25%!! Keeping that thought in mind helped keep my nerves in check on test day. It sometimes made me afraid to commit things to memory because I always knew in the back of my mind it might not always be true.Īlso, something we need to remind ourselves of constantly: 25% of questions on Step 2 are experimental. For example, 99% of the time "x" might be true, but 1% of the time it won't be, and UWorld will create a question that centers on that 1% of the time. In my opinion, here's the hardest thing about Step 2: there are very few absolute truths. I thought it was harder than Step 1, and frankly it wasn't even close.
Old Free 120: 93% (2 days out, taken with new Free 120)ĭid like 10% of Amboss QBank during dedicated, ~85% correct.ĪMBOSS SA: 275 (taken 4 days after I took Step 2) New Free 120: 83% (2 days out, taken with Old Free 120) UWSA2: 271 (3 days out, taken with NBME 8) NBME 8: 265 (3 days out, taken with UWSA 2) UWSA 1: 265 (4 days out, taken with NBME7) NBME 7: 270 (4 days out, taken with UWSA1) UW%: 89% (1st pass, did throughout M3 year, didn't do a second pass) Step 2: 271 (May 2021) (Reddit predictor had me at 266) I thought these were super high yield for Shelves, but they aren't reflective of the type of questions you will see on Step 2. Also, I went through all the CMS forms for each Shelf (there's 6 for each, except for FM). Shelf exams: Honored them all with the above strategy. I also created a smaller Anki deck with my incorrects/any random info I thought could possibly show up. It fills in almost all the gaps that Sketchy doesn't cover. UWorld/dorian Anki deck: Not much to add that hasn't already been said. But I hope the benefit will be that I can retain the info in the Sketches for a long time. Overall, do I think Sketchy Step 2 is necessary to do well on Shelves/Step 2? Not at all, plenty of people scored higher than me without using it. For the topics it does cover, however, it is fantastic. It doesn't cover all the topics you need to know for Step 2, not by a long shot. Definitely don't start doing Sketchy during dedicated.Ģ) It's not comprehensive. If you are going to use Sketchy, I think going through the videos is a must, and not simply doing the cards. I think it has its greatest use if you use it throughout M3 year. I was lucky in that I had some extra time early during my M3 year due to things shutting down during COVID. Two important caveats for Sketchy Step 2:ġ) It is a huge time sink. Your subconscious needs to make connections, and memory palaces are terrific for that. Ultimately, here's why I think Sketchy works so well: on Step2/Shelf exams, you are under a serious time crunch and you don't have much time to think at all. In addition, Sketchy Step 2 is absolutely fantastic for pimping questions during rounds. It is basically UpToDate in memory palace format (in fact, you can go to many UpToDate pages and find sentences word-for-word in Sketchy). A lot of it is based on Sketchy Path, which I invested a lot of time in for Step 1. Sketchy Step 2: So I watched every video (IM, Surg, Peds, OB/GYN) and did the associated Anki cards (decks found here). Hey all, just wanted to do a quick writeup on my experience with Step 2.