Step 2

Pick just ONE of Brochert's books. Good luck.

There are:
Prescriptions for the Boards-very written out and wordy, paragraph style, but covers a lot of stuff...they say it's taken from the review stuff the nbme posts on their website, but I didn't feel that all the topics were sufficiently covered and very very weak on pictures. Still, a good read, but you better have a while to study and don't use it as your sole resource

Crush Step 2/Step 2 Secrets aka the Brochert books
Again, paragraph form, an easy read, lots and lots of little bits and pieces that will get you easy points (aka cherry red spot on macula..patient is blind..central retinal artery occlusion) BUT the book is nowhere near a complete resource of what you need to know, and it's arranged sort of funny, in my opinion. It's a good base to start building on, and if you're just looking to pass, you could definitely do it with this book, but if you're going for a competitive residency, and want a nice score to supplement your application, you need more

Boards and Wards: This book contains more essential information than any I have found....the catch? It is in a horrific outline format. If you do well on tables and charts and outlines, this is your book...if not, still force yourself to read it...it will provide mucho minutiae to bust out in a differential Plus, you can fit it in the pocket of a white coat with some manuevering.

First Aid: I hated this book and stopped trying to read it after one chapter...however, I saved it due to the 30 pages of pictures it has all in one section...all sorts of skin, ekgs, eyes, cells, smears, etc...even if you don't buy it, try to browse this section before your test

NMS Question Book: This book is the shiznit...it has 900 questions and covers almost every concievable topic. But don't use it as an assessment, because it is super super hard...it states in the front that if you can score a 75% it is an indication of significant strength...So use it as a study guide, read all the answers to the questions, they are super complete and explain everything, so it's like learning 4500 bits of information

This is what I am using for my Step 2 studying, although I am attempting to blow it out of the water. A program director for ENT recently informed me that they are using step 2 more and more to assess people, and that an awesome step 2 score can make up for a multitude of academic sins.

hi

I used Blueprints as well (all of them). I really liked the concise info about a good part of each major specialty.

lf

I have to add First Aid Step 2 to the list. This and Crush the Boards Step 2 are IMHO the best preparation material with Kaplan's Q-bank.

How much time are you setting aside for step 2? I have a 3 week "break" in the fall because I am doing an away elective and their schedule is different from my school's- will that be enough time? I'm going in to psychiatry and did respectably on step 1, so I am not striving for a 240 on step 2 but I would like to make the mean. I've beat the mean on all of the shelf exams this year and it seems like it would be better to do the step 2 earlier in 4th year- closer to core rotations rather than coming back from 3 months of psych. Advice? Thanks.

mjl1717 said:

Thank You very much for the honest info:
Im "Tired" of buying books and Im trying to narrow it to 2 or 3.(Of course I already have Harrison's/and there's q bank./already have Brocherts Crush Step 3.

I may just go with these 2 or 3
1)Crush(maybe)
2)Boards and Wards
3)NMS Q book

Anybody have any comments?

Click to expand...

I used the exact books above plus q bank - >240 score. I studied pretty steadily for a few months since I really wanted to do well. Good luck.

That's boards and wards for step 2 & 3, correct? and did you guys also use this book while on the wards, or only for step 2 studying?