MUHAMMAD MASAB KEMU GRAD 2013

USMLE STEP 2 CK EXPERIENCE

I will start writing my experience in the name of ALLAH because it was never
possible without HIS blessings. All my intelligence, hardwork are HIS gifts for me
and in the end I am happy from the reward HE gave me. Then comes my family,
prayers of my mom ,dad and brothers that allowed me to go through this journey
smoothly.
This experience will be quite helpful to those juniors who are at the start
of their final year and are serious in taking step 2 before step 1.

MY STATS:
Real Score : 248
UW Qbank random timed online (first time) : 77 percent
NBME1(offline) 3.5 months before : 250
NBME2 (online) 3 months before : 246
NBME4 (online) 1.5 month before: 246
UWSA (online) 3 days before:
260
FRED 150 1 day before : 88%
Initially I was a bit down as I was expecting in 250s according to my performance in
UW and self assessments but then my friends and seniors said that 2 points dont
matter and you are in a safe range now for Internal Med. Moreover I gave my 100
percent which really matters and I am happy from what Allah gave me in return.
Alhumdulilah.

MATERIAL USED:

Kaplan lecture notes

Kaplan lecture videos (You can skip the pediatrics videos as they are not useful)
MTB-2
MTB-3(For subjects other than Med)
UW Qbank online(The best resource. Its better that you do it online in random timed
mode)

MY JOURNEY:
It all started at the start of my final year when I met some people who had done
Step 2 before step 1. One of those is Khyber medical college graduate Asad Ur
Rehman who had an amazing score in step 2 so I took guidance from him and
started my journey. I used to give one read to all the kaplans plus video lectures
during the relevant ward rotation e.g., when I had Medicine rotation in my final year
I gave a read to Kaplan Medicine along with all the video lectures. So I did this and
by the start of final prof I was done with one read of all kaplans along with all the
videos. In the end of final year I got busy in searching for electives and I also wrote

TOEFL during that time and I got 2 months electives at UAB and then I applied for
visa on the basis of electives but unfortunately my visa went into Administrative
Processing(a.k.a clearance) so I had to wait for my visa. Then I got busy in final prof
that took 2-3 months. I had electives at UAB in March and April 2013 but I could not
get my visa in time so I missed my electives. This was a quite frustrating time for
me but Thanks to Allah because HE is the best planner. So I resumed my CK prep
from 15 March and gave 2nd read to all Kaplans. This took about 20 days. Then I
started MTB2 and read it thoroughly in 10 days. After that I bought UW qbank online
subscription for three months and started doing 2 blocks per day in a random timed
mode. I started at around 70 percent but gradually improved and in the end was
scoring around 85-90 percent. So my cumulative was 77 percent at the end. This
gave me confidence. I used to make notes out of all the explanations. I took one
month for UW completion. Immediately after UW I took an online NBME 2 in which I
got 246. This was a good start. After that I did the UW marked (750Qs) and incorrect
questions (350Qs). Then I read the subjects other than Medicine from MTB3 that is
quite good. Then I applied for the exam and sent my documents via TCS which was
a big mistake that I will elaborate later along with some other unfortunate delays
that I had to face in getting a date for the exam. Then I took another NBME 4 online
and again I got 246 in it. Was a bit down that I could not improve my performance.
Then due to unfortunate delays I still had time so I went through the UW
explanations along with my notes and focused on my weak areas from Kaplan and
MTB. Finally I got my permit but it was ramadan and I decided to get a date after eid
so finally I wrote my exam on 22nd August in Islamabad.

EXAM DAY:
I could not sleep well the night before exam and was sleep deprived. The exam
Centre was near to my home so I reached there well in time. Before starting the
exam I washed my face and had a redbull. Finally the exam started. I took 5 min
break after every block. Timing is key for CK but if you have done UW random timed
then it would not be a big problem. Question length is almost similar to UW. Very
vague questions in which you cant decide between two options but overall it was
close to UW qbank so if u have done it well you will do good. Its more of a approach
checking exam and the interpretation of the question is whats special in CK. If you
have interpreted the question rightly you will select the right answer.

PROBLEMS FACED:
1) I feel very sad to say that KEMU admin can never facilitate the students.
When I started the registration process I needed a letter mentioning that my
degree will be issued on this date. My friends who went for CS also applied on
the basis of this letter but when I applied for it about 2 days after my friends ,
the Registrar suddenly stopped making it. I contacted him, explained the
problem but he did not help. So I had only one option left and that was to
apply for the urgent degree. So I applied for that and once again instead of
15 days I got the so called urgent degree in 35 days courtesy wrong

signatures of Registrar due to which Governor office rejected signing the

degree initially.
2) After getting the degree I sent my documents to ECFMG via TCS. All my
friends told me to use TCS and they said that it reaches in 5-7 days max. But
badluck once again my TCS parcel has not reached ECFMG uptil now. So I
waited 15 days but then I prepared all the documents again and sent via
FedEx that reached in 2 days. So I would advise that NEVER EVER USE TCS.
EITHER USE FEDEX OR DHL.
3) The motivation problem. I prepared all my CK prep during the clearance
process of my visa and I used to read the experiences of people and got quite
depressed after knowing that some people are waiting for 2 years. I missed
my 2 months electives and I started thinking that may be Allah has not made
this path for me. But my family and friends supported and encouraged me
and I got my visa issued the very next day after my exam after waiting for 10
months. So all those seniors and juniors who are in this process should never
lose hope. You will get your visa sooner or later.