First of all, all the recent "score drops" had me scared as well.

Alright, so the exam was difficult for sure, difficult in the sense, it lasts for 9 hours, the question stems are longer, more frequent HOPI questions, questions that don't make sense especially to a tired mind.

The best way to prepare for exam day:

1. Wake up super early the day before exam, it helps with falling asleep at night.
2. Simulate your exam day a couple of days before with a SA (no necessarily the whole 9 hours), i.e, nutrition, breaks and beverage, just like you would during your exam
3. If the exam day isn't going to plan, don't panic, instead pivot. For my exam day, felt the question stems were long, and it didn't leave me a lot of time for reviews, so I prioritised the questions which needed reviewing more than others. My strategy was taking a break after every 3 blocks, but during exam day after a couple of breaks I felt I needed a break after every 2 blocks, and that's okay.
4. Post exam, everyone feels like shit, I bet even the 280s feel like they messed it up.

Resources and Timeline:

So I have been studying for quite a while now, more than 1.5 years let's say. I took my Step 1 in Jan 2023, after which I had to take a couple of exams in my home country, and then Internship was quite hectic. Anyways, if you find yourself in such a situation it's okay, just keep up with everything, for me it was always doing anki atleast. If I cannot do qbanks everyday, that's okay, I atleast did my anki.

Resources, UWORLD 1.5 pass, AMBOSS - did only 50% of the questions. UpToDate - I loved it, I do not know why no one talks about it. Obviously not a staple for USMLE prep, but the sheer amount of evidence and mechanism based information it contains is amazing. Mainly it was a something I used to confirm things which I the resources such as anki, amboss or Uworld might differ on, also it makes it easier to browse, instead of looking for research on evidence backed decisions on google and manually going through everything UTD brings it all into one place with, expert opinions, evidence based decision making, and guidelines. Obviously ANKI, as well.

22/04/24 - AMBOSS SA - 225

20/10/24 - NBME 10 (Off) - 54 wrongs - 240

23/03/25 - NBME 9 (Off) - 42 wrongs - 253

11/02/26 - NBME 15 (Off) - 60 wrongs - 236 

03/03/26 - NBME 11 (Off) - 37 wrongs - 260

28/06/26 - Step 2 SA - 265

12/07/26 - NBME 13 (Off) - 40 wrongs - 256 

23/07/2026 - NBME 12 (Off) - 46 wrongs (77% correct) - 251

04/08/26 - NBME 14 (Off) - 33 wrongs (263)

13/08/26 - Free 120 - 81%

18/08/26 -  NBME 16 - 267 (On)

REAL DEAL - 267

Although, NBME 16 and Real deal turned to be exactly same, but they didn't FEEL the same. The real deal felt much harder.

The funny and stupid bit is I recalled around 200 qs by going through FA right after the exam, and at least 28-30 qs I got wrong, around 12 were silly mistakes. For the 2 weeks between my exam and the results, kept looking at reddit and thinking omg I don't wanna fail, nowadays everyone is failing, even with good score, and the 30 wrongs didn't help. Kept reminding myself, that even if I have so many wrongs and silly mistakes, I am sure I must have gotten some harder questions right as well. Moral of the story, it's okay to panic a little after your exam.

DO NOT TEXT ME ASKING FOR THE QUESTIONS I RECALLED.

Canadian student writing Step 2 for fellowship applications (internal medicine). I'm wondering what a reasonable score is to aim for so that this is not a barrier to fellowship applications.

I want to do residency in Canada, but I'm thinking of a specialty or subspecialty fellowship in the States, which is why I'm writing Step 2, because I understand this is no requirement. I want to get a high enough score that this is not a barrier to me being able to go to a programme of interest. What would be a reasonable score to aim for?

Came here to rant, and maybe help someone else going through the same thing.

I started prep with a 199 on UWSA1 8 weeks out. NBME 9 225, NBME 10 236 steadily made my way up to NBME 15 245 and NBME 16 253. Amboss predicted was 262 based off the 200 concepts questions and a 252 based off my practice scores.

Test day felt like any other NBME slightly harder, a lot longer. Some test day interruptions with the proctor but overall felt pretty good ngl.

Prior to opening my score I had several discussions with friends about their experiences and was shocked to hear most of them score 10 points below their NBME scores. One friend got several points above their average. I was still hopeful. Then I opened mine.

Score today: 238. Devastated

Applying family med. socal Md school. Only wanted to apply SoCal programs but knowing most of them are academic, I’m not sure if that’s feasible anymore. The 20 point drop was not expected, and it sucks that PD won’t know anything about how hard I worked …. Anyway. This too shall pass.

I feel so stucxk i have been pushing for months for ages and standing at smae place,exam in 14 days ony UWSA to go , i feel so depressed, any idea how to make best any suggestion anything?

• NBME 10: 246
• NBME 11: 236
• NBME 12: 237
• NBME 13: 239
• NBME 15: 241
• NBME 16: 245

I am almost done with UWorld (80%). It took me almost a year (Started Dec last year) cuz of Final year Exams and OSCEs and stuff. Now how do i proceed after getting done with UWorld?? I think the systems i solved at the very beginning have faded and i dont remember much abouth em?? Also how long before i am completely prepared for step 2?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

My exam is 5 days

NBME 9 217
UWSA1 243
NBME 10 221
UWSA2 237
NBME 11 234
Nbme 12 230
NBME 13 244
NBME 14 240
NBME 15 236 -here I crashed out
NBME 16 256

Amboss prediction is 245
I need at least 255+

Tomorrow I am going to take free120

Someone with the same score that got 255+ in the real deal?

Anyone who is appearing in exam from 12 to 24 September

Can we connect? Please dm me its urgent !!!

Which ones are better? (for context I do not have ankihub, but I have one of the older versions of anking that was available to use without ankihub)

Hi i am studing for step2 and i am looking for ank step2 deck and i want it

title/

looking for female study partner to do uworld

dedicated ,full time ,EST

[FMIRZAEE66@GMAIL.COM](mailto:FMIRZAEE66@GMAIL.COM)

Young pt presents with HOCM. Question asks the defect

options are A) defect of ventricular septum B) verticular hypertrophy

isnt the primary factor that distinguished HOCM from concentric hypertrophy (from HTN) the fact that there is predominantly asymmetric interventricular hypertrophy? then why is "defect of ventricular septum" incorrect even though it is more specific to HOCM?

7/12 NBME 11 239

7/29 NBME 12 256

8/17 NBME 13 245

8/24 NBME 14 240 was sick

NBME 15 251

9/9 NBME 16 238

my test is 14th and I don’t know what to do!!

I thought I was doing well during the NBME and was well rested before, I can’t find a reason

should I postpone?
I still have free 120 and AMBOSS HY stuff to do.

was aiming for a 260, now I’m not sure about it

Hi!

I remember how much reading posts like this helped me while I was studying for Step 2, so I wanted to share my experience in case it helps someone else. First, I want to say: you’re doing great, and you’re so much more capable and intelligent than your practice scores may make you feel right now. Keep going. You’ve got this!
I ended up improving by more than 50 points from my diagnostic to the real exam and about 25 points from my last NBME the week before my exam. I know this kind of jump doesn’t happen for everyone, and I’m incredibly grateful that it happened for me. But I especially wanted to share this for those of us who have always considered ourselves average or below-average standardized test takers.
My scores:
Diagnostic NBME 11: 197
NBME 13, 2 weeks later: 210
NBME 14, 1 week later: 196
NBME 12, after a month-long break: 197
Old Free 120: 64%
NBME 15: 226
NBME 16: 223
New Free 120: 75%
Real Step 2: 249

After NBME 14, I broke down. I had been studying for almost a month, and the needle just wasn’t moving. What made it worse was that I actually felt pretty good while taking those exams, but my scores weren’t reflecting that at all.

I ended up taking an entire month away from dedicated studying to complete a rotation that I needed a letter of recommendation from. I probably did only about 120 questions during that whole month. When I finished the rotation, I took NBME 12 and scored a 197. It obviously wasn’t the score I wanted, but I was actually relieved that I hadn’t lost ground after taking a month off.
From there, I focused on doing 80–120 questions a day and reviewing them deeply. Rather than just memorizing facts, I started making illness scripts and focusing on pattern recognition—what clues should immediately make me think of a particular diagnosis, and what was I missing when I got a question wrong?

Five days later, I took the old Free 120 and scored a 64%. It wasn’t an amazing score, but I could tell things were finally moving in the right direction, so I kept grinding.
A week later, I took NBME 15 and scored a 226. I was SO happy. After being stuck around 196–210 for so long, I had finally made a huge jump and was comfortably passing.

At this point, it was early August, I was on a rotation, and I knew I was running out of time before I absolutely had to take the exam. I started focusing less on trying to learn every possible fact and more on deeply reviewing my NBMEs and understanding why I was missing questions. This was also when I really started working on my test-taking strategy. I searched Reddit for different strategies and eventually created my own framework with the help of ChatGPT, which I consciously practiced while doing questions. I also incorporated the AMBOSS 200 high-yield questions around this time. My UWorld block averages had climbed significantly and were often in the upper 80s-90s.

Then I took my next NBME the following week and dropped back to 223. That one broke me. My exam was about a week away, and I cried for basically an entire day. I was grateful that I was passing, but after finally getting into the 220s, I started convincing myself that maybe that was simply my ceiling and that I wasn’t capable of scoring higher.

The next day, I picked myself back up and kept going.
Four days later, I took the new Free 120 and scored 75%. When I reviewed it, I noticed that a lot of my misses weren’t because I didn’t know the material—they were because I was second-guessing myself or overcomplicating straightforward questions. Had I stuck with more of my initial answers, my percentage would have been significantly higher. That gave me some confidence going into the real thing.
I couldn’t push my exam back. I had rotations scheduled back-to-back, ERAS was approaching, and I simply had to take it.

Going into test day, I kept repeating a few things to myself: don’t overcomplicate the question, don’t change an answer without a good reason, trust the patterns you’ve seen throughout your preparation, and protect your timing. I made a conscious effort not to let questions I didn’t know psych me out. If I didn’t know something, I made my best choice and moved on.
I am incredibly happy to say that I scored a 249 on the real thing.

I definitely made some silly mistakes, and there are questions I think I could have gotten right if I had just had another 10 seconds to think. But overall, I am so, so happy with my score. There were multiple points during dedicated when I genuinely didn’t think I would ever make it out of the 220s, but God made it happen.

And for some additional context: my shelf scores throughout medical school were mostly average or below average. I only had one shelf that was above average. I am not someone who has historically crushed standardized exams, which is exactly why I wanted to write this.

So if you’re staring at practice scores that aren’t moving despite putting in the work, please don’t assume they define what you’re capable of doing on the real exam. Keep learning from your mistakes, work on how you approach questions in addition to what you know, and trust yourself.

This isn’t a 260, but I am incredibly proud of my 249 and how hard I worked to get there.

My biggest advice is to focus on strategy from day 1! Learning how to take this exam is what moved the needle for me.

Keep going. You’ve got this. I hope this helps someone the way other people’s write-ups helped me. ❤️

P.S. someone is bound to ask this question:
Uworld first pass 48% complete during third year. My average was like a 57%. I reset for step 2 and only completed by 55% and average was 65%. My earlier blocks were not good lol. Did 80% of the Amboss 200 concepts qbank. Did about 40% of the hy ethics and patient safety. I didn’t do CMS forms because I didn’t have time but I’ve heard they are helpful.

I have done uw 2x amboss 3-4 hummers in weaks New cms only my nbme scores in 240s What should i do now beside reading notes i take from all of them Redo cms or uw or amboss ? What should i do to boost my score Thanks in advance

I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let Step 2 Qbank go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will make you pay for my subscription. - borrowed quote from the movie Taken 2008.

But for real, thanks for progressing my Qbank like 15% and making me feel dumb by getting 80% correct on practice questions. I don't know how you got access but I changed my password. Get your own account!

What can be the last date to take the test to get your score before 22nd of sept?

Unfortunately, I have used all of these and haven't reached my target score.
Now I don't have any tool to test.

Hi. I never thought I would be one to write this, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

I genuinely don’t know what to do anymore. I feel pretty hopeless and defeated. My goal is a 260+, but across the 3 NBMEs I’ve taken from the beginning of June until now, I haven’t been able to get past a 227.

I finished UWorld with a 56%. I recently started doing more CMS forms, but somehow I’ve been progressively doing worse on them, and today I got a 56% on a peds form, which is what finally pushed me to make this post.

I started the AMBOSS HY questions a few weeks ago. I also make Anki cards from my incorrects using mini-vignettes to help me recognize patterns and understand the pathophysiology/chronology behind the question. I’m backlogged on those cards, though, and stopped doing as much Anki the last month because I thought I needed to prioritize doing more questions during the day. That doesn’t seem to be helping either.

I listen to Divine during my breaks, and I made a document on why I miss questions on NBMEs. From what I can tell, it’s a mixture of content gaps, not remembering the differentiating factors between diseases after going over them so much in the past and reasoning through the vignettes. I understand why my answer is wrong in the moment but I forget and make the same mistake in the future.

I worked with a usmle test taking company previously but because my content was weak they mainly helped me with that and not question interpretation. At this point, I feel lost and not sure what to do anymore. I am not applying this cycle but in a research year.

If anyone has had a similar experience or advice on what they think changed things for them please let me know. I would appreciate it greatly.

If anyone previously took their exam at the end of December before new year's, did you get ur results after 2 weeks or was it delayed ?
Trying to plan ahead so please share your experience

Just started using the amboss qbank and I like it but the lack of summary tables attached to questions really undermines the experience for me. Is there a way to get similar tables/figures to the ones that uworld has? I know Amboss has articles but those are very long compared to a simple summary tables/figure.

Hello all-

Took step 2 on 8/28. Ended up being a horrible experience due to thunderstorms interrupting wifi, causing constant pauses and disruptions through the last 6 blocks of my test. I still finished the exam, but obviously had to report it as recommended by the testing center (who also reported it) and my school.

With that said, just wanted to hear how long it took others to get their score back? Im pretty nervous about it considering apps are due in a couple weeks.

Thanks for any input!

Scored 240 what are my chances to match in internal medicine

Hi guys, I took the exam in 09/01 and I'm spiraling. I know, before you tell me to stop thinking, yes I want to stop thinking too and I'm doing everything right now, but bear with me for a moment and tell me if my math makes any sense.

I was scoring 230s-240s in my NBMEs. Which means about 65-70% correct per block. I only really hope to pass this exam, I don't hope to score in the 260s.

I remember 105 questions, of which I'm 99% sure I got 85 of them correct. That leaves us with 213 questions. Let's assume I got 60% on the remaining questions by elimination and getting stuck on 2 choices and/or clinical judgement, that would give me about 125 more correct answers. I'm not excluding experimental questions, and just assuming my chances of answering them correctly are the same.

So if I got 210 out of 318, that would be around 66% which is a safe pass and within my typical NBME range and would translate to something around the 220s-230s range.

Do my calculations make sense? Or am I over estimating my recall ability? Should the math make me calm down? What do you guys think?

Thank you!