I was doing Kaplan QB because I wanted to begin UW with a high | Usmle step 2 experinces
I was doing Kaplan QB because I wanted to begin UW with a high initial score but it turned out that Kaplan QB is just not good for CK. Explanations weren’t as good as UW, questions were full of tricks… although some pros are that the question stem was long so that you can train in time management and there wasn’t a lot of outdated information like some people say. Yes, the QB may be outdated regarding recent exam question style changes but the information itself is solid and you can count on it.
Bottom line
If you want to do Kaplan QB do it after doing UW first time and don’t bury yourself into details, do 2 blocks a day and read the key concepts in the explanations.
PHASE THREE (2 months and 18 days)
I did UW first time subject-wise timed-tutor. One day I do 1 block, another I do 2 blocks and another may be nothing at all or half a block or something. I took 50 days to finish the QB and some of the Clinical Mastery Series forms. My cumulative was 60% (My Kaplan cumulative was 55%) but I felt like I’m learning a lot and the explanations make sense. Everything is well-done in UW. I was annotating my books and printing a lot of print-screened UW tables and diagrams BUT I learned my lesson and didn’t pay much attention to what I thought was trivial details, I even managed to do about 250 questions without annotating at all That was very hard for me because I’m kind of a “perfectionist”. Then I did NBME 3 again! The first time I did this form I didn’t study the questions and answers from the offline copy that was available because the score was too low and I thought I might do it again in the future (and that what turned out to happen). Anyways, I got 192! I was devastated but I managed to start my second round of UW random timed about 3 blocks a day. My cumulative was 78%. I did NBME 6 again halfway through UW second time and I got 235 (I didn’t revise the questions and answers after the first time I did this test either) then I completed the second time of UW and did NBME 4 with a score of 237, and after that NBME 7 (1 week away) and I got 237 then UWSA (4 days away) and got 242 and finally the 141 free questions from USMLE.org (1 day away) and got 82%. That last week was full of doubt because I didn’t know what to do, UW third time? CMS? Dr. Ali Notes? Reading my books? So, I ended up doing a little bit of everything!
Bottom line
Do UW 2 times and learn everything in it.
EXAM
Anxiety was the major theme during the first 2 blocks and a minor one in the next 2. I wasn’t sure about any question and I think this is normal. Try to take a little break after each block. I posted my impression 2 hours after getting home from the test center.
SCORE
4 Wednesdays after the exam at 10:45 a.m. Philadelphia time: PASS, 243
CK BEFORE STEP 1
Step 1 will definitely help but not in terms of information i.e. there are no questions that require you to know stuff only found in step 1 books and question banks. Step 1 can help you understand better and save time, however, UW and other CK sources have all that you want for the exam.
For example, UW doesn’t have direct neuroanatomy questions or explanations and you won’t find that on the exam either BUT if you already know the neuroanatomy from step 1 that will help you understand topics like “stroke” better.
One last thing: the basic science information that you’ll actually be required to know for the exam (mostly pathogenesis) is covered by CK sources especially UW.
