - 265
Prep time: Nearly 5 months (plenty of on and off days)
Sources: UWorld once (First pass 88% Subject wise, timed – Also did my marked ~ around 400 and incorrects), Uworld 3 (all online-79% random timed)
CMS all forms offline
Nbme 6- 6 mistakes offline (1 month prior)
Nbme 4- 8 mistakes offline (1 month prior)
Nbme 7 – 16 mistakes offline (1 month prior)
Nbme 8- 273 (online, 4 days prior)
Uwsa 1- 283 (9 days prior)
Uwsa 2- 270 (7 days prior), Free 120q -93%
Started of prep with Uworld, tried reading MTB but failed miserably. Uworld and Uptodate (read only the summary and recommendations) are all I needed to get through this exam. I would recommend doing Uworld step 3 If you plan on taking step 3 soon, else there’s no need. Uworld Step 2 covers almost everything. I found the NBMEs and CME's useless with regards to the main exam, but you can still use them to reinforce the high yield topics.
Exam day was long and tiring. Felt like I did really bad, had no idea what they were asking for some questions. But I’d like to reassure everyone as many have done before me to just trust your assessments and your preparation and give it your best. Also, no matter how hard things get, please don’t forget to take care of yourself during the process. Eat well, sleep and exercise.
Please let me know if you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them.
This group really helped me during my prep, thanks, everyone! Good luck 👍

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

RESIDENCY INTERVIEW EVALUATION FORM

I have attached a sample evaluation form that is used to evaluate applicants during an interview. You can score a theoretical maximum of 120 points. Let’s discuss it in detail: 1) USMLE Scores (2 to 10 points): After you get the interview, your scores do matter but not to the same extent as interview skills! You can score 10 points provided you have great scores which correspond to >=245 on step 1 and >=253 on CK. Step 3 is not mentioned on the form and its importance varies depending on the specialty that you are applying and the program. For e.g. Psychiatry places a great weightage on step 3 while IM is not that rigid about step 3. 2) Medical Knowledge (other than USMLE scores) (0 to 10 points): When you are asked any clinical question, this is where your clinical experience will help you. A person who has strong clinical experience will nail this section vs. a person who does not have clinical experience will not be able to create an impression in this section. 3) Me...

Series of confusing topics for usmle candidate's

I have already declared in my experience part that I will discuss about "100 confusing topics". This is the First one for you- Surely you may get 4/5 marks more from this topics in the real test because it is very very high yield topics. Topic 1: Fatty acid catabolism 1. Hypoketotic hypoglycemia with intracellular fatty acyl carnitines on muscle biopsy- it may be LCAD or MCAD deficiency. If question says carnitine is present, that means carnitine can't be deficient, because if it were, then you would only get fatty acyl-CoA derivatives but not anything carnitines related. Therefore, the answer here would be MCAD or LCAD deficiency. 2. Intestinal FA that are 12 or more carbons in length are absorbed in lymph and bypass liver. 12+ carbon FA are termed long chain. So, if the question stem mentions the classic hypoketotic hypoglycemia and then tells you the build up of 16C FA like palmitic acid, than the answer is LCAD deficiency, not MCAD deficiency. 3. Acetyl...

Step 1--- 243

Hello everyone,  I gave my step 1 exam on Oct 24th, and just got my score - 243  :)   I wanted to write this experience to all those out there who are struggling with the exam, hopefully it will motivate and give proper guidance which I lacked. My exam prep duration -  15 months (July 2016 to Oct 2017) I took a break of 2 months in between and again a break of 4 months later on for my rotations.  Total prep time being 9 months (last 2 months dedicated period with 8-10 hours of study; other months I studied for 6-8hrs a day.)  ----------------------- Resources used -  FA and UW; added selected kaplan videos (for biochem, immunology); Dr. Steven lectures for Behav; Pathoma videos; Kaplan behav book; Shelf notes for anatomy ------------------------ Preparation:  I took a baseline Nbme 12 at the very beginning - got 130 (June ending 2016)  I was doing my internship at that time - juggled between step 1 prep and the duties. Later I took off f...