The NBME CCSE (also known as Comp for Rossies) is a shorter version of Step 2CK that is a required test for Rossies before we are eligible to sit for Step 2CK. The passing score is 209 but RUSM has a passing score set at 211 for its students.
When I signed up for Comp, I decided that I would start studying for it as if I was studying for Step 2CK. Doing well on your shelf exams throughout 3rd year will help when it comes to studying for NBME CCSE & Step 2 CK. Unlike with Step 1, I did not feel like I was studying all the material from scratch. Although I felt like studying was going well, I performed extremely poor on a practice NBME which I took 1 week before the exam. It threw me off and sent me into a state of shock because it was so unexpected. I felt like all the effort I had put in for the last month went to waste. I wasn’t sure if it was just a bad day or if I was stressing out, but I knew that I couldn’t quit. I used the next few days to review the practice exam and decided to take another one just to be sure. Luckily, the second practice NBME went a lot better and it was the confidence boost I needed for test day.
Study resources:
- Uworld – I tried my best to do 1.5 blocks/day at minimum. Since I was in my surgery rotation at the same time, I decided to do a block of 40 including all subjects expect surgery. I did a block of 20 for just surgery so that I can give enough time to study for the surgery shelf on the side as well.
- Anki – I only did about 100 new cards per day in addition to my reviews because I did not want to overwhelm myself with the amount of studying I needed to get done each day. I tried my best to get through Anki each day but there were days when I was unable to get to it.
- Emma Holliday & Dr. High Yield – I watched these review videos when I had extra time on the weekends and as I got closer to test day. It was a great summary of all the high yield material that pops up on exams frequently.
- NBMEs – I completed NBME 9 & 11 before I sat for Comp. I have heard the 9 underpredicts your score the most so I started with that one. This was the test that I did poorly on and therefore decided to complete 11 as well.
If I have one advice to give you guys, it would be to have faith in yourself because a lot of times, it’s the added stress and doubt that causes us to perform poorly, not because we are not smart enough.
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