let me confess that i had not thought that i would post my experience here again but the only reason for doing it is that i want to tell everyone that everyday isn't the same but if you try and stay alive and breathe sometimes there are miracles that happen by gods' grace.another reason is that i got a good score ;-)although unxpected.just one thing more before i go on,this is not one of those how to study and how to plan essays,infact i will try to give an honest narrative of what i felt about things while preparing and taking the test.a lot of us feel and go through similar situations i guess..
after getting over with step1 it is difficult to keep on going and reading the same things and doing the same whole thing again and again...
and i will be honest in saying that it was exactly same for me..plus the hangover of your score(whatever it maybe)can last a bit longer than you want..i had taken more time off than one usually does after step1 (about 2 months with very little or hardly any studying)i had finished step 1 in end of october and started for step 2 late december..i had planned to take it around april mid..but then with some luck i got to do a fellowship in april in new york and had to leave by march end..so all the planning went down the drain..when i reached here(alone) in nyc, it was a nightmare initially-home sick,jet lagged,lonely and culture shocked..slowly i started getting used to things in usa...i had a Brazilian roommate,who by the way was really nice,so most evenings i would go out for grocery shopping or sight seeing..books seemed not to fit in the picture..tell then i had read kaplan ones and along with that did kaplan qbank qs(free download)and after that tried finishing u world(in one month) before leaving india..i wasn't doing great on uworld but it wasn't awful either...around mid and late 60s..so i was on the borderline of comfort and anxiety..
somewhere in between i also read first aid ones..just skimming..i had thought of giving kaplan another read but i din't even know how time flew by and during the whole month of april(fellowship month) all i did was read usmle secrets..don't ask why coz probably i din't wanna read the same thing from the same books again so instead tried reading the same thing from a different book..(i know a lot of people are raising their eye brows at this moment,but thats what i did)then in 15 days i had my exam so i had to choose between revising uworld and rereading kaplan,i chose the former..that was also hard for me because my flow had been broken..somehow i managed to look at all except about 50 qs(which i couldn't do first time as well)But time was limited..i knew all along that i should read kaplan atleast once more but i couldn't manage..last few days did some nbme qs (downloaded ones and as i had not done those in step1 as well so thought i should atleast take a look)Day before the exam i took kaplan simulated test,though i won't recommend doing the same day before your exam,i had no option...that night also i was worried that the gamble is a big one to take--i am talking about going into the test with only one kaplan read..
i know people will now think that all anxieties were alleviated coz most probably the exam wasn't as bad as i had thought it would be...surprise!! it was worse..i thought i could even flunk it coz a lot of questions seemed wierd and unheard of...or maybe a step ahead of what i had prepared for--for example they won't ask autism but would put in a scenario for u to figure out and ask u the management of it which would be possible if in the first place you could get it was autism...and not straightforward options but some where it was difficult to choose from the two..there were lots like this..i also remember being flustered coz i knew aortic dissection is diagnosed with TEE or maybe first step is to give an anti hypertensive--but there wasnt an option like those there..i think one had to choose between ct scan and angio...wierd to say the least
so as u can guess i couldn't be sure of the answer in half of the ques,and half of them seemed a page long..so i couldn't have spare time in any block..got 2-3 murmurs which i thought would be clear from the scenario if they came up so i didn't listen to them...but then i had to take a guess in the test i think..this was just a flavour of what i saw..and i dare say that the test seemed tougher than u world although uw has a reputation of its own..
all in all i felt sick and ouky after the exam..not sure what i had done but sure that whatever i had done wasn't good...as everyone does i also tried to remember what questions were asked and what i did and was it right or wrong and blah blah..but you can't do much more than that..i read a few experiences all of which seemed good and that made me more nervous..anyway i got distracted a bit as i had to take cs in a month and had gone to newark for kaplan cs course....infact it was my sister who looked up my score and told me as i couldn't access net from there...it was a very pleasant surprise and i mean it that i had scored 99..wasn't expecting one bit..but then maybe its true that they indeed score on difficulty level...i think its becoming a much longer read than can be comfortable so i would wrap up by saying even though you are not in the most comfortable scenarios sometimes,things do work out all right..hope i have given hope to those who have taken the time to read this and would urge them to give a fight no matter what...
i say 'not the most comfortable scenarios' because i had some major personal life emotional crisis kind of a situation in case you are wondering..those who know me a bit more,know what i am talking about...
but the most important thing of all is you ought to want 99 and you will get it.
for those who want to get an idea about the stats-
u world(all except 50 qs)-cumulative,random-abt 68%
kaplan qbank(dnt remember)done alongwth notes-guess abt 70%
kaplan simulated (2004)-80%
kaplan free diagnostic test-10 days before test-82%(not predictive though)
step2 ck score-246/99
step1 score-245/99
p.s-all comments(positive or negative) are more than welcome.in fact i would appreciate feedback a lot.thanks
