i graduated this year and needed to do ck in time for the match, so i signed up for sept 4th but could not start studying until early august. i needed to improve my 223 on step 1 to be competitive for a good peds program... first thing i did was take NMBE 4 (in retrospect, that was probably not the smartest move, but what done is done). and i got... 188! it was horrifying and i thought i was totally screwed and considered moving my test and was generally flipping out. so then i started doing uworld questions and got about 65% correct on my first pass through. I was doing 4-7 blocks per day taking notes on the things i didn't know and just reading the things that seemed at least familiar. when i got through the first time, i did about 50% of the questions again (first incorrects, then the rest at random). 10 days before the exam day (after 3 weeks of studying) i took uwsa and scored 242, which lifted my spirits and i felt i was ready. i continued going over uworld for the next couple of days but just felt really drained and am not sure how effective those days were. i made flashcards on things that are difficult for me (lipid storage diseases, different nephritic syndromes, hisptoplasmosis, etc) and reviewed them once a day every day. then about 4 days before the exam i freaked out again and thought that uwsa must have been a fluke and that i'm gonna fail so i bought NMBE 6 and scored 250. that convinced me that i really could pass, so i took the exam as scheduled on the 4th of september. the exam was so LONG! and hard! many questions were similar to uworld, but there were enough that were super tough to make me lose all confidence. the drug abstracts were ridiculously difficult and after the first one i gave up reading them (took too much time, made my head hurt) and just guessed at random. had a total of 5 drug ads (14 questions!) - what a joke. in any case, by like block 5 i had no energy left and couldn't remember the presenting complaint by the time i got to the "what's the next best step in management?"... it was a completely demoralizing experinece. I walked out afraid i failed and couldn't remember any queastions i got right, only the ones i definitely got wrong. but today when i got the results, it turned out that i did just fine! 247! yey!
so this is for everybody who feels they can't do it or feels terrible after the exam - apparently it's normal! you can do it. if i could improve by over 50 points in just 4 weeks of dedicated studying, anyone can do it! just ppay attention to to all the comments on uworld (gold, if you ask me!) and make flashcards or take notes or whatever works for you.

here's the summary for those not into reading long driwels ;-)

Step 1: 223
Step 2: 247

NMBE 4: 188 (4 weeks before the test)
USWA: 242 (10 days before the test)
NMBE 6: 250 (4 days before the test)

After reading this post i got my confidence back bro. I really appreciated. Bcoz i got the same experience as u had. On 24th of this month i took the exam. Starting from the first block i had seen lot of weird questions that i had never seen. I totally freaked out. Especially Abstract questions really a big crap of ****. I consumed a lot of time on those. Then i realise better to move on by just random guesses. My UWSA score is 256, nbme 2 253. I hope my result would be same as urs. Once again thank bro

I can relate to that. I was totally freaked out after the exam and like u said, by block 5 and 6 onwards, I couldnt care less really. I just wanted to get out of that Prometric hall.
Those drug ads are ridiculous. I think I guesses through all of them. I didnt even look at the questions because i think they are designed to distract you from the 'main exam'.
Preparing for the exam was difficult too because I had to work long hours up to a week prior to my CK.
But got my score yesterday, and I scored 261. I had to turn off my computer and log in again to be sure, it was my score and there wasnt an error.
In terms of preparation, I think uworld still remains the best bet. Of course I used the Kaplan books, which I went through just once.
I am just glad it is all over.
My advice to those sitting the exams, Focus on uworld. and try to do as many questions as possible.
God be with us.