Time needed to study for CK

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Alright fellow sdners, due to my being SCREWED by my school lottery system, I have to take step 2 at the end of september. I also must take my school's "outpatient" rotation that month, which I assume is 8-5 no weekends. Is this enough time for me to study? Am i screwed? People have taken step 2 without taking time off right?

When do you finish 3rd year? I thought most people take step 2 WITHOUT taking time off

Is that right? I finish 3rd year mid June. I'm taking CS end of June and my specialty electives July/Aug. Right now my off months are nov/dec for interviews and May for vacation

My school recommends we take a month to study, which most of the students do. Is that not how it is for others?

Most people at my school take it during break between 3rd and 4th year

I know lots of people that studied during a rotation, especially if it was a rotation without a test at the end.

I took 3 weeks off in October to study for it, since my schedule allowed for it - but I did wedding planning and was trying to schedule interviews as they were coming in (which was more stressful than I'd anticipated). That was probably a little more time than I really needed -- 2 weeks is plenty if you're efficient.

Otherwise, I have plenty of friends who did it at the end of a 4 weeks elective, during which they were working "normal" hours on weekdays and had weekends off. I found it was hard to study continuously for long periods of time, anyway. Good luck!

From talking to graduating 4th years at my school, I'd say about 1/2 took a vacation month to work on applications and take Step 2 and about 1/2 took an easier elective. Just ask around at your school and try to take the easiest option possible for that month (no final papers, exams, late hours) and you should be fine.

Good luck!

A lot of this depends on how you did on your shelf exams during M3. If you did well most people I talked to said anything more than 2 dedicated weeks was overkill. Many of them only took 10 days to study. If you don't have an exam to study for during your outpatient rotation I imagine it's plenty doable during a rotation.

But if you've been doing mediocre on shelfs you're likely to need more time to study. In that case I'd start studying in earlier rotations.

The general consensus I get at my school is that 1 review book (like SUTS2) and doing all of Uworld is plenty.

Thanks all. I've honored all but one shelf so far so I think I'll be ok with a light rotation while studying for CS.