Step 2 CK experience Background I'm an IMG from Egypt, | finished my internship year in March 2021 ‘My grades in med school have always been below average. | decided that I'm taking the USMLE pathway since the 2nd year |lused to study for my subjects from ‘rst aid and kaplan books during med school, | was dedicated to taking the step 1 exam but didn't have an actual plan. During my 4th year (first clinical year), | focused more on step 1, studied alot of material (FA. UW,pathoma) had a plan to take the exam but | didn't book my exam because of my low assessment scores In my final year, | had forgot most of what | studied for step so | decided to study for Step 2CK as it will help me with my final exams too, | was using Master the boards and kaplan books, some videos from OnlineMeded | think using USMLE resources for studying instead of using traditional books in my college helped me have better basics and understanding of many concepts Exam preparation and timeline ‘Study period : tyear From June 2020 to June 2021 "during my internship year" UWorld obviously the most important resource for step 2CK, the real exam questions were closest to UW, give each question enough time to read the explanation carefully, and also challenge yourself by asking why other asnwer choices are incorrect, they will usually give you more than 1 answer that seem correct, but you will have to choose the most likely correct answer, or they will give you subtle hints in the questions stem that will help you rule outirule in your answer choices Use uword as a learning tool, don't get bugged by low correct percentage, you will get better by solving more questions I did questions in subject wise ‘st round, random non-timed mode in 2nd round, | did some blocks in timed mode but not often had around 65% correct during my first round of UW, did Amboss qbank then did a 2nd pass of UW where | had 82% correct, | also repeated my marked questions which were about 500 So I di it in that order UW -> Amboss -> UW 2nd pass "to prevent memorizing the questions stem’ AMBOSS have heard of t from a friend and decided to try it, they also offered me a 75% discount on a year subscription "scholarship" | really liked their library, it had everything | needed for step 2 CK, even while solving from UWorld, | was using Amboss library for topics that | felt that | needed to read more about, so! highly recommend it Qbank: | tried it after UWorld first pass and was impressed, it was not as good as UWorld of course but it was worth doing since | had enough time, most questions cover the same topics ‘rom UWorld so it was helpful for soldifying concepts by reading it more than ence but in a different way, they also have cool features like image overlay | think Amboss questions were alct more confusing and difficult than UWerld and real test, found that many questions were low yield, ‘overall | would highly recommend it if you have enough time, they also have a free trial so you can give ita try and decide for yourset. Had 65% correctCMS forms | did forms 586 for all subjects, extremely helpful, they are made by NBMEs who make the real exam Used them atter finishing Amboss and UWorld, practiced time management and to determine my weak subjects My percentage ranged ‘rom 80s-90s % NBME forms Time before exam NBME? 244 7 months New ‘ree 120: 67% 6 months NBME6: 255 5 months UWSA1: 256 6 weeks Old free 120: 88% S weeks Amboss SA: 275 4 weeks Lecturio SA: 82% Sweeks NBME 8 265 B days UWSA2: 266 5 days UWSA 182 questions length, style and difficulty was the closest to the real exam | was improving with each assessment as | tried to figure out why | made each mistake and how to prevent that in the future, whether it was due to knowledge deficiency or net reading the question i.e due to shortage of time or simply missing on important information provided in the question stem Other resources - 100 cases of ethics by conrad fischer - Divine intervention podcasts: just listened to episodes from areas | felt weak in, also the episodes that cover the new changes made to the exams, he listed them here httos:/\www.reddlt.com/r!Step2/comments/Inhsre/thoughts_on_the_new_step_2ck3_exam_updated_for! = and of course used google alot especially when looking fer images Thoughts on the exam ‘Overall, it was jong and exhausting but wasnt as tough as people pictured it, UW covered more than 80% of the exam. | didn’t practice on stamina like sclving 6-8 biocks per day, but! feel that would be help‘ul because | felt slow during the last 3 blocks, taok breaks every 2 blocks which was enough ‘or me had 5-10 minutes to review marked questions on each block, | marked about 5 questions on each black, tried nat to overthink other questions, most questions are straightforward, don't overthink your answers too much or you will lose time Trust your assessment scores, use them to identify your weak areas and work on them, Dont stress yourself before the exam, | took a 3 day break before the testGeneral advices Know your limits and don't push yourself too hard, you won't be able to study if you burn out |lused to study 4-5 hours on most days but was consistent for a long period, so take care of your mental health Try to find a study partner, | met my friends most of the days and we discussed alot of cases together, although they weren't preparing for the exam but it was so helpful and also fun Keep your study notes to the point so you won't waste time making them or overwhelm yourself when reading them later UWorld and CMS forms are the most important, this exam is all about practicing questions, do as many as you can. You can supplement with other rescurces that you find helpful Take assessments on the road to track your progress,