My Step 2 CK Experience
My Step 2 CK Experience
My Step 2 CK Experience
11th CHANGES
❏ 1st day of preparation: 11 March 2020
❏ Step 2 ck test day: 17 November 2020
❏ Step 1 test day: 11 Juin 2019
❏ Step 1 score: 246
❏ Step 2 ck score: 265
❏ Ressources:
- Step 1 First Aid
- Crash series: only for cardiology, obstetrics, gynecology and
endocrinology.
- Qbanks: UWORLD step 2 ck ( 2 rounds ) + AMBOSS ( 5 days trial )
● FIRST ROUND UWORLD: 4 months, scored 82%
● SECOND ROUND UWORLD: 2 months, scored 90%
PREPARATION PERIOD
Since many of you requested experiences from people who passed step 2 ck after
November 11th , i decided to share mine.
It took me about 8 months of preparation, I would study each day between 6 to 7
hours, from 10 am to 6 pm. I allowed myself to take one to two days off every week
and a couple of days of vacation from now and then.
It has been almost a year since step 1, but i would say that the knowledge and
concepts i have learned from it have helped me the most in my step 2 ck
preparation.
I have first made a quick review of First aid then bought a 6 months subscription of
uworld ( that was a big mistake since i should have bought the 1 year subscription
which would have saved me money, so this is my advice to you guys, no matter how
sure you are about the duration of your preparation, always buy the longest period ,
because life is unpredictable, hence the Coronavirus, and the lockdown, and there
might be many many life circumstances that can interrupt your preparation).
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I have started doing my blocks system wise and in tutor mode, but it was taking me
forever to finish a block and I thought that reading the explanation after each
question would interrupt my concentration and also did not help for time
management. That was why I switched after a couple of blocks to timed mode,
system wise. It will always take a long time to finish one block at first but don’t
panic, it happens to everybody and you will probably get faster with time since all
the concepts are new at first and they will start to repeat themselves after some
time. That’s how things happened during my first round of uworld, which I was
done with in 4 slow months by doing about 40 to 60 questions a day.
I didn’t take any notes during my first round and i thought that if i saved flashcards
it would be the same as taking notes, bat that was my 2nd mistake, because i was
saving a lot of infos; since everything was new to me; and I ended up being
overwhelmed with to many flashcards that were impossible to review after the first
round and were pretty similar to uworld notes with many repetitions and
unorganized. So please guys, write your own notes, as you can memorize a lot by
writing, and be as minimal and organized as possible, trust me it will help a LOT.
I tried to review the new uworld notes after my first uworld round, but i was
terrified after i had printed them as it was quite voluminous, so i ditched them !!
It would surely take me forever to read all of the notes and I'm not quite a fan of
passive learning. I believe that doing qbanks with detailed explanations reading
after each block is the most effective way of learning because they would have the
same content of uworld notes and since you would be learning from your mistakes
and own reasoning, you would assimilate better the information given.
I have decided afterward to start my second round of uworld which took me about
2 months to finish. I would do each day about 2 blocks in random timed mode and
also took my own hand written notes this time and saved dermatology and
radiology pictures in flash cards.
I felt I was ready to pass the exam as I finished my second round of uworld since I
had scored 90%, but I wasn't very sure of that since the questions were repeated for
the second time and I could remember some of the answers from the first round.
That’s when I decided to take my assessment exams.
● NBME 7: 85%
● Old free 120: 89%
● New free 120: 85%
● UWSA 1: 92% 279
● UWSA 2: 90% 273
I would revise my own notes between every assessment, make a list of my weak
points and do a marathon of a 2000 questions of amboss during the 5 days trial.
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Amboss is really amazing and I absolutely recommend it if you have time. It is
definitely challenging as the question stems are longer, the choices are more
confusing and weird even if it covers the same concepts of uword but it has
certainly helped me in my weak areas and in my time management.
Social science, ethics and biostat were the weak subjects for me, so I took another
free trial at Amboss and worked on those subjects. I also repeated uworld questions
for those subjects for 2 or 3 times mainly because I was freaked out after they
announced the changes that will take place after November 11th, and I couldn't pass
the exam before that time.
Those are the only ressources i used, didn’t use uptodate, anki/zanki flashcards,
neither the divine intervention podcast or uworld 3 qbank.
EXAM DAY
I didn’t study for 3 days before the exam because I had to travel to another country
and take a long flight in order to pass it . I slept by 9 pm as I exhausted myself
during the day in order to be able to sleep. Woke up at time, packed my lunch and
arrived at the prometric center. I had passed step 1 in that same center so I was
familiar with the location and the whole mood. Didn’t take any coffee as it makes
me jittery . I’m not used to coffee and unfortunately I made the mistake of taking it
during my step 1 exam and it was a disaster haha !! Questions stem were not very
long , it was a combination of medium and short questions.
I had 2 blocks with 38 questions, and about 5 questions in each block of ethics and
biostat, they were very vague and I felt that I got most of them wrong. They were
nothing like uworld or amboss ethics questions unfortunately. Some concepts in
these subjects were all new. I had 2 blocks with 3 drug ads and I missed 3 of them
because of the lack of time as I had both drug ads and many ethics questions in the
same block. But I managed to finish the rest of the blocks on time. I took a break
after the first 2 blocks then after the 3rd block as I was hungry . I took another long
break after my 5th block but I had consumed all my time and I couldn't take a
break on the last blocks. I had planned my breaks before but didn’t go through it as
you can see haha.
It’s a miracle that I could keep up till the end and you may think you’re so
exhausted that you can’t do it, but eventually you’ll just go on. Picturing my cosy
bed and seeing that I was so close to the end did help me.
My impression of the exam is that it’s definitely harder than step 1, especially
because of all the changes and the added ethics questions. The worst was that you
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can never be sure of the answer so you will keep thinking of them and it will make
it harder for you to focus on other questions. If it is possible to train on that, do it!
After I finished my exam, I had the worst feeling which is normal, no matter what
people and friends will say to you. My advice is to party, go out, have fun and not
think about what’s already done.
PERSONAL ADVICE
I didn't mention it before but I’m a IMG from Morocco. I started my step 2 ck
preparation 1 month after my graduation. It was the week all the world has
announced lockdown and closed the borders. Dealing with all the unknown, the
changes, the fear, the sickness around isn’t easy for anyone. But it is even more
challenging for medical students and graduates following this journey. I had
struggled myself a great deal with anxiety as everything was out of control.
My country doesn't have a prometric center for USMLE exams and I needed to
travel abroad in order to pass my exam. Unfortunately the borders were closed
until very late in the year, and it was impossible for me to take the exam even when
I felt ready to pass it.
Whether it is a pandemic or any other special circumstance, my advice is to always
prioritize your mental health and personal wellbeing. It is very important as if you
lose your personal balance, pursuing this journey will not make sense anymore. It
will lose its feeling of achievement and every other purpose. So don’t stop working
out, don’t stop seeing your friends and loved ones and don’t jeopardize
relationships that ground you and keep you centered. Have a support system and
don’t isolate yourself.
My experience is not perfect, everyone has a different method, rhythm, memory
and concentration capacity and you should follow whatever works best for you.
I already admire anyone pursuing this journey and wish you lots of courage and
luck.