Step 2

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
caffeinegirl

caffeinegirl

Full Member
Lifetime Donor
Verified Member
Physician
Platinum Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2000
Messages
857
Reaction score
421
Members do not see this ad.
Helloooo

Just an FYI to those applying for the 2005 match, I spoke the to PD at my school, and he "strongly recommended" Step 2 to be taken by application time.

I know previously in this forum you all have posted that it's not required, but just wanted to add in another opinion into the mix.

The reason he gave was that you should take it while the stuff is still fresh in your mind, and that most programs would like to see that you can pass standardized exams, since you'll need to pass such exams to finish residency.

just his 2cents, which leaves me with scrambling to prepare for step 2, just a month after finishing step 1....well, nobody said this would be easy
😉
keep on truckin'!
 
People have different opinions on this. There are a lot of others (mind you, probably not many of them are program directors) who suggest taking step II so that you don't have to report your score until after the match, thus you can sort of blow it off. I wouldn't recommend that. You certainly don't want to fail it and leave yourself minimal time to reschedule before the end of the year. As many have posted before, there are a handful of schools (dartmouth, ? UMinnesota, ? others) that require it before they rank you. What I did I would recommend to anyone, and I am not trying to toot my own horn here, but it makes sense. I took it late fall, but elected in application to not automatically release my scores, thus I could choose to release it to the programs of my choice AFTER I got my score back. Thus, if I did poorly but still passed, I could wait until april. If I did well, can submit it before rank lists are due and make an impression.

It also provided a handy excuse to write to my favorite programs round about january or february and remind them of my interest and say, "hey, by the way, I did well on step II here is the score." I got good feedback from most programs about this. Some actually said, "Step II scores are more indicative of who will be a successful resident."

So, take it for what it's worth. But in my opinion, submitting a good step II score can help your position when it comes down to ranking. I would also say that not submitting your step II score until it is past match day would not hurt you, unless your step I was borderline and they were looking to see that to see if you could do better on II. So, do what I did and you can maybe have it both ways. Choose your own adventure!

I like those choose your own adventure books. I read one once that actually provided a choice between drinking a "gourd full of foul-smelling liquid" or not drinking it and moving on. I chose to drink the gourd, and when I flipped to the correct page it did a very good job of describing a vagal episode, albeit a vagal episode where I did not wake up and had to start over. In short, the gruel killed me.
 
I already signed up for step 2 and will probably take it at the end of august or sometime in september. I figure, I have to take it anyway so why not get it out of the way. If I do well, programs will have these scores for interview season. If I do poorly, like yaah said, I don't have to release the scores right away. Besides, you don't want to worry about step 2 once interviewing starts...

btw...when are you soon to be residents going to take step 3? I heard that it is a good idea to take it as early as possible since after a few years of pathology residency you forget A LOT of clinical medicine.
 
I'm sure that doing well on Step 2 may only help you, but I don't think it will make or break anything... My step 2 score was about 4 standard deviations better than my step 1 score, and nobody even bothered to ask about either of them during interviews... Even when on interview day I hanged a big sign on my neck that said "I am entitled to brag about Step 2 score"... Just kidding... I dont' know. I still advise to study hard for these. Its a good wrap-up review of all there is to know in medschool.
 
Nilf,

Congrats on doing so much better on step 2!

I didn't do so great on Step 1 but have been doing much better on shelf exams this year so I'm hoping to do better on step 2.

What did you do to study? I want your advice since you improved so much!

And, if anyone else has thoughts, I'd be glad to hear them!!

thanks...
🙂 kem
 
from what i gather, one option to say NOT release your scores for step 2, and then do so adlib based on if you are happy with the #.

But i have a question - does it look bad when residencies see "Not releasing step 2" or whatever? don't they start to wonder whY?


thanks
 
If you take step 2 at the end of Aug, before sept. 1st when programs start to receive your apps, and you choose not to auto release your scores, will the usmle transcript that goes out just have step1 score or will it include step 2 also because you took it in aug, before it was sent to programs??? I guess my question is about how long after you take step2 until that score becomes included on your usmle transcript??? It seems like if it gets included right away then you can't take step 2 in Aug and would have to take it after the apps get to programs in order to have the choice of releasing it or not. I'm not sure if this is making sense, but I definitely am confusing myself~
 
marchiafava said:
If you take step 2 at the end of Aug, before sept. 1st when programs start to receive your apps, and you choose not to auto release your scores, will the usmle transcript that goes out just have step1 score or will it include step 2 also because you took it in aug, before it was sent to programs??? I guess my question is about how long after you take step2 until that score becomes included on your usmle transcript??? It seems like if it gets included right away then you can't take step 2 in Aug and would have to take it after the apps get to programs in order to have the choice of releasing it or not. I'm not sure if this is making sense, but I definitely am confusing myself~
Click to expand...

I was wondering this too. I think that if you release your USMLE scores you cannot be selective and only release one of them. Thus, if, when filling out your ERAS forms initially and giving permission to release your scores, you have already taken step II, both I and II would be released. The option of submitting step II later only occurs if the score report for step II is a new addition to your USMLE transcript.

If I remember right, you can't be selective. The option pops up when you are registering your application as to whether you want your USMLE transcripts automatically updated and sent to your applied places, or whether you want to do this yourself once updates become available. I don't remember anything about step I vs step II in particular.

Wow that's confusing to write about and confusing to read about...like reading mortgage paperwork.
 
I don't know what the timescale is for release of scores but I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight. I plan on taking Step 2 late and thus ended up scheduling it for mid-December. I know I'm gonna do considerably worse on it than Step 1 and I really don't want them to count for anything. I was wondering if residency programs will get my step 2 scores late enough for it not to work against me. Or should I even schedule it later? Unfortunately, at U of Michigan, we have to take Step 2 by Feb. 1st. Thanks a bunch.
 
I took mine in late december, got my score back about a month later. The scenario you describe probably will work out fine, just don't click the "automatically submit USMLE scores" option when you register with ERAS. That way, when you get your score back, you don't have to submit it until after the match if you do poorly, but if you do well, you can send your scores on before the match as extra evidence for them to rank you highly. That's what I did. Read the previous posts in this topic.
 
yaah: you wrote "but if you do well, you can send your scores on before the match as extra evidence for them to rank you highly. That's what I did"


so did you send programs your step 1 or step 2 (or both)?

I guess the question implies if whether when you select"NO, i'll submit scores individuals," then do residency programs NOT EVEN HAVE YOUR STEP 1 score??? how can that be? is that right?

please anyone provide guidance/assistance

thanks
 
I think when you submit your USMLE transcript, it gives them everything you have done so far. When I submitted ERAS originally I hadn't taken Step II, so all they got was step I. There was no option for submitting step I and II individually. I don't think you can apply without submitting a step I score, it is often required to get an interview. Thus, when I applied every program got my Step I, but I submitted the update to my USMLE transcript once I got the scores back to only a few places, the ones I was going to rank.

When you are submitting scores individually, it is submitting the updates. As I said, if you take step II before you fill out and submit ERAS originally, you may not be able to hold that score back.
 
In case you haven't taken step II or even thought about taking it, wanted to update this.

Don't put it off forever!

Multiple PDs have told me that they do look at Step II scores and find that Step II score correlates much better with performance in residency than Step I score. In particular, this is why many programs will request IMGs to report a step II score.

If you can take Step II and get your score back before the program rank lists are due, highly recommended to do it.

For reference, a "high" (and thus competitive) USMLE score is often considered to be 220 or above.
 
That is truly upsetting. I was even considering pushing back Step II until after the match. :laugh:
 
If you're an american grad (which you are) and did well on step I it is not so important. Unless of course you are planning on not studying at all and risking failing! In truth though, if you get too far out from clinical rotations and actual med school business before you take step II you risk forgetting a lot of things that you would take as basic knowledge.
 
a resident friend of mine told me that unless you drastically change the amount of studying you do or the way you study, that your step 2 score will be very similar to your step 1 score. i pretty much had this experience.

i studied really hard, probably for a month and a half, for step 1, and studied for maybe two weeks, not so hard, for step 2. i got my step 2 score back about two weeks ago and it was one point higher than my step 1 score. granted, i took step 2 a month after my rotations ended and after having just finished internal medicine, but i felt that most of the questions i answered using clinical knowledge rather than stuff i remembered from boards and wards.

i feel like it's just nicer to get the test over with earlier so that you don't have to worry about it, and if you have a decent step 1 score, you're probably not going to do worse if you do a little studying beforehand. if you really want to improve your step 2 score, perhaps you have to study a little more, but i really felt like my clinical knowledge from third year was the backbone of how i did.

just my two cents.
 
vetiver said:
a resident friend of mine told me that unless you drastically change the amount of studying you do or the way you study, that your step 2 score will be very similar to your step 1 score. i pretty much had this experience.

i studied really hard, probably for a month and a half, for step 1, and studied for maybe two weeks, not so hard, for step 2. i got my step 2 score back about two weeks ago and it was one point higher than my step 1 score. granted, i took step 2 a month after my rotations ended and after having just finished internal medicine, but i felt that most of the questions i answered using clinical knowledge rather than stuff i remembered from boards and wards.

i feel like it's just nicer to get the test over with earlier so that you don't have to worry about it, and if you have a decent step 1 score, you're probably not going to do worse if you do a little studying beforehand. if you really want to improve your step 2 score, perhaps you have to study a little more, but i really felt like my clinical knowledge from third year was the backbone of how i did.

just my two cents.
Click to expand...

That's comforting to know. BTW, does anyone know the correlation between shelf exam scores and one's performance on Step 2. For instance, I did not so great on my shelf exams...my scores ranged in the mid 70's to low 80's across all disciplines. Does that correlate to like a 220-230 on Step 2?

I know it's hard to compare shelf exams to Step 2; however, it is my feeling that the difficulty of the questions encountered on both are quite similar. But if anyone can give an honest ballpark comparison, that would be cool.

Cheers.
 
yaah said:
If you're an american grad (which you are) and did well on step I it is not so important. Unless of course you are planning on not studying at all and risking failing! In truth though, if you get too far out from clinical rotations and actual med school business before you take step II you risk forgetting a lot of things that you would take as basic knowledge.
Click to expand...


totally agree w/above...if your any kinda IMG (AMG or real IMG) then step II may actually be req, let alone important.

But hey andy, i wouldn't stress it man. i assume you did decent on step 1, so don't worry about pushing back step II - key is to make sure you DO pass though, which from what i hear, shouldn't be a prob if you did halfway decent on part I. My PD flat out told me to NOT take step II...rather, to not take it early with the worry about if places are gonna expect that you have it before ROL are due...recommended to just relax and take it when i feel ready, not pressure by dates etc...so yah andy, i'm like you, i'm gonna wait until end of Jan 2005, which i know won't be enough time to count for ROL (which i assume is mid FEB from i understand), but i still wanna just get it over with and not wait until day before graduation.
also, heard it was similar to shelves (but not nec with super detailed questions), but easier somewhat than step 1...so guess somewhere in btw both of these i guess....consensus report though is that you should do better on part II regardless...assuming you didn't leave early to go drinking and left 3 blocks unanswered. :idea:
 
Not to sound the collective groan, but it would be well-advised to not put off Step 2 too late, since there is the added issue of the Step 2 CS to be done by July.

What's this OSCE book that I keep hearing about?
 
SLUsagar said:
But hey andy, i wouldn't stress it man. i assume you did decent on step 1, so don't worry about pushing back step II - key is to make sure you DO pass though, which from what i hear, shouldn't be a prob if you did halfway decent on part I....consensus report though is that you should do better on part II regardless...assuming you didn't leave early to go drinking and left 3 blocks unanswered. :idea:
Click to expand...

Well, I'll put it this way...I'm almost certain my step 2 score won't beat my step 1 score. Sure, so many people have told me that step 2 is easier and it is easier to score better on step 2. However, I just feel that the way my brain works makes it easier for me to test well on basic science knowledge far over clinical knowledge. But I'll take your advice and chill out a bit. I dunno...stressing about step 2 happens in waves for me; most of the time I'm OK...I guess now is that time of the year or something.

I'm taking my step twoozies in late December...which is not late enough for my step 2 score to not count. I'm too lazy to reschedule it too so screw it. I guess I'll study a bit for it and just hope for the best.
 
I used the OSCE book and thought it was very good for the CS. It prepared me well.....it may be a bit too much though.
:luck:
deschutes said:
Not to sound the collective groan, but it would be well-advised to not put off Step 2 too late, since there is the added issue of the Step 2 CS to be done by July.

What's this OSCE book that I keep hearing about?
Click to expand...
 
AndyMilonakis said:
Well, I'll put it this way...I'm almost certain my step 2 score won't beat my step 1 score.
Click to expand...

you truly are the "man behind the man" andy!!!

howdchewdoo? did you like have a perfect step 1 score? hey, what is the highest score you can get anyways!???
 
SLUsagar said:
you truly are the "man behind the man" andy!!!

howdchewdoo? did you like have a perfect step 1 score? hey, what is the highest score you can get anyways!???
Click to expand...

Far from the perfect score :laugh: . Related story though...I took USMLE Step 1 back in 2000. One of my classmates DID end up getting the highest score in the nation. He didn't tell me personally what HIS score was but some say that he got a 269. The year before, another person at our school ended up getting the highest score in the nation too...he got a 273 I believe. I'm not saying this to brag about our school but to give some answer to your question regarding highest score. It seems that the highest score fluctuates from year to year. Now if one gets ALL the questions correct, I too wonder what the highest score would be. Would it be a 300? That's a nice round even number, right?

Regarding my score, I feel hesitant to post it because I have seen other SDN'ers get flamed and called mean names for doing so (even if done with the best intentions) in the past. If you're curious, go check out this guy named bigfrank. What I will say though is that my score was far from a 269 or a 273 🙂. And bigfrank kicked my ass too 😀 .

Also, when I made that statement about my score, I tried to make it in the context of what step 2 tests instead of implying that I got some perfect score. Sorry if it came across the wrong way.

I will be the first one to admit that my clinical judgment skills are pretty weak. My brain works better when thinking about the basic sciences; hence, I would be a person who finds step 1 easier than step 2 and not the other way around. I think doing well on clinical exams like step 2 requires some common sense. I possess none. This is evidenced by my shelf exam scores which are nothing, by any means, to brag about (if anyone has answers to that question regarding comparison of shelf to step 2 scores, I'm still curious to know 🙂 ).
 
In my impression, the step II exam was a bit different than the shelf exams. It did test similar knowledge, but shelf exams were more short statements or histories followed by possible responses. Step II had a lot of long passages (thus, why it is important for IMGs to take it, because it demonstrates you can understand and function in english).

A lot of times, the long statement was a patient's history and there were 3-4 questions following it, a lot of times only related to small parts of the history. You often didn't need to read the whole passage (not that I recommend that method, however).

No one knows (well, I'm sure someone does, but they aren't talking) what the highest score you can get. My theory is that it is 300, because there are, I think, 7 blocks of 50 questions but there are rumored to be a number of "experimental" questions that do not count. Thus, about 300 "real" questions. And I doubt there are questions which count more than others, but that's a possibility as well. But this doesn't make a ton of sense to me because I would imagine there are people who only get a couple of questions wrong, with all the people that take it every year.

I have heard of scores in the low 280s. It also seems to me that over the last couple of years the extremes have increased (thus, more people getting above 250 than before). I also don't know where the "99" two digit score begins. I think somewhere in the high 240s. Is a 270 really that much better than a 250? Don't know. They are probably both 99s.

But it's true, people do get pummelled a bit for posting high scores, but a lot of it goes both ways. People criticized one poster for continuously posting it and making sure everyone seemed to know about it. It's weird though, if someone posts they got a good score, they will be accused of bragging or trying to make others feel bad, etc. Whereas if you post your score and it is average or below average, no one seems to mind. I think it goes with the general competitiveness of med students in general, and no one likes to see anyone doing better than them because it might mean they have to work harder or something. Who knows. It's an interesting psychological study to say the least. Everyone likes to feel they are above average, unless of course they are defining themselves by being inferior in some way.
 
Sat for IM final on Friday. The 2nd half was ~40 "multiple-multiple" questions with question stems/lab values taking up half a page and answers options running from "A" to (sometimes) "T" for 3-4 succeeding questions.

Are these similar to the Step II long passage -type questions?

~
As an aside, I never had a problem reading long passages 😀 Listening to HPEs being presented though, that's a totally different story - but then again I don't think it reflects on language capability in the least.

yaah said:
I think it goes with the general competitiveness of med students in general, and no one likes to see anyone doing better than them because it might mean they have to work harder or something. Who knows. It's an interesting psychological study to say the least.
Click to expand...
Part of it too is that in the pre-med-school life, we were told that we were the so-called "cream". Enter med school, and all of a sudden one is surrounded by people even more brilliant, motivated or hardworking than oneself. It's a shock to the system.
 
deschutes said:
Sat for IM final on Friday. The 2nd half was ~40 "multiple-multiple" questions with question stems/lab values taking up half a page and answers options running from "A" to (sometimes) "T" for 3-4 succeeding questions.
Click to expand...

That is inhumane. Congrats for finishing though, I hope it went well.

Why does IM have to go through such great lengths to make a student's life hell when it comes down to exams? We had 5 exams. Ridiculous! Five! Granted some were easier than others but 5 over 2 weeks while you're finishing up your rotations is not cool.

deschutes said:
Part of it too is that in the pre-med-school life, we were told that we were the so-called "cream". Enter med school, and all of a sudden one is surrounded by people even more brilliant, motivated or hardworking than oneself. It's a shock to the system.
Click to expand...

Amen. One of the biggest lessons I've learned from med school is to never rest on your laurels.
 
deschutes said:
Sat for IM final on Friday. The 2nd half was ~40 "multiple-multiple" questions with question stems/lab values taking up half a page and answers options running from "A" to (sometimes) "T" for 3-4 succeeding questions.

Are these similar to the Step II long passage -type questions?
Click to expand...
Sounds decently similar - there were some questions with numerous answer possibilities (more than just a-e). But most of the questions were a-e. Usually when there are answer possibilities up to t it is for a group of responses that apply to a bunch of questions - like listing 20 diseases, and having 5-6 patient presentations and picking a disease to fit each.
 
yaah said:
Sounds decently similar - there were some questions with numerous answer possibilities (more than just a-e). But most of the questions were a-e. Usually when there are answer possibilities up to t it is for a group of responses that apply to a bunch of questions - like listing 20 diseases, and having 5-6 patient presentations and picking a disease to fit each.
Click to expand...

The medicine shelf exam is kinda like that too (is that what you took deschutes? or was it a departmental exam?). I think like the first 80 questions or so were strict A-E type questions. Some questions had a few more choices. Then the last 20(?) questions were these gigantic questions that had answers from A to T. The choices were in alphabetic order. A lot of these kind of questions were drug questions or micro questions. Of those last bunch of questions, there were a few at the very end that had 20 choices common to 2-3 questions. That exam just blew.

Here, the students take another exam two days before the shelf...called the pattern recognition exam. 200 questions in 2 hours. Basically 20 blocks of 10 questions each. Each block of questions has a theme like anal pruritis, cough, chest pain, excessive flatulence, etc and has about 16-20 choices per block. Talk about wanting to jam that pencil in my ear!
 
AndyMilonakis said:
The medicine shelf exam is kinda like that too (is that what you took deschutes? or was it a departmental exam?).
Click to expand...

These things that you guys call the "shelf exam" - is that the final end-of-rotation exam? (A shelf to me is something you put things on.)
The end-of-rotation was what I wrote on Friday.

I count myself lucky that I only had 3 exams (2 non-certifying) 🙂

They make us write a mid-term halfway through, with the same MPL/pass mark and with questions drawn from the same question bank as the final exam - just to let us know how we are doing in terms of level of knowledge.

You'd think that if the student passed that the first time around, they shouldn't have to sit for the final.
 
deschutes said:
These things that you guys call the "shelf exam" - is that the final end-of-rotation exam? (A shelf to me is something you put things on.)
The end-of-rotation was what I wrote on Friday.

I count myself lucky that I only had 3 exams (2 non-certifying) 🙂

They make us write a mid-term halfway through, with the same MPL/pass mark and with questions drawn from the same question bank as the final exam - just to let us know how we are doing in terms of level of knowledge.

You'd think that if the student passed that the first time around, they shouldn't have to sit for the final.
Click to expand...

The shelf exam is written by the same folks who write the USMLE. Actually, when people write the questions for USMLE's, some questions go to the actual Step 1 or Step 2. The other questions get placed on the shelf in a nice little booklet. When test time comes, the book of questions is pulled off the shelf, rolled up into a firm rod, and used to pummel the student upside the head multiple times. OK maybe that's exaggerating it.

What rotation you on now?
 
AndyMilonakis said:
The shelf exam is written by the same folks who write the USMLE.
Click to expand...
OH. 😀 I've heard of that one. The folks at UManitoba write it too, I think.
AndyMilonakis said:
What rotation you on now?
Click to expand...
Nothing! Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, everyone!! 😛

Tomorrow I am starting that rural family med rotation.
 
To keep us on track, I do in fact have a Step 2 -related question:

I'm thinking of taking Terrible Two end-December, because I'm getting antsy about all these places that want Step 2 results by February 23 if one is an IMG.

Is it possible to do fairly well on the exam without having rotated through Surg/Anes and only half of Ob/Gyn? I don't know much about Ob/Gyn at this point, and certainly even less about Surgery and Anes.
 
deschutes said:
OH. 😀 I've heard of that one. The folks at UManitoba write it too, I think.
Nothing! Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, everyone!! 😛

Tomorrow I am starting that rural family med rotation.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving too then. Decided that I may take the day off today. Either that or roll in at noon like usual these days :laugh:
 
deschutes said:
Is it possible to do fairly well on the exam without having rotated through Surg/Anes and only half of Ob/Gyn? I don't know much about Ob/Gyn at this point, and certainly even less about Surgery and Anes.
Click to expand...

I think if you do enough practice questions you will be prepared enough. Seeing things on surgery would help, but at the same time lots of the questions you only get the answers from books anyway.
 
What did you guys think of QBook?
(I ask because this is the first time I've heard of it, and I did not find Qbank very helpful for Step 1.)

I know there's a USMLE forum, but it's mostly focussed on Step 1. And since this thread is up and running, and there aren't as many people going nuts about score numbers... 😉 ... I've been poring over the few Step 2 threads in the USMLE forum, and the general impression I'm getting is that the experience is weighted towards:
(1) pregnant/bleeding women, and
(2) kids.

Comments?
 
I took step 2 a couple of months ago, and got a lower 90's score, and used the following

step 2 secrets by brouchet
boards and wards as a reference
usmleworld.com

If you memorize step 2 secrets and do all of the usmleworld q's (greater than 55%) you should do great (of course, this surmises that you have some clinical knowledge from your core rotations to begin with). The q's from usmleworld were the closest thing other than the usmle cbt/self assessment questions to the real thing. Plus, it's really high yield!
I didn't use Qbank, so don't know how it compares, but usmleworld is waay cheaper 😉
 
hi everyone.

i did step 2 yesterday, unfortunately, no gross pathology pics, and one blood smear slide, 4 EKGs, 3-4 Xrays (pelvic/hip fractures).

I agree with the above sources (USMLEworld, Boards and Wards, and Crush Step 2/3). I tried Q-bank, but it was too easy in comparison to usmleworld.

I had some step 1 questions (DNA fragments, glycolysis enzyme defects, and pharmacology mechanism of actions). yuck.

hope this helps.
 
I spent a few minutes earlier in the day cruising the USMLE forum. Geez, people are talking about Boards and Wards this and Boards and Wards that.

Andy only has Crush the Boards Step 2. Andy doesn't wanna buy another book 🙁 .

Then there's the whole Kaplan vs. USMLEworld matter...ok, I'm done thinking of this for the night 🙂
 
AndyMilonakis said:
Andy only has Crush the Boards Step 2. Andy doesn't wanna buy another book 🙁 .

Then there's the whole Kaplan vs. USMLEworld matter...ok, I'm done thinking of this for the night 🙂
Click to expand...
Thanks for bringing me back to earth. I have Crush, First Aid, and UCV - all inherited, and therefore old. Now I just have to make up my mind which I want to use.

There's an aspect of over-strategizing to this process which I am (again) trying to avoid.

A friend used First Aid (old) and whatever 2001 edition of whatever Step 2 question book she found in the library. She scored mid-90's and was happy.
 
deschutes said:
Thanks for bringing me back to earth. I have Crush, First Aid, and UCV - all inherited, and therefore old. Now I just have to make up my mind which I want to use.

There's an aspect of over-strategizing to this process which I am (again) trying to avoid.

A friend used First Aid (old) and whatever 2001 edition of whatever Step 2 question book she found in the library. She scored mid-90's and was happy.
Click to expand...

Yeah, screw that...no more books. If there was another book I would possibly buy that would be Step 2 Secrets. A friend of mine has it though and I thumbed through it. It just seems like a rehash of Crush the Boards but in a Q&A format.

Didactic text or Q&A format...both has its merits. Q&A is probably a better format for my learning purposes but this stuff cost money. I mean, hell, I spent $1400 just to be able to sit for the step 2 exams. In any case, with all these damn tests, it's just a pump and dump proposition. I'm not too thrilled about buying more books...that's more info to pump and dump.
 
If you spend all that money on more books, the best it will do is raise your score by 5 points. Using a good review and a good question book (like appleton and langes) is a good strategy.

People go way overboard. I don't really believe it a lot of the time. They talk about buying review books for every subject, I wonder if they actually read any of them. Meanwhile I borrowed an old question book from a path resident and bought another one while I was at my Penn interview and did just fine. No first aid. No kaplan. Total $$ spent on step II prep: $30.
 
yaah said:
If you spend all that money on more books, the best it will do is raise your score by 5 points. Using a good review and a good question book (like appleton and langes) is a good strategy.
Click to expand...
Maybe for YOU! :meanie:

yaah said:
People go way overboard. I don't really believe it a lot of the time. They talk about buying review books for every subject, I wonder if they actually read any of them. Meanwhile I borrowed an old question book from a path resident and bought another one while I was at my Penn interview and did just fine. No first aid. No kaplan. Total $$ spent on step II prep: $30.
Click to expand...

Seriously though, I think that with too much material to study, one risks experiencing burnout. Plus, what ever happened to that rule of "one month study for Step 1, one week study for Step 2, and one day study for Step 3." Is this just smoke that folks who really studied months for step 2 are blowing up my ass? :laugh:
 
Since I was burnt-out, I simply used First Aid Step II and did questions off www.usmleworld.com Try that site for questions, half the cost of Kaplan
q-bank with double the questions. In conclusion, it worked out well for me. :luck:
 
Current state: brain-dead from finishing Step 2 less than one hour ago.

To the person who (whom?) asked about Qbook: yeah, it's good. I found it to be pretty representative of the real thing. I did NMS too and wish now that I hadn't wasted my time on it. Instead, I should have finished all the questions in Qbook.

Now drinking: beer. My first beer in a gazillion years.
 
stormjen said:
Current state: brain-dead from finishing Step 2 less than one hour ago.

To the person who (whom?) asked about Qbook: yeah, it's good. I found it to be pretty representative of the real thing. I did NMS too and wish now that I hadn't wasted my time on it. Instead, I should have finished all the questions in Qbook.

Now drinking: beer. My first beer in a gazillion years.
Click to expand...

Awesome! I hope it went well. Congrats for being done with it. :clap:
 
]Hmm. How is it that the thought of students over-inflating their study efforts never crossed my mind. (Nobody is meant to answer that - even though I know you're all dying to... 😛 )

Guess I just find it hard to believe that any general medical exam can be prepped for with a book half an inch thick.

Congrats on being done, stormjen!
 
deschutes said:
]Hmm. How is it that the thought of students over-inflating their study efforts never crossed my mind. (Nobody is meant to answer that - even though I know you're all dying to... 😛 )

Guess I just find it hard to believe that any general medical exam can be prepped for with a book half an inch thick.

Congrats on being done, stormjen!
Click to expand...

I think studying from a half an inch thick book for such a big exam presupposes that you've rotated through all the clinical clerkships. Then such a book would suffice as a quick 'n dirty refresher for pump and dump Step 2 preparation purposes.

Other than that, I too find it laughable in principle that one can sufficiently study for a general comprehensive medical exam using a single small paperback.
 
So over the last week, I've read through probably half of Crush the Boards for Step 2. Geez! I've been missing out. No wonder I did so crappy on the shelf exams during third-year...spent the whole year studying useless, low-yield crap! :laugh:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top