Hi everyone.This is an wonderful website for the usmle takers.People who visit this website are really nice.This website helped me a lot in preparing for the CK.I thank all the doctors who posted their experience and gave some useful tips.Now its my turn to help u all.

I prepared for four months(from aug to nov) full time.I finished step 1 with 93/230 in july 2004.
Step 1 prepration helped a lot for my CK.I got some direct step 1 Qs like what is caspases in CK.
Medicine:
I studied it from kaplan.I studied it three times.I think it is enuf.But i supplemented it with CMDT(for CVS,RS,RHEUM,CNS
and ENDO,KID).But in the exam nothing comes directly from the textbooks.The Qs are long and twisted and will confuse you with lots of unwanted information.Concentrare on SOB and preventive medicine(screening,vaccinations..).Study acid-base balance very well.

For pediatrics,surgery and OBG i read kaplan three times.you will be able to answer most of the quetions if u study it nicely.I used High yield for Pyschiatry.For last three days i used crush the boards.

Question i used:
NMS(did only 500 Qs) : 74-78%
A&L(only 500Qs) : 70%
Blueprints :74%
Mock exam :84%
Princeton :70-74%
Pretest for CK :68-72%
kaplan Q-book :78-82%
kaplan Q-bank :80-84%
kaplan CD :82%
usmle cd :44/46,43/46,41/46 two weeks before the exam

DID NOT USE USMLEWORLD.

But not even a single question in the exam was similar to the questions i practised.


About my exam:
Most of the questions were from CVS and RS(short of breath).All the patients had multiple
problems.Most of them had a murmur(mainly to confuse u).Got 2 simple EKGs.Got one derm picture,
which i had no clue about it.Most of the Qs were more than ten lines long.But some were as short as 3-4 lines also.Time was not an problem.Most of the question had many options ranging from A to V.In most of the questions i was not sure of the answer and it appeared as if i was guessing most of them.
Pyschiatry Qs were very long and they were the most confusing ones.In surgery almost all Qs were from trauma.No actual pediatric Qs.No growth and devlop and no Qs on immunizations.For OBG,study
kaplan well,it is enuf.No need of other books.I had no idea about my performance and i was praying the god to give me more than 90.

Took the exam on november 24.Oasis was updated on december 15 and got the score on december 30.

My score was 99/256.It was an pleasent surprise to me.NOW I WILL ANSWER ALL YOUR QUESTIONS.
few tips:
Study kaplan atleast three times.Review some step 1 stuffs if possible(but it is easily said than done).Work out as many Qs as possible and read the explainations or make notes from it.Read imp topics from CMDT.It is hard to tell what are the imp topics as the exam is diff for each and every person.And atlast pray the god.GL

First, congratulations. I hat anatomy. Should I study anatomy or just take my chance with it. I just want a passing grade.

Well done Kerry!

I think there is a good Qbank correlation for Step 1 and Step 2. (usually your 2 digit score is about 10-20 points higher than your Qbank %age) which your scores also show..

I was planning to keep away from USMLE world (scoring 50% all the time means a lot of questions to review and would be generally discouraging)

From what you say it seems that your general plan was :-

1. Kaplan lecture notes
2. Qbank real time practice
3. learn SOB!!!

CMDT looks very big - how did you decide what to study from it?

again congradulations on 99 and thanks for sharing your experience...

Hi there,
Would please tell me how long did u study for step ck

Geez, another person with scores 99/240+.

congrats! did you take the kaplan course (live prep or those videos?) using the kaplan review books, or did you just do q bank?

guys can anyone tell me what SOB is?

coolbabe76, sob means shortness of breath. however, after taking the exam it could mean son of a b*tch....lol....good luck to all.

hehehe

thats funny!