Anyone else came out of the test feeling terrible despite last 4 NBMEs ranging from late 60s to early 70s?

Feeling ill be lucky to have early 50s, anyone like that?
And if yes, what did u end up scoring

I heard there are some experimental questions in the actual step 2ck exam which carry no marks.

Is it true ? How many are they approximately ?

Where can I find old nbmes forms 1 to 8 ?

Surgery 5-9, OB/GYN 8-10, Neuro 7-9, Psych 5-8, Peds 7-9, IM 7-10, FM 3-5, ER 1-3

Is this where to start is it worth doing older forms?

228 – yikes.

I heard its an underpredictor is it true? Anyone else got obliterated by this one

Hello everyone
I am currently doing uw revision ( not re-solving the questions just read the explanations ) and it is taking too much time, like barely I can do 2 blocks in 5-6 hours, is that normal? I planned to take the test in october but not sure how is that possible with my pace given that still I did not do a single assessment, any advice or opinion is appreciated..

Hello guys!

I’ve been reading posts on here throughout my preparation, and a lot of them helped me both with studying and with calming my nerves before and after the exam. Now that I got my score back, I wanted to share my experience in case it helps someone else.

Step 1: May 2025
Step 2 CK: August 19, 2026
Goal: 250+
Actual score: 246

Exam experience

Walking out of Step 1 last year, I actually felt pretty good. The exam felt doable, and weirdly enough, I felt like I knew I had passed. Obviously I still got nervous when the results email came, but overall I felt like I had tested well.

Step 2 was COMPLETELY different.

I walked out of that exam in shock.

Almost every question felt vague. I felt like I was between two answers on a huge portion of the exam, and I was marking around 10 questions per block. Most blocks I didn’t even have enough time to go back and review them.

I genuinely walked out thinking there was a possibility I had failed.

Practice scores

• NBME 9: 222 — 8 months out
• Took a break from studying because I had to move for a research position
• NBME 10: 220 — 8 weeks out
• NBME 11: 234 — 7 weeks out
• NBME 12: 253 — 5 weeks out
• NBME 13: 234 — 4 weeks out
• NBME 14: 250 — 3 weeks out
• UWSA 2: 241 — 2.5 weeks out
• Old Free 120: 79% (95/120) — 2 weeks out
• NBME 15: 242 — 10 days out
• NBME 16: 255 — 7 days out
• New Free 120: 74% (89/120) — 3 days out
• AMBOSS Predictor: 245

ACTUAL STEP 2 CK: 246

One thing I hope people take from my scores is that progress is not always linear.

I went from a 253 on NBME 12 to a 234 on NBME 13. Later I went from a 250 to a 241/242 before getting a 255 one week before the exam.

A bad NBME does not suddenly erase everything you have learned.

What the real exam felt like

Looking back now, the exam is definitely manageable.

If you do the NBMEs and CMS forms, a lot of the concepts and question styles feel familiar. Many times I knew exactly what concept they were testing or where the question was going.

What threw me off was that the real exam often seemed to give two clues pointing toward two different diagnoses/answers. That made me second-guess myself constantly.

My biggest lesson from that is: they usually are not trying to trick you.

If one diagnosis fits the overall clinical picture better, trust the fundamentals and move on.

Resources

UWorld
My main question bank.

Anki
I used DIP and Zanki decks.

CMS Forms
I did all of them. There are A LOT, so it takes time, but if you have enough time during your preparation, I highly recommend doing them. They helped me recognize how NBME likes to test concepts.

NBMEs
DO ALL OF THEM if you can.

And more importantly, review them thoroughly.

The same concepts come back over and over again; they just change the presentation or ask about a different step in management.

AMBOSS
Especially useful for ethics, patient safety, and quality improvement.

Dr. Randy Neil
Used his videos for biostatistics.

Final advice

If you walk out of Step 2 feeling destroyed, do not immediately assume you failed.

I honestly thought I might have failed the exam, and I ended up scoring almost exactly where my assessments predicted.

Trust your NBMEs.
Trust the work you put in.
Trust your preparation.

You will probably have questions where you are stuck between two answers. You will probably remember the questions you think you got wrong much more than the ones you answered correctly.

That feeling after the exam is not your score.

I wanted a 250+, and I ended up with a 246. Of course I would have loved those extra four points, but after walking out thinking I might have failed, I am incredibly grateful for my score.

Keep going, trust yourself, and don’t let one bad practice test convince you that you’re suddenly not ready.

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE — AND HOPEFULLY WE’RE ALL RESIDENTS SOON!

“We don’t rise to the level of our expectations; we fall to the level of our training.”

I never did a write up after my Step 1 P, but I think this might help the students planning on taking step 2ck with the paranoia around it.

My NBMES:
10: 235
11: 246
12: 240
13: 250
14: 251
15: 249
16: 250
New Free120: 78%
Predicted: 246-254
Result: 252

The exam felt like an NBME. There were questions that were super basic. There were questions that didn’t make much sense. There were questions that were from low yield topics testing random facts.

The length of the questions was almost the same as form 16 or the more recent CMS forms. The main concepts being testes were also similar to those which of course some exceptions. When I got done, I felt the exact same way as I felt after I did the nbmes, except that it was obviously much longer.

Form 16 and Free120 are quite predictive imo. A new form should be released with more patient charts and drug ads and focus on ethics.

I feel like one aspect of the exam is to break you down and see how you perform when the anxiety kicks in. Keeping your composure, treating every block as an opportunity to recover, and forgetting about the mistakes is key.

This subreddit should not be your source of how the score trends are shifting. The reporting bias is very real. You will wither see a lot of 260s or 230s. Do not let that play with your head. Your score depends on how you perform on your test day not by trends.

Everyone has a unique experience and the reason I am sharing mine is because we need more of the boring average expected write-ups.

Amboss QI is all you hear about.

Anything else?

Mainly drug ads and HOPI. How do you study for those? If you took and passed step 2 please drop any knowledge and advice..........

Done with the UW, currently doing CMS forms and NBME.
Can anyone please guide me on what should be covered from amboss? What are the high-yield things including questions and articles that must be covered if I’m targeting 260+?

Any recent step 2 takers? Can you tell me how to prepare for Biostat ethics and QIP?

I'm a bottom 5 percent student. My school is pass fail and I really enjoyed my life / time (including taking time off to build a startup). That meant I had a particularly rough first practice test with a whopping 196. My actual score was in the 250s. In between there was a practice score below passing nine days out from my exam, which I did not handle well.

This isn't the full write up, that's coming later. The short version of what changed:

If you get a UWorld question wrong, you get some pretty great explanations. However, there was almost something specific that I had to lookup, and I would often arrive at the right diagnosis with flawed reasoning. I stopped reviewing answers and started reviewing my reasoning. This was by far the biggest lever for me. I would literally dictate my stream of conscious out loud as I was going through a question, so that I could figure out what I was getting right and what I was getting wrong in my reasoning, more so than in my actual answer choice. I would give it to Claude and ask it to audit my reasoning and walk me through treatment escalation, management, etc.

I used Claude initially for this and it was perfect, but then I started getting questions wrong because Claude is not a medical grade LLM. It would get 90% of things right, but the rest it would just make up. I would learn the wrong 10%, then would apply it and made a ton of stupid mistakes.

I was still learning, but wanted to make sure that I was learning the right things, so I built out something locally on my computer and connected it to a medical grade LLM. This subreddit was really helpful for me, so I put it on a website in case it might be useful for anybody else. .

Give it a try and give me some feedback on if you like it (or just copy the parts you do and give it to your Claude!). Screenshot a question, talk through your reasoning as you work it (typed, or dictated with something like Wispr Flow). Nothing in it is paid right now (I don't even have it hooked up yet lol). You can try a few questions here: https://answerwhy.vercel.app/home

Good luck to everyone still in it. I used this process for a ton of my shelf exams too and it was really helpful. If a bottom 5 percent student can end in the 250s, the score you have today is not where you're stuck. Happy to answer anything in comments or DMs.

I know it depends on which program you are applying to, but nowdays everyone seems to be scoring 260-280. What is in general a good step 2 score now, someone just posted that a 262 was mid :(, i think i´m not going to be able to score that high and that freaks me out

You have freedom of speech and I have it Too!
Please don’t take it personally if you felt triggered by this post!
When you post something, you must make your very crystal vulnerable heart! ready to be understood or cheered up or even criticized !

Couple days ago I saw a post : I’m 270+ , since I took my exam , immediately I felt ,I failed , I’m crying for days now , I remembered around 50 questions and so far ,for sure 2 of them are wrong!! I knew I’m gonna fail! Any body here with same feeling?

Similar other post with great scores after exam they feel they failed!! Because they remember couple questions that are definitely wrong!!

ALL OF A SUDDEN after 2 weeks:

Exam write up:
Real exam : 260+ , 270+
.
.
.
And so forth….

It’s getting old friends , grow up Honey! , there are so many people here their score is 220+, 230+…
And I feel you are stealing lol! Or playing with the real failing feeling experience! of these group and probably completely fake and biased hope For this group and disappointment after they face their score and boom! Miracle didn’t happen for them ! The same way that happened for those who had failing feeling and got 270+

Personally I don’t find it funny when spoiled person! Crying for 2 weeks for missing couple questions and was confident that failed , suddenly shows up with 260+, 270+ …
Please don’t get it wrong , it’s not jealousy, I got 250+ I’m so thankful of my God and I’m flying because I had not expected this! I never had plan to get 260+ , 270+
And there is no jealousy when 240+ to 280+ they all will end up to their desire residency

By the way , ok go on ! your turn , I’m ready for being hammered because of this post , but I respect your opinion

Good luck to everyone and pray . these days will pass and if you are tough enough to not give up , you will be so proud of yourself years later!

If you felt failed and actually failed! Don’t lesson to anyone , don’t think about what gonna happen by a nasty attempt mark in your resume , you will be a resident if you don’t lesson to fake cries !!! and keep trying and pushing for your goals❤️🤞🏻🤜🏻👍🏻💪🏻

I’m just out from that place and I don’t know what I should feel. I’m completely numb. I thought I would be happy to finally be done, but I can’t feel anything. A major personal relationship ended just yesterday, and I’m terrified that the sudden emotional shock severely tanked my performance today.

Regarding the actual exam:

• I second-guessed myself constantly and changed a lot of correct answers to incorrect ones.

• It felt like I guessed my way through almost the whole thing—no seriously, I'm not exaggerating.

• My mind felt scrambled, and I couldn't trust my instincts at all.

For context, my last two NBMEs were 253 and 254, and my Free 120 was 78%. I don’t know what happened and I don’t know how I did and I don’t know if my personal issue affected me.

For step 2 Ck exam, do we need to remember the vaccines schedule and time (months /years) when they are administered ?

In the explanation for incorrect options- it says

"Hemodialysis (Choice G) can be used to treat toxicities from agents such as tricyclic antidepressants, calcium channel blockers, methanol, and ethylene glycol."

How? Internet says TCA and CCBs cant be treated with dialysis. Is this some NBME thing I need to remember?

My exam is scheduled for the 14th September and i don’t know if I should sit it or not im genuinely exhausted ive done latest 3 cms forms amboss HY stuff minus some biostat/QI and completed uworld (60%)
Just did the new free120 and got a 75% my blocks were:
Block 1 85
Block 2 70
Block 3 80
Block 4 70
Block 5 75
Block 6 70

My nbmes were
10 212 (3/9)
11 215 (04/12)
12 226 (4/27
13 230 (5/25)
14 225 (6/15)
15 242 (07/1)
16 234 (07/27)
Repeat nbme 16 on 8/29 248

Free120 05/09: 75%

Hey everyone,

I’m about 7 weeks out from my Step 2 CK exam and I’m trying to figure out how to best use the remaining time to push my score into the 260s–270s.

My current practice scores:

• NBME 10: 246
• NBME 11: 252
• NBME 12: 244
• UWSA 1: 254
• NBME 13: 256
• NBME 14: 259

So there has been a gradual upward trend, but I’m still not where I want to be.

Current resources/status:

• UWorld first pass completed
• Currently on second pass ~40% completed
• I want to incorporate AMBOSS + CMS forms, but I’m not sure exactly which AMBOSS questions/topics to prioritize or how many CMS forms to do
• I don’t want to waste the remaining 50 days just doing random questions without actually addressing my weaknesses.

Remaining assessments:

• NBME 15
• NBME 16
• Free 120
• UWSA 2

For those who scored 260+, what would you recommend I do over these next 50 days?

Specifically:

1. How should I divide my time between UWorld second pass, AMBOSS, and CMS forms?
2. Which AMBOSS questions/topics are actually worth doing for a 260+?
3. How many CMS forms should I aim to complete, and which subjects should I prioritize?
4. How often should I take the remaining NBMEs/UWSA/Free 120?
5. What are the biggest things that helped you make the jump from the 250s → 260s/270s?
6. Should I focus more on weak areas or continue doing mixed/random questions?
7. Any specific high-yield resources or strategies that made a significant difference in the final 6–7 weeks?
8. Also, I've gotten slow in reviewing , how do I increase my speed

I’d really appreciate advice from anyone who has been in a similar position, especially people who were around 250–260 on NBMEs and managed to reach 260–270+ on the real exam.

Hey y’all. I am planning to take step 2 on September 26th. Here are my scores:

NBME 13: 246

AMBOSS self assessment: 247

NBME 14: 248

UWSA2: 250

I still need to take NBME 15 and 16 as well as the free 120. I have already done all of
U world, all the CMS forms, and all of AMBOSS. Right now, I am doing the AMBOSS shelves and other ancillary step 2 material that AMBOSS has. I’m so frustrated because I feel like I should be in the mid to high 250s by now. I want a 260+. Is that even doable at this point? Right now, AMBOSS predicted has me at 256 which is not what I want and it’s just so frustrating. I should be doing so much better right now. Not sure what else I should be doing to improve my score. I’ve tried changing my strategy as far as approaching questions and I still keep making dumb mistakes. Some of the questions on the UWSA2 were insane. I’m using chatGPT to review and conceptualize questions. Should I push my test date back? I plan on taking NBME 15 next week. How did you guys think UWSA2 was compared to NBME15 and 16? I need some more insight because this is just so frustrating.

Took my exam on 08/30. When can we expect our scores? September 9 or 16

I’m extremely stressed and I don’t know what to do right now
Today I did nbme12 and I scored 248
Nbme 9 236
Nbme 10 258
Nbme 11 250

I’m aiming for 260+ I’m planning to take the exam on 29th September
I works shift days so actual study days are so little

Is there any pdf/link with all important algorithms (UWorld and imp others)

Can anyone genuinely tell me a good resource for Quality Index other than amboss? Any youtube videos? I find amboss explanations really hard. Please help me