So today I took the USMLE Step 2 CK exam. This exam basically tests everything you should have learned from first year to the end of your 3rd year, with emphasis of course on your 3rd year clinical rotations. I woke up this morning at around 5 a.m. out of habit in order to have devotion, clear my mind, and pound a couple more high yield facts into my brain. I heard from classmates who had taken it before me that if you get there at 7 a.m. you can start taking your exam by 7:30 a.m. instead of the normal 8 a.m. My brain works much better in the morning anyway, so that was ideal for me. So I prayed with my wife, put on some comfortable clothes (remembering that it had been cold for my Step 1 exam) and drove to the testing center.
When I arrived I was the first student there. I checked in but decided to study a little bit before beginning. When I was ready to start I sat down in front of my computer, skipped over the orientation section and got right to the questions. Doing all of the Usmle World questions really made me quite comfortable with the format and it almost felt like I was taking another Usmle World exam. I finished the first block with about 8 minutes to spare, and went back over the questions that I had marked. With about 30 seconds left in the first test block I realized that I HAD ONLY ANSWERED 42 OUT OF 44 QUESTIONS IN THE BLOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I silently cursed and tried to complete the last 2 questions in the block. I ended up answering only 1 of the 2 questions before the time ran out. I couldn’t believe it! I asked God why He would allow this to happen, but then calmed down realizing that I can’t blame Him for every bad thing that occurs. The mistake was mine; I had been practicing for the past 4 weeks on my huge 24″ monitor which allowed me to see all 44 questions at once. However, today I was taking the test on a little 14″ monitor which required you to scroll down on the left to get to questions 43 and 44. I finished the first block with some despair, hoping that that mistake didn’t seal my fate. I prayed and moved on.
I did two 44 questions blocks back to back, took a 10 minute break, then did two more 44 questions blocks. Then I took a lunch break and went to Panera bread…I think I spent like 20 minutes total for lunch. When I came back I finished the last 4 sections like I did the first 4 sections. Overall, I felt that the test was fair, I just had a serious problem with time. I needed more time and was much more pressed for it on the real exam today than I was for my Usmle World tests. Either way, I left the Step 2 CK exam feeling like I had felt after Step 1 exam…not very sure of how I did. God blessed me tremendously with Step 1, despite my feelings, so I continue to have faith that He will come through again for this test.
Being done with the test takes such a huge weight off of my shoulders. This was truly the hardest test that I had left and I am so happy to be done with it. I take Step 2 CS on Monday, so let’s see how that goes.
Leave a Reply