USMLE Step 2CK-275 (Test:April 11,2017)
USMLE Step 1-271
Hello ,
I may be new to many of you.I am a government officer working under Ministry Of
Health,Government
of Nepal.I got my Step 2CK score report a few days back.I am sorry for the delay in writing this.I
am
writing this with a hope of making you all believe that “If I can do good,you can do it even better”
and
vice versa.I have named this file “surviving step 2CK” because during the course of its preparation,I
think,my life was like that of in a survival mode,roughly speaking.
If you have read my step 1 experience,I want to assure you that this is gonna be shorter than
that.Partly
because the study materials for step 2CK are less diverse than that of step 1 and partly because I
don’t
want to hypnotise anymore.
I started my preparation for CK with the book named ”step-up to medicine”.Many people I talked
to
and many experiences I had read suggested MTB2 for medicine and MTB3 for other subjects like
pediatrics,surgery,OB&Gyn.I bought those books as well.Actually I began with MTB2 for medicine
and
instantly realized that it was not my type of book.I didn’t have that bullet proof jacket to bear all
those
bullet styled points of MTB2.I think I was able to read only initial few pages of that book and was
soon
searching for its alternative.”step up” was a nice alternative I think.Its written in more of
explanatory
way and reading it was a smoother process.Took almost 1 month to finish it.Plz don’t get scared
with
the time I took for it.I was working at government hospital and it was so for the most of my
preparation.So some days I could study well and some days weren’t that good.Combining job with
study
wasn’t very easy,I think.
After stepup,I subscribed to uworld for 6 months.There were 4 or 5 days remaining in the
subscription
when I took the exam.If ,for step 1,First aid and uworld were the holy sources;for step 2,uworld is
both.Many of you in the beginning phase of your preparation may find it difficult to accept this
fact and I
also didn’t realize that initially.Is it true?Are you kidding me?Only uworld and no books?Yes it is
true.I
am not kidding and books have very minor role.I think I didn’t remember a thing from step up but
the
greatest help was it made my transition to the uworld easier and smoother.Understand uworld
very
well.Dont just read it for the sake of reading.The tables/charts in uworld are like the pages of first
aid for
Step1.I mean each and every word there is for the purpose.Simply cramming up only wont help
you.You
need to understand those and then if needed mug them.But yes,there are few topics which you
have to
just mug it up.There is not much point in wasting your time understanding the developmental
milestones of a child and screening/vaccination guidelines age and evaluation of pap smear of the
female of age 23 and 26.But yes there is some logic behind it.
Whatever you don’t understand from uworld,consult uptodate for that.Both the google and
Wikipedia
for the step 2 is uptodate.I think most of the things given in uworld are derivatives of the things
that are already available in uptodate.You cant go through all of uptodate.It is very very detailed.So consult
Uptodate for topics which are difficult to comprehend from uworld and you can also consult it for
topics
which are not given in uworld.Would you believe it if I said many sentences given in uworld seem
to be
exact copies of uptodate?
And yes prepare the notes from uworld from the beginning.I had made brief notes of volatile
things and
things that were added from uptodate.it was brief because I did revision from uworld online on
my
laptop itself.Some people find reading from the notes/notebooks easier,so if you have time you
can
make detailed notes as well.I took photos of all the uworld tables/algorithms/charts and I used to
go
thru them whenever I got time like while going to my gym and while travelling.It helped me
consolidate the things given there.I cant overemphasize the importance of those tables/charts.Very important
and
they are many.
I also did CMS forms(all offline) for most of medicine,OBG,Psychiatry and few of surgery.If you
have time
go through all of them.If you don’t have time,go through psychiatry and OBG at least.I also did
some
topics from uw-3 like portions of cardiology,psychiatry and biostat.For biostat,also do Biostat
review
from step 1 and those portions from first aid for step 1.Actually,first aid for step 1 helps a lot for
step
2.Many topics are related and while doing 1st round of uworld,I got many many qsns right
because of
knowledge of step 1.So I think,having read for step 1 before step 2 helps very significantly.I don’t
know
how much is the impact of taking step 2ck first has on step 1 exam,but I am very sure that taking
step 1
before step 2 has big impact on step 2.There were many topics which I studied from “first aid for
step
1 “ for my ck exam.I read mtb3 rapidly for peds,obg and surgery.I think I completed those within 1
week.I don’t know how useful it was but I did it because everybody else was doing it.
I had read uworld total of 2 times from laptop and my short uworld notes once.
During thelast month before my exam,I took nbme 4,6,7(all offline).4 and 6 were good,7 was demoralizing .If you are drooling for your friend’s girlfriend and you want your friend to break up
with
her,ask him to take nbme 7.Dont get demoralized with nbme 7 my friends.It is very …hmm…what
should
I say…idiotic or you can call it stupid.Yes it is hard but it more weird than it is hard.Exam qsns
were not
in any way like that.Instead exam was closer to uwsa2 for me.
I did uwsa1 online around 8 days prior and got 288.Yes…I also didn’t believe it thatswhy I had to
shell
out another 35$ to take uwsa2.It was 273 or 4.Exam was close to uwsa2 .
Friends,practice time management very well.The resources for step 2 ck may be less than step
1,but the
exam was harder,that is what I felt.Time was very tight.On a good block,I finished 3 minutes
earlier and
within that I had to review 8 or 9 qsns which I had marked.It was not a good feeling.I remember
making
some very silly errors and I think time pressure contributed significantly to it.Believe me,in every
block
you will get 7 or 8 or 9 very confusing qsns and that’s what that makes them difficult.The topics of
the
qsns are not new,even the options are not new(most of them).What makes them difficult is the
very
twisted way of asking qsns and the confusion between two options.If you think that you have understood the qsn and you are confused among two options in that qsn,just pick one
option,mark it
and move to another qsn,review it at last.Dont lose much time on it.In the exam,it may be very
tempting
that reading the qsn once again may help you clear your confusion among two options.Do so only
if you
have not understood the qsn properly or the options properly.If you think you have understood
the qsns
and options but you are still confused,pick one and move on.
Many times during preparation,I used to feel so blank.I used to think I don’t know anything and
some
days were frustrating and depressing.Avoid those things/fb posts/persons who make you feel
yourself
inadequate,no matter whoever they are.
Friends,the preparation time was not easy and I think it wont be very easy for many of you.It is
very
difficult to focus on your studies when many of your friends are busy talking about messi and
ronaldo,when they are busy measuring how much cranberry juice to add to the whiskey,when
they are
busy making plans for a trekking, when there are so many responsibilities towards your family.But
I
believe,”if you want to have what other don’t have,you need to do what others cant do.”
All the best And one more thing,sleep well,exercise regularly and don’t let urself down.