Official 2020 Step 2 CK Experiences With Scores Thread

[libertyyne]

Lets get this started. You know the routine.
Mid Tier MD
Step 1 250-255
mid tier everything.

I need 10 more points compared to my step 1


Not a bad idea to talk about shelves either.

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[AnatomyGrey12]

Well that sucked. 250s so did ok overall, but definitely not on my game. Felt like there was far too many times where I knew I should know what they were talking about but didn't have the slightest clue how to answer the question. Better find my game before Friday or RIP lol

Burn out is real fam.

 

[deleted709825]

I also took UWSA 2 today, and thought it seemed harder than 1 (took ~4 weeks ago), although I ended up with 257 on both.

My main concern for taking CK this week is that people said there is a lot of "step 1" content on it, which would suck.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Took the beast yesterday. Went in hoping I don’t go down from step 1. By lunch just hoping I’d pass. By the end of the day I started thinking about what fields I could apply to with just a comlex score and not reporting my step exams.

That was absolutely insane. Step 1 was not a perfect exam, but it was a masterpiece compared to whatever that garbage was.

 

[redsox93]

Took the beast yesterday. Went in hoping I don’t go down from step 1. By lunch just hoping I’d pass. By the end of the day I started thinking about what fields I could apply to with just a comlex score and not reporting my step exams.

That was absolutely insane. Step 1 was not a perfect exam, but it was a masterpiece compared to whatever that garbage was.

Sounds like the write up of a 250+ congrats on being done!

 

[deleted709825]

Took the beast yesterday. Went in hoping I don’t go down from step 1. By lunch just hoping I’d pass. By the end of the day I started thinking about what fields I could apply to with just a comlex score and not reporting my step exams.

That was absolutely insane. Step 1 was not a perfect exam, but it was a masterpiece compared to whatever that garbage was.

What was bad about it?

 

[Ho0v-man]

What was bad about it?

Stupidly vague questions. If you thought UWSA 1&2 were vague...buckle up. Risk factors galore. Including what patients are at risk of over the course of their disease. Like developing a chronic condition in your twenties and then all of the answer choices are descriptions of how it will progress over the next 30-40 years. Also multiple questions where you know the treatment involves multiple drugs and they're all an option. Or even being given a disease and asked which drug and every option is wrong (looked it up later because I thought I was going crazy).

A few step 1 level things. I don't think knowing the science behind the peds immunodeficiencies is as annoying as most, so I didn't mind stuff like that. That stuff's in uworld anyway so it's no surprise it shows up. But there were some very vague biochem type questions that I just don't recall from FA. I know what they're asking. But I've never seen the terminology of any of the answer choices. And I murdered step 1 biochem. There's also genes, chromosome numbers, translocations, etc.

Also questions just deliberately trying to trick you. A whole long stem pointing at one disease process and then the last question asks a completely different question and the first answer option is how to treat the disease you've been reading about. A lot of atypical presentations of common things.

Almost every image was of terrible quality. Like blurry chest x-rays with giant fingerprints all over them and blurry micro images too. Pretty sure most of the images were at least 30 years old.

 

[Prehealth1011]

@Ho0v-man any resources you wish you spent more time on to get the somewhat reasonable (not the risk factor bs) questions right? According to my friends, it's nothing like UWORLD and one of them regrets spending so much time doing incorrects/second pass.

We're so screwed

 

[Ho0v-man]

@Ho0v-man any resources you wish you spent more time on to get the somewhat reasonable (not the risk factor bs) questions right? According to my friends, it's nothing like UWORLD and one of them regrets spending so much time doing incorrects/second pass.

We're so screwed

Only thing that comes to mind is maybe doing a pass through your old pathoma section of heme/onc bc my exam seemed to like the nitty gritty science in there.

But as this thread has pointed out, lots of posters got killed by certain subjects that weren’t on another posters test so it might be low-yield. It would suck if you went through that and got hammered by GI or something.

If you’re not good at EKGs and only know the patterns in FA, then I’d recommend EKG academy. It’s free.

Really though I just felt like this was much more about test-taking than knowledge base.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

So stupid. Just more evidence this test has been completely changed in the last 12 months.

This is likely the NBME’s adjustment for P/F Step 1.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Stupidly vague questions. If you thought UWSA 1&2 were vague...buckle up. Risk factors galore. Including what patients are at risk of over the course of their disease. Like developing a chronic condition in your twenties and then all of the answer choices are descriptions of how it will progress over the next 30-40 years. Also multiple questions where you know the treatment involves multiple drugs and they're all an option. Or even being given a disease and asked which drug and every option is wrong (looked it up later because I thought I was going crazy).

So what you’re telling me is the NBOME is now writing Step 2...

 

[Ho0v-man]

So what you’re telling me is the NBOME is now writing Step 2...

Felt a lot like a 9 hour comat.

 

[Neopolymath]

Felt a lot like a 9 hour comat.

How much biostats/ethics/random non-clinical things?

 

[Ho0v-man]

How much biostats/ethics/random non-clinical things?

Ethics were less obvious than uworld. Uworld has one answer where everyone holds hands and becomes best friends and that’s the answer. Every answer on the test seemed rude in one way or another so that made it harder.

Stats weren’t bad save for a couple “drug-ad” type questions where I was lost. I’m hoping those were experimental bc those answers were vague.

Random non clinical had a handful. Can’t really go in to more detail for ethical reasons. Seemed kinda obvious.

 

[Dantes]

Reading everyone's reactions here is exactly how I felt taking Step 1 last month. Seems like NBME is overhauling all Step exams to be more difficult by being intentionally ambiguous. Can't wait for more of the same for Step 2...

 

[Mattnatomy]

Stupidly vague questions. If you thought UWSA 1&2 were vague...buckle up. Risk factors galore. Including what patients are at risk of over the course of their disease. Like developing a chronic condition in your twenties and then all of the answer choices are descriptions of how it will progress over the next 30-40 years. Also multiple questions where you know the treatment involves multiple drugs and they're all an option. Or even being given a disease and asked which drug and every option is wrong (looked it up later because I thought I was going crazy).

A few step 1 level things. I don't think knowing the science behind the peds immunodeficiencies is as annoying as most, so I didn't mind stuff like that. That stuff's in uworld anyway so it's no surprise it shows up. But there were some very vague biochem type questions that I just don't recall from FA. I know what they're asking. But I've never seen the terminology of any of the answer choices. And I murdered step 1 biochem. There's also genes, chromosome numbers, translocations, etc.

Also questions just deliberately trying to trick you. A whole long stem pointing at one disease process and then the last question asks a completely different question and the first answer option is how to treat the disease you've been reading about. A lot of atypical presentations of common things.

Almost every image was of terrible quality. Like blurry chest x-rays with giant fingerprints all over them and blurry micro images too. Pretty sure most of the images were at least 30 years old.

Cooooool. Taking mine on 08/28. Nbd. I'm not terrified or anything.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Finished the new free 120. Feeling better overall than yesterday after UWSA 2. Test on Friday. COMLEX Monday. Gonna just watch some Divine lectures, do a small amount of UWorld questions a day to keep the question approach fresh, and basically clear my head. 6 days until I'm essentially done with medical school lol.

 

[Neopolymath]

Finished the new free 120. Feeling better overall than yesterday after UWSA 2. Test on Friday. COMLEX Monday. Gonna just watch some Divine lectures, do a small amount of UWorld questions a day to keep the question approach fresh, and basically clear my head. 6 days until I'm essentially done with medical school lol.

Take a nap or something!

 

[BoinC]

step 1 = 210 (Dec. 2017)

NBME6 = 180 (6 mo out) → started Uworld right after this
UWSA1 = 252 (1 mo out)
Uworld 64% (1st attempt, random, timed)
UWSA2 = 246 (3 days out)

Real deal = 258 (April. 2020)

I'm an IMG from Japan. I have no idea how I improved my score from step 1...the real deal was mostly straight forward but a little different from Uworld. I think there were only a few questions which was not covered by Uworld (ex. Leishmaniasis, MGUS). I was always short of time when I took UWSA1&2 so I was freaked out on test day but in fact I had extra time on most of the block.

 

[7Epinephrine]

Cooooool. Taking mine on 08/28. Nbd. I'm not terrified or anything.

Taking it the same day as you.
Just going thru UW a 2nd time. No way I’ll finish it in time but it’s good to go over concepts and test taking strategy.
Best of luck!

 

[Mattnatomy]

Taking it the same day as you.
Just going thru UW a 2nd time. No way I’ll finish it in time but it’s good to go over concepts and test taking strategy.
Best of luck!

I'm doing the same thing!

Thank you best of luck to you as well. Just heard from a DO friend of mine (who also felt like crap after Step 2 CK & Level 2) who says he got a 260/720, so my hope is restored that it is possible to do well despite the bull****! We got this.

 

[Scrubs101]

Apologies for the comlex related post: Ended up getting basically the same score on level 2 as level 1, 78* I’ll take it.

good luck out there fam, y’all will feel so much better once youre done with this beast

edit: no comlex resources besides a few blocks of OMM qs the day before out of combank, averaged around 120 on comats, mainly just used UW. Used comquest/combant comat banks for comats throughout third year.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Just walked out. Definitely agree with this idea that it felt like a massive COMAT, albeit mixed with a decent amount of new free 120 style long ass stems.

 

[Neopolymath]

Just walked out. Definitely agree with this idea that it felt like a massive COMAT, albeit mixed with a decent amount of new free 120 style long ass stems.

Congrats on being done! I'm sure you excelled. Enjoy being done with medical school, essentially.

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

How do we access the old free 120? Does it have an online interface?

I'm assuming this link below is to the new free 120, right?

NBME Orientation

orientation.nbme.org

Is the 'old' free 120 the first sample PDF in this link?

Prepare for Your Exam | USMLE

Find practice materials and other resources to help you prepare for the USMLE, including content outlines and sample test questions.

www.usmle.org

I'm a bit confused as the second free 120 states that it is intended for applicants testing after November 11, 2020. Yet, it seems everyone is reporting that this new version of the free 120 is more similar to the actual test still?

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

I'm a bit confused as the second free 120 states that it is intended for applicants testing after November 11, 2020. Yet, it seems everyone is reporting that this new version of the free 120 is more similar to the actual test still?

Yes. There are a handful of the new content questions on the new free 120 that can be ignored, but it's the other questions that are like the actual test. Really long stems with a lot of extraneous information, and vague answer choices that seem really similar.

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

~So I am 6 days out~

NBME 6 (4 weeks out) - 235
NBME 7 (3 weeks out) - 215
UWSA 1 (2 weeks out) - 255
UWSA 2 (6 days out) - 251
UW 2nd pass %: 80

I'm planning to do both free 120s. Im wondering if NBME 8 is worth doing? I kinda don't feel like doing/paying for it and also feel if I did do it, it should have been before UWSA 2 lol.

Thanks all for the help.

 

[popopopop]

How do we access the old free 120? Does it have an online interface?

I'm assuming this link below is to the new free 120, right?

NBME Orientation

orientation.nbme.org

Is the 'old' free 120 the first sample PDF in this link?

Prepare for Your Exam | USMLE

Find practice materials and other resources to help you prepare for the USMLE, including content outlines and sample test questions.

www.usmle.org

I'm a bit confused as the second free 120 states that it is intended for applicants testing after November 11, 2020. Yet, it seems everyone is reporting that this new version of the free 120 is more similar to the actual test still?

Wait, what the heck is that first link lol. I have a 2019 and a 2020 pdf of the step2ck questions, are those not the free 120s?

*edit. Ok, your first link is the new 2020 sample items, just mixed up and not in pdf format.

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

Wait, what the heck is that first link lol. I have a 2019 and a 2020 pdf of the step2ck questions, are those not the free 120s?

*edit. Ok, your first link is the new 2020 sample items, just mixed up and not in pdf format.

Yeah--thats what I gathered as well.

 

[Dantes]

It sounds like the test is becoming harder/more vague...would you guys recommend anything different in terms of studying for new M3s?

 

[FalconSlice]

Just to confirm, the Step 2CK changes are only going to be implemented November 11th 2020 forward? Just want to check since their prior announcement said it would happen "at the beginning of November," but this link (New Practice Materials and Helpful Information for Step 1 and Step 2 CK Exams Now Available | CORONAVIRUS RESOURCE CENTER) gives the new study material specifically for people taking CK after November 11th.

Edit: so it looks like I was correct based on further perusal. Just in case anyone else wants to quadruple check me, you're more than welcome!

 

[Neopolymath]

Any utility in doing the OLD Free 120 still? I didn't see anyone mention any repeated questions on the real deal like they do for Step 1.

I'm doing the new Free 120 today.

 

[MavFab]

Any utility in doing the OLD Free 120 still? I didn't see anyone mention any repeated questions on the real deal like they do for Step 1.

I'm doing the new Free 120 today.

I still think they're useful because they're free, another chance to do more questions, and you see what topics the test writers think are important.

The real thing was definitely most similar to the new free 120.

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

I'm wondering if anyone found the Turn Up to Law Anki deck decently comprehensive for the ethics and law stuff? Any other reccomendations for this material?

 

[Neopolymath]

I'm wondering if anyone found the Turn Up to Law Anki deck decently comprehensive for the ethics and law stuff? Any other reccomendations for this material?

I felt like it was the best we are going to get at this time. Recommended for sure.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Any utility in doing the OLD Free 120 still? I didn't see anyone mention any repeated questions on the real deal like they do for Step 1.

I'm doing the new Free 120 today.

I’d still do It. There were definitely some repeated concepts. I also had a question or two off the NBME’s.

 

[Ho0v-man]

I'm wondering if anyone found the Turn Up to Law Anki deck decently comprehensive for the ethics and law stuff? Any other reccomendations for this material?

Not comprehensive. But there’s nothing better to my knowledge.

 

[Neopolymath]

I’d still do It. There were definitely some repeated concepts. I also had a question or two off the NBME’s.

I refuse to pay for NBMEs or Comsaes. It's against my creed, yo!

I'll hit both free 120s today then.

 

[theonlytycrane]

I'm wondering if anyone found the Turn Up to Law Anki deck decently comprehensive for the ethics and law stuff? Any other reccomendations for this material?

is this for level 2?

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

is this for level 2?

Both step 2 and level 2

 

[theonlytycrane]

Both step 2 and level 2

Does level 2 have more law specific stuff? Saw stuff in there I had seen no where else for CK prep (or maybe I'm not ready for CK haha)

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Does level 2 have more law specific stuff? Saw stuff in there I had seen no where else for CK prep (or maybe I'm not ready for CK haha)

COMLEX definitely has more law specific stuff. That deck was made by a DO student, although a lot of the principles needed for Step are in there too. Stuff like the exact latin phrase for stuff is more COMLEX specific (NBOME loves to ask stupid questions like that).

 

[theonlytycrane]

also, jw, what do ya'll mean when you say it was like "one large COMAT"?

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

also, jw, what do ya'll mean when you say it was like "one large COMAT"?

They are the DO shelf exams. They are notorious for wtf questions, questions with seemingly multiple right answers, questions with zero right answers, etc. Pretty much you always finish them wondering wtf just happened and that you hope you passed, and then your score comes back and you did a lot better than you thought.

 

[Epicurusall]

Took the test this past week and can agree with prior posters that it was a dumpster fire of an experience. I felt decent after step 1 and this made me feel awful, marking more than double if not triple the number of questions in comparison.

Step 1 was 25x and shelves were honors. 26x and 27x on practice tests for this, hoping that I can actually trust those because it felt like I was getting a 220 during and after the exam

 

[evangelia93]

IMG here
Step 1 score: 25x
Step 2 CK: pending

I studied for Step 2 Ck in parallel with work so I basically did U world once (timed and random) and then did my incorrect questions and all of new CMS forms.
UWorld: 71.8%
CMS: (new ones) averaging around 22-25
UWSA 1,2: 258 (2 weeks and 4 days before)
NBME 7: 254 (1 week before the exam)
Free 120; 90%

Test day: two blocks were really hard, one was super easy, the other ones were average. I did not have really long stems etc. It honestly felt like a combo of CMS, NBME and Uworld and USMLE Step 1.

I will update with my score next week!
Best of luck to other applicants!

 

[Neopolymath]

Wtf... This test

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Unpopular opinion, COMLEX Level 2 is harder than Step. I don’t know if my form was just loaded with the NBOME BS topics but I legit just flagged over a third of my test... feeling really disheartened right now.

 

[Neopolymath]

Anything you wish you had done beforehand?

Nah. It was very NBOMEesque. No way to prepare better honestly.

 

[Neopolymath]

Sorry I'm not sure what that means haha, do you mind clarifying?

It was like many of the DO exams some of us take. Leaving feeling like studying for 2 extra months still wouldn't have changed your performance is a key element to DO exams. The NBME really channeled this.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Unpopular opinion, COMLEX Level 2 is harder than Step. I don’t know if my form was just loaded with the NBOME BS topics but I legit just flagged over a third of my test... feeling really disheartened right now.

If I was trying to do more than just pass, then I’d agree. At least you have a couple ideas as to what the question is about usually on step2.

Comlex be like “Pt has a fever and last urinated on Wednesday. He has a history of depression and takes sertraline. Treatment of this patient most closely reflects which ethical principal?”