differences btw shelves and step 2? resources?

[buccsmf1]

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We're nearing the end of 3rd year, so I'm about to start getting more serious about step 2 studying. In doing research for materials, almost everyone mentions Master the boards, step 2 secrets, stuff like that. Basically nobody says, "just study the same books you used for your shelves" (case files, blueprints, etc.)

Are the types of questions asked on step 2 the same as the shelves? Is the difficulty the same? Are people saying to stick with MTB and secrets simply because there isn't enough time to get back through all your other books?

Also, why does seemingly nobody mention MTB or secrets as good resources for the shelves?

 

[GoSpursGo]

Are people saying to stick with MTB and secrets simply because there isn't enough time to get back through all your other books?

Yep.

Step 2 covers a larger volume of material than any individual shelf, but in general not in as much detail as any particular shelf, so it's not important that you know everything as backwards-and-forwards as you did for the shelf. Sure there will always be a handful of ridiculous detail questions on your test, but it's more important that you broadly refresh your memory on the most high-yield information. Plus, you DID read those focused books once upon a time, so you'll be surprised how much you actually remember even if you haven't read them in months.

Honestly, even moreso than for Step 1, I found UWorld to be the most important resource. Originally I was trying to keep up with reading Step Up for Step 2, but eventually I just eschewed that in favor of making sure I finished UWorld. If you're like most and you only have about half as much time for Step 2 as you did for Step 1, there just isn't any way to be as exhaustive in your studying as you were last time. It was a little scary not going very hard on an actual book, but I still wound up with a healthy 15+ point jump from my Step 1 score, as did most of my friends who focused mostly on UWorld 🙂