Transcriptio
Forum Senior
Topics: 39
Posts: 166
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Finally after the endless waiting, I finally received my score in mail this afternoon. I personally find step 2 ck much much harder than step 1; perhaps due to lack of clinical knowledge or simply lack of preparation? I think all of us here have taken million tests already throughout your academic history. And judging from one's study habit or books used may not truly reflect how one should study for this sucker. Instead of telling u guys what stuffs I used to prepare, I think it is worthwhile to tell you my real exam experience.
I had tried to maintain a good sleep habit; going to bed at 11pm and getting up at 6am. However, I was very anxious the night before the exam, just had no ways of falling asleep.. and the thought of telling myself tomorrow was gonna be a big day and not getting enough sleep would somewhat affect my ability to perform actually made things worst. Luckily, I managed to sleep for 4 hours which I still don't know how I did it at then. The bottom line: the anxiety shoots up tremendously no matter what coping methods u use the night before the exam and just be prepared for this.
After checking in, I started my exam around 8:45am? The first two blocks were difficult n LONG, marking about 25 questions in each and I thought the next following block would be somewhat easier but nope, turning out to be even harder than the previous two, making the record of 35 questions marked in 3rd block. 4th and 5th block were about the same level as compared to that of first two blocks, then came the crazy 6th block which I lost count of how many I marked but somewhat between 30 n 35 questions. The last two blocks were okay with about 15 questions marked. Generally speaking, I'm only sure of 45%, 40% trying to deduce with best educated guess and 15% absolutely no clues or whatsoever. And you r right, your score can really fluctuate so much depending on your best educational guesses, assuming u answer correctly from your certain 45% question pool. One can easily pass as much as fail the exam.
As for the break, I personally felt one hour was too long for one reason. That was during any single block, your brain was so active and focused on every single question they were gonna throw at you. And believe me, if you take the break more than 5 mins, your alertness/brain activity would quickly decline, making you hard to adjust when doing the following block. As far as time management went, I usually had about 10 minutes to spare regardless of difficulty of the block. If I felt I'm in short of time, i.e less than 10 minutes spared after that block, then I would take a break of 4 minutues. If not, 2 or 3 minutes at maximum.. by the time, I finished the exam, I had about 38 minutues left in break and my adrenaline level was so high that I felt doing another block or two. The bottom line: maintain your composure, don't ever lose your cool and try to spare at least 8 minutes to go over the questions marked.. don't get anxious when u see 5 really long questions in a row and don't get excited when u know for sure what the answer is before reading the choices. if u r mentally and physically prepared, then u are half battle won!!
By the way, it is very common to make mistakes during the stressful 8 hrs section.. i.e I did wrong in sensitivity calculation question and I was so sad for many many days after.. I know there are lots EASY questions I missed due to fatigue and stress; just as there are HARD questions I guessed right. so don't give urself a hard time when missing easy questions.
After the exam, never come to any forums!!!! The best way is to take a 3-week vacation.. b/c I personally find the waiting game too painful to swallow. Thanks for the world cup this year, taking some of my attention away!!
Stuffs tested most heavily on my exam: IM (neurology, infectious dz, endocrine, GI, hardly any cardio, resp which were my weak subjects), mostly gyn, hardly any ob, paed ( really kill me big time, since I forgot most stuffs from step 1 – biochem), surgery very very few tested, psych is a fair game.
Usmle world: timed, first time only cumulative: 65.2%
Kaplan Qbook: 70%, didn't do qbank
Nbme 350 (1 month and half before), 510 (two weeks before), 450 (2 days before). Only my 2nd nbme score truly predicts my score.
USMLE CD: average is 80%
Real Score: 222/90
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| 3535
Forum Guru
Topics: 19
Posts: 297
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c o n g r a t s !!!
when did u take step2 and when was oasis updated.
___________________
"It takes one hour to cut a tree ,but a thousand hours to sharpen the axe."
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| 2002tii
Forum Senior
Topics: 5
Posts: 80
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Congratulations. A lot of what you say is so true about the exam. I find myself doing the same things; especially jumping all over the questions I think I know after reading 2 of the 6 sentences. Many times on practice questions I'd jump straight to the answer only to find later that they threw a twist in at the end. During the exam I tried to force myself to read every single word because of that, even if you read a dead give-away such as a fixed split S2 (that is music to my ears).
Even after all that, it sounds as if your score was right on the mark. During the exam you probably wanted to be absolutely sure you were correct, so you marked alot. Obviously you got a large percentage of those right.
Oh, and your a smart one for avoiding the forums afterward...I'm only at 9 days out from my exam and the wait is killing me.
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| ANU_MLE
Forum Junior
Topics: 10
Posts: 57
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congratulations & thank u for sharing ur experience.
From which topic did u get Q s in biochem?
Thanks & Good luck with residency.
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| Transcriptio
Forum Senior
Topics: 39
Posts: 166
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To 3535,
my exam was on june 15th, oasis updated on july 12th and i got my mail on july 31st... i dont live in the states.. the reason for soch belated mail delivery. best of luck.. maybe u've already received it by the time u read my mail.
To 2002tii,
i wish u an excellent score!! the wait is very difficult to get by.. actually, the time i waited for step 2 score report was about 6 weeks and 3 days.. and the time i waited for step 1 score report was about 2 months and 3 days due to student verification check.. best of luck
To anu_mle,
well, those enzyme pathways that link with the diseases of pediatrics.. u know what i mean? if you still dont get it, do nbme then u will understand my point. good luck
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