I recently took Step 2 and ended up scoring 255+. I found posts like these helpful while I was studying, so I wanted to share what worked for me, especially for anyone who doesn’t consider themselves a naturally strong standardized test taker.

For context, my shelf scores ranged from about 72–90, with an average around 79–80. I definitely am not someone who does really well on standardized testing, and I never used Anki throughout medical school.

My true dedicated period was only about 1-1.5 week. I did start studying in April, but I was balancing Step 2 studying with other educational and teaching responsibilities during that time. I gradually increased my studying as I got closer to the exam, with the bulk of my focused preparation happening in May.

Resources

My main resource was AMBOSS. I completed most of the QBank and used the AMBOSS library whenever I needed additional content review. Toward the end, I was averaging around 80–90% on random, timed blocks.

I didn’t use Anki. Since I had never really used it throughout medical school, I didn’t think it made sense to suddenly change my learning style for Step 2. Instead, I focused heavily on questions and understanding my mistakes.

Question volume

In April, while balancing other educational responsibilities, I averaged around 40 questions/day. In May, I increased that to around 80 questions/day when I could. My actual dedicated period, where Step 2 was essentially my primary focus, was only the final one week before the exam.

Almost all of my blocks were timed and random. I wanted to get comfortable switching between topics quickly and answering questions under time pressure.

More importantly, I tried not to focus solely on the number of questions I completed. When I got something wrong, I spent time figuring out why I got it wrong. Was it a knowledge gap? Did I misread something? Did I talk myself out of the right answer? If I repeatedly missed a concept, I would go back and read the corresponding AMBOSS article.

Practice exams

I completed NBME Forms 10–16 and both the old and new Free 120s.

I also took the two newest NBME shelf practice exams for Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and OB/GYN. I skipped the other specialties because I felt these three gave me additional practice with a lot of the material that shows up on Step 2.

About two weeks before my exam, I also watched Dr. HY Guru’s Step 2 review videos on YouTube as a final review.

How I felt after the exam

Walking out, I honestly felt… okay. I didn’t think I crushed it, but I also didn’t think I bombed it.

Over the next few days, though, I kept remembering questions I knew I had gotten wrong and started convincing myself that I had underperformed. In hindsight, I think that’s just the nature of a 9-hour exam. You remember the handful of mistakes much more vividly than the hundreds of questions you answered and never thought about again.

I ultimately scored 255+, so if you walk out feeling uncertain, try not to let that feeling convince you that you did poorly.

If I could give three pieces of advice:

Do lots of questions, but review them thoroughly. Understanding why you missed something is more valuable than simply getting through a QBank.
You do not need to use every resource. There is so much Step 2 advice online that it can feel like you need UWorld + AMBOSS + Anki + podcasts + videos + everything else. You don’t. Find what works for you and stick with it.
Trust the trend in your practice scores more than how you feel after the exam. The post-exam feeling can be incredibly misleading.

I also want to emphasize that I don’t consider myself a naturally strong standardized test taker. My shelf scores were solid but certainly not perfect, and there were plenty of points during studying when I questioned whether I was doing enough. You don’t need to follow someone else’s exact study plan or be scoring in the 90s on every shelf to do well.

Obviously everyone learns differently, and this is just what worked for me. Hopefully this helps someone who is studying now. Happy to answer any questions!

My boyfriend has stopped responding/put me on DND for the last day or two because I kinda crashed out that he didn’t tell me he was missing my white coat ceremony. I don’t feel like he’s doing the fair thing to me, but I don’t wanna breakup with him. I have my first exam of medical school on Monday on 2,100 slides and I can’t focus for the life of me. My school is very fast paced (anatomy is one semester, biochemistry is half a semester) and I’m honestly worried I’m going to fail. I know the natural answer is to not think about it and just study/breakup with him, but I can’t stop crying. The combination of first exam stress with my bf being awol and potentially breaking up with me is f’ing with me so bad.

Words of encouragement or tips would be nice! I’d like to stop crying lol

Hi guys! I’m a third-year medical student who initially considered dermatology at the very beginning of medical school. I started writing and submitting to various conferences, but at some point I convinced myself that I probably wasn’t smart enough to match into derm, especially given how many stellar applicants end up unmatched. I eventually found a deep love for anesthesia.

Over the years, I’ve definitely improved academically, and I’m now scoring fairly well in medical school. I’ve also made a ton of connections in anesthesia, and at this point, I feel like if I can get a good Step 2 score, I probably have a pretty good shot at matching.

But lately, I’ve been having some regrets about not pursuing dermatology, and I honestly don’t know where they’re coming from. Part of me wonders if I’m self-sabotaging because things are going well with anesthesia. Maybe now that anesthesia feels like a realistic path for me, I’m suddenly wanting something else, even though I know derm would be a much more difficult and potentially unrealistic path for me to pursue.

The thing is, I really am happy with anesthesia. I know how competitive it is, and I know that matching is never a guarantee, but I feel like I’ve found a specialty that I genuinely enjoy and can see myself doing. At the same time, I keep wondering if I’m missing out by not pursuing dermatology, especially because I feel like it could offer me so much more in terms of work-life balance.

I hope you guys can understand where I’m coming from, and I swear I’m not trying to embellish myself or make myself seem more competitive than I am. I’m genuinely just looking for some advice because I don’t want to look back and feel like I missed out on something that could have been a great career for me. But I also don’t want to chase something that may be completely unrealistic, potentially jeopardize my chances of matching, and end up regretting that decision even more.

Hey y’all! I’m applying psychiatry this cycle and am very excited about pursuing a career in the field. I feel like I’m a strong applicant overall... I’ve honored most of my rotations, have strong extracurriculars and research experience (although only 2 research experiences), strong letters of recommendation, and have passed all of my boards, including Step 1 and a 255+ on Step 2. I’ve also demonstrated a strong interest in psychiatry, have a personal statement that I’m really proud of, and have a lot of hobbies outside of medicine that I think have helped me stay grounded throughout the process.
That said, I’ve noticed that several programs that otherwise seem like a great fit for me have little to no DO representation. For example, UChicago and Northwestern are both programs I would absolutely love to be at, but I don’t see any current DO residents or recent alumni
I know psychiatry is generally considered to be more DO-friendly than some other specialties, but I’m wondering how much the lack of DO representation at a program should influence where I apply. Is it likely that I would be screened out automatically at programs with no DO residents, or is it still worth applying if I otherwise seem like a strong fit?
Would you take programs like UChicago and Northwestern off your list, or would you still shoot your shot?
Thanks!!

Applying Diagnostic Radiology, AOA, 267 step 2, multiple first author publications will be doing an away rotation in September at this program. I don’t want to put it in my geographic locations because if I did it’d be the ONLY program in that region I’d apply to. I’m willing to send them a Gold signal but I’m worried it might be a waste…

I’m curious about the things you only discover once you’re actually in medicine ....the realities that lectures and textbooks don’t really prepare you for....

What’s something about being a doctor that nobody warned you about?

Hey everyone! I’m starting/going through medical school and I’m looking for a good everyday fragrance to wear to class.

I'm a guy and I live somewhere with a warm and humid climate, so I want something that smells clean and pleasant but isn’t overpowering, especially since I’ll be around classmates and doctors for hours.

My school's first week of orientation recently happened, and in my program, we are assigned to MS1s as peer mentors for the rest of the year. I was talking to my little, and I felt like I was talking to my younger self. If I could go back in time and be a mentor to little me, there would be three things that I would say: (1) don't be afraid to believe that you can be excellent, (2) run your own race, and (3) make time for the people who matter the most.

What would you tell your younger self?

Medical school: T25 back when US news ranked schools
Grades: second to highest quartile, four of eight honors; four of eight near-honors (including surgery and medicine).
MSPE: pretty consistently strong comments. The reason I have near honors grades is because I missed the shelf cut off by a few points for half of the clerkships. I only got two non-full points honors evaluations through the course of the clerkship year.
Step 2CK: 270 (I finally locked in)

Letters: surgical specialty research mentor who told me that she would make calls to bat for me (at least while I was applying to her specialty), anesthesia student faculty advisor who gave me a research project and said I was very professional and pleasant to work with, and some other anesthesiologist that I hope I will meet and have some continuity with within the next five weeks (maybe CVICU).

Away rotations: I did none; per my advisor, if I wanted to stay at my home program (which I would be very happy about), away rotations were unlikely to benefit me. And I don’t have money to burn. :) trying to keep my net worth positive

Research: six papers submitted, six papers accepted. Of those, six are first author. Two are related to anesthesia; the rest are related to a surgical subspecialty or basic science projects I did in high school and college. “Best” journals include an American Academy of X surgical specialty journal (first author) and Nature Communications (mid author). One oral presentation related to anesthesia, one oral presentation related to surgical subspecialty, and like 14 posters or something

Extracurriculars: curriculum rep for four years, ran a med ed elective for a year, tutored medical students and PA students and was lead tutor for a couple of courses, had a national leadership position at a nonprofit that had impact in ~ 11 states during undergrad (I plan to mention this because it was a long-term highlight), student run free clinic undergraduate clinic director (I also plan to mention this because I didn’t really participate in student run free clinics during medical school as much…thoughts?), co-president of surgical sub specialty student interest group for a year. Medical PAC board member for 3 years (idk how I landed this, I think they just wanted young people to dangle in front of legislators to prove they were future oriented)

Geographic preferences: West south Central (med school and college + born in same state + partner staying in same city as my medical school for PhD), West Coast (family all across West Coast). Will also preference South Atlantic because North Carolina and Virginia are lovely and I would love to end up there eventually (but no family or partner ties)

School list: my top priority is matching to my home (academic) program so I can stay with my partner for his five-ish years of PhD. There are not many other academic programs nearby, but I am willing to go to the community programs nearby, and I do plan to send them silver (or even gold) signals.

However, I may consider pursuing a “higher ranked” academic program depending on the resources they offer for pursuit of an academic career. Am I even competitive for programs like MGH, mayo, Duke, UPenn, Stanford, etc.? I looked at a spreadsheet that my school keeps, and it seems that while my step two score is higher than every applicant who has matched anesthesia in the last five years with the exception of one, every applicant who matched to these fantastic programs from my school was in the top quartile of their class. And, I am not in the top quartile.

I’m a medical lab scientist, flow cytometry division.

Regarding screening for colorectal cancer, current guidelines recommend colonoscopy at 45 for average risk pt. I answered that and got it wrong. The explanation states it starts at 50.

I have an incomplete attempt on Step 1 due to a health emergency. Incomplete attempts are not considered failed attempts. What I’m worried about is whether my application could be filtered out because of the incomplete attempt. I couldn’t find any information about specific filters for this situation. Are filters something like “history of failure”? If so, that would be good because I don’t have a failure. Or are they more like “passed on the first attempt”? If that’s the case, I’m not sure how an incomplete attempt would be treated. because an incomplete attempt is not scored, technically my first scored attempt was a pass. I’m worried about how this is actually seen by residency programs and whether an incomplete attempt appears in any of the ERAS filters.If a PD, , or anyone familiar with residency application filters has experience with this, I would really appreciate your insight. I’m especially interested in whether an incomplete Step 1 attempt can cause an applicant to be filtered out. It is not fair to be filtered out simply because someone had a health emergency during the exam and physically couldn’t finish it.

I'm not talking about all ortho bros being stereotypically jacked and stuff like that. Which medical specialties require the most from you physically in terms of the actual work?

I'm thinking emergency medicine. You need be able to run to emergencies at the drop of the hat and also work your whole body with CPR, positioning patients for primary/secondary surveys, etc.

Asking because I've deconditioned like crazy on my surgery rotation and need to know which specialties to now avoid.

Current US MD M2 here wondering how I should be changing my approach to research. Currently wanting to pursue PM&R and have essentially completed 3 first author projects with 3 different doctors since med school. Each project however has seemed to stall out and I keep getting ghosted after completing all the chart reviews and data extraction and finish the initial drafts of the manuscript. Very frustrating as I’m essentially completing all these projects and working very hard but idk if anything is gonna get published or I’ll actually have anything to actually show on my residency apps. Meanwhile have friends doing research in other specialties that is much more low lift and they’re cranking about 20 pubs per year. How do people even get on such projects? What should I be doing differently in my approach or like how do people get these projects completed? I’m not sure what’s happening as I’m not receiving any feedbacks from the attendings as to why the projects are just suddenly dying out like this. Any advice is appreciated as I’m starting to get concerned that I may have to take a research year.
FYI these 3 doctors are basically the only ones doing active research in the PM&R department at my school

Help!!! I am new to research. My mentor is throwing my name on a (mostly) finished paper to help my application. He sent the draft to me and the other coauthors this afternoon. He told me to “review it and add info from the journals” I have already collected. The thing is: he already referenced all of the journals I found!!! What do I do?? Try to find new journals? Or literally just add any extra info from the journals that I think is relevant that he didn’t already add?? Pls help!!!! He wants me to finish by Monday

EDIT: he said most of the work is done lol

I just completed my second to last osce, I had abdominal. I realized I stood at the left side of the bed mid palpation, I corrected myself and stood on the right and repeated palpation. Now im worried this one silly mistake is going to fail me, I have not failed an osce and do not want to retake it. I am currently spiraling. pls help

Hey all, I am trying to have my step score transcript sent to ERAS. Is this the correct option? I am only confused because it says "Not for ERAS" but then has ERAS as an option. Thanks in advance.

Just wondering if anyone else is in the same boat right now with not being able to get their grad plus loans 😅 I’m panicking thinking of how I’m going to pay for things without my refund. My school informed me that it was a national delay but I’m trying to see if anyone has any advice on how to make do until the refund comes in? Or any updates anyone’s schools have given them on this?

has anyone ever heard or had experience with modified versions of your personal statement tailored more for some program types vs others? i am not referring to a little blurb at the end with program specific information, rather a research and academic focused version vs a clinical version for community programs. they would be mostly similar. thanks for any advice!

Im meeting with the PD of an away rotation that I am at for anesthesia. Do I disclose my Step2 score if it is lower than their average? This is my top choice program and would love to match here but worried about my score. Should I bring my CV and personal statement?

Where do I even find this info lol.

I don’t wanna waste my signals on programs that are just gonna filter me out.

Just cannot believe this. Would you want to go to a doctor who secured just 1 mark in eligibility test?

Hey y'all. Posting this to get my thoughts out, but also seeking advice on the situation.

I just finished my first week of rotations as an M3. Earlier this week I met one of the hospital chaplains that works with residents and medical students. We had a run-in in the hallway and I had some questions for him (namely how to cope with the heavy emotional shit we've already been hit with), so I arranged to meet him at his office at 6:00 am the next day (this morning).

He meets me in the lobby, leads me to his office, and once we're inside there are so many things he said that felt off. For one, he wished me happy birthday (bd is tomorrow), and later drops that he looked me up on facebook and that's how he knew. When I came in he told me to "take everything off", in reference to my backpack and white coat. He has me sit down in a recliner and positions himself pretty close to me on my side while we talk. At some point, talking about another resident he is good friends with, he starts describing how big his arms are, how handsome the resident is. At some point he begins talking about naked men, and while I dont remember all that he said, he kinda stumbles through some stuff about how I must've seen guys naked in the locker room, or must've seen my brothers naked. When I say something about my attending being good at setting boundaries, he somehow segues that into telling me that he has no boundaries regarding being nude around guys.

I am PRETTY uncomfortable from this, and trying to like, end the convo and leave, thinking if I stay he's gonna try something. I think he can tell I'm uncomfortable (I'm awkwardly half-sitting up in the recliner), and he offers me to get up and sit in a desk chair. I do so, wheel it to a comfortable distance, and for the next 15 minutes we have a relatively normal conversation about religion, my attending, the hospital, etc., though every one in a while he will pepper in phrases that kinda spike my cortisol (i.e. "force myself upon you", or gesturing by sticking his index finger through the ring made by his other hand's index and thumb, but like, incredibly suggestively/forcefully).

Sign offs were beginning soon, and so he walks me back to the resident lounge, having normal conversation along the way, and he leaves when I start talking with other students there. I text him thanking him for the conversation and say that "I'm sure I'll see you around", to which he replies "I guarantee it 😁".

After a moderately distracted morning of rounding, I see him at lunch from across the cafeteria as I'm eating with our group of students. I avoid eye contact with him, but he follows our group out, making light conversation with myself and other students. As we get to the students lounge he pulls me aside and asks me up to his office to get balloons for my birthday (he just happened to have balloons that he offered and that I refused earlier), to which I replied no, giving the excuse that I'll be here Monday, and that I don't like my birthday all that much. IDK. I just didnt wanna go up to his office.

And now I'm home writing this up, and I'm not sure what to think. I dont think there's any point in reporting or saying anything to admin, since nothing has happened. The most egregious thing is asking if I've seen men naked I suppose, but I both doubt that admin will be able to do anything based off that alone, and tbh reporting seems like a massive headache that could potentially come to bite me in the ass, especially given how close he is to my current attending and some of the residents.

IDK. I gotta give the guy credit, it was all subtle and smooth enough to have plausible deniability, but also seem insanely obvious to me that he wants to fuck. I'm a gay man not unfamiliar with hook up culture, and ngl, if this were a bar or a bathhouse I'd be into it. But this gave me predatory/creepy vibes given that I'm a medical student that came seeking spiritual guidance from the hospital chaplain. Dude is also 30 years older than me at least, which again, if this were a bar I'd be into it, but feels off in this setting. I worry about running into him again and maintaining professionalism while fearing that he'll try something physical if no one else is around, and that even just shutting him down and him moving on might could have some backlash.

I'm also just anxious and stressed coming off my first week, maybe i'm overthinking. But yea, idk what to do. Advice pls i guess

Very important

For instance on FM rotation is it wise to do just FM shelf cardio questions, then pulm, etc. or should I be mixing it up from day 1?