How many resources for M3/step 2?

[theguardsman]

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Hi all!

Just wrapped up step 1 and looking for a bit of guidance regarding picking resources for M3 and step 2. I know that fewer resources are often better than more resources, however, I often have trouble sticking to this rule. Throughout M2, I switched my anki decks and qbanks like 5 times and was not getting good results, until I finally settled on only using FA and UW during the 3 months before the exam and that worked out well.

So far I've realized for M3 most people use a mix of a book + videos (OME) + UW. Is that a fair assessment?

If I also want to do flashcards, should I give up one of those things? For example, if I want to do firecracker, should I give up OME vids and just do the book, UW + firecracker? I obviously would like to do it all (as we all would) but I understand that time will be limited and am trying to be realistic with what I can do with 2-4 ish(?) hours of studying each evening. Last week I was also considering just using the OME premium package which has notes for prereading, videos, then flashcards (plus UW and a book). Though after trying both firecracker and the OME cards for a week, I felt like firecracker cards were somewhat better.

Any tips here? Am I being overly ambitious given M3 time constraints? Should I stick to a book + UW and only supplement with videos when needed? Is it realistic to do that plus firecracker? Would appreciate your advice

 

[ButterButter]

I found OME to be very remedial. UWorld + Step Up and studying for the rotation I was on was all I needed to do pretty well on Step 2. I feel like 3rd year is different because your learning is constantly reinforced in all your clerkships. Whereas pre-clinical courses are isolated clusterf*cks.

 

[theguardsman]

Hey, thanks for replying! a few questions:

• By remedial, do you mean it was too simplistic?
• step up to CK or step up to medicine? did you use it during the year or only during dedicated?
• what was your approach to studying for the rotation? a book I assume?

 

[ButterButter]

Hey, thanks for replying! a few questions:

• By remedial, do you mean it was too simplistic?
• step up to CK or step up to medicine? did you use it during the year or only during dedicated?
• what was your approach to studying for the rotation? a book I assume?

Too simplistic for me. Take that with a grain of salt though. I used step up to medicine for rotations and dedicated. It really helps you hone your diagnostic algorithms. I studied for rotations by reading a lot about my patients and assigned readings from my attendings in addition to doing UWorld questions.

 

[moyamoya6]

Hey, thanks for replying! a few questions:

• By remedial, do you mean it was too simplistic?
• step up to CK or step up to medicine? did you use it during the year or only during dedicated?
• what was your approach to studying for the rotation? a book I assume?

I thought the same with OME being really simplistic and basic. It's good for a quick overview. I preferred Step Up to Medicine when I was on my IM rotation. Some people don't like the book because it's too detailed or didn't like the bullet format.