USMLE STEP 2CK SCORE: 254/99

It's been a long wait but it's definitely worth every minute. My score for USMLE Step 2 CK finally arrived a few days back. As promised, I'd be sharing with you the things i did to get this score. Again, there would be no specifics regarding the exam. Hope this helps though.

I had a total of around two and a half months, full-time preparation for this exam.

RESOURCES I USED:
Kaplan Reviewers
Kaplan Videos
Crush Step 2
First Aid
QUESTION BANK: USMLEworld (I did not use the Qbook of Kaplan)

First 2 weeks:
Did first read of Kaplan books

Next 2 weeks:
Did the Videos while taking down notes on the books

Next 2 weeks:
USMLEworld - did three 46-item exams every morning for 2 weeks (alternating timed and untimed mode)
Read First Aid in the afternoon

Last 2 weeks:
Read Kaplan books while taking down random notes of things that I might forget

3 days before the Exam:
Read Crush Step 2

Day before the exam:
Read the random notes I made for each subject

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE EXAM:
As in one of my previous posts, if there’s a single word that would accurately describe the exam, it’s got to be “VAGUE.” Not all questions, but most, would definitely keep you hanging.

For the majority of the questions, what I told myself is, “given this case, based on my readings and my past experiences, this is what I would do.” The thing is, there is no guarantee that what I might think as the right option would coincide with the question maker’s answer.

All in all, this is really quite different compared with Step 1. In step 1, it’s either you know the correct answer or you don’t. It’s that simple. In this exam, you’ll be hoping that your answer matches what the question maker had in mind.

The best tip I could give you guys is to use USMLEworld. USMLEworld is definitely a must for this exam. Don't do it only to assess what you know though. Take the time to read the explanations and check out why they answered the questions the way they did. Understand their "line of thinking." This would be a very big help for the very vague questions I was ranting about.

Well that's it, I guess. Goodluck guys!

USMLE: STEP2CS CALENDAR

As of writing, the following are the EARLIEST available dates on which you can schedule USMLE Step 2CS for the following areas:



PHILADELPHIA: November 27, 2007
ATLANTA: November 4, 2007
LOS ANGELES: October 15,2007
CHICAGO: November 13,2007
HOUSTON: October 23, 2007

The number of dates available becomes less and less as each day goes by. Remember that inability to take Step 2CS by December 31, 2007 disqualifies you from joining the 2008 match.

Goodluck guys!