CK Experience, score 271. 9/9/2020

CK Experience, score 271. 9/9/2020.
Prep time 4 months, after getting my step 1 score (257).

First 3 months:
First round of UWorld, tutor mood/subject wise/timed, went through explanations while editing pre-made notes, average correct (84%), i was very slow at the beginning (first 1.5 mo), frequent breaks and days off, as i was just getting out of step 1 plus quarantine…etc.

4th (last) month:
Reset UWorld and started 2nd round, 4 blocks/day, timed/random, did this for 3 weeks, finished 70%, only read explanations of incorrect questions, average correct 95%.
When i was done with 20%, took UWSA2 (260), after finishing 70% took UWSA1 (274).
I had no time to finish UWorld, i also felt at that moment that i peaked so i stopped there and during my last week i took it slow and went through UWorld charts/tables/algorithms and my notebook. 36 h before the exam i didn’t read a word.

Exam was tough and exhausting, a lot of atypical presentation, a lot of flagged questions. way more challenging than step 1.
Not telling you it was tough to depress u but i believe it’s good to know what u are getting into before u walk in there and get surprised.
Didn’t use AMBOSS, UW step 3, NBMEs or any online videos or text books, nothing but UW.
Finishing step 1 recently helped a lot.

Things i learned from my step 1 experience

  1. Developing great stamina (3 weeks of solving 4 blocks every morning without breaks has improved my stamina dramatically). Fatigue is a major play in this test, it had a negative impact during my step 1 but not CK.

  2. Not worrying about memorizing everything rather just mastering concepts, work on your common sense/clinical sense during your first round. I didn’t, not even once tried to memorize UW notes, it’s wrong and waste of time. I had a note book of a few things that reviewed and that was it for me.

  3. Taking the last 1-2 days off.

Doing the above 3 points are the corner stone of my score jump.

All the best