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Usmle hard exam8/12/2023 Supplementary videos from Online MedEd or the Sketchy series can help reinforce some particularly difficult concepts, but here again, long-term retention is best enforced with subsequent flashcard creation. Whether you’re waiting for a ride home or in between sets at the gym, learning to fill the pockets of empty space in your daily life with Anki will help you to blaze through your cards and maximize your review time. Many students initially find Anki unintuitive or “hard to get into,” but building habits here is key. Ideally, you should be using Anki flashcards or an equivalent platform every day to review old cards and learn new material my decision to keep up with all of my Anki cards throughout clerkships, regardless of which rotation I was on, was instrumental in achieving my Step 2CK score goal. It is imperative to actively review your UWorld blocks for difficult concepts and to make your own additional flashcards to help you retain the information. The absolute top-tier resources for the Step 2CK exam are UWorld and pre-made Step 2CK flashcard decks like Zanki. The key to knowledge retention is active learning. These are all great books for the USMLE Step 2CK and they probably contain the majority of what you need to know for the exam, but skimming and highlighting are just about the most passive methods you can use to study and – when used alone – rarely lead to good outcomes. Too often I come across students who spend hours and hours reading through and highlighting textbooks including First Aid for Step 2CK, Step Up to Medicine, and others. Prioritize Active Learning Methods to Help Achieve Your USMLE Step 2CK Score Goal The gold standard method for this sort of long-term studying is spaced repetition through the use of digital flashcards, which segues nicely into the next section on active learning. But don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you are done with pediatrics just because you took your pediatrics shelf – the more often you review the material year-round, the more prepared and efficient you will be when structuring your ultimate Step 2CK dedicated study schedule. The good news is that many of these concepts will be tested via your shelf exams, so the impetus to study early is already built into most medical school curricula. ![]() For a higher USMLE Step 2CK score, this means beginning to learn and retain high-yield information at the start of your clinical rotations. The single best thing you can do both to achieve your score goal and to maintain your long-term knowledge base is to study early and study often. USMLE Step 2 CK 2023 Exam Dates and Costs Study Early, Study Often ![]() This blog post will go over the general preparation strategies that I used to score above a 260 on the USMLE Step 2CK, and I hope they will guide you to success as well. As the relative weight of the Step 2CK exam increases, so too should the time and effort you put into your preparation strategy to not only pass, but score well and put yourself in the best position possible for the residency match. Roughly 4% of first-time domestic test takers fail Step 2CK, with the failure rate for IMGs being even higher at up to 30%. So what now? Though many students tend to attain higher absolute scores on the USMLE Step 2CK (with a national average of 244 compared to 232 on the USMLE Step 1), it remains a difficult exam. But with the USMLE Step 1 going Pass/Fail as of January 26, 2022, these trends are liable to change and your Step 2CK score will likely only grow in importance in the coming years. Many residency programs may not even require a passing Step 2CK score to apply and match. ![]() The USMLE Step 2CK exam has historically been overshadowed by its more intimidating, basic science-focused younger brother – the USMLE Step 1.
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