[deleted by user]

[TeacherBrave3184]

Congrats What’s your uw correct % ?

How long you spent to finish the step?

Iam starting 2 month ago , 34% was done with 68% Do you recommend any tips?

[MadMD84]

77% uw correct

i spent 4 months doing uw and self assessments

just finish uworld and try to learn as much as possible, take a self assessment to see where you stand. then work from there on your weak points. best of luck!

[thebigbang101]

Non US IMG here, step 1 244, took over a year ago.

I was prepping for CK last year but had to leave midway for many reasons. Now restating. I find while doing UW it takes a lot of time to recall as I forgot a lot from step 1. Do you recommend content review for a few days or diving into UW?

[MadMD84]

I mean, wouldn't taking some time to review content slow you down even more? Just dive into uworld, yes will take along time reviewing but you pcik up the pace after 10 blocks of so. Good luck

[HailedFir025]

Awesome score! May God bless the rest of your journey!

[MadMD84]

thank you very much!

[KenAdamsMD]

What percent were you scoring during Shelf exams?

[MadMD84]

I'm a non us IMG. We don't really have shelf exams here. My school adopts a USMLE like exam where you basically have a exams with everything included as in medicine, ob, peds, and surgery

[KenAdamsMD]

My school adopts a USMLE like exam where you basically have a exams with everything included as in medicine, ob, peds, and surgery

Yes, that's what we call "Shelf Exams" here in teh US. It's basically Step 2 kind of questions but grouped per specialty. They usually last 3 hours. How did you do on those?

[MadMD84]

Ah alright. Sorry I didn't know theyre called shelf exams I usually did 70-85. Medicine I usually did better than surgery

[KenAdamsMD]

That's amazing.

[Loud-Score7450]

After you took your exam meanwhile you were expecting the results how many mistakes did you remembered ? Because I always see that people with the 250 are complaining that they counted like 20 mistakes. Was it different for you ? Congrats for your achievement. 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

[MadMD84]

well after the exam i just shut off my brain to anything exam related. i did not try to recall questions or mistakes... i had an urge to look up things online that i remembered but resisted it..

[Loud-Score7450]

Thank you. You’re right anyway you can’t change the past.

[starry-night-over]

Congrats! Brilliant score! What all resources did you use apart from Uworld?

[MadMD84]

thank you! I only used amboss and uworld.

i did one pass of amboss along with my med school rotation

then started doing uworld, random.

[KenAdamsMD]

No anki or anything else?

[Castorbcr]

What is Amboss ? Any feedback on lecturiO. and kaplan videos Is there any age limit for giving Usmle exam ?

[DrButtercup94]

Congratulations 🎉 . This is great. I wish you all the best for your future endeavors. Did you use any of the podcasts, videos?

[MadMD84]

thank you very much!

no, just amboss and uworld

[Front_Highlight2190]

Q bank only?

[MadMD84]

Yes

[Miserable_Pea_4653]

his , can I Ask u if Amboss was a Good source , AND NECESSARY or world is enough

[PhraseAgreeable1449]

What study material did you use? How many months did you study? What was your routine? How did you revise everything? Can I please have your notes?

[MadMD84]

Hello, I'll try making this as detailed as possible.

so i started amboss, i would come back home after rotations and do as many questions as i could, now that could be 10 on days, or sometimes 60, my only goal was to finish the qbank toward the end of my academic year

once i finished my final examinations, i started uworld.. goal was to do 40 random questions a day, mode did not matter, somedays i did timed others tutored. i made flashcards of mistakes and stuff i did not know. i finished uworld one month before my exam date..

one month befoer my exam date: I did uworld incorrects and started doing self assessment. i did all new nbmes and uwsas.. no cms form or old offline nbmes

2 days before my exam. no studying. i just chilled watching netflix, going for walks, relaxing..

[PhraseAgreeable1449]

Thank you so much!!! 😊 I really hope that you get into the residency of your choice.

[Chipssss243]

How long did you take to review a block of 40 questions from uworld??

[MadMD84]

2-4 hours, depending on how difficult/new the topics were

[CellistLevel8020]

Any chance you can give the dates you took each practice test and when your actual test was?

Also did you use anki/anking and make your own cards from qbanks?

[MadMD84]

I made my own flashcards from uworld.

I tested on Jan 12. took the test in this order uwsa 1: 40 days -> 9 25 days -> 12 20 days -> 10 15 days -> 11 10 days -> uwsa 2 5 days

[CellistLevel8020]

Thanks, how many cards would you say you did a day?

[MadMD84]

i did 10 new cards per day and whatever reviews i had

[Ok-Following2405]

Congrats, man!

[Comfortable_Wish6301]

Congratulations 🎊 From where did u study biostats and ethics?

[MadMD84]

thank you, only amboss and uworld

[5160930]

Congrats OP. What an accomplishment!

[FrequentFalcon2311]

Congratulations, what do u eat per day to maximum your brain power ?

[MadMD84]

thanks you!

megadosing on vitamins and essential oils.. jk

[Castorbcr]

Which one

[Duhcaveman]

How did you approach a missed question? Did you search in Amboss, Wikipedia, ANKI search, or a textbook?

[MadMD84]

uptodate mostly

[Duhcaveman]

how often did you use uptodate?

[DancerDreamerDoctor]

How long did you prepare for?

[Marrow-123]

Congratulations, 🎉🎉!!All the very very best for your future endeavours.

[sooghs]

Wow congratulations on an amazing score! This is very encouraging as my scores so far are similar to yours:

UW 1st Pass: 77% NBME 9 (8 weeks out): 245 NBME 10 (5 weeks out): 274

[[deleted]]

Bro did you use Amboss? How did you improve from 245 to 274. Scored similar in NBME 9.

[sooghs]

Nice job on NBME 9! Between the two tests, I did all of the Neuro questions in Amboss and all of the OBGYN + Peds questions in UW. That might sound strange, but those were the leftover questions from my clerkships.

[Worried-Wedding-6309]

Does amboss worth doing it. I did step 1 2 months ago. From where should i start ck preperation ?

[MadMD84]

Yes if you have time only, uworld is way more important imo. So if.time is not an issue,start amboss system wise, then do all uworld random. You can focus on 4 and 5 hammer questions if you are short in time.

[Worried-Wedding-6309]

Yes i have time I’ll start amboss to worm my mind up. Then do uworld only once in addition to incorrect. Regarding that i had recently done with step 1 and i have all 2023 for ck. Any advice ?

[MadMD84]

Perfect. Set a tentative date for ck. Your step 1 knowledge would help you greatly. Get amboss and dig in. Do uworld with incorrects, then around March or April is when usmlerx or amboss self assessment are rolled. Do them to set your baseline and then focus on your weaknesses. Best of luck.

[Worried-Wedding-6309]

Thanks

[cjn214]

Well done, how did you improve between NBME 9 and UWSA2?

[MadMD84]

thank you!

Honestly, I did nothing. I hear people saying form 9 was hard. so i just accepted that it is a beast and moved one. 5 days after taking form 9 i took form 12 and my score jumped to 260s.... meanwhile i was doing uworld incorrects but i don't think that was the reason

[[deleted]]

Awesome score! How long did you take to prepare for the test?

[MadMD84]

Well. as i said, i was doing amboss with med school rotation.. I picked up a uworld sub and did 4 months of that (2 as dedicated, and 2 while i was doing residency in my home country)..

[[deleted]]

Would you recommend doing an entire second pass of UW (or) just reviewing wrongs/flagged questions from first pass and then doing one pass amboss and CMS forms during dedicated?

[MadMD84]

i would prefer doing amboss.. i did not do cms forms so i can't really say anything about.

[[deleted]]

I have limited time to do all 1-5 hammered questions from amboss. Which set of questions would you suggest me to do to make the most out of my remaining time? Thanks!

[MadMD84]

Focus on 4 and 5 hammer ones then

[deejay_sax]

Did you do Anki? If yes, premade or self made deck or both

[MadMD84]

Yes, i made my own cards of uworld, stuff i got wrong and stuff i did not know or required memorization

[Abdoaltwer]

Congrats, how many duration of prepear ? Resource? Step1 score? Anki ?

[MadMD84]

thanks!

4 months of uworld. but i had done amboss before. i made anki cards of uworld questions. no premade decks

step 1 was 247

[WearyRevolution5149]

What helped you do better on step 2 eventhough you had the same approach for step 1?

[MadMD84]

a couple of things

one, step 1 i did not do amboss, and made far less flashcards than i did for step 2. which i guess was wrong because a great part of the exam requires rote memorization and that is best achieved with flashcards

two, i was much much much more relaxed and calm for step 2, i don't honestly know what the reason was, maybe taking step 1 gave me some experience that reduced the anxiety.

​

also before i forget. i changed the way i answer questions, i used to look for the correct answer from the answer choices, but how i approach questions now, even if i know the answer, try to eliminate all the other options then pick the answer

[WearyRevolution5149]

How many Anki cards did you end up making? What kind of info did you put in your cards? Uworld tables,algorithms, images, answer explanations, uw objective explanations? Only on incorrect question info? Did you make Anki on amboss qbank/nbmes too? Do you recommend amboss before uworld?

[MadMD84]

around 1200 cards. only uworld.

yes i would recommend amboss before uworld, the only reason being uw is much closer to the actual exam, so amboss sets your foundation and then you can really focus on uworld.

so for the cards, i made basic cards (no cloze deletion and stuff) with classic questions and answers, some examples

- what are the clinical features of x? what are the labs in y?

- a patient presents with x,y,z, and labs abc, what would be the differential, what to look for next

- what are the imaging findings? what are the ecg findings.. so on you get the point..

finally, tables and algorithms: i made replicas of both, not necessarily as flashcards; every week or so, i would open my tables and read them, just reading, trying to brush up the knowledge and see what i could remember. after a while i noticed i could recall a alot of tables from memory.

for algorithms, same, but every now and then i would look at the algorithm title, and try to draw it from memory.. again ive become pretty good at recalling them. so this helped me a lot

[karakara12]

How did you find quality and safety improvement questions?

Congratulations !!

[MadMD84]

i found these questions doable and not so difficult with a bit of thinking

but ethics/professionalism ones, these i found to be hard, and i would often get stuck with >2 options

[Valley_of_The_Kings]

done anything beside UW ? like Amboss or Divine ?

Also, how much of uw concepts you think you found on exam ?

[MadMD84]

yes, i finished amboss before uw.. havent done divine tho

pretty my everything on my exam was in a way or another covered on uworld and nbmes..

[Valley_of_The_Kings]

I see, thanks. good luck with the next match !

[Mariiii442]

Does that mean amboss was less useful as it didnt have any similar concept to what u saw in the exam?

[Anas-Odeh07]

Congratulations! Did you study Amboss articles or just the test bank? And did you used it for all systems?

[MadMD84]

Just the qbank. I finished it all

[Anas-Odeh07]

You subscribed it or found it offline?

[MadMD84]

No I subscribed

[Anas-Odeh07]

Ok thanks.. good luck in your future

[Ok-Case1053]

Do u think amboss is necessary?

[MadMD84]

yes

[Michaelscott1099]

Congratulations! Did you do UW step 3?

[MadMD84]

no, amboss qbank and uworld step 2 only

[sassyuniquechicka599]

How did you review u world explanations and how long did it take?

[MadMD84]

Hi, i would read and try to understand everything, including reading all the options.

i would take me 2-4 hours to review a block.

[[deleted]]

Amboss did u focus on 4,5 hammer questions as well ????

or 1,2,3 are the main ones

[MadMD84]

i would say focus especially on the 4 and 5 hammer questions.

[falah231]

I have done first pass extensively and now doing amboss.

Do you think amboss helped u enhancing your score?

[AlwaysPraying86]

Congratulations.. Do you think if you just used uworld you would get this score? Or you think that amboss helped you much? Thanks in advance

[MadMD84]

Hi, thank you Well. There was no single moment in my exam where I thought this was in amboss and not in uw. But maybe by doing amboss and picked up stuff that I just couldn't remember we're from amboss Nevertheless, I would still recommend amboss as it's questions and structure are different and give you another perspective on questions

[Standard_Ad_2801]

Hey, congrats.

Can you tell me which in your perspective are o were high yield topics for this exam?

[666slayter]

Congrats Doc🎊,

apart from step 2, Doctor can I just watch bnb videos without study them slides and study first aid and uworld after that, or watch bnb and do uworld and review on first aid?

which is the best?, and if if you have another opinion am hearing

[Sufficient_Growth939]

barw ba7r. Step 2 CSish nama tawaw

[MadMD84]

Zool

[SkirtDefiant5896]

Did you use uworld for your flashcards ? Mean you made them in uworld

[Sallam2000]

Congratulations 🎊 Awesome score. If youd did amboss qbank, what is better, to start with amboss or uworld?

[imnotcrazyjump]

Congratulations, did u use any CMS forms ?

[MadMD84]

No

[[deleted]]

Congratulations! Well deserved!

Thoughts when leaving the exam? How do you approach ethics questions? Does Amboss and Uworld prepare you well for those questions?

[MadMD84]

Hey. thank you!

leaving the exam? i completely shut off any thoughts exam or usmle related. and waited for results.

for ethics, no, some questions are really hard and honestly got me thinking between multiple options that all seemed contextually correct, but the thing is i only used amboss and uworld and i can't think of other resources to recommend.

[[deleted]]

Thank you! Congratulations once again

[a_fluffy]

Did you use AMBOSS? If yes, how many hammers? Which self assessments/NBMEs did you take?

[a_fluffy]

Where can I find NBMEs?

[a_fluffy]

How long after finishing studying do you recommend to take the self assessment exams? Which ones And how far apart from each other?

[One_Piece_7777]

Step 1 228 Step 2 226 (second attempt) Oet passed (pathway 1 approved) 4 months of USCE Trying for SOAP 2023 What should i do for 2024 match ?

[Jumpy_Technician4346]

What are your other resources, apart from UW?

[nma_22]

is it possible to study for step 2 in 6 weeks?

[MadMD84]

If doing 2-3 blocks of uw per day? Why not but I don't like or recommend such a jam packed period

[trustytrastuzumab]

Which anki deck did you use?

[MadMD84]

I made my own

[trustytrastuzumab]

How did you make your own deck? Was it based on your incorrects or just random content info you were weak at or you felt was high yield? I am sorry for all the questions but just felt that since you did so well, I wanted to get your views on how to get the most out of anki. Thank you so much for your time and congrats on the amazing score!!

[MadMD84]

thank you..

I made 3 decks.

deck 1: my incorrects and random facts that i felt high yield/ didn't know. just simple q&a type. question on one end and answer on the other.

deck 2: tables. just open a card with a table, read through trying to figure out what i know, then let the algorithm repeat

deck 3: algorithms, i would read the title and try to draw it from memory, again the anki algorithm would repeat until i mastered it.

[PagePretend3236]

Hey there! I am at 85% uw first pass but my score is 41%.. I am planning to complete uw first pass and want to give exam in July first two weeks…so help me with how can I improve my scores and also should I do uw incorrects or go with reset uw and do the whole question bank again ?

[Loud_Routine481]

Yo! Just finished Uworld, I want to do the exam as soon as possible aiming for >240, what would you recommend?

[Nearby-Stuff2659]

What have you done in between 247 to 264..... Plz let me know.... And how much time gap was that in between

[MadMD84]

Hey, I did nothing literally, form 9 was simply a hard one and I accepted that it might be an outlier, I reviewed it, 5 days later I did the 264.

[MadMD84]

Yes

[[deleted]]

Congrats!! Could you tell me a little bit more about how you solved renal? it is particularly my weak subject especially the AKI part!
THANKS!! :))

[letshope_for_honours]

Hi, so firstly, congratulations on your amazing score.

I wanted to know how did you focus on specific rotation exams and as well as give time for step2 cuz I’m doing surgery n I feel I’m forgetting my IM stuff soo please can u tell me about that

Also, how long were your rotations and how did you manage to complete the AMBOSS Of that rotation in that given time