Can you do well by just doing BSS, QBank and FA

How important are the kaplan courses or notes for step 2? For me some of the review books were higher yield than the live prep course for step 1.

This is what I did. I studied aprox. 7hr/day for 6 weeks. I started by reading the step up, then I read the cell and molecular biology HY and the behavioral sciences HY. I then read the FA. After that I got together with a friend who had webprep and listened to all the lectures on anatomy and embriology, epidemiology and a few on biochemestry (FA metbolism, hexose monophosphate shunt...). Then I read the underground clinical vignnettes (all except microbiology). I started doing qbank from the beginning and when I was tired of books I just settled for a question only day (150-200 questions/day). One thing I strongly recomend is not to do questions on the subjects that you have recently studied. I tried to wait at least 3 days before doing questions on a previously reviewed subject. After finishing the UCV, I read a few chapters from Ayala and pathology BRS (I just choose the chapters were I felt the weakest). I also read all the chapters on glucose metabolism from lippincott's biochem. One week before the exam I started reading the FA one more time. Two days before the exam I did all the epidemiology, genetics, molecular biology questions from qbank all over again. I didn't finish qbank (200 questions left). That's all of it. One thing that helped me was that I was scheduled to take the test on july 11 (I started studying june 1) and I was able to change it to july 16 some 2 weeks before the test, so I had 5 more days....I took a whole day off and added the brs and ayala to my schedule which helped a lot. One more thing, I took the pathology, microbiology, pharmacology and physical diagnosis shelf exams during the month of May. For thoose tests I read the pathology brs, microbiology high yield, some chapters of microbiology MRS, the microbiology and the pharmacology sections on FA and the physical diagnosis pre-test. After the shelf exams I took 2 weeks off and started studying for the step 1. So most of the heavy subjects for the step I had already reviewed. I concentrated on reviewing subjects at least 3 times during the 6 weeks. For example, I reviewed pharmacology on the step up, FA, UCV, QBank and FA again. If I just finished reading the pharmacology UCV and I was scheduled to read the FA next, I would leave the pharmacology section for the end, so that a few days passed and I had more exposure to the subject closer to the exam and throughout the 6 weeks. In the end it paid off....I got a 250!!! Hope this helps.

Astacun1 , how helpful was pre-test "physical exam and diagnosis" Thats another five hundred questions, but should i try to work some of them in. I thought that would be more helpful for step 2. thanks in advance.

khalid

Hmm, I was checking out this thread, and I feel compelled to share my Step I prep experience. I took it 9 - yes, nine - days after 2nd year finals were over. Actually, it may have been 8, whatever. In my opinion, this was the one of the best decisions I've ever made.

I felt like the education I received during the first two years prepared me just fine. Our path and clinical medicine finals were cumulative over the whole year. So, preparing for those, in essence, prepared me for the boards. I used board review books to study for all of my 2nd year classes, and I thought that made a big difference. By the time finals were over, I had gotten through First Aid once, and I went through it three more times in the next week or so.

Most of my friends who studied for 4-6 weeks were miserable. They all regretted waiting so long and said the last 7-10 days were a complete waste. Many felt that they did not learn anything that imporoved their score during that time. Another problem was that they were totally burned out when we started clerkships - not a great way to look enthusiastic and feel motivated to read about your patients.

I don't think that the 9-day study plan is for everyone, but a month is the maximum I would recommend. Did I get a 260? No. Did I do well enough that I don't have to take Step 2 early to improve my score? Yes. Did I have a friggin great summer and take 5 weeks of vacations to get ready for clerkships? Hell, yeah. Was I ready to kick ass on my surgery rotation? You betcha.

Obviously, this is just what worked for me, and I'm sure a lot of people who have matched in Ortho (which I have yet to do) will disagree. Take it for what it's worth. Studying 3-4 vs. 6 weeks will probably not make a big difference in your score.