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Step 2 CK without Step 1


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Hi all,

I know this has been covered in good detail elsewhere, but occasionally in too much detail (with visa questions sprinkled in) and I'm having a tough time distilling all the information.

M4 here in Canada, just signed up to write the USMLE Step 2 CK, with the sole goal of having doors open for US fellowships after a residency in a surgical specialty.

I never wrote Step 1. I haven't done anything standardized since the MCAT, really, and we didn't have Shelf Exams for each clerkship rotation at my Pass/Fail program.

 

I have a few questions I am hoping others more knowledgeable than me can shed some light on:

1. I will be studying for LMCC Part 1 at the same time and scheduled to write both exams within a week of each other - with a total of 3 months to prep for both - is this too ambitious?

2. I have purchased a subscription to uworld - are there any other resources that people would suggest?

3. People say I should just aim to pass. Has anybody heard differently, where for competitive US fellowships, a low pass on the Step 2 CK score of a Canadian resident could actually be detrimental?

 

Would be infinitely grateful for perspectives :)

 

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I know a few who took STEP 2 CK and LMCC at same time, most of the studying was the same - in fact they just used UWORLD For STEP 2 CK for their prep, and supplemented with canadian specific ethics/public health for LMCC. Worked out well for them. They did not take Step 1 yet.  3 months seems more than enough, especailly since you dont care what your scores are other than pass. You will probably do well anyways assuming you prep.

The canadian system, at least at some schools, is much more geared towards Step2CK, and clinical knowledge, management and treatment then the pathophysio and minutae like path/micro/pharmaco like step 1.

 

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I never did the step 1. Wrote Step 2 CK on a wednesday and LMCC part 1 on the friday in the same week. I spent 1 month prepping by doing Uworld for step 2 ck. I just did questions, felt nervous going into the exam. On the wednesday, I just went home and slept. Thursday I played video games until about 5 pm then read the ethics section of toronto notes. Friday wrote the lmcc part 1. Passed both with a decent margin. Didn't really care about my step 2 score, but I got a 250 or 260, not sure if that's good or not, but meh whatever lol.

For context I wasn't the smartest student in medical school, but I'd say above average, maybe in the 60th percentile of my year. For the uworld questions I did not do them all by any means. I think I may have gone through somewhere between 1200-1500 questions. There were still over 1000 questions that I didn't go through in uworld, but I just didn't care because I wanted to enjoy the weather and work out to get abs before residency (didn't happen :lol: LMAO) 

Good luck! You'll be fine, with 3 months (maybe that's too much studying too). Enjoy the time before residency and make sure to travel!

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On 2/9/2020 at 8:16 PM, skyuppercutt said:

I never did the step 1. Wrote Step 2 CK on a wednesday and LMCC part 1 on the friday in the same week. I spent 1 month prepping by doing Uworld for step 2 ck. I just did questions, felt nervous going into the exam. On the wednesday, I just went home and slept. Thursday I played video games until about 5 pm then read the ethics section of toronto notes. Friday wrote the lmcc part 1. Passed both with a decent margin. Didn't really care about my step 2 score, but I got a 250 or 260, not sure if that's good or not, but meh whatever lol.

For context I wasn't the smartest student in medical school, but I'd say above average, maybe in the 60th percentile of my year. For the uworld questions I did not do them all by any means. I think I may have gone through somewhere between 1200-1500 questions. There were still over 1000 questions that I didn't go through in uworld, but I just didn't care because I wanted to enjoy the weather and work out to get abs before residency (didn't happen :lol: LMAO) 

Good luck! You'll be fine, with 3 months (maybe that's too much studying too). Enjoy the time before residency and make sure to travel!

Did you read all the explanations in Uworld? I find it very time consuming to go through the questions.

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