USMLE Step 2CK: Resources I Used to Score a 270

[@magdanuri5934]

You used everything,all the resources no wonder 270. Thank you

[@carolmartha8449]

Omg i cant agree to ur views more ,mehlman is so so underrated

[@alyssa-do]

He is underrated for sure!!

[@dr.poornaprajna]

Mehlman Medical is Amazing :)

[@alyssa-do]

100%. He makes such high-quality educational content. 👌

[@alih6953]

Dear Alyssa congratz on the great score. However, I would say it is NOT just the resources. You are a GREAT student as well. For example, if I were to go to the Gym and ask a body builder what protein shake he uses, I will get an answer. It is not just what he eats there are other factors as well! Great video

[@alyssa-do]

Yes good point- there are definitely other variables at play as well! I think luck is also a factor in terms of getting a form that might cater more to one's strengths.

[@sim_aware]

Great list. Sharing with a few of our students now. Thanks and nice work!

[@OyinkanS]

Thank you. This is really helpful ❤️

[@semsemsemsem5049]

I will be so grateful if you can tell your scores in each nbme you did.

[@mailyncasado8472]

Thank you for sharing 😊

[@mahmoudjaber5705]

that's great, you covered everything

[@PaddyCakesss]

Hey girl, thanks for this super helpful video! Did you re-do your UWorld incorrects by the end of whatever rotation you were on, or during your dedicated period?

[@alyssa-do]

Hey! I did most of my UW incorrects during dedicated. For two rotations, family med and psych, I finished my questions early so I went through my incorrects during the rotation and I did actually score slightly higher on those shelf exams. Who knows, could be a coincidence. :)

[@champion8433]

For someone who is 2 years away from step 2.....how would u recommended someone with resources to build foundation before starting uworld in dedicated? Like resources for im,surgery,obg and pediatrics?

[@alyssa-do]

I'm not sure I quite understand your question, but here is my attempt to answer anyway. :) I think a great way to build a foundation prior to starting UWorld for Step 2CK is by studying for your med school classes and mastering the content from USMLE Step 1. Immediately after I took Step 1, and approximately 1 year prior to Step 2CK, I started UWorld for Step 2CK. UWorld teaches you most of what you need to know for the USMLE exams if you read entire answer explanations, so you don't really need a "foundation" prior to starting UWorld for Step 2 apart from learning the content from Step 1. Just jump right into UWorld. :) Personally, I think the more practice questions you can accumulate, the better. I suppose if you wanted some non Q-bank options, you could consider looking at an ANKI deck like Cheesy Dorian or the Mehlman Medical content (pdfs/vids). Does this answer your question? If not, let me know!

[@champion8433]

@@alyssa-do like are there any textbooks or review resources for surgery,obg, pediatrics and I'm so that it can help me with college exams and also build foundation for step 2 before I start UWorld?

[@alyssa-do]

Probably "First Aid for USMLE Step 1" would be one book you could purchase and start flipping through and also take a look at the Mehlman Medical pdfs for the different specialties. I didn't use any other books/reviews!

[@MJfp6lx]

Did you have a solid foundation before the qbank. Did you use any shelf books or video resources for medicine surgery etc. ?

[@alyssa-do]

I actually used the qbank to build a foundation. During most rotations, I did also use the ANKI Cheesy Dorian deck towards the beginning of each rotation so I guess that was sort of a “foundation,” but I started with questions on day 1 of each rotation. 😊

[@MJfp6lx]

​@@alyssa-dowhat about step 1. According to Mehlman even if anyone has a super weak basics they should start qbank and learn from it as a foundation. Then wrote memorize the NBMEs then sit the step 1. Do you think they should use video resources and lectures to build a foundation or directly learn from qbank in step 1. Thoughts?

[@jared394]

@@alyssa-do Were you getting wrecked on the questions to start with?

[@md_ashurov4738]

Do you think rotations were helpful for scoring high? Coz most of IMGs doesn’t have AMG-like clinical rotations so I was wonder what impact clinical rotations have on step 2 performance in your opinion

[@alyssa-do]

That is an excellent question. Some research I was reading a while back suggested rotations (and taking on a higher number of patients as a med student) have a positive impact on scores. In my experience, I would say >90% of my score was related to the large amount of practice questions/studying I did outside of rotations. I would say the practice questions I did outside of my rotations were more helpful for my rotations than the rotations were for my practice questions haha. I wouldn't worry that your rotations aren't AMG-like, just do loads of practice questions and you'll do great. 😊

[@md_ashurov4738]

@@alyssa-do thanks for your valuable feedback and helpful videos! Looking forward for more vids from you

[@sammathews6634]

Can you please make videos of how you approached different types of questions on the exam? Did you use the highlighting feature, makes notes on the laminated pad, etc....if you could mention your techniques? Thanks!

[@alyssa-do]

Ooo that's a great idea for a video! To answer you now, I kept my highlighting and notes to a minimum to save time. I'd say the strikethrough feature was my favorite to eliminate obvious incorrect answers. I flagged questions I wasn't 100% on, and I wrote down question numbers on my laminated sheet for questions that I might be able to figure out if I had a bit more time- I would prioritize going back to those questions first before my other flagged questions if I had extra time at the end of a section. For long biostats questions, I would just flag and skip those until the end of a section. I also flagged and skipped multiple-part questions because those questions sometimes gave away the answer halfway through so you would know if you got the first part of the question correct/incorrect and I didn't want that messing with my headspace. Basically, I'd just do all the long questions and multi-part questions at the end of every section after I finished all the other questions. :) I also didn't spend too much time on any one question- if I couldn't figure it out in a reasonable amount of time, I just flagged it and moved on. Let me know if you have any more questions!

[@sammathews6634]

@@alyssa-do Thank you for the response! Looking forward to your videos about my request and many more! Happy New Year to you! You have truly inspired me....

[@martinmartins7412]

You are amazing Alyssa because the consistency, perseverance and your dedication is so impressive. Congratulations

[@deathkissgoodbye]

Do have a recommendation for which chat gpt to use to help understand answer explanations better?

[@alyssa-do]

At that time I think I was using the 3rd version? Can’t quite remember sorry! It’s much better now though and I think the free 4-o is better than what I was using at the time

[@Kickbackfool87]

Legendary. How useful do you think CMS forms ended up being?

[@alyssa-do]

Extremely useful! My real deal felt much like the CMS forms.

[@deathkissgoodbye]

Is the worth it doing twice? Only have time for 1 pass and full nbmes

[@sammathews6634]

Could you please share the core textbooks, and the shorter - guide/review books you used to prepare for the usmle step 2ck? Thank you.

[@alyssa-do]

The resources in this video are actually ALL of the resources I used for Step 2CK. I didn't use any textbooks per se (apart from First Aid during dedicated). I suppose you could consider the UWorld and NBME questions and explanations as my core "textbook" though because I read literally everything in each question explanation. I found I can both learn and retain information better by doing practice questions than I can from a textbook because the questions are more interactive and keep me interested- but that's just me! Sorry, I wish I could recommend a textbook but I didn't use any!

[@sammathews6634]

@@alyssa-do Thank you for taking the time to write back to me.

[@deathkissgoodbye]

Did you complete all of your uworld incorrects? I will have ~1500 incorrects of uworld. If I decide to do incorrects, I may not have time for 2nd pass cms. Which would you prioritize?

[@alyssa-do]

Great question. It is important to do whichever feels right for you- there is more than one way to do well on Step 2. I have a friend who scored in the same range as me (actually a couple points higher) and she did UW incorrects and no NBME content. I personally felt like I got the highest returns on going through the NBME content. As an alternative idea, you could prioritize the high yield content from both UW incorrects and NBME content (medicine > surgery > pediatrics) 😊 I would personally just focus more on NBME content as you get closer to the exam just because the wording and questions are slightly different so just to get in the right headspace!

[@sadafahsanalamgir4804]

couple of quick questions; as i am starting my prep and narrowing on resources... whats are your thoughts on "Master the boards"; boards and beyond videos and divine intervention podcasts?

[@alyssa-do]

Hmm I didn’t really use any of these resources, but if you find them helpful keep them up. I’d just recommend not substituting practice questions with these. Good luck with prep!

[@personalacc03]

Can you do a video on how you studied during medical school?

[@alyssa-do]

That's a great idea. I appreciate your suggestion 😊

[@DrAgaKhan]

❤

[@Dr.8zaz4168]

Hi dear Congrats on your score Need advice please , I’m 3 wks away from my test date , i did nbme 9,10 got 242, 245 & did uwsa got 237 got frustrated coz i found its harder than nbme & cms My Qs are :1 . Whats your advice to boost my score in this time , aiming for +255 2. Did you find the real test is harder or similar to uwsa? And is it under predictive? TIA ❤ Iam also used CMS double pass with mehlman pdf

[@alyssa-do]

I thought the UW self assessment form 1 was harder than form 2. Both self assessments underestimated my score. My real deal was actually most like the CMS forms. My advice to boost your score is to focus on reviewing the CMS forms, NBME full length exams and memorize the things you need to memorize (USPSTF guidelines, etc)!

[@Dr.8zaz4168]

@@alyssa-do thanks alot Alyssa 🫶🏻🫶🏻

[@HasnainAli-to3ky]

Hello, Congratulations on successfully completing Step 2 with impressive score. I am about to begin my preparation for Step 2 and would like to seek your advice. Should i approach uworld system-wise and simultaneously works on the cms form for the corresponding system? Or would it be better to complete uworld first and then move on to the cms forms?

[@alyssa-do]

Do whatever makes the most sense to you! I think as long as you are doing lots of questions that is most important. I did UW simultaneously with the CMS forms and I went by rotation: Surgery then IM then OB and so forth. Good luck!

[@carolmartha8449]

People sitting for the exam pkease believe her as she is generously honest and thats exactly how the exam is

[@ThEBaTMD]

Hi, thank you for the video. Just a question, how do you do practice questions for content you haven’t covered yet? This might be more for Step-1 as a first year, and on the Qbank from UWorld for example it would go over 2nd year content. How do you tackle this?

[@alyssa-do]

@TheBaTLad I actually use practice questions to learn content :) It's sort of weird because you'll get questions wrong because you've never learned the stuff before, but then you'll learn what you need from reading the answer explanations.

[@kristelferrol]

Can you share the Anki deck

[@alyssa-do]

You should be able to get it from this reddit thread: www.reddit.com/r/medicalschoolanki/comments/ho25zb/cheesy_dorian_v2/

[@deathkissgoodbye]

Would you drop anking? Iv been doing it for a year now and only have

[@alyssa-do]

Definitely make the decision that feels right for you, and please take my opinion with a grain of salt. However, yes, I would recommend dropping ANKI altogether and focusing on practice questions. Like you are alluding to, you miss out on learning the strategy of answering questions if you mostly focus on ANKI.

[@deathkissgoodbye]

Can u which Mehlman vids/pdfs to do? He recommends doing all nbmes twice, not sure that’s a good idea or use of time. I find his KZbin channel hard to navigate. Too many videos not organized or contain mix of step 1 and step 2 material, hard to differentiate.

[@alyssa-do]

Ooo, good question. I sort of just watched his videos at random and scrolled through for concepts that might be useful. I would recommend all of his pdfs that were made specifically for the shelf exams (peds, OBGYN, surgery, etc.). I would say prioritize your practice questions, but if you have extra time and energy then go through all those pdfs!

[@SalahNeuer]

Go over his IM, peds, surgery, obgyn, FM playlists

[@Alex-bh7dq]

Do u think amboss is necessary to do ????

[@alyssa-do]

Nope! I only used UW as a Qbank along with the NBME content. I was subscribed to the Amboss knowledge library though and found that pretty helpful!

[@sunburst6768]

Do you notice CMS forms questions repeatedly on exam or uwrold questions style more ?

[@alyssa-do]

CMS forms by far!

[@jawadmarmar9703]

hi alyssa, do u think i can study for step 2 even though basically i already forgot half of step 1 ?

[@alyssa-do]

100%. We all forget things. There is too much information to realistically retain from Step 1, but I think as long as you had a good understanding of concepts at the time, that will be helpful in your Step 2 journey. Just go ahead and get started on your Q bank questions for Step 2 and while doing this you will be reminded of the things from Step 1 that you actually need to know. 😊

[@brownieforlyfe]

did you honor all your rotations?

[@alyssa-do]

I honored some, but not all! Unfortunately, honoring rotations can be a frustratingly subjective process, so I did what I could to control objective measures like studying for Step 2 and learning from my patients. :)

[@AhmedAhmed-gc7js]

Which cheesy dorion deck?

[@AhmedAhmed-gc7js]

Please

[@alyssa-do]

Cheesy Dorian Step 2 Deck :)

[@Alich79865]

It’s impossible to score 270 without recalls this is cheating

[@CoolCactusGamer]

Lolll

[@deathkissgoodbye]

Med students in U.S. don’t cheat. There is too much on the line, and there will be more board exams to take in the future.