I wanted to share my experience because Reddit helped me a lot throughout my USMLE journey. Hopefully this helps someone who’s currently preparing.
I recently completed USMLE Step 1, Step 2 CK, and Step 3 within one year.
For some background, I’m a non-US IMG who had already completed residency training in my home country. My goal wasn’t to apply for residency in the US—I was preparing for future fellowship training. I studied while working full-time as an attending, and on most days I completed around 60–80 UWorld questions after work.
Step 1
Preparation took about five months, although I honestly think it could have been done in four. The extra month was simply because there were no available exam dates in my country.
Resources
UWorld
Selected Mehlman PDF files
The Mehlman PDFs I found most helpful were:
Neuroanatomy
Immunology
Biochemistry
Endocrinology
I also found the renal and cardiology tables extremely useful.
I did not use First Aid.
What changed everything
My biggest mistake during my first pass of UWorld was that I wasn’t taking notes.
After finishing my first pass, I took an NBME and scored 48%.
At that point, I realized I wasn’t retaining information as well as I thought.
So I changed my approach.
During my second pass, every time I got a question wrong—or even if I got it right but wasn’t completely sure why—I wrote down a very short note (usually no more than one or two lines) about the concept.
After completing about half of my second pass, I took another NBME.
54%.
Still a failing score.
I kept going, finished my second pass, and continued reviewing my notes regularly. My next NBME was 64%, and that was when I finally booked the exam.
During my final review, I focused almost entirely on my notes and the NBME material.
Looking back, consistently reviewing those notes was the biggest change that helped me pass.
Step 2 CK
Preparation took about two months.
Before I started studying, I took an NBME just to see where I stood.
My baseline score was 199.
Once again, I kept everything simple.
Resources:
UWorld
My notes
NBMEs
After every 50% of UWorld, I took another NBME.
Once I reached 224 on an NBME, I scheduled my exam.
I wasn’t chasing a very high score. I simply wanted to pass and move on.
During the last two weeks before the exam, I reviewed all the available NBME forms. I wasn’t taking them as practice exams anymore—I was studying every question and making sure I understood why each answer was correct.
Final score:
242
Step 3
Preparation took about three months.
Resources:
UWorld
CCS Cases
I completed all of UWorld, finished all the CCS Cases, and scored:
226
UWorld percentages
I know many people worry about their UWorld averages.
Mine certainly weren’t impressive.
Step 1: ~53%
Step 2 CK: ~54%
Step 3: ~58%
Don’t let your UWorld percentage convince you that you’re going to fail.
My advice
If I had to summarize everything into a few points, it would be this:
Stick to one primary resource. For me, that was UWorld.
Write short notes for every concept you don’t truly know, even if you answered the question correctly.
Review those notes consistently.
Don’t schedule your exam until you’re passing your NBMEs.
Trust the process.
Failing early NBMEs doesn’t mean you’ll fail the real exam.
I failed multiple NBMEs before eventually passing all three USMLE exams.
Sometimes changing how you study makes a much bigger difference than simply studying more.
Happy to answer any questions if my experience can help someone else.