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My USMLE Step 2 Experience

Hello, my name is Ahmed El-Hadidy, an intern from Mansoura University. I recently took the USMLE Step 2 exam, and many people have asked about my experience, so I wanted to share it here as this is the largest community for Step 2.

Preparation Timeline and Challenges

1. Initial Thoughts
   • Praise be to God, success comes as long as you keep working hard.
   • My Step 1 experience was the most crucial factor; it laid the foundation. I put in a lot of effort and achieved a good score.
2. Preparation Period:
   • I prepared for Step 2 during my fifth year, approximately one and a half years on and off due to exams, graduation project, and other commitments.
   • The biggest challenge was starting after a year break post-Step 1 due to severe burnout.
3. Resources:
   • Another significant challenge was the lack of a comprehensive curriculum for Step 2 like Step 1. There's no equivalent to First Aid, Pathoma, or detailed lectures.
   • I tackled this gap by using the largest video source I could find, which was Osmosis. I watched almost all the pathology reviews as a refresher on Step 1 and moved to clinical videos for each system (though they have since been removed).
   • This took considerable time but gave me a solid overview. Since I prefer studying before practicing questions, I searched for a comprehensive book but couldn't find one. I decided to create my own notes. I took headings from an existing book to ensure I covered everything and compiled information from various sources, with Amboss being the primary one.
   • This process took months, but eventually, I built a personal library for my studies.
4. Practice:
   • After studying each chapter, I initially solved questions from Amboss, which was a mistake. I recommend starting with UWorld for its foundational explanations. Amboss, as a question bank, fills in gaps but doesn't establish a foundation.
   • After completing Amboss, I moved to UWorld for the first pass, solving it by systems but didn't finish everything.
   • For the second pass, I solved random questions and created Anki cards for everything in the question banks, ending up with around 8,200 manually made cards.

Self-Assessments and Scores

• NBMEs:

  • NBME 9: 267
  • NBME 10: 283
  • NBME 11: 271
  • NBME 12: 267
  • NBME 13: 277
  • NBME 14: 278

• Other Assessments:

  • Amboss Self-Assessment in late April: 274
  • UWorld Second Pass: 94%
  • UWSA 2: 90%
  • UWSA 3: 91%
  • Free 120 Online: 91%
  • CMSs: 85-95%

  I completed NBMEs from 9 to 14, with scores ranging from 265 to 285. I also took all CMSs starting from version 5 and above in every subject, and versions 1 and 2 for emergency medicine. From my perspective, the family medicine CMS was the most important.

Finally, although the exam was challenging, praise be to God, I succeeded. I hope this answers most of your questions in advance.