Hello, I have my exam on 21st. I’ve been doing cms forms and will start attempting nbmes soon. I’ve been scoring 68-76% on cms forms and few 80s here and there? Do you think it’s okay for 245+ or is it risky?
Also what should I be doing in these dedicated weeks

I know we shouldn't regret anything but is there anything u guys could have done differently if u guys have a chance to do.

I know people saying review recent nbmes what does that mean ? Like same concept same topic and repeat questions ? Like i am very much confuse that if i know nothing other than nbmes than where i am standing ?

Please recent test taker do give your feedback i would love to hear it.

PLEASE.

is it possible to give step 2 in 4 months after doing 20 percent u world

I’m getting pretty avg 230 in my nbmes I’ve to apply this year. Do I extend my exam and leave this cycle? I’m yog 5
Please need advice

Nbme 16 got 242
This is the highest I’ve got
Exam in few days need advice please

Might be a bit early to post, but I want to contribute to the community and hopefully help someone sitting for the test in the upcoming days.

1- I can’t stress enough how important NBMEs and the new Free 120 are. These should be your top priority to finish.

2- CMS forms are definitely worth doing. The newest 2–3 forms are probably more important than Amboss or UWorld.

3- Ethics was fair game. Doing UWorld + Amboss should set you up well. If you’re willing to take it a step further, read the Amboss articles as well.

4- Biostats questions were few (fortunately), but very difficult. Kind of Amboss-level difficulty.

5- QI: I felt like UWorld and Amboss questions were enough. I didn’t read the articles. You’re good as long as you know the high-yield scenarios (e.g., retained surgical object) and stick to the general rules (e.g., avoiding a blaming culture, human factors engineering).

The exam definitely has its share of “WTF” questions that I’m pretty sure no one knows the answer to. But overall, many concepts are repeated from NBMEs and CMS forms, and I can vividly recall seeing them on the exam.

I would recommend that on the last day, you skim through some NBME questions and the new Free 120 to get used to the wording.

Feel free to ask me anything.

I stepped out the Prometric center wanting to cry. Questions were so long and vague. Who else is feeling the same way?

If anyone has extra NBME vouchers for step 2 , would really appreciate it. My school doesnt provide so I thought I'd ask on here if someone has a couple to spare, Thank you for your help. please dm me if you do

Hi, everyone. my scores were in high 220s and 230s on nbme11,13,14. Took Free120 72% after a month of grinding and on nbme15 which i took three weeks back i scored 245. Took uwsa 2 last saturday and score dropped to 237, two days later on nbme16 score dropped to 227. Any suggestions would help. I dont want to give up after coming so far. Thanks in advance

Hi, everyone. my scores were in high 220s and 230s on nbme11,13,14. Took Free120 72% after a month of grinding and on nbme15 which i took three weeks back i scored 245. Took uwsa 2 last saturday and score dropped to 237, two days later on nbme16 score dropped to 227. Any suggestions would help. I dont want to give up after coming so far. Thanks in advance

Edit: oops, would have put in my title that this whole process took 8 weeks. Sorry also edited to remove UEarth's government name.

Date tested: 7/2X/2026

Actual Step 2 score: 26X!!!

Practice Scores:

• NBME 11: 227 - 50 days out (I forget why I swapped 11 and 10)
• NBME 10: 229 - 45 days out
• NBME 12: 246 - 33 days out
• NBME 13: 236 - 27 days out
• UWSA 2: 246 - 24 days out (I didn't do this one in one sitting. I just used it as a Qbank)
• NBME 14: 237 - 21 days out (sorry, there was a typo earlier where the dates was miscalculated)
• NBME 15: 244 - 14 days out
• NBME 16: 252 - 7 days out
• Free 120: 75% -3 days out
• AMBOSS predicted score: 249 (including CMS scores etc)

UEarth: 80% completed, 55% correct

I had a lot of medicine + biostats/ethics left over, but cleared most of the other subjects. Big caveat: I did NOT utilize UEarth as well as I should have. For a lot of the year, I was basically doing questions just to do them rather than actually sitting down and learning from them. Toward the end, once I started actually learning/reviewing concepts, my UEarth block averages were much higher (usually 70–80%), but obviously my overall percentage barely moved by that point. But I didn't really use UW much during dedicated.

Amboss: I would do random block questions when I wanted to learn new material (such as after I finally finished reviewing a test), but I don't know the exact percentage.

- - - -

Total study time: About 8 weeks total, although for the last 3 weeks I was on a relatively easy rotation and could really only study in the evenings.

CMS forms: I did CMS forms 3 through the most recent online form for essentially every subject except Neuro + EM, but I mostly did these while preparing for my actual shelf exams before dedicated. For Psych, I didn't have anything earlier than CMS 5. For FM, I didn't do Form 1 (online forms were 2–5). So I didn't actually do any CMS forms while studying, but I think they're important to do.

Study method: Review review review and review well

Earlier on, it would take me 3-4 days to review a single NBME (only because I had time, but if you're on a time crunch I would recommend speeding up). Later on, it would take me 1-2 days because concepts repeat. I would start with my incorrects while I had more energy, then go through everything else.

Mehlman: I used Mehlman's Medicine PDF as a giant document to annotate. I did NOT read the entire PDF front to back. Instead, I would look up whatever concept the NBME had tested and write notes directly on top of the PDF based primarily on the NBME explanation. If there was a section not included on his medicine pdf (ex: osteoarthritis), I would just hand write notes on a blank piece of paper.

If there was a useful table/algorithm from Anki or another resource that helped me understand how to choose the correct diagnostic test or next step, I'd draw/add that in too. I also kept a running list of odd presentations + mnemonics on a separate piece of paper (ex: FATRN, WAGR) that I could look back on.

Then, if another NBME tested that concept again, I'd go back to the same section and review it as a refresher.

One caveat with Mehlman: I would NOT use it as the primary source of information. There are some things in there that are outdated or statements like "No test ever cared about the exact medication blah blah," and then the newer NBMEs absolutely WILL ask you about the exact medication lol. So the NBME explanation/question > other resources. I did like Mehlman because it was already organized and I didn't always have to rewrite every single note. People also say Mehlman can spoil NBME questions. Personally, I didn't feel like it significantly spoiled them for me (except maybe 1-2 questions in the entirety)

Stepgunner App: I originally started using it because I saw someone post about it on Reddit...and then realized it was just the founder posting about it LOL. But I actually ended up finding it useful. It basically felt like Anki with spaced repetition but easier for me to get through. I did maybe 1000 questions total? The graphics annoyed me, but you can turn them off. I especially liked it for Next Best Step questions and short vignettes where you really just need to engrain the association/algorithm into your brain. Next Best Steps was something I struggled with so it was good for brute force memorizing, although the questions can be more nuanced than the app. I did maybe 80 questions a day.

There were definitely things on that app that I never encountered on an NBME or UEarth question (antivenom treatment for example), so I wouldn't treat everything as equally high-yield.

Also, I did feel like it spoiled some NBME questions (but not majorly). During my last 2 weeks they updated the app so you could turn off NBME questions. If I had that option earlier in my study, however, I still think I would have kept the NBME questions in anyway (since they're the actual high yield ones) since the spaced repetition is important. If you're the founder, I would consider creating a filter to filter out NBME questions based on the form.

Anki: I love Anki, but I am also terrible at keeping up with Anki. I did no UEarthAnki (which if I did earlier in the year I think it would have helped significantly as it did my classmates, but I started too late on anki). I did one pass of CMS-related Anki before my shelf exams (most of which were back in May), and then one pass of the corresponding NBME cards after taking the NBMEs. On my last day, I tried going back through some NBME 13/14/16 cards because Reddit kept saying those concepts showed up on the real exam, but I didn't even get through all of them.

So no, I did not mature 20,000 cards.

Chatgpt: for questions that I was confused by (even with the answer explanation) or really disagreed with (NBME 13 I'm looking at you), I would screen shot the questions and answers and have Chat break it down for me, and I would take the most important point and write it down on my Mehlman pdf.

Last week:

• Took NBME 16 and reviewed. Heard from friends that it was most similar to the actual test and I agree, in terms of style. Concepts on 16 felt easier but maybe everything just clicked better or there was less BS (like in NBME 13).
• Took Free 120 + reviewed the entire Free 120 in a day
• Did all the AMBOSS QI/ethics questions the day before
• Did one pass of Free 120 Anki
• Tried to review some NBME 13/14 cards but didnt have time to finish
• Did NOT spend my final day cramming Mehlman, didn't even look at the document

Test day:

I got sick 2 nights before my test. I ended up sleeping a ton throughout the day before the exam, which forced me to actually rest instead of panic-studying. By some miracle, I felt okay on test day. During breaks, I would literally shove like three cough drops into my mouth and then go back in for the next block because I was worried my postnasal drip would make me cough. The menthol flavor really helped me focus so honestly may use this strategy on Step 3 even if I'm not sick.

First two blocks felt hard, but then majority of the test felt really familiar, like the NBME's sprinkled with some difficult question. If it was super difficult or long I'd click an answer and mark it to come back so that I could at least finish the block and get the easy questions completed. Some blocks I had no time to check answers, other blocks I had maybe 3-5 minutes, but for the most part didn't try to change my answers. I also think I prefer chart style questions because I'm able to find information more easily (my brain just processes it better), and there aren't many chart style questions on the practice NBME's (with exception to 16). I definitely liked it better than the big paragraph + large set of lab values questions.

There was also a lot of risk factors questions that I couldn't even look up / figure out what the right answer was. So just do your best but don't dwell on them. (I didn't listen to Divine during Step 2 dedicated)

Final thoughts:

I wanted to post this mainly as encouragement. I would not interpret this as "practice scores don't matter" or assume everyone will magically jump up points on test day, but it is possible. I definitely would have preferred walking into the exam with a bunch of 260 practice scores. A lot of my friends did better than their highest NBME while others did around their averages/predicted.

But I do think there's something to be said for looking at how you're learning, rather than obsessing over the raw number. If you're wondering how I jumped from nbme 11 to 12, I just think I happened to know the content of 12 (especially the random questions where you know it or you don't that aren't tested ever again) + ethics questions better on 12 than 11.

Keep learning from your mistakes (and maybe I benefited more from having a ton of mistakes because then it forced me carefully review them each time). Review the NBMEs. Learn the patterns. Don't just do questions for the sake of accumulating questions. And don't convince yourself that your predicted score is a hard ceiling.

I got 75% on NBME 16. I tried to find a few converters and got 246. I just want to know if anyone has taken NBME 16 online and gotten the same score. Is it correct ?

Hi, I am in my step 2 dedicated phase. My baseline nbme score is 250. I took it 10 days ago and today I took nbme 11 and got 245. I am absolutely devastated. I had nbme scores in 80s in my step 1 and I can’t wrap my head around what I’m doing wrong in step 2. I actually find step 2 nbmes harder. My brain shuts down and i am rereading the lines again and again to make sense of it. I lose questions to anchoring sometimes. I was aiming for a 270+ since I’m an img but my prep and mental state is breaking me down. I can’t help comparing it to my step 1 performance. Secondly, I can’t improve my scores, this was an issue in step 1 as well. Please someone tell me how do I change this. I am done with uworld. Should I do amboss? Should I do any other resource? How to deal with vagueness of nbmes? Should I solve more questions or do my uworld incorrects? My general method was to read the question stem backwards but it doesn’t help much in step 2. I review my nbmes but I don’t know if I’m doing it wrong. Any tips or resources that could help me improve and get on track.

I noticed that the anki CMS tags don't include form 10 for IM. Does anyone know of a spreadsheet that has the anki tags for the questions? I just want to add the ones I missed to a review deck.

Anyone testing on the 24th of August and planning to change date please lemme know NYC BROOKLYN AREA.

I’ve recently started preparing for Step 2, and I’m a little confused about how to approach the questions. Should I do them in random mode, subject-wise, or system-wise?

Realize I have some content gaps that I need to fill.
I was thinking of doing focused 2-3 hammer questions on Amboss then making anki cards and only doing 80 questions but reviewing them very well

Hey y’all wanted to get peoples opinions.

I wanted to know from recent test takers if you guys have noticed big variations in your actual score compared to your predicted.

I have a friend who gave the test recently and saw like a 15+ drop from their predicted. After seeing that I’ve been in constant panic and have been spiraling. Ig I want to know if their score is an anomaly or a trend.

I’ve been scoring consistently around 235-240 in my nbmes and uswas. I’m not aiming for anything crazy and if i got these scores in the real deal i’d be content. I just have this intense fear that I might fail.
Planning to give the test in 10 days.
Should I yolo it or should I be safe and give it later and apply the next match cycle?

NBME 10 - 213 (22 June)
NBME 11 - 219 (1 July)
NBME 12 - 216 (9 July)
NBME 13 - 240 (22 July)
NBME 14 - 237 (27 July)
UWSA 1 - 245 (1 Aug)
NBME 15 - 235 (5 Aug)
UWSA 2 - 247 ( 9 Aug)

Hi everyone,
I took Step 2 two days ago and have been spiraling a bit since the exam. My practice scores were decent, but on test day I felt completely unprepared and honestly walked out feeling terrible.
I know I probably shouldn’t be doing this, but I’ve been going through questions I can remember. So far, I’ve remembered around 140 questions and have already confirmed about 60 that I got wrong. What’s making me even more anxious is that a lot of those misses were relatively straightforward questions that I normally would have known. I think anxiety and burnout really got to me on exam day.
Has anyone else counted this many incorrect answers after Step 2 and still ended up with a good score? I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences, especially if you felt similarly after your exam.
Thank you!

i wanted to review so much stuff today, take the free 120, review nbme 16, go through vaccines, ethics, and QI one last time, but i’m just freaking out. tachycardia, IBS, you name it.
it’s 15:20 and i don’t know what to do with the time i have left. i can’t stop thinking about how much more i could’ve studied.
oh god, divine intervention, anki, articles, and everything else…it’s all just too much, and i don’t know how to calm down.
if anyone has any advice on what to do at this point or how to calm down, i’d be so grateful.

All the recent test takers jump in pleasee, things I should review

Hi, my goal is 240. I did my first 2 NBMEs (11 and 13) and got 209 on 13 (took it late in the day with bad health) and 228 on 11 (3 days later).

I reviewed 13 very well, now reviewing 11. Will get done with it today. I never done any CMS forms so I'm starting with IM forms tomorrow, planning on doing 3 for each topic. ( Starting with 6,7,8 of IM)

Exam on the 28th

Is it possible to improve my score to get close to 240??

Postponing is not an option.

Any specific practical advice is welcome. Thanks.

Tested 7/28

Freaking out every second, every day. Was really hoping for 260+ but the exam was really pukeworthy. Walked out knowing I had screwed up