Step II Boards & Wards vs. FA Step 2

Started by Krony
Get help with your application

Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.

Browse articles Compare schools My application plan Read Interview Feedback
Practice for interviews Ask an Advisor
K

Krony

Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
20+ Year Member
For those that have taken Step 2 and used one of these resources (or both), is either source a clear winner? I have a number of other books on my list, but am trying to decide between these two for my sort of base review book. My impression from spending too much time standing around at the bookstore looking at these is that FA provides a little more detail and explanation, while B&W seems to be sufficiently broad, but doesn't seem to provide much in the way of explanation. Is B&W better because one can get through it faster/more times especially before the exam? Or is it better to learn all the detail in FA? For either source, do answers on the exam seem to "jump out" at you having memorized one book or the other?
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
B&W. For sure.
You can carry it around in your coat and read when things are slow.
I didnt even look at First Aid and only used B&W, QBank, and Kaplan books.
Did well. Good Luck
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Since B&W's is so commonly used for Step 2, would it be wise to buy it and use it as one progresses through 3rd year? What other book would be helpful? Step Up Medicine?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
DOCTORSAIB said:
Since B&W's is so commonly used for Step 2, would it be wise to buy it and use it as one progresses through 3rd year? What other book would be helpful? Step Up Medicine?
Click to expand...


I used b&w throughout 3rd year, and tried to read it before a shelf exam and in fact would write notes in it just like I did for FA Step 1.


The new edition of FA Step II actually looks pretty good, they seemed to have switched to a bullet point format, so take a look at it.

I know a few people that didn't use b&w because it was too long and used Crush instead. There are many options out there. I suggest you go to a book store and peruse all the books and see which one is the best fit for you.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Methyldopa said:
I used b&w throughout 3rd year, and tried to read it before a shelf exam and in fact would write notes in it just like I did for FA Step 1.


The new edition of FA Step II actually looks pretty good, they seemed to have switched to a bullet point format, so take a look at it.

I know a few people that didn't use b&w because it was too long and used Crush instead. There are many options out there. I suggest you go to a book store and peruse all the books and see which one is the best fit for you.
Click to expand...

Great advice. So, what's the word on Step-Up to Medicine book. I've heard it's so good that some attendings are actually recommending it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
i carried b&w around for all of my core clerkships, and read it over and over and over for a long time. it was basically my down time reading. i actually lost it about 3 weeks before step 2 and i just grabbed FA to replace it. i think that was the best way to do it, because b&w gave me a great basic grasp of the material, and after that i was able to use the info in FA to better apply the material to the exam.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
DOCTORSAIB said:
Great advice. So, what's the word on Step-Up to Medicine book. I've heard it's so good that some attendings are actually recommending it.
Click to expand...


I haven't heard anyone using step-up. I didn't bother with it because I don't like system based reviews.

The 3 top books people used (in no particular order):
1. FA, or
2. B&W, or
3. Crush

No matter what book you pick, you'll do fine on Step 2. Everyone I spoke to did better on Step 2 than 1.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.