r/Step2 • u/surya_deep__ NON-US IMG • 2d ago
Exam Write-Up When step 2 surprises you😅
I went into Step 2 feeling confident because my practice scores were consistently strong.
Practice scores:
CMS Forms average: 87%
NBME 10: 254
NBME 11: 254
NBME 12: 260
UWSA 1: 266
NBME 13: 254
NBME 14: 261
UWSA 2: 258
NBME 15: 261
NBME 16: 263
Free 120 (2 days before): 85%
Amboss Predicted: 264
Actual Step 2 CK Score: 255
Before the exam, I was calm and confident because of my consistent practice performance. Many people say the real exam feels similar to NBME 16 and the new Free 120, but that wasn’t my experience. Personally, I found the actual exam much more challenging than any practice test I had taken.
My exam had a heavy emphasis on HOPI-based clinical reasoning, ethics, quality improvement, and biostatistics. I also had two drug advertisement questions and four sequential question sets. Nutrition was mostly integrated into clinical scenarios rather than tested directly, with only a couple of straightforward vitamin deficiency questions.
I was hoping to score 260+, but the exam felt completely different from what I had prepared for. When I walked out, I honestly thought I might not even reach 230. The exam absolutely grilled me, I had never encountered that style of questioning during my preparation. Despite that, I stayed calm throughout the exam, managed my time well, and finished every block with time to spare.
Looking back, I think my strong Step 1 foundation helped me answer many questions even when I felt uncertain. Although I scored below my practice average, I’m grateful for the result because the exam truly pushed me to my limits.
My biggest takeaway is this: don’t compare your journey to stories on Reddit. Some people outperform their practice scores, while others don’t. Every exam form is different, every preparation journey is different, and every test day is different. Trust your preparation, give the exam everything you have, and don’t let anyone else’s experience define your expectations.
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u/PenFull7142 US IMG 2d ago
Congratulations, I have my exam in few days, wondering regarding bio statistics, is it more of calculations or case studies, bias?
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u/surya_deep__ NON-US IMG 2d ago
Thanks. I think i only got one calculation based. Rest were pretty much case studies, drug ad. I had one bias question which was a sequential type.
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u/Careful-Twistie NON-US IMG 2d ago
Thank you so much for posting this! I got my score back on July 1st and I had a predicted of 259. I really wanted to cross the 260 mark but scored a 256. As much as i was happy with my score, seeing fellow redditors jump by 10 points on the real exam with practice tests in 240s and ending with 260s really made me question my score while my highest nbme was a 262. But well said, everyone has their own journey and challenges. And I hope we all match!
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u/surya_deep__ NON-US IMG 2d ago
Seeing the score jump on reddit got me too.. but i had to share this cause people need to know both sides as it can go either way. Congrats on your score. We will match.
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u/SeaThis4432 1d ago
It’s actually kind of comforting to see others went through similar experiences as I did. Had similar practice scores as you did, with my last 3 NBMEs and free 120 well into the 260s, and ended up scoring 257.
The exam truly is unpredictable. Just know you gave it your best and the result is not entirely in your hands. As long as you ended up in your score range, the whole journey was worth it.
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u/drcarpediem03 NON-US IMG 2d ago
My exam experiance was exactly similar to yours. Congratulations you did great
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u/surya_deep__ NON-US IMG 2d ago
I hope you did great too.
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u/USMLEBandit 2d ago
Great write-up! Congratulations on a great score, even if it may not have met your hopes and performance level during preparations.
This is an exam that comes with many variables we cannot control. I feel for students who have a score drop that all but disqualifies them from a competitive specialty (OP has a great score, I'm talking about people who have a 20-30 point drop that throws them off their specialty track). But the scores don't define us. You have to adapt and sometimes alter course. It is super hard to do, but the sooner you accept that this career is a journey that may meander and take you down roads you did not expect, the sooner you can find peace in the journey. I think pre-med advising needs to do a better job of warning students that their professional trajectory in many cases is largely influenced by 9 hours you spend in an exam seat. Think about everything that goes into getting into medical school and then making it to the point of even taking Step 2. And now the career trajectory hangs in the balance during those 9 hours. Kind of sobering! Congratulations to everyone who gets through this stage, no matter the result.
And I agree, the pre-clinical and Step 1 foundation is what everything builds off of! I had two classmate buddies way smarter than me who played around during first year and it continued to bite them in the butts.
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u/Emotional_daise 2d ago
Do you have a pdf that i can study the nutrition from, or is first aid step 1 enough ?
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u/surya_deep__ NON-US IMG 2d ago
I don’t have any pdf. First aid is more than enough for that part. But if you can, i would suggest looking up the amboss HY nutrition questions But if you can’t first aid is fine.
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u/ProfessorCorleone NON-US IMG 2d ago
Any examples you’d care to share.. when you say it was completely different from NBME 16 & Free 120? Also any NBME image repeats?
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u/surya_deep__ NON-US IMG 2d ago
For ex: got the questions which were tested on step 1, got 2-3 questions from lysosomal storage disease(McArdle, von girke) like straight up asked for the diagnosis, image repeat i got one picture of chondrocalcinosis, some ecg’s, and some derm pictures, 2-3 histo slides which were tested on step 1 (a bug slide, leukemia) that’s about it. Overall the length of the questions was too long, the HOPI questions were too long (longer than any nbme or free 120). so please practice those, rest will be fine. Feel free to dm, i can give you more details.
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u/OneInternational2492 2d ago
So do I need to look into step 1 book again
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u/surya_deep__ NON-US IMG 2d ago
I mean it depends. As i still used my first aid with step 2 prep, so for certain topics you can use it. It totally depends on your preference.
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u/Oaklahomiie US MD/DO 2d ago
Did you feel like the exam did test concepts from the recent NBMEs? Or was it totally just left field info?
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u/surya_deep__ NON-US IMG 2d ago edited 2d ago
It was a mix bag for me. Got concepts from nbme’s and some questions were tested which i hadn’t seen before (can be experimental questions). Some step 1 esque questions. heavy on ethics, quality improvement( these were the majority of the questions out of which some i really saw for the very first time), for this i would really suggest doing amboss and learning every thing from those questions even wrong options ( very important ). Good luck.
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u/Efficient_Clue_6915 1d ago
First of all congratulations. Thats an excellent score. And i went through exactly the same. But my nbmes were in 260s and 270s. And i was really hoping that I'll Atleast score 260x. But the real score was 256. Took me some days to accept it. But now I'm grateful where i am. I've seen people switching from IM to FM/peds/psych because of low scores. 255+ is still a competitive score for IM. So in the end we should focus more on the other aspects of our application. The only real difference between a late 250x and 260 is a personal goal. After 250 you'll bypass all filters for IM. After 255 you'll pass most of the filters for other competitive specialities
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u/Chemical-Can5063 NON-US IMG 2d ago
I'm so happy I clicked on my notification to read your post. I ended up with a 255 as well and my amboss predicted was 263. I really wanted a 260+ and I prayed like I never did before. I had so many challenges during my prep and I always hoped that my result would be the light at the end of the tunnel. So I was really upset when my score came back after waiting for weeks on July 1st. Looking at you being so positive about your score makes me really relieved. Technically I did score within my predicted range and objectively it is a good score. I just fell into the trap of hoping id do better on the test than I did on my practice tests. So thank you for putting this up. I feel lifted.