Step 2 CK score: 262

I received my score last wednesday, this group was of tremendous help during my preparation.

Exam Date: 18thDecember 2019.

Step 2 CK score: 262

Step 1: 249

ASSESSMENTS:

· NBME 7: 19 mistakes (took it 4 months before exam)

· UWSA-1: 276 (3 weeks before exam)

· UWSA-2: 263 (3 days before exam, couldn’t finish it in time, after attempting the leftover questions I recalculated my score, it was 268)

· FREE 120: 90% (took it on the same day with UWSA-2)

RESOURCES:

· Uworld for Step2 CK (it’s the main resource for step2 CK)

· Up To Date

· Uworld Step-3 (did only few organ systems)

· CMS Forms (did only few forms)

· Kaplan OBGYN (did it once in the beginning of preparation)
PREPARATION:

I started my preparation with Uworld for step2 CK offline. As i was doing my house job during this period so it took me almost 5-6 months to finish 75% of offline Uworld. I didn’t make any notes during this period. Then I bought online subscription and started doing questions system wise in time mode. During this round I would make a lot of flash cards. I also made self-written brief notes (total of 45-50 pages). This round took me 2.5-3months. My percentage during this round was in early 80s. I revised my mistakes and marked questions. I reset my Uworld and did a quick round in random time mode, this took me almost 45 days. My percentage after this round was 95%. I took NBME7 after this round, I made 19 mistakes.

I did only a few organ systems from Uworld step-3 such as cardiovascular, gastroenterology, infectious, ethics and one block of biostatistics. It’s not a must thing, you can skip it if you want. If you have extra time I would recommend to revise the biostatistics and ethics portion only.

I did only recent CMS forms (i.e. Form 4, 5 and 6) for subjects other than internal medicine. To be honest I didn’t find them useful. Exam questions are very different from CMS so don’t waste much time on it.

I had online Uptodate subscription. Any topic that I would find confusing or deficient, I would refer to Uptodate and read summary of that topic there. I would bookmark all the important algorithms and revise it in free time. I think it is the best resource to supplement Uworld.

EXAM DAY EXPERIENCE:

I slept well the night before my exam. I woke up at 7 Am, took my breakfast. I reached prometric center at 8.30 Am. I found the exam to be way harder than step 1. It was really vague. I was able to finish most of the blocks in time except one block which ended before getting a chance to answer the last two questions.

In every block 12 to 15 questions are straightforward, one can attempt these questions easily, rest of the questions are vague and this portion determines your score. There were three heart murmurs, 4-5 EKGs, a lot of chest X-rays, CT scans and few ultrasound images. Nearly 60% of the exam was I.M. Paeds was second highly tested area. Psychiatry questions were easier than Uworld. Biostatistics questions were harder especially the abstract questions (drug ads). There were total of 2 abstracts with three questions each. I had no idea about abstract questions. I just randomly clicked answer for these questions. Lastly time management is very important for this exam, you need to think fast in the exam.
Best of luck!