And I passed! And I did really well!!!! Remember that 27 point increase from Step 1 that I got on my second practice test? Well, we did it on the real thing too baby!
I honestly feel even better than I did when I got my Step 1 scores. I am so thrilled that it is over and I actually did well!
I'm basically constantly switching between "this is not a big deal and everything is fine and I can't wait to be done studying" and "holy shit I have too much to do between now and test day and I why did I schedule myself only two weeks with days off during that time"
So I know I promised a post about how I approached studying for Step 2 and here it is! Disclaimer is that at this point I don’t know my score so maybe this didn’t work at all, but I mostly want to act as a source of guidance mostly for people who are trying to squeeze the test in with a lot of other things going on at the same time.
Under the break: General stuff up top, including how test day went, and more specific things on the bottom. Feel free to reach out with questions!
General:
I had six weeks. I spent the first four mostly doing OME videos and the last two mostly doing practice blocks.
During the first four weeks I was doing an OB/Gyn Sub-I. I used CramFighter (which I didn’t use before for step 1) because I wanted to re-watch all of the OME videos during that time and I didn’t know how to set them up and space it out so I would get them all done. In the end I think it helped me most with not giving up once I got behind (see below for details).
I took two practice tests (just the UWorld ones), one the first day of my ‘dedicated’ and one a week later. There was a 6 pt improvement from Step 1 on my first practice test, then another 21 point increase between the two tests. At that point I had *technically* a week left to study - but with some big things in between (see below for details). I also did all of my practice blocks during this time on ‘timed tutor’ mode and it was awesome. Mentally the timed part made me go faster, but the tutor part made the reviewing faster. Overall I think I did about 1,300 practice questions outside of the two practice tests.
The day of I was pretty relaxed. The only surprise was the 8 blocks vs 7 (still convinced step 1 was 7 blocks....) but I ended up doing 3 blocks, ten min break, 2 blocks, 30 min lunch break, one block, 5 min break (sitting at the desk), 1 block, ten min break, 1 block. I brought trader joe’s trail mix as a snack (V CLUTCH - WOULD DO AGAIN) and a salad and yogurt for lunch. I made tea for myself and put it in a thermos that I’d borrowed from my friend but umm...her thermos worked too well. I never drank the tea. I got there around 7:15 and was able to start early so was done by about 4:30. Overall I felt good while taking the test, but definitely had a slight panic right after hitting submit. Will let you know how things end up!
What I Used:
1) Online MedEd - videos + printed out all the notes and used them as a textbook of sorts
2) UWorld
That’s it. I used First Aid for step 1 but I HATED the First Aid for step 2 so it was discarded after about two days of trying to use it.
The First Four Weeks:
The OME weeks are where CramFighter helped the most. I tried to watch about 3 hours of videos a day for four weeks, but some days I was tired and some days I got off late and some days I just didn’t fucking feel like it. So I got off schedule, BUT CramFighter was so good at keeping me motivated and also helping me catch up on days I had more time.
On the weekends I tried to do 80 questions (one block each day) to just keep on top of things. I had reset my UWorld at the beginning of this time period. I usually did these as timed blocks, but then I wasn’t the best about going over them afterwards. I wish I had just done them in tutor.
After my sub-i was over I honestly took a weekend off...
The Last Two Weeks:
Day 1: Practice Test. Was legit falling asleep while taking it. I couldn’t even understand half of the questions. I scored higher than I had on step 1.
Days 2-4: 160 questions a day
Day 5: Catch up day for OME, did all the peds and a few surgery videos I’d missed.
Day 6: 80 questions (quite a struggle day)
Day 7: 160 questions
Day 8: Second practice test. Did better than my goal, 27 point increase from step 1 score.
Day 9: OME catch up - did all the stats videos and 80 questions en route to the airport
Day 10-11: Conference, reviewed some old blocks I hadn’t gone over yet
Day 12: 120 questions
Day 13: Day before, did one block of 40 then read over the notes I had been taking while doing practice questions. Also went grocery shopping for ma snacks and made a cheat sheet of things I usually got wrong and really wanted to remember on the test.
Things That Got In the Way:
So I know I mentioned that I had a few things going on while studying and they were:
- My sub-i: remedied this by keeping the studying during the sub-i low key and casual. Doing some videos each day, for me, was as light as I could do while still being productive. I do feel like I was able to manage my time pretty well the whole rotation, especially because I had a pretty easy sub-i schedule.
- Weekend at beach house: This was the weekend after my sub-i ended. Basically there is a big party every summer that my family goes to that weekend and I really wanted to go. I brought stuff with me to study, but didn’t really look at it. I think it would have been nice to be productive, but I also think having the mental break was good for me overall.
- Taylor Swift concert: besides the fact that I literally died and it was the best night of my life I had to squeeze this in the weekend between my two weeks of studying. I actually think I managed this pretty well. The day of in the morning I did OME review videos and then the day after I had my friend drive back so I could do practice questions in the car. That day, though, I did not do as many questions as I wanted because i was just so tired.
- AAFP Conference: This was the big one - the thing that looking forward I was like I hope I don’t regret this. I had set up the conference before scheduling my Step and this was actually the second time I had rescheduled Step so I didn’t have a ton of options for dates or locations. I kinda just had to be like ok we are just going to see how we feel and might not be able to do a lot at the conference. Thankfully, the practice test I took halfway through made me feel pretty confident. Looking back I also really only took one day completely off because I was able to do a little bit of review the first day I was there.
Overall (without knowing my final score) I think I studied smart/well because I knew there were going to be big things getting in the way of my dedicated time so I started earlier than I needed. A lot of my friends while I was on my sub-i kept saying ‘I don’t get why you are studying so much’ but in the back of my mind I knew I wouldn’t have a ton of time those two weeks leading up and I would thank myself later. And I did.
One last thought: During step 1 studying I was a fucking machine. I literally worked ten hours a day for five weeks straight and I was on a perfectly timed schedule that I actually kept up even the week before the test. This was a totally different feeling. I could not have done the same thing I did for step 1. My mind and body were just not used to studying this way anymore. I think that is the biggest difference between the two tests - you just don’t have the stamina and for me it meant less hours a day studying, but maybe you don’t even need as many anyway because you’ve been getting ready for a year.
Me: takes first practice test for Step 2 after not thinking about school for four days straight, legit falls asleep in the middle of every section, doesn't even know what some of the questions are asking, guesses on at least half of them, dying.
Also me: does better than I did on my actual Step 1 exam.
