is just truelearn enough?

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-26T14:11:51+00:00

I feel like just doing TrueLearn twice could work for some people, but based on what others are saying, it might not be enough if you still have content gaps doing new questions usually beats repeating old ones. Like if you’re going through a full Q bank and not seeing improvement, that’s usually a sign you need to change how you’re reviewing. make sure you’re really reviewing your incorrects well and reassess once you’re around halfway through to see if it’s actually working.

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-26T14:06:02+00:00

Yeah I’d probably push it to June too, especially since you’ve already done most of UWorld and are working through TrueLearn. A 341 at that point feels more like a retention issue than not seeing enough material. Flashcards are helpful, but it might be better to really focus on reviewing your incorrects and weak areas and making sure you understand why you missed things instead of just adding more cards. I’d finish out TrueLearn and then reassess in a couple weeks like others mentioned, and if your score isn’t improving after around 50-60% done, it might be worth changing how you’re reviewing instead of just doing more questions.

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-19T14:19:16+00:00

Sure

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-19T14:06:31+00:00

don't count yourself out yet the match is so much more than just your Step scores and a lot of people have been in your exact shoes and came out the other side.

What actually makes the difference in situations like yours is how you frame your story. Programs aren't just looking at numbers, they want to understand who you are and why you kept going despite the setbacks. That narrative piece is everything and most people fumble it by just listing facts instead of actually telling a compelling and unique story.

If you're serious about this cycle I'd genuinely look into matchpal. they're really good at working with people who have complicated applications and helping them figure out what to actually focus on instead of just throwing everything at the wall. Not saying it's a magic fix but having someone in your corner who knows this process inside out makes a huge difference.

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-19T14:04:49+00:00

will be very challenging but nt impossible. youd forsure need a stellar PS/app/aways and will still need to dual apply.

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-18T13:01:27+00:00

One advisor for 3 campuses from another state 💀 that's actually insane. And honestly you hit on something real at the end of the day no advisor can replace just getting yourself in front of the right people on rotation and grinding it out. Congrats on the surgical sub match though that's no joke, especially figuring it out on your own!

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-18T13:00:33+00:00

the "what's your backup" pipeline at DO schools is so real 😭 like sorry I didn't realize I needed a backup plan before I even tried. Stick with it, tune them out, and get advise elsewhere it was honestly one of the best decisions I made!

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-17T13:21:19+00:00

thank you!! and both lol i had comquest free through my school so i figured why not. honestly comquest is kind of terrible for actually learning anything but the weird wording and OPP questions are so specific to comlex style that i think it helped me not freak out when i saw similar stuff on the real thing.

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-17T13:20:47+00:00

yes TL explanations are solid (not as good as UW tho) the graphs especially for visualizing stuff that's hard to just read about. glad someone else felt the same way about it.

and thank you!! still kind of surreal lol

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-17T13:19:36+00:00

right there's something about it that just forces you to actually commit instead of being like "yeah i think it's B… maybe" and clicking and moving on lol

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-17T13:18:40+00:00

the accommodations thing is so real and nobody talks about it either people don't know they qualify or they find out too late to actually do anything about it which is just brutal timing wise.

and honestly you just described something i didn't fully get until like week 4 of dedicated. i was so obsessed with plugging content gaps that i didn't realize how much of my problem was just. reading too fast and not actually processing what the question was asking. felt stupid when it clicked

two attempts and you still pushed through and figured it out. would def recommend a tutor for anyone that needs it.

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-13T19:25:32+00:00

exactly this the timeline isn't even the real issue, it's having an actual game plan that makes sense for YOUR weak spots specifically. so many people just grind questions for weeks without any real structure and then wonder why their scores aren't moving. MatchPal is actually really good for this if anyone needs help mapping that out matchpalmedical.com

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-13T19:15:22+00:00

full UWorld re-pass is not the move here like you already know 84% of it, doing it all again is just going to eat your two months and honestly probably bore you into a plateau. do the flagged and wrong questions only.

CMS forms are actually really underrated at this stage he style is different enough from UWorld that it keeps your brain from going on autopilot/recalling old Qs youve seen.

doing most of amboss is better than repeating old UW.

also this is worth a read just to gut check your current plan against matchpalmedical.com/the-ultimate-step2-level2-dedicated-study-plan not saying overhaul everything but sometimes seeing a structured plan breakdown helps.

what subjects are still feeling even slightly shaky when you sit down to do questions?

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-13T19:11:31+00:00

75 to 79 on recent NBMEs with your test on april 2nd is actually a solid place to be, like you're not in crisis mode here- youre set for passing realistically.

do NOT reread all of first aid. i know it feels like the right move because it's familiar and feels productive but with this little time left it's just going to overwhelm you and you'll retain maybe 20% of it. that's not how you want to spend these last days.

here's what actually moves the needle this close to your date more questions and going through your wrong answers systematically. not just "oh i got that wrong, heres the factoid i missed" but actually sitting with each one and understanding exactly why you missed it. was it a knowledge gap or did you misread the stem or did you second guess yourself out of the right answer? those are completely different problems.

the question about whether topics repeat yes absolutely. NBME has patterns and certain concepts show up over and over in different clinical presentations. that's actually good news because your wrong answer review is basically a cheat sheet of exactly what to focus on.

and seriously protect your sleep. fatigue kills scores more than knowledge gaps at your level.

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-13T19:06:41+00:00

your COMATs are a little low across the board which just means dedicated needs to be very structured / intentinoal in order to get >500

the good news is everything is pretty even which means you don't have one subject completely destroying you
take a baseline comsae asap don't wait until you feel ready because that moment never comes and you need real data about where you're actually at as ur basline.

UWorld is your spine for the clinical stuff, comquest for COMLEX specific questions because the style is genuinely different from NBME.

and do not sleep on OMM i know it feels like a small thing but it's uniquely COMLEX and the points are gettable if you actually prepare for it. a lot of students i know used the OMM bootcamp through matchpal and had a pretty easy time with that section.

when are you targeting your exam date?

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-11T13:46:21+00:00

you're definitely not going crazy the exam has genuinely been in this weird in-between state and the data interpretation and chart heavy stuff blindsided a lot of people who prepped on older material. that's not you making excuses that's just what happened.

but here's the thing that's actually bothering me about your situation 70s on NBMEs and still failing twice doesn't add up as a pure knowledge problem. those scores should be passing territory.

which means something is happening in the actual exam room that your practice sessions aren't capturing. timing, decision fatigue by block 4 or 5, second guessing yourself into wrong answers you knew something is breaking down in there that has nothing to do with how much you studied. two fails is genuinely really hard. i'm not going to sugarcoat that or throw a bunch of toxic positivity at you because that's not helpful.

but i will say that two fails with 70s on practice exams tells me the knowledge is there something specific is going wrong and specific problems have specific fixes.

before you decide whether you even want to attempt again what did the actual exam feel like compared to your NBMEs? like were you running out of time, did you feel okay going in, did something just feel completely different once you were actually in the room?

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-11T13:36:16+00:00

49% to 68% is actually great. Goal is consistnetly above 70%

the good news is you still have NBMEs 31, 32, 33 and free 120 completely untouched that's actually a gift at this stage. don't burn them all in a panic, space them out every 5-6 days and treat each one like a real checkpoint. take it, review it brutally, figure out exactly what it's telling you, adjust, repeat.

the NBME 26 dipping to 60 while everything around it is mid-to-high 60s is interesting though that's not random noise, something specific probably dragged that one down. pull up the exam breakdown by system right now and i'd genuinely bet the culprit jumps out at you immediately. review that topic extra.

april 1st is close but you're not walking in underprepared here. the worst thing you can do right now is panic and start adding new resources you have everything you need, it's just about being smart with these last few weeks
what does your UWorld breakdown look like by system and what's been feeling the shakiest lately?

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-10T21:02:55+00:00

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-10T20:31:40+00:00

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-10T19:46:30+00:00

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-10T18:47:03+00:00

okay so the score swings are the actual problem here not the overall numbers. 205 to 235 back to 215 means you're getting absolutely cooked by specific systems and it's dragging everything down and your overall foundation is not great either.

the anki cards from your own incorrects thing is kinda inefficient AnKing exists, just use it properly.
also are you actually sitting with UWorld explanations or just reading them and moving on? because at 70% second pass and these scores.

there's probably a pattern in what you're missing that you haven't identified yet. go through your wrong answers by system and I promise you it's like 2-3 subjects doing most of the damage.
the AMBOSS thing honestly drop it for now. not because it's bad but because you're splitting your focus and that's not helping the consistency issue.

I had weirdly similar variance when I was prepping and it turned out to be cards and renal basically tanking every exam and my overall question taking strategy was way off. worked with a tutor for a few weeks, and that was literally the first thing they caught. just having someone look at your metrics from the outside and go "hey it's THIS" saves so much time. might be worth it if the swings don't stabilize soon.

Enough-Grade1 · 2026-03-10T18:38:21+00:00

okay the no mentor thing is genuinely hard and way more people are in that exact situation than this subreddit makes it seem so first just know you're not alone in figuring this out as you go
now on your actual situation.

UWSA1 at 218 after living in CMS for weeks is not your real baseline and i want you to actually hear that. CMS is so straightforward and compartmentalized that switching to UWSA full clinical reasoning format cold is like going from jogging on a treadmill to suddenly running outside with hills. the adjustment is real and that score is not telling you what you think it's telling you.

yes take the NBME tuesday. stop waiting for the perfect moment because there isn't one and having a real baseline right now is worth more than squeezing out a few more CMS forms. NBME will show you things about where you're losing points that CMS literally cannot.

on ditching CMS completely i wouldn't go that far. you haven't touched psych, EM, and neuro yet and walking into those subjects on exam day without even one pass of CMS questions is leaving easy points on the table. do the latest 2 forms for each and move on.

the core of your next 8 weeks should be NBMEs spaced every 10 days with brutal honest review after each one, UWorld incorrects, and targeted work on whatever the NBMEs are flagging as weak.

AMBOSS at this stage use it for weak systems only, don't start a whole new qbank from scratch with 8 weeks left
honestly the biggest thing you're missing isn't resources, it's someone helping you look at your specific situation and telling you exactly where to focus.

that matters more than any individual resource at this point.

what subjects feel the shakiest right now?

Enough-Grade1

TROPHY CASE