AMA + Write-up 270+ with only Anki and UWorld

Hi all, I got my score back this week and wanted to do a write up as similar write-ups/experiences have really helped me when deciding what to do/prepare for this exam.

Timeline

I took Step 1 at the end of last September, started some studying for Step 2 around mid of December (other projects parallel in December) and then really got into studying starting around mid of January. Test right at the beginning of March.

Background

Did really well on Step 1 (felt like this was crucial for Step 2), am a pretty good test-taker in general and especially really fast at reading/doing questions (which is even more important for Step 2 than Step 1)

How/What did I study

I basically only did the Anking Deck and UWorld with a bit of Amboss sprinkled on top. The mainstay of my studying for Step 1 had been the Anking deck and it worked out pretty well, so I decided to stay with this method. I did not (!) suspend all Step 1 cards that did not have a Step 2 tag (like recommended per Anking) but went through the cards myself and kept all cards active that had something clinical in them. (took about 10 days but I think it was worth it) At the end of sorting through them, I think I had about 10k-ish suspended and 20k-ish still running. Then, I started doing the Step 2 decks in around December with about 100 new cards/day increasing this first to 150 new/day and then 200 new/day in January (while keeping up with all old cards). In contrast to Step 1, at the beginning of the day, I went through all new cards of that day and suspended (and flagged) those that I knew were duplicates to the Step 1 deck or which I was very familiar with anyway. (after deleting the !DELETE cards right away) With this method I only did around 5.5k of those Step 2 decks and suspended around 3k. Personally, I felt like the cards were not as perfect as the Step 1 cards but still okay. Be prepared that the Step 2 cards are far less organized and will take you longer per card as there is often more information per cards vs the Step 1 cards! After an initial week, I reorganized my cards from the "Cheesy Dorian, Medical Ark etc." decks into subject-specific decks (IM, FM, Neuro, Gyn etc.), which I really liked (you can find all cards for a specific subject via the tags).

After completing the Anking decks at the beginning of February, I started doing UWorld blocks: After waking up, I did all my Anki-Reviews before breakfast, then had breakfast, then did 2 blocks, then a break, then another 2 blocks, then Lunch, then reviewing those 4 blocks with breaks in between and putting anything new in Anki, then those "Wrongs/Extras-Deck" then dinner. (free time afterwards) As with the Anki cards, be prepared that the Step 2 UWorld Blocks will take you significantly longer than their Step 1 counterparts (at least for me, especially at the beginning). Personally, while I like doing questions, I absolutely hate reviewing so maybe that was also a factor why they it took longer. Initially I reviewed every single question but soon realized that that would take too long so started marking any questions I was not absolutely sure of (or I got wrong) and then only reviewing those. Worked well for me and saved me probably 1-2h of personal time/day. Can absolutely recommend. Started out at around 85%ish and had about an average of 92%ish on the last 800 questions right before Step. I only did a single pass through UWorld and only about 95% of questions. If you are someone that has an effective way to retain wrong questions (eg. by putting them into Anki) then I would not recommend doing 2 passes.

Felt like I was plateauing and did UWSA 1/2 back to back about 2.5 weeks out. Because I did well and I knew that I would not even finish all of UWorld, I decided against doing any NBMEs.

The only exception to Anki/UWorld: About 1.5 week out, I did first around 300 questions of only 4 and 5 hammer Amboss questions, which I can absolutely recommend if you are already on a really high UWorld percentage. I just would not recommend doing them right before the exam as after doing those I tended to overthink questions even if they were easy. For the next 4-5 days I did UWorld as much as possible, being very restrictive with reviewing on the last 2-3 days (usually only my wrong ones and then another few) to get as much of UWorld done as possible. Then on the 4th and 3rd day before the exam I did the Ethics/Social stuff on amboss including the questions + watched all the DirtyMedicine videos on those topics as this was my weakest topic.

Free 120 2 days before the exam. Completely relaxed/cooked sth nice/did a lot of sports the day before.

What I did not do

OME or any other resource I have not mentioned. However, I would have liked to listen to certain Divine Intervention podcast episodes if I had the time (which I didn't)

Practice tests / Score

UWSA 1 (2.5 weeks out): 274

UWSA 2 (2.5 weeks out, took it back to back with UWSA 1): 281 (BUT I recognized several "hard" questions from the Anking deck right away, so I knew this was probably overpredicting quite a bit)

Free 120 (2 days out): 90% (felt pretty hard, a lot harder than the Free 120 for Step 1)

Amboss (only 4 and 5 hammer): 72% (this will crush your sould but may be worth it if you are already in the 90s in UWorld)

UW average (first pass, finished 95%): 91%

Final Score: >270

Test day

Was okayish, felt a lot worse than Step 1: I started doing block 1+2 back to back and then a break in between each block with a big break after block 4. Time management was a lot harder for me than during Step 1 as I had probably about 10-15 min extra time back then but finished most Step 2 blocks with just a few minutes left on the clock. Also, doing an additional block on top of the longer questions per block really needs more endurance than Step 1. Was absolutely smashed (not drunk) afterwards + didn't really knew how I should feel because I had a lot of 50/50 answer choices on each block. (far more than for Step 1) However, I knew from several other students that this is normal for Step 2 so I was not too worried. Was pleasantly surprised by my final score, I thought I'd probably end up more in the 260s.

Advice/thoughts

- A good foundation/Step 1 is the best preparation you can have before starting Step 2. All this management/algorithms, especially IM, FM, Peds, build on the Step 1 knowledge and having that leads to the new knowledge "making sense".

- Anki and the Anking Deck is still really good for Step 2 although not as stellar as for Step 1. However, they are more UWorld/UWSA based than the Step 1 cards (so more "spoilers") which I don't think of as bad (you would study it anyway) just be aware that your UW% or UWSA score may be inflated. Personally I'd recommend against suspending all Step 1 cards with a Step 2 tag as you'll lose out on a lot of clinical information. Also, there are several Step 2 cards similar or the same as certain then suspended Step 1 cards... on the other hand, it really takes some time to sort through this. (so it really depends if you have/want to make the time for this)

- From personal experience: Anki and UWorld are definitely enough for an absolutely great score.

- Because I really dislike having to make Anki-cards myself, I got the DIP deck (https://www.reddit.com/r/medicalschoolanki/comments/rri48v/dip_deck_800_new_peds_ob_cards/), the Schaffer deck (https://www.reddit.com/r/Step2/comments/hno29b/scored_281_ama_writeup_and_anki_deck/), Dope Deck (https://www.reddit.com/r/medicalschoolanki/comments/8g67ry/dope/) and basically used this as a "library". Whenever I had a wrong question, I'd search whether my whole collection (including those decks) had any cards and often found them. Then just unsuspended those cards instead of having to create my own cards.

- I'd highly recommend to have no other projects beside Step 2 or at least plan some personal time/day. Due to external circumstances, I did not do this for Step 1 (basically studying or having to do other projects 24/7 for 2 months, probably 80-95h/week working or studying) and was so burnt out during the last week and the weeks after. For Step 2, I scheduled some downtime (sports, relationship, friends etc.) every day or at least every second day. Fked up the schedule the last 1-2 weeks because I had to travel through the country for 2 days (meaning I was missing about 1-1.5 days of studying) a week before the exam and wanted to squeeze in the Amboss 4/5 hammers and finish UWorld. But even despite this, I did not burn out and now feel a lot better than in comparison to Step 1. (Take care of yourself, at least a bit)

- Like Step 1, I'd say that above a score of about 260/265ish, luck and being able to concentrate matter more than an additional ressource. You are already in a space where you probably have a single digit number of wrong questions and even on that level there’ll be some random questions you don't know (comes down to luck) and to not make any silly mistakes on the other questions, you need that concentration. However, while you can achieve more in Step 1 with just brute force studying, you won't be able to do that as much in Step 2. (a lot of management questions test you clinical judgement and not some random fact)

- I did this for Step 1 and Step 2: On the day directly before your exam: Chill out, spend time with your SO (if in a relationship), cook sth nice, spend some time outside, do sports. (tire yourself out) ´The good nights sleep will be worth far more than the 1 single extra day of studying.

A lot of thanks to Zanki/CheesyDorian/Anking!

Happy to answer any questions