lander
Forum Junior
Topics: 4
Posts: 51
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Hello everyone. I just took step 2 a couple of days ago and it was not what I have expected, or even imagined it would be. I took Kaplan course for step 2, did all the necessary preparations, studied for 3 months, did good on the USMLE CD, Q Book and Kaplan Simulated exams, but on the day of the exam, it was hell. Cases were too long, and very complicated. Multiple complaints, lots of minute details, and lots of choices. When I say lots of choices, I am talking about choices from A to P. Many questions didn't even fit on one whole screen and you have to scroll down to read the whole vignette. Then a whole gamut of lab results to interpret. Are the questions reasonable enough to answer correctly? Yes!!! Only if you have to sit on the exam for 2 hours, or even 4 hours max, and you are given at least 3 minues to read and absorb it all. But to sit for an 8 hour exam consisting of long complicated vignette is tiresome...and very draining. By the end of the 5th block, my brain just stopped functioning, my eyes were red, and I was having a terrible headache. Forget about the usual buzzwords and the correlations some of the review books tell you to know, in step 2, buzzwords are out! In terms of content, of course Internal medicine is huge. However, the not so common diseases are favored over the more common ones. Neurology and Hema-Onco were unusually tested during my exam. And lots of Pediatrics!!! Pathophysiology is also heavily tested. For a minute during the first few blocks, I thought I was taking step 1 again. So a good foundation in step 1 will significantly give a good boost to your grade. OB-Gyne was relatively easy compared to the other subjects. Almost all are straight-forward questions. The only problem was that I had only about 15 Qs in OB-Gyne. Psychiatry is another matter. If you think you have gotten away from the dreaded Doctor-Patient conversation and relationship from Step 1...think again! Surgery is kinda tricky. This subject has been and will always be my Waterloo so let's just hope I guessed the answers correctly. Derma, 5 Qs tops. Not really high yield if you ask me. Emergency Med and Prev Med, let's just say my answers were ambiguous. Statistics, only simple calculations. Overall, Step 2 sucks!!! Now I have to wait for 6 weeks for my result. What to do, what to do? :?
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| harp1970
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 7
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Hi lander,
I feel exactly the same..... maybe we had the same test, although I don't remember that many questions in peds. Hope for the best as I am now. There are a lot of people who thought they failed and in reality they passed and sometimes with incredible scores. You are not alone and yes, the next weeks will be "dramatic" but lets try to stay focused and do not let this test rule our lifes.
Let me ask you something... did you feel at the end of each block that the last few questions were completely guessed because of timing? I am really scared because in a couple of sections (specially in one) I had just to fill anything due to lack of time (5 questions in 30secs). By the way, I got a question with choices from A to U!!!! Anyone has had more??? LOL
In anycase, I wish the best for you and I am sure that we will be fine.
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| ampicillin
Forum Newbie
Topics: 4
Posts: 32
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Did you get thru entire Kaplan and Usmle world qbanks? Where van I get the usmle CD, do you have to buy it? I hope you did well and last question, if you could do one thing over in your study plan, what would you do
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| FAT_GOITER
Forum Senior
Topics: 18
Posts: 110
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Well ! Lets write to ECFMG and let them know how most of the exam takers think. When everybody will start doing that - it may make some difference.
Right now they keep making it harder because we keep making it right and DO NOT even complain about it.
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| lander
Forum Junior
Topics: 4
Posts: 51
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Yes Harp. I had problems with time management too. I remember going through the last few questions in some blocks picking just favorite letter because I was too tired reading the long cases. Hopefully I made the correct guess. Good thing those are only about 3-4 questions. The reason why I am more nervous now than in Step 1 is because some of my friends who also recently took step 2 say that it's easier than the first. And that questions are more reasonable. But you are also right about some people who had the same problems like we do and yet end up getting a higher score than the people who say they had an easy time with the test. I'm hoping we are one of those "lucky" people hehehe.
Ampicillin, I only got through Kaplan CD and Q Bank. I didn't do USMLE world Q Bank or any other question pools. If I could do my review all over again, I would focus on doing more questions (like Harrison's Pretest, they say it's high yield; and NMS review) and maybe study longer.
Fat goiter. I agree!!! It seems they make questions longer and harder now than years back. Oh well, such is the drama of getting into a US residency program.
To all: Hope we pass with flying colors.
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| anne
Forum Elite
Topics: 41
Posts: 348
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Thanx Lander for sharing ur experience.wish you all the best.
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| lander
Forum Junior
Topics: 4
Posts: 51
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Still waiting for my score......... It's killing me. Can't study for the CS with step 2 CK score still pending. Anyways, any advice for the CS? I'll be taking it on November.
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| ampicillin
Forum Newbie
Topics: 4
Posts: 32
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Still no score yet. I know this has been weeks. It should be there soon in next 10 days you think? I'm rooting for you. :lol:
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| lucky
Forum Guru
Topics: 23
Posts: 505
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hey lander stop fretting. i'm sure u 'll score well !
all the best.
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| lander
Forum Junior
Topics: 4
Posts: 51
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Ampicillin and Lucky...thanks buddies. Unfortunately, my step 1 score arrived approximately 6 weeks after my exam date, so I reckon my step 2 score will be delayed as well. Can't study for the CS now so I'll try getting some LORs and try (read: try) my hand on the dreaded personal statement. I will tell you my score though. What have you been up to you two?
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| lucky
Forum Guru
Topics: 23
Posts: 505
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enjoy ur free time. i'm studying for step 2 what else :roll:
any advice would be welcome.
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| lander
Forum Junior
Topics: 4
Posts: 51
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Read tons of sample questions. If you must, try reading Swanson's Family Practice Review. Crush Step 2 seems overrated to me, not at all helpful if you ask me. Kaplan Q Book has a totally different question pool than the actual exam, too short compared to the real thing. The answer explanations are helpful though. Blueprints (in Internal Medicine) has short explanations, but the topics are more or less similar to the topics in the actual exam. Most importantly, practice answering questions as fast as you can. Even though you only have 46 questions per block, the questions are so long it certainly felt like reading a boring novel. Also try memorizing the normal lab values (at least the most common ones like Na, K, Ca, etc), you will save time if you could avoid clicking the normal lab values tab and scrolling up and down looking for the lab test. Again, I don't know if I will pass this step, so wish me luck..lucky.
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| lucky
Forum Guru
Topics: 23
Posts: 505
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good luck lander!!!
and thanks for the advice.
what about harrisons pretest and nms?
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| lander
Forum Junior
Topics: 4
Posts: 51
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I didn't do Harrison's Pre-Test. I only finished NMS Review less than half way through. The questions are totally different from the actual test. But I guess reading the explanations to the correct answers can help.
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| lander
Forum Junior
Topics: 4
Posts: 51
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The OASIS trick showed that I passed!!!! Now I just have to wait for my score. Yipee!!!!!!!!
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| lucky
Forum Guru
Topics: 23
Posts: 505
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congratulations!!!!!
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| lander
Forum Junior
Topics: 4
Posts: 51
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I'll let you know my real score once I get it. Hoping for a high score. Fingers crossed.
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| chrish
Forum Newbie
Topics: 0
Posts: 1
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What is the Oasis trick? Please explain
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| lander
Forum Junior
Topics: 4
Posts: 51
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The OASIS trick is used to know the status of your exam (if you passed or failed) prior to receiving your actual score by snail mail. After 3 weeks or so from the exam date, log on to ecfmg.org and go to OASIS, click on the USMLE score report info and see if your score report has been sent. If it says yes, then you know that your score has been released, what you do not know is if you pass or fail. Next step is to go to IWA (Interactive Web Application) and re-apply for the USMLE step that you took. If you passed the exam, when you try to register for the same step, something like this would appear in red letters: Our records show that you have already passed this step........ etc etc etc. Now start jumping for joy and wait for another 1-2 weeks before you get your score report.
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| drkjigs
Forum Senior
Topics: 28
Posts: 146
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"lander" wrote:
The OASIS trick is used to know the status of your exam (if you passed or failed) prior to receiving your actual score by snail mail. After 3 weeks or so from the exam date, log on to ecfmg.org and go to OASIS, click on the USMLE score report info and see if your score report has been sent. If it says yes, then you know that your score has been released, what you do not know is if you pass or fail. Next step is to go to IWA (Interactive Web Application) and re-apply for the USMLE step that you took. If you passed the exam, when you try to register for the same step, something like this would appear in red letters: Our records show that you have already passed this step........ etc etc etc. Now start jumping for joy and wait for another 1-2 weeks before you get your score report.
Any Idea if this trick works for CS as well? I took the exam on 14th August ... still no answer.... step 2 CK on 23rd Sept. Will let everyone know how things get on after that...
___________________
The harder you work.. the luckier you get!
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| lander
Forum Junior
Topics: 4
Posts: 51
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Sorry I have no idea.
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| lucky
Forum Guru
Topics: 23
Posts: 505
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hello lander hw r u doing. did u ger ur score
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| lander
Forum Junior
Topics: 4
Posts: 51
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No score report yet. I'm expecting next week to be the latest. Waiting for Step 2 score report sucks!
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| usmledoctor1
Forum Junior
Topics: 4
Posts: 77
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i got my result in my step 2 exam. i got 194/79 i m img and i have entered usa because i m married to usa citizen. i m feeling so low because of my scores. please tell me will i be able to get residency in internal medicine
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usmledoctor2@yahoo.com message me on my yahoo messenger anytime.
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| lander
Forum Junior
Topics: 4
Posts: 51
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Of course you can! I know of some people who got 76 in step 2 who are now in an IM program. As long as you're not choosy on what program to go into, I'm sure you can find one. Have you considered family practice? I don't know if it's true, but I heard it's easier to get in.
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