General Q about Step 2

[TheAlchemist]

hello all,

I want some advice from the guys and gals who have taken Step 2:

1. What are the best books to use to prepare (Kaplan? others?)
2. Do ppl usually take a prep course? (Kaplan, princeton, falcon, etc..)
3. Which Q banks are good (I heard USMLE world is a must)?
4. How much time do ppl usually take to prepare?
5. Do ppl just study Step 2 as they go along in core and elective rotations?

any advice would be great! thank you
happy holidays
thealchemist

[swimguy23]

i used kaplan and usmleworld.....that literally is all you need

[corvettekid]

hello all,

I want some advice from the guys and gals who have taken Step 2:

1. What are the best books to use to prepare (Kaplan? others?)
2. Do ppl usually take a prep course? (Kaplan, princeton, falcon, etc..)
3. Which Q banks are good (I heard USMLE world is a must)?
4. How much time do ppl usually take to prepare?
5. Do ppl just study Step 2 as they go along in core and elective rotations?

any advice would be great! thank you
happy holidays
thealchemist

1. kaplan is good and is useful. also try out case files and blue prints as well for every subject.
2. no
3. you must get usmle world
4. i studied for about 6 months, 5 days a week, 3-5 hours per day and improved 46 points over my step 1 score
5. yes that's the best way to do it

[Skipper]

I used kaplan qbank online and usmleworld

i did questions for about 3 wks and took the exam

during rotations i read very minimally, used kaplan books for review

i did very well

so as you can see it depends on the person...if you learn by reading then read, if you learn by lectures then go to a review course, if you learn by questions then do more of them...

i would not recommend doing what i did, unless it is the same when you learn

skipper

[Scientific]

Use the Kaplan materials and First-aid to study during your cores. This way you'll be studying for your cores and for Step II all at once. It's on point for the Shelf exams as well. Some advocate using USMLE world from the start as well, but I personally don't get as much out of doing questions as I do with hardcore studying (but most people say the opposite...just depends on your own personal preference). From time to time, maybe over a weekend or something, go over old material from the previous rotation to keep the info fresh. That way when you are ready to study for Step II, you don't have to start over again, you'll just be refreshing your memory and polishing up on your weak areas.

[Sunster99]

Are you talking about the Kaplan materials we received during our 5th semester? Is there another set of Kaplan books we need for Step2?

[Macgyver1]

Yup sunster there sure is.. And this set isnt included in our tution. ouch...

[Scott1981]

usmleworld is all you need for step 2. that is, as long as you studied for all shelves during your rotations...... the info is already there in your head. usmleworld will train you for the questions and actually teaches stuff that you may have missed while studying for the shelf exams.

and dont worry, step 2 did seem easier than step 1 and dare i say that it felt like they graded more lenient. i know some people with a slightly lower three digit score on step 2 than step 1, but their two digit score turned out to be higher on step 2.

[Scientific]

Are you talking about the Kaplan materials we received during our 5th semester? Is there another set of Kaplan books we need for Step2?
No, there are separate materials for Step 2. Ask around when you start your clincals (just about every student has them) or do a search online. There are tons of places to get it free on the net.

[options]

On average the step 2 scores are higher than step 1 scores. If you tanked step 1 or didn't do as well as you wanted, Step 2 is a great place to make that up. A good portion of the US med students wait to the last minute or do not study for step 2 because you could probably pass it easily without studying, but probably won't get a super high score. You can take advantage of this since the test is graded against the other test takers. By studying hard during third year and being well prepared for the exam, you will likely achieve a much higher score than you received on Step 1.

I'm not a genius like Skipper so I read quite a bit during 3rd year (although nothing near basic sciences), I think that was key to doing well for me.