Thank you very much for the tips Alyssa. I think I work best in a similar way and this was a great reminder of what's always worked for me in the past :)
Hii, loved your vedios, I am from India ,preparing for a Medical entrance exam,competition back here is very tough all those students who are scoring good marks tell that they are studying abhout14-16hrs a day. When i started preparing i used top in coaching but i am kinda off the track iam not able to study even 12hr, and consistency is my biggest enemy i get bored very quickly and just dont like revising such a massive syllabus again and again. And all those who were behind getting better is such a demoralizing and frustrating exeprience. Could you help me get back on track, I genuinely want to be a doctor.
@avinashkumbhare3362 I would love to help if I can, however I don't know how things are done in India. Do you take the MCAT in India to apply for medical school, or do you take a different exam? As far as falling off track, what do you believe you would need to do to get back on track? Do you have a study plan? For someone who gets bored very easily, being effective in studying is really important by making sure to focus on the most important resource(s) like practice exams (if you are taking the MCAT, this would include the AAMC practice exams). Practice exams are challenging and help you identify your weaknesses while also keeping you engaged. If you take practice exams from the actual test writer (the AAMC writes the MCAT), you can familiarize yourself with how the questions will be asked. Keep in mind that when people say they are studying 14-16 hrs per day, it is HIGHLY unlikely they are actually studying that much. I kept track of the time I was actually studying in a day during Step 2 dedicated, and even if I tried to study for 12 hrs, I was actually only focusing for 6-7 hrs of that (and I'm actually really disciplined when it comes to studying). Moral of the story- don't believe anything you hear when people tell how how many hours they are studying! It is also important to recognize that someone could be studying 14-16 hrs a day, but if they are studying the wrong thing or low-yield topics, that wouldn't be very helpful. When it comes to studying for medical exams, quality > quantity. :)
Hi Avinash! Second year medical student here. I shall give you some tips in the descending order of importance. 1. Read the NCERT books THOROUGHLY. Emphasis on THOROUGHLY. Line by line. At the same time, know the 'what, why and how' of each and every concept. 2. Practice last year questions. There are some sources you can use for that. On TH-cam you can find some online question solving videos. 3. Since you are enrolled in a coaching institute, you can try its qbank to solve problems. Reach out to the faculty if you can't solve questions. 4. (Not essential, but may help) Try taking some mock tests outside of the previous year questions and the coaching material. Get a qbank if you want.
Hi Alyssa! Thank you for sharing so many good strategies in your video and congrats on your score :) Out of curiosity, would you be filling to share your scheduled spreadsheet for dedicated? I’ve watched a few of your videos but it would be super convenient to see how you spaced out incorrects with CMS forms and practice tests. My dedicated is also around 5.5 weeks so I figured I would sort of mirror what you did.
I didn't use ANKI during dedicated! However, I used ANKI (the Cheesy Dorian Step 2 deck) at the beginning of most rotations to learn some content while also doing practice questions (UW and NBME CMS forms). After I finished the ANKI deck for each specialty, I didn't look at those cards again. Some people really like ANKI though so keep it up if it's working for you!
Did you find the CMS forms to be up to date? I have heard that they can have some outdated information and was not sure whether they'd be best to use, when compared to UWorld and AMBOSS for example
I actually found the current CMS forms to be up to date! If you are looking at some of the older content you might find a few questions that are out of date, but I suppose that is to be expected.
Hey! Go to your mynbme examinee portal and login --> purchase --> self assessments --> self assessments for subject exams or clinical sciences --> select which specialty you want to do a CMS form for. Hopefully this helps. 😊 You can also start here and click on the "Accessing your Self Assessment" dropdown: www.nbme.org/examinees/nbme-self-assessments/clinical-mastery-series
Your tips are really helpful, I am an IMG in my last year of school and I will be graduating this September and wanted your opinion on if you think a month of dedicated study period will be enough to clear step 2? Thanks a lot!
Hi! I think a month of dedicated would be adequate to clear step 2 provided you have been studying all throughout the year! My dedicated was ~5.5 weeks
Thanks a lot for your answer! I didn’t prepare specifically for step 2, but I will be taking my step1 in July so I have been studying for step1, my last year of med school and then I have around 5 weeks left to crush step2, I hope I making a right choice, what are your thoughts on this? I really appreciate your advice!
Hi Alyssa . congratulations on your step 2CK score .I am studying for step 2 exam but the most difficult for me is to come back to track once i engage in other daily chores . would you give me any tips, or share your experience , thank you
That is so relatable! I procrastinated a lot by cleaning during dedicated :) Something that helped me was to tidy my space before studying for the day. For instance, I would make my bed, and clean the area around my desk so I had fewer distractions. I also would set 5-10 minute "break" timers and during the break I could do the dishes, laundry etc., but then once the timer went off I had to get back to studying. What I also did a lot was during my breaks I would make a tea/lemon water/Liquid IV/LMNT towards the end and then I had to be back at my desk and doing questions before I could drink it... like a little study ritual. If I was REALLY struggling to get back to studying, I would just take a longer, actual break and told myself I deserved it (because, frankly, we all deserve it). During these, I would go outside and run, walk, go to the gym, cry and look longingly at the people enjoying their lives outside (lol), etc. You could also consider studying outside of your home so you aren't distracted by the never-ending list of chores. I hope this helps, but please know this is a super common struggle 🙏
How long did a cms form take to do and review? Also the incorrects of uworld? Trying to see if I can fit more than 1 cms form + uworld incorrects in one day.
CMS forms are 50 questions. I'd say it usually took me ~60-75 minutes to take a CMS form and then at least double that to review it (in total, 3+ hrs). During dedicated, I went through 100 questions per day, whether that was CMS forms, UW incorrects or NBME full length exams.
Hi Alyssa, I’m Deepika from India love seeing your videos. I have finished my step 1 and was wondering how to prepare for step2 Can you please tell what materials did you study before doing uworld
Hi Deepika! Congratulations on taking Step 1! I actually jumped right into UWorld for Step 2 soon after taking Step 1. I didn't do anything to prepare beforehand. 😊
Did you end up finishing your UW incorrects? I'm trying to figure out whether I should prioritize one over the other with CMS forms, since most of my UW incorrects were when I just didn't know the content in the beginning of 3rd year
I did the majority of my UW incorrects. If you don't have time for both, I'd probably prioritize CMS forms, but that is just my preference. I had a friend who scored similarly (2 points higher) and did UW incorrects and not CMS forms. There are multiple ways to succeed, so do what feels right for you. 😊
@plutobaby9996 99% questions, 1% content review. I reviewed what I had written down about my second-pass incorrects the two-three days prior to my exam and that was it as far as my content review!
Hi, i appreciate sharing your experience. I am preparing my self for step2 ck. I did uword test in reading mode, do you think its more beneficial to be in test mode? It’s the first turn of it and my score is around 55-60% for each block.
Tutor mode is what I used in UW! I scored in the low 60's for percentage correct so right around where you are at. The score doesn't really matter though if you are using UW to learn. 😊
Studying with distractions around you is a really good point. Do you recommend 12 rules for life, btw? I've been wanting to read that but haven't yet! - Becca
I do recommend 12 rules for life! It’s more of an active read that gets you thinking. I had to be in the right head space to read it because of his writing style, so it took me months to get through it. 😂
Hello Alyssa. It is very helpful videos. I'm IMG and I am doing the CMS forms but I really don't know what is the good number of incorrect that could be a reflection , so please if u can help me with this. Sometimes , there are variation btw the forms. Like for me CMS form 8 of pets is completely harder than the 7. Am I right? and what how long do u take to review a CMS form block or UWorld Block? THANK YOU!
Great questions. Check out my community tab where I posted a picture of the scores I got on each NBME CMS form. I took each form randomly, but as you will see, there was no pattern in terms of scores- I didn't seem to improve from form to form in terms of scores. Super weird- some forms cater more to our strengths than others- so yes I would agree that some forms are harder! If I had to estimate, I'd say I took 90-100 minutes to take a 50-question CMS form (self-paced mode, not timed mode), and 2.5-3x that time to review the form, sometimes even longer if I got a ton of questions wrong- because of that, it took me longer to really understand the answer explanations.
No specific intervals for me. I did one full NBME at the beginning of dedicated, and then I did the rest towards the end of dedicated. Some people choose to do one full length NBME each week of dedicated. It's up to you!
Hey alyssa..congratulations on your score 🩵 I am an img from India appearing for exam in a month..everyone around me is hyperfocused on uworld since we are usually aware of less sources and our curriculum is way different than yours.. i just wanted to ask that which all cms and nbme’s you did?? And do you think completing Cms forms twice is what gave you an edge to get above average scores? Was the real deal similar to them?? Also love from India ❤ thank you..
congratulations need your advice regarding step2 preparation as I cannot learn from uworld step2ck did a lot of work on it completed first pass did in corrects still not getting good scores what to do?
Sorry if this response is too late to be helpful! Have you been able to identify where your weaknesses are? I would work on those weaknesses by reviewing with Amboss or First Aid. You could also take a look at the NBME questions- those question explanations are worded a bit differently and could be a different learning tool to try. I didn’t do Amboss questions, but that could be another option. Just keep at it and keep trying to find the tool(s) that work for you. If this is of any reassurance, I wasn’t scoring perfectly on my incorrects either. I know it’s super frustrating to get the same question wrong again. Hang in there!
You did great, Alyssa! Take a bow. Thank you for the video👍
Thank you! 😊
Congratulations Alyssa! This definitely helps, thank you
Thank you very much for the tips Alyssa. I think I work best in a similar way and this was a great reminder of what's always worked for me in the past :)
Such an inspirational video! I seem to be returning to this video as a relaxing source of inspiration.
Good luck Alyssa!
Thank you! I'm glad it can be inspiring!
great book choice , happy reading
I'm taking my step2ck exam soon so this definitely helps, thank you🙏🏻
I'm so glad to hear that! Best of luck on step 2!!
This info is fire. Thank you
Thank you 😊🙏
Hii, loved your vedios, I am from India ,preparing for a Medical entrance exam,competition back here is very tough all those students who are scoring good marks tell that they are studying abhout14-16hrs a day. When i started preparing i used top in coaching but i am kinda off the track iam not able to study even 12hr, and consistency is my biggest enemy i get bored very quickly and just dont like revising such a massive syllabus again and again. And all those who were behind getting better is such a demoralizing and frustrating exeprience. Could you help me get back on track, I genuinely want to be a doctor.
@avinashkumbhare3362 I would love to help if I can, however I don't know how things are done in India. Do you take the MCAT in India to apply for medical school, or do you take a different exam? As far as falling off track, what do you believe you would need to do to get back on track? Do you have a study plan?
For someone who gets bored very easily, being effective in studying is really important by making sure to focus on the most important resource(s) like practice exams (if you are taking the MCAT, this would include the AAMC practice exams). Practice exams are challenging and help you identify your weaknesses while also keeping you engaged. If you take practice exams from the actual test writer (the AAMC writes the MCAT), you can familiarize yourself with how the questions will be asked.
Keep in mind that when people say they are studying 14-16 hrs per day, it is HIGHLY unlikely they are actually studying that much. I kept track of the time I was actually studying in a day during Step 2 dedicated, and even if I tried to study for 12 hrs, I was actually only focusing for 6-7 hrs of that (and I'm actually really disciplined when it comes to studying). Moral of the story- don't believe anything you hear when people tell how how many hours they are studying! It is also important to recognize that someone could be studying 14-16 hrs a day, but if they are studying the wrong thing or low-yield topics, that wouldn't be very helpful. When it comes to studying for medical exams, quality > quantity. :)
@@alyssa-dowhat a great reply
Hi Avinash! Second year medical student here. I shall give you some tips in the descending order of importance.
1. Read the NCERT books THOROUGHLY. Emphasis on THOROUGHLY. Line by line. At the same time, know the 'what, why and how' of each and every concept.
2. Practice last year questions. There are some sources you can use for that. On TH-cam you can find some online question solving videos.
3. Since you are enrolled in a coaching institute, you can try its qbank to solve problems. Reach out to the faculty if you can't solve questions.
4. (Not essential, but may help) Try taking some mock tests outside of the previous year questions and the coaching material. Get a qbank if you want.
Love how flexible your dedicated schedule sounds... Very relatable to me
Hi Alyssa! Thank you for sharing so many good strategies in your video and congrats on your score :) Out of curiosity, would you be filling to share your scheduled spreadsheet for dedicated? I’ve watched a few of your videos but it would be super convenient to see how you spaced out incorrects with CMS forms and practice tests. My dedicated is also around 5.5 weeks so I figured I would sort of mirror what you did.
Did you use Anki? 270 without Anki is straight up super genius. Congrats!
I didn't use ANKI during dedicated! However, I used ANKI (the Cheesy Dorian Step 2 deck) at the beginning of most rotations to learn some content while also doing practice questions (UW and NBME CMS forms). After I finished the ANKI deck for each specialty, I didn't look at those cards again. Some people really like ANKI though so keep it up if it's working for you!
thanks for the video, it was helpful keep up the good work 😍
Thank you! Glad it helped!
Did you find the CMS forms to be up to date? I have heard that they can have some outdated information and was not sure whether they'd be best to use, when compared to UWorld and AMBOSS for example
I actually found the current CMS forms to be up to date! If you are looking at some of the older content you might find a few questions that are out of date, but I suppose that is to be expected.
@@alyssa-dohi Alyssa , please where can I find the current CMS
Hey! Go to your mynbme examinee portal and login --> purchase --> self assessments --> self assessments for subject exams or clinical sciences --> select which specialty you want to do a CMS form for. Hopefully this helps. 😊
You can also start here and click on the "Accessing your Self Assessment" dropdown: www.nbme.org/examinees/nbme-self-assessments/clinical-mastery-series
@@alyssa-do Good to hear, thank you and congrats!
Hi Alyssa, thanks for the video and love the channel content! Subscribed 👍💯💫
Thank you.
Your tips are really helpful, I am an IMG in my last year of school and I will be graduating this September and wanted your opinion on if you think a month of dedicated study period will be enough to clear step 2?
Thanks a lot!
Hi! I think a month of dedicated would be adequate to clear step 2 provided you have been studying all throughout the year! My dedicated was ~5.5 weeks
Thanks a lot for your answer! I didn’t prepare specifically for step 2, but I will be taking my step1 in July so I have been studying for step1, my last year of med school and then I have around 5 weeks left to crush step2, I hope I making a right choice, what are your thoughts on this? I really appreciate your advice!
Hi Alyssa . congratulations on your step 2CK score .I am studying for step 2 exam but the most difficult for me is to come back to track once i engage in other daily chores . would you give me any tips, or share your experience , thank you
That is so relatable! I procrastinated a lot by cleaning during dedicated :) Something that helped me was to tidy my space before studying for the day. For instance, I would make my bed, and clean the area around my desk so I had fewer distractions. I also would set 5-10 minute "break" timers and during the break I could do the dishes, laundry etc., but then once the timer went off I had to get back to studying. What I also did a lot was during my breaks I would make a tea/lemon water/Liquid IV/LMNT towards the end and then I had to be back at my desk and doing questions before I could drink it... like a little study ritual. If I was REALLY struggling to get back to studying, I would just take a longer, actual break and told myself I deserved it (because, frankly, we all deserve it). During these, I would go outside and run, walk, go to the gym, cry and look longingly at the people enjoying their lives outside (lol), etc. You could also consider studying outside of your home so you aren't distracted by the never-ending list of chores. I hope this helps, but please know this is a super common struggle 🙏
@@alyssa-do thanks for sharing your experience
i will try these tricks , hope it would work
Omg where did you get your mic from?
Best Buy! It's the Elgato Wave 3. 😊
How long did a cms form take to do and review? Also the incorrects of uworld? Trying to see if I can fit more than 1 cms form + uworld incorrects in one day.
CMS forms are 50 questions. I'd say it usually took me ~60-75 minutes to take a CMS form and then at least double that to review it (in total, 3+ hrs). During dedicated, I went through 100 questions per day, whether that was CMS forms, UW incorrects or NBME full length exams.
Hi Alyssa, I’m Deepika from India love seeing your videos.
I have finished my step 1 and was wondering how to prepare for step2
Can you please tell what materials did you study before doing uworld
Hi Deepika! Congratulations on taking Step 1! I actually jumped right into UWorld for Step 2 soon after taking Step 1. I didn't do anything to prepare beforehand. 😊
Did you end up finishing your UW incorrects? I'm trying to figure out whether I should prioritize one over the other with CMS forms, since most of my UW incorrects were when I just didn't know the content in the beginning of 3rd year
I did the majority of my UW incorrects. If you don't have time for both, I'd probably prioritize CMS forms, but that is just my preference. I had a friend who scored similarly (2 points higher) and did UW incorrects and not CMS forms. There are multiple ways to succeed, so do what feels right for you. 😊
@@alyssa-do thanks!!
Did you do any content review or just questions ?
@plutobaby9996 99% questions, 1% content review. I reviewed what I had written down about my second-pass incorrects the two-three days prior to my exam and that was it as far as my content review!
Hi, i appreciate sharing your experience. I am preparing my self for step2 ck. I did uword test in reading mode, do you think its more beneficial to be in test mode?
It’s the first turn of it and my score is around 55-60% for each block.
Tutor mode is what I used in UW! I scored in the low 60's for percentage correct so right around where you are at. The score doesn't really matter though if you are using UW to learn. 😊
Studying with distractions around you is a really good point. Do you recommend 12 rules for life, btw? I've been wanting to read that but haven't yet! - Becca
I do recommend 12 rules for life! It’s more of an active read that gets you thinking. I had to be in the right head space to read it because of his writing style, so it took me months to get through it. 😂
great video ! how long was your dedicated period ?
About 5.5 weeks!
I dont think you mentioned how long your dedicated was?
About 5.5 weeks!
Hello Alyssa. It is very helpful videos. I'm IMG and I am doing the CMS forms but I really don't know what is the good number of incorrect that could be a reflection , so please if u can help me with this. Sometimes , there are variation btw the forms. Like for me CMS form 8 of pets is completely harder than the 7. Am I right? and what how long do u take to review a CMS form block or UWorld Block? THANK YOU!
Great questions. Check out my community tab where I posted a picture of the scores I got on each NBME CMS form. I took each form randomly, but as you will see, there was no pattern in terms of scores- I didn't seem to improve from form to form in terms of scores. Super weird- some forms cater more to our strengths than others- so yes I would agree that some forms are harder!
If I had to estimate, I'd say I took 90-100 minutes to take a 50-question CMS form (self-paced mode, not timed mode), and 2.5-3x that time to review the form, sometimes even longer if I got a ton of questions wrong- because of that, it took me longer to really understand the answer explanations.
Where can i check your community tab?
Another q have you done ur nbmes all at the end? Or u did them in a specific intervals?
You can go to my channel page then where the tabs say "Home," "Videos," "Shorts," click on "Community" 😊
No specific intervals for me. I did one full NBME at the beginning of dedicated, and then I did the rest towards the end of dedicated. Some people choose to do one full length NBME each week of dedicated. It's up to you!
How long was your dedicated period?
5.5 weeks!
Hi! can you share the link to the cheesy dorian deck?
I downloaded it off a reddit thread! Sorry I don't have that link anymore, but they probably have an updated deck at this point anyway
Hiw long was your dedicated study for? Thanks
~5.5 weeks!
Hey alyssa..congratulations on your score 🩵
I am an img from India appearing for exam in a month..everyone around me is hyperfocused on uworld since we are usually aware of less sources and our curriculum is way different than yours.. i just wanted to ask that which all cms and nbme’s you did?? And do you think completing Cms forms twice is what gave you an edge to get above average scores? Was the real deal similar to them??
Also love from India ❤ thank you..
Thank you so much 🩵
You are very kind ✨😭
Did you study CMS FORMS?
Yes! Did all of them twice!!
Do u do amboss?
I used the Amboss library to look things up, but I didn’t use the Amboss Q bank (just UWorld)!
How long was your dedicated?
~5.5 weeks!
you lost me at 6am🤣
Haha! Waking up early isn't for everyone 😂
congratulations need your advice regarding step2 preparation as I cannot learn from uworld step2ck did a lot of work on it completed first pass did in corrects still not getting good scores what to do?
Sorry if this response is too late to be helpful! Have you been able to identify where your weaknesses are? I would work on those weaknesses by reviewing with Amboss or First Aid. You could also take a look at the NBME questions- those question explanations are worded a bit differently and could be a different learning tool to try. I didn’t do Amboss questions, but that could be another option. Just keep at it and keep trying to find the tool(s) that work for you. If this is of any reassurance, I wasn’t scoring perfectly on my incorrects either. I know it’s super frustrating to get the same question wrong again. Hang in there!