acephil
Forum Newbie
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I just took my exam today (2/27/07) and was very surprised about the difficulty of the questions. I got brutalized. I did all of USMLE world and really studied thier answers and explanations. I reviewed Crush and did some First Aid. I don't know if there is a new question bank, but I have a feeling there is. Most of my friends took the exam back in summer/fall of 2006. I put it off until right b4 graduation (just my luck). They all said the exam was easier than step I, and I did well on step I so I didn't really sweat it.
BEWARE! There were things on this exam that left me stumpt. It was like the questions were incomplete. At certain points I wondered if I was actually taking the correct exam. The questions were LONG and there were moments like I felt like walking out. Lots of medicine, lots of weird OB/GYN questions, the psych questions weren't too many but they were long as hell... almost have an acute psychotic moment! The stat questions were easy but too few. A decent amount of Peds. Surgery was pretty minor. It seems like most questions had a "twist". Also some new format questions that were not on UW. I hope that they grade this on some type of curve. I am not too worried, but this is not going to be the relaxing three weeks that I expected. I guess I can only give advice as to my prep methods after I get my score. Until then: PRAY. Good luck to you all.
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| ing
Forum Guru
Topics: 45
Posts: 435
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Thanks and good luck to you.
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Never give up!!
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| meghaw
Forum Newbie
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hi thanks for the advice
i wanted to ask u some more things
is seeing videos for bg and surgery worth
and how much stuff is necessary to revise from srep one portions
can u tell more about hoe to prepare
thanks
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| acephil
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 9
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meghaw wrote:
hi thanks for the advice
i wanted to ask u some more things
is seeing videos for bg and surgery worth
and how much stuff is necessary to revise from srep one portions
can u tell more about hoe to prepare
thanks
Hey Meghaw,
In terms of what to study, focus on medicine. There was a ton of medicine on the test, and it was pretty well spread out. There were even some very similar, repetitive questions. From surgery, I don't think it is worth watching videos or doing anything in such detail, just know trauma well, and also about Abx for acute abdominal problems. There was more OB/GYN on the test than I expected, it may be worth studying that section in more detail. Peds was pretty straight forward. USMLE world will prepare you well for Peds/psych/stats/ethics and most of surgery. For medicine and OB/GYN, do something else in addition to UW. Master the kaplan medicine book....if you just know that well you will atleast pass.
I recommend doing USMLE world and taking notes while you are doing it. Then do it one more time (it is tedious but worth it). While you are doing that, study medicine/OB from the Kaplan books, and study the rest from First Aid (or even Crush...you don't need to get too in depth because USMLE World is pretty good on these other sections). The test is longer and harder than USMLE world, so try and finish UW with about five to ten minutes to spare. Also, don't forget that this test is curved, so if you get a rough section, scoring even 50% on that section may be enough. Here is a quote from the official usmle site (usmle.org):
"A statistical procedure ensures that the performance required to pass each test form is equivalent to that needed to pass other forms; this process also places scores from different forms on a common scale."
Good luck, I will keep you posted when I get my score.
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| young_doc
Forum Guru
Topics: 55
Posts: 732
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thanks for your post... g'luck!!
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First Aid is my Bible...
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| ash123
Forum Newbie
Topics: 6
Posts: 38
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congratulations acephil on being done.
Wish you a great score.
When do u think we will get scores?
take care keep in touch.
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| acephil
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 9
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ash123 wrote:
congratulations acephil on being done.
Wish you a great score.
When do u think we will get scores?
take care keep in touch.
Hey Ash,
We will probably get out score a day or two after March 21st. I know they report scores on Wednesdays and Step 2 CK usually takes 3 weeks to post.
Will keep in touch.
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| acephil
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 9
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I finally recieved my score today, and I passed.
My score: 234/95
I am very surprised, especially considering my skimpy 3 weeks of studying coupled with the fact that I thought the exam was harder than any other exam I had ever taken. I was told before it is better to get a hard test b/c the curve is more forgiving, I guess it's true.
If I could do it all over again (not that I would, considering that I took this exam very late in my fourth year, and even though I already matched, I never felt confident until I recieved my score today), I would have taken this exam earlier, and probably focused on IM more than the other specialties. My only question source was UW, and the only book I used was Crush. In retrospect, I would have also used Kaplan's IM book, and maybe Kaplan's OB/GYN book (my poorest section on the exam).
Good luck to all others who are preparing for the exam, or already have taken it. I hope you get some solice after reading my initial frantic 2/27/07 post just after I finished my exam by reading this recent post.
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| docnikki
Forum Guru
Topics: 93
Posts: 680
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wow amazing!! Congratulations!!!!
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| vanshita
Forum Guru
Topics: 22
Posts: 820
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hey congratulation great score enjoy!!!!! GOOD LUCK for match
me first to wish you
thanks for sharing your experience with us
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| robin082006
Forum Hero
Topics: 471
Posts: 5,125
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Congratulations Acephil
I have the same feeling as yours.
The exam is very hard and qs are long like Kaplan qs. About 10% qs I had to guess the answer and other 10% I confused between some choices.
I think Kaplan has updated well because they follow USMLE carefully.
UW are good for active thinking but there are so many un-high-yielded questions.
___________________
The Key to Succeed is Patience.
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| sima
Forum Senior
Topics: 11
Posts: 114
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hi acephil congrats great score,now cud u pls tell us
.how did u learn for UW,
.in how many days did u finish it,
did u make notes form it,how do i reatin so vast
sorry for puting so man q's but i am very worried,my exam is in 5 weeks,thanks GOD bless you.
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| docnikki
Forum Guru
Topics: 93
Posts: 680
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hi Robin, did u take ur exam already? do u recommend doing online Q bank. I actually did UW once and revised UW notes a couple of times ...should I buy UW again to repeat those quest or buy online kaplan Q bank. plz advise. thanks
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| Dr.Luck
Forum Senior
Topics: 12
Posts: 225
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hey acephil...that's one great score...CONGRATS ...May God bless us with such awesome scores too!!!...& thanks for sharing ur exam experience & scores with us!
GL,
Dr.Luck.
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| let thesunshine
Forum Newbie
Topics: 6
Posts: 17
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acephil, congratulations and best of luck for the future
would u mind to talk abt How u matched without the step2 CK result?
Thanks!
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| MRMAVERICK
Forum Guru
Topics: 40
Posts: 719
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congrats acephil
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| acephil
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 9
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let thesunshine wrote:
acephil, congratulations and best of luck for the future
would u mind to talk abt How u matched without the step2 CK result?
Thanks!
I am a US grad and only used my step 1 score for the match. I simply needed to pass step 2 ck, but because I waited until the last moment, I was stressed (my own fault).
Good luck to all. I couples matched with my fiancee who goes to SGU in Granada/St Vincet's, so I know the stresses if the IMG/FMG match.
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| acephil
Forum Newbie
Topics: 1
Posts: 9
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sima wrote:
hi acephil congrats great score,now cud u pls tell us
.how did u learn for UW,
.in how many days did u finish it,
did u make notes form it,how do i reatin so vast
sorry for puting so man q's but i am very worried,my exam is in 5 weeks,thanks GOD bless you.
Sima, the key is just do many questions. I finished UW in about 2 weeks. I did it by subject as I studied from Crush. I repeated maybe 400 questions. Most of my friends who did UW atleast once did very well. When I started UW I was averaging 45-50%. By the end I was averaging 55-65%. Remember, the score on UW is not important, it is what you learn from it. I used UW like a book, and Crush was a supplement. I did not use Kaplan Qbank.
My fiancee used both UW and Kaplan Qbank. She told me that UW helped her more, and her only regret was focusing too much on Kaplan questions rather than UW.
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