r/Step2 • u/Ill-Conference-685 NON-US IMG • 1d ago
Exam Write-Up 235>240>253>245>260 Exam write up
It was actually doable + a little hope for anyone struggling with NBMEs
Just got done with the real deal and wanted to post this because before my exam I spent WAY too much time reading posts saying the exam was horrible, impossible, nothing like the NBMEs, etc. 😭 honestly made me so much more anxious going in.
Obviously I don't have my score yet, so take this purely as an exam-day experience, but: the exam was doable.
Was it long? Absolutely. Were there weird questions? Of course. There were definitely questions where I had to make an educated guess, and some where I narrowed it down to two options and moved on. But overall, I could understand what most questions were asking and felt like the material I studied was actually relevant. It felt like NBMEs which I had revised over and over.
As for my prep, in the start I was genuinely stuck on the NBMEs. I would study more, do more questions, review more content, and still wasn't seeing the improvement I wanted. It was incredibly frustrating because I felt like I knew a lot of medicine, but somehow it wasn't translating into my scores.
At that point I decided to get help from a person with an amazing score and had some experience teaching, and that ended up making a huge difference for me. More than just teaching me extra facts, she helped me look at questions differently. I can write a separate post listing all the other things I did to supplement my prep.
Once I started applying those strategies, things finally started clicking. My last couple of assessments improved pretty dramatically compared with where I had been stuck before.
Toward the end of my prep:
• NBME 16: 260
• New Free 120: 90%
• Old Free 120: 88%
Seeing that improvement after being stuck for so long honestly gave me a lot more confidence going into the exam.
As for the real thing, I think one of the biggest lessons from today is: do not let Reddit horror stories convince you that you're walking into an impossible exam. People are much more likely to make a post after an awful experience than after a normal/doable one.
There will be vague questions. There will be questions you don't know. There will probably be blocks that feel worse than others. But you do NOT need to know every single answer to do well.
Trust your preparation. Trust the patterns you've seen in NBMEs and Free 120. Read the question carefully, figure out what they're actually asking, pick the best answer you can, and keep moving.
If you're currently stuck at the same NBME score and starting to think you're incapable of improving: you absolutely can improve.
I was terrified before walking in because of everything I had read online, and I just wanted to leave one post here saying:
Step 2 is hard, but it is doable. You've got this.❤️
Now I just have to survive the wait for the score.😭
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u/fizzahhhhhh NON-US IMG 1d ago
Can you share those strategies?
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u/Ill-Conference-685 NON-US IMG 1d ago
Sure. I will post an in-depth write up tomorrow or you can dm me.
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u/Status_Strike4256 NON-US IMG 1d ago
Can i knock you if you dont mind i will be testing in 4 days ?
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u/Same_Ad_9703 NON-US IMG 1d ago
How much time would you advise spending per one NBME?
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u/Ill-Conference-685 NON-US IMG 1d ago
It would take me atleast 10 to 12 hours to review an NBME. I would search every topic encountered on NBME on anki and study the whole thing again and would amend the anki card too acc to new info i learned and then would flag some to review again later.
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u/Same_Ad_9703 NON-US IMG 1d ago
This is so helpful, thanks for taking the time to reply in detail
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u/Mysterious_Fee5033 NON-US IMG 1d ago
Did you take exam today?
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u/Ill-Conference-685 NON-US IMG 1d ago
Nope. I took it 2 days ago. Had this post written in notes app and just got around to posting it.
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u/cinnamonbon04 NON-US IMG 1d ago
Would love to hear about those strategies and can you tell how much % of the exam did you feel was "wtf is this" type?
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u/Ill-Conference-685 NON-US IMG 1d ago
Yeah I will post the detailed break down in a few days. I think only one or 2 questions per block were vague. So ig around 10 percent.
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u/cinnamonbon04 NON-US IMG 1d ago
Oh , after reading some many write ups I thought it was going to be over 50%😅
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u/cinnamonbon04 NON-US IMG 1d ago
And were the questions longer than NBMES ?
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u/Ill-Conference-685 NON-US IMG 1d ago
No. They were pretty similar length wise. Apart from the H&E style questions which on average were 3-4 on every block. Really try to practice those from amboss HY
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u/Mindless-Ad-4734 NON-US IMG 4h ago
Hey where in amboss can i see the h&e hy questions in particular? Thanks in advance!
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u/regadenason NON-US IMG 1d ago
TYSM really needed to hear this. how was the biostats was it doable or really hard, do u feel amboss would br enough for that.
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u/leavemealone9696 1d ago
I just had to do 1 calculation for biostats, others were pretty easy, lots of qi and ethics question
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u/Antique_Phase_7732 US IMG 1d ago
my exam is the day after tmw and your post is the first thing i see after not opening reddit for 3 weeks, thanks for the reassurance.
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u/Huge_Degree_8792 NON-US IMG 1d ago
Congrats!!! Praying for you and us.
I got 245-255 range in nbme 10-13 251 in uwsa2 but 60% in free 120
Should I postpone
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u/callofduty2424 21h ago
Hi, got the same nbme and uwsa 2 scores. Testing in 1 week. I really do hope to get 260+. Still have nbme 16 left tho. Do you think it's possible to score 260+ with these scores? Got 86% on new free 120
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u/Top_Introduction7814 NON-US IMG 58m ago
Waiting for your strategy reveal!
Really struggling in dedicated period!
Did Uworld help ?
What was the exam similar to?
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u/Own_Cardiologist9442 US MD/DO 1d ago
AI slop