elmo
Forum Senior
Topics: 13
Posts: 28
|
Hi guys,<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
I took my CK two days ago and I want to add my point of view so you can use it as an advice in your prep.
The exam is long, too long and I’ve got terribly exhausted during my last blocks. Somewhere down the six block I was on a verge of cracking up but I managed to pull myself back and even though I had a curtain coming down my eyes and my brain blanking out I have finished that block without rushing through those questions. Later on I took a longer break, got myself together and painfully but methodically took question after question until the very end. During that time I got that impression that last two blocks weren’t really testing my knowledge but strength of will and stamina. Those last 92 q were quite easy and straightforward but you had to put all of your effort to focus and read the almost whole screen length paragraphs. If you can pull that strength out of you than I guess the exam is won, because I got like 80 totally give away questions in that last part of my exam.
Thank you God…
The rest of the exam wasn’t easy though. I have met with an opinion that usmleworld questions are tricky and the real exam is not that bad. I must disagree. The Step 2 exam is very like the same. Most of the questions are very confusing and those guys from NBME are purposely making you hit the wrong answer. They will make achalasia look like esophageal cancer, they will give an ambiguous answers, which can be answer either way, they will describe classic illnesses and you think you already got the answer but there is almost always a hidden catch that will make your first choice wrong. I did thousands of prep questions and I hopefully managed to avoid many traps that they put on my way but while on the exam I thought to myself damn, that got nothing to do with medicine, answers and scenarios are too far fetched, it more resembled doing some crazy difficult word puzzle..
I don’t want to scare anybody though, my only observation is that UW and CK are both tricky, mostly in the same way, and if you are familiar with UW answers than you know what I mean. That is the way they play with us this days.
Step 1 coverage on Step 2 - maybe 15% easy nice little questions, no tricks, if you have already passed Step1 than you have a bunch of questions right for free.
Time management – not as a big issue as I thought , if you feel comfortable doing UW questions, than you will be fine.
Prep stuff – CK touches upon all subjects and it is best to read as much as you can, but I recommend resources strictly invented for the purposes of Step 2. You will definitely lose focus thoroughly reading CMDT or similar comprehensive book.
Q – UW is mandatory, the rest is highly recommended.
I don’ t have huge clinical experience, so I can’t clearly answer if knowledge from the wards really helps you doing good on CK, but as I said earlier many questions are only invented to trick you out and resemble more of a quiz game than real medicine.
Hope that I helped,
All the best to all of you!
|
| mnhakeem
Forum Senior
Topics: 19
Posts: 90
|
Thanks,All the best to U
|
| mnhakeem
Forum Senior
Topics: 19
Posts: 90
| | 06/10/05 - 09:37 AM
1 of 1 forum leaders found this post helpful
| #3 |
Thanks,All the best to U
|
| dr79
Forum Senior
Topics: 17
Posts: 64
|
hi elmo
u said that in ck about 15% questions were from step 1 and if u hv already passed step 1 then u can easily do them....i havent passed my step 1 yet...and taking ck for second time again...i met with step 1 ques too in real exam...any suggestion to do those ques for ppl like me who hvnt cleared step 1 yet
|
| elmo
Forum Senior
Topics: 13
Posts: 28
|
Hi dr 79!
Most of those Step 1 questions that I had on CK were nice because first of all they were short, three lines questions, which comparing to classic step 2 q with clinical vignette, labs, ecgs, and xrays, all built in there, gave some time to catch your breath during the exam. Those qs mostly covered some fundamentals in step 1 prep like pathology of diseases, big and important stuff, not some obscure details. I felt like being asked by a teacher, ok so you have passed step1, let see what you can still remember from it. I didn't remembered much but I somehow felt that I got them right so I guess they weren't that bad.
I wouldn't worry about them, skim through the First Aid for Step 1 pathology section, and that will be more than enough for CK
Regards!
Edited by elmo on 06/15/05 - 12:53 PM
|
| dr79
Forum Senior
Topics: 17
Posts: 64
|
cheers elmo....u helped alottt...
|
| rubyedward
Forum Elite
Topics: 12
Posts: 197
|
well done elmo, i'm sure u aced this exam. and thanks for sharing yr exam experience.
how many q altogether and how many hours for CK?? good luck with the score
|
| elmo
Forum Senior
Topics: 13
Posts: 28
|
Thanks rubyedward,
I am not so sure about me acing the exam but I know that I studied real hard and I just hope and pray that it will pay off.
CK is 9 hours ride ( 1 hour brake included) so it makes 8 blocks times 46 qs equals 368 qs total. The exam is always scheduled for 9am, I recommend you to show up at 8 am instead, so you will start earlier and finish by 5 pm instead of 6pm. Test center stuff will be happy to do that , cause they close and are free to go earlier if you finish by 5 pm. Anyway I found it easier to do qs in the morning hours than in the afternoon. Guess it depends on how your ususal practise day looks like.
|
| deals
Forum Senior
Topics: 38
Posts: 83
|
hi elmo i think u did good how was ur dermatology questions i didnt do good in them and even you were right when u said the questions are tricky cause really they made achalasia looks like cancer can u give more feed back how u felt regarding other areas in this exam
thanks
|
| elmo
Forum Senior
Topics: 13
Posts: 28
|
Hi
I had like 5 dermatology qs tops and they were quite straightforward. No problem with that. As I said earlier the exam touches upon everything and its good to recognize major illnesses in all subspecialties. I guess those subspecialty qs are not that difficult, they are not going too far in fields like ophthalmology, ENT or dermatology. In contrary they tend to come up with some really weird IM questions. GI, pulmonary, cardiovascular, hepatology, endocrine are so heavily tested and when I say tricky questions I mostly mean IM.
On my CK I had also plenty of peds, gyn, and psych qs but they were somehow more familiar and I would describe them as classic step 2 qs with a little bit of flavor added to make old q look like a new one. Not that bad.
There were also maybe like 1-3 qs in every block that I had absolutely no idea what the answer maybe. I advice you not to dwell for too long on those just mark them and go forward. I guess they are invented to distract you and lower your level of confidence.
Edited by elmo on 06/16/05 - 10:06 AM
|
| ayeshah_l
Forum Elite
Topics: 29
Posts: 284
|
hi elmo,
I have my exam in 5 days, can u advise me how to devide my break time, how many min, in ur opinion .. once should take after each block. and how do u keep track of time, like after 10 min have gone what question u should be on? and by the time u are half way thru...30 min...which q. no. u should be on? so u know u'll finish the block on time.
thanks
|
| rubyedward
Forum Elite
Topics: 12
Posts: 197
|
thanks for the info elmo and God bless.
|
|
| |
| | | | | | | | | | | | |
