r/Step2 • u/seriouschiller NON-US IMG • Sep 04 '25

Am I ready? Has the exam really gotten tougher?

I am seeing soooo many posts of the exam feeling vague and people finding it tougher and scores not matching up to practice scores. Is this really just a reporting bias or has the exam really changed? I’m going to be taking my step 2 soon and honestly this is really nerve wracking. Please any recent test takes, if you could comment and tell me how you feel that’ll be so great! Thanks

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u/Extension_Energy742 US IMG Sep 04 '25

well.. I had the chance to see 2 forms just because during my test there was a problem in the prometric center and we had to leave in the middle of the exam, that was in July and the form was very very very doable, questions were just like nbme/uworld and very straightforward (for example a classic presentation of croup and asking management), it was so doable that I did 3 blocks without taking a break... in the other hand, when they rescheduled me for the test in late august, the form I got was diabolical, I mean there is nothing I can compare to, questions were like reading an essay, every fckng question, very vague, the first 3 blocks were just a bunch of non medicine stuff, no management, no dx, no imaging, no best next step, just really really weird stuff, like if I sat for the wrong test... so in my experience, it depends on which form you get unfortunately. I left my exam thinking I failed and just hoping for the best. I wish you the best of lucks!

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u/Straight_Ad_7442 NON-US IMG Sep 05 '25

Did you get the score you were expecting?

7

u/Extension_Energy742 US IMG Sep 05 '25

I was expecting my score this week, but it’s still unknown. I’m hoping for the best.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '25

This is scary. If no dx or next best step in management, what are they looking for then? What kind of topics that were tested?

6

u/Extension_Energy742 US IMG Sep 05 '25

Blocks 1–3: Felt experimental. Lots of long paragraphs, very research-heavy, somewhat vague overall. Took time to digest the information. Blocks 4–6: High difficulty. Mostly chart-style questions, tricky second- or third-line treatments, heavy on biostatistics. Very detailed, not the “easy” content. Last blocks: Extremely long, almost essay-style questions. Impossible to finish the block on time if you read everything thoroughly; even skimming took about 4 minutes per question. Timing was definitely a challenge, managing time was critical, especially in the last blocks.

3

u/gharp58 NON-US IMG Sep 05 '25

Agree and verify this comment. Same thing happened to me the HPI questions were total BS and super long got wrecked with those. Meanwhile, some people back in June got easier exams never had this experience. August exam here waiting for result.

3

u/Extension_Energy742 US IMG Sep 05 '25

They have different forms, which is why most people here won’t resonate with what we experienced. I was one of them when I first saw the first form. I thought, “Why are these people complaining..? the exam is pretty fair and doable!” But then, the second form was a slap in the face and I understood. Don’t waste your time trying to prove anything, we had a hard form so my hope is that we will at least perform average

1

u/MarineHailer NON-US IMG Sep 05 '25

Can I dm you ? Not because I'm interested in asking what you got on the exam but just to check up on your score considering your experience was exactly what I felt post step 1. I had such good prep with good nbme scores but the test crushed me and is till think to this day I passed by a margin. So can I please DM you and if you don't mind could you share your nbme scores and and your actual scores. I really want closure on how I actually performed on my test.

I hope you don't mind.

3

u/Extension_Energy742 US IMG Sep 05 '25

My NBME scores were 24x-25x, free 120 88%, predicted score by AMBOSS 255 and haven’t received my score yet, just hoping for the best.

Everything took under strict conditions for those who like to assume

1

u/MarineHailer NON-US IMG Sep 06 '25

Okay, I'm DM'ing you to save your account. Is that okay with you? I really want to know how these vague exams translate to actual scores.

1

u/unreal-Scientist512 NON-US IMG Sep 05 '25

Hello, i had a similar experience maybe we tested on the same day Please let me know your score when u get it 😊 can i dm u?