Is there a lecture series that follows Master the Boards 2/3?

[thawunandonly]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Not sure if it exists, if DIT does it, or Kaplan has an official one.

I know Dr. Fischer does some Step 2 lecture series... any opinions on this?

 

[bgoody]

Kaplan online video series. I used this for step 2 and it is far superior to DIT. I used DIT for step one and Kaplan/MTB for step 2 and improved my score drastically. Also it is less expensive and still comes with a qbank.

 

[thawunandonly]

Is it the high yield course? http://www.kaptest.com/Medical-Licensing/Step2ck/s2ck-high-yield.html
How close does he follow the book? I haven't used DIT at all (e.g. Step I), but I hear it's just them literally reading word for word. Does he do the same? Does he take time to explain things? etc. Also did you use the MTB2+3 combination and did you use a different lecture series for the Step 3 book?

Also any opinion about Dr. Fischer's comprehensive cases? http://www.kaptest.com/Medical-Licensing/Step2ck/s2ck-supplemental.html

 

[link2swim06]

Is it the high yield course? http://www.kaptest.com/Medical-Licensing/Step2ck/s2ck-high-yield.html
How close does he follow the book? I haven't used DIT at all (e.g. Step I), but I hear it's just them literally reading word for word. Does he do the same? Does he take time to explain things? etc. Also did you use the MTB2+3 combination and did you use a different lecture series for the Step 3 book?

Also any opinion about Dr. Fischer's comprehensive cases? http://www.kaptest.com/Medical-Licensing/Step2ck/s2ck-supplemental.html

Yes high yield follows MTB 2 (not 3).

He doesn't literally read word for word but it is pretty close. Sometimes he will stress certain concepts or add a few thoughts on an item. Only listened to 1/3 of it.

I did all the comprehensive cases. He picks the 20 most common diseases and tries to tell you everything testable about them. It is only supplemental to other resources but isn't a bad break to take between studying other resources. He uses a lot of pictures and multimedia (like heart sounds) which are nice. Probably got me another 5 or 6 questions right on step 2 for another 20 hours of studying (which isn't bad considering I felt pretty proficient on topics like pneumonia and hypertension before watching the cases).

 

[Esprit00]

Is it the high yield course? http://www.kaptest.com/Medical-Licensing/Step2ck/s2ck-high-yield.html
How close does he follow the book? I haven't used DIT at all (e.g. Step I), but I hear it's just them literally reading word for word. Does he do the same? Does he take time to explain things? etc. Also did you use the MTB2+3 combination and did you use a different lecture series for the Step 3 book?

Also any opinion about Dr. Fischer's comprehensive cases? http://www.kaptest.com/Medical-Licensing/Step2ck/s2ck-supplemental.html

I finished the High Yield Course. The way that it's taught is that you have Fischer teaching a good chunk of the IM sections, some sections in ethics, and maybe another section that I forgot right now. Then you have a bunch of residents who were high scorers teaching the other sections. I really liked the girl who taught Nephrology because you gave so much detail in addition to the slides that come with the course that I had to pause multiple times to write it down. The guy for surgery and radiology is pretty good too. I didn't like Niket Sonpal's sections in Emergency medicine too much because he literally just read off the notes there. Overall though, I really liked this course and I think if you're choosing between DIT and HY for your first time review, choose HY. DIT is good once you've already learned the material and you want to hear it again as a refresher to organize it in your head.

I had a friend do DIT videos twice and still didn't retain anything. lol. I had told him it was a bad idea. He prefers High Yield now.

All in all, really liked the course, and considering its brevity, it's not going to cover everything you need to know so I'd advise supplementing it with Step Up to Medicine and all the other sections EXCEPT for IM from Master the Boards 3. I'm finding that to be quite useful. Good luck! 🙂

Forgot to add: Fischer does explain a few concepts and add things. You'll find yourself writing a few things in during his sections which helps with understanding quite a bit.

 

[thawunandonly]

I finished the High Yield Course. The way that it's taught is that you have Fischer teaching a good chunk of the IM sections, some sections in ethics, and maybe another section that I forgot right now. Then you have a bunch of residents who were high scorers teaching the other sections. I really liked the girl who taught Nephrology because you gave so much detail in addition to the slides that come with the course that I had to pause multiple times to write it down. The guy for surgery and radiology is pretty good too. I didn't like Niket Sonpal's sections in Emergency medicine too much because he literally just read off the notes there. Overall though, I really liked this course and I think if you're choosing between DIT and HY for your first time review, choose HY. DIT is good once you've already learned the material and you want to hear it again as a refresher to organize it in your head.

I had a friend do DIT videos twice and still didn't retain anything. lol. I had told him it was a bad idea. He prefers High Yield now.

All in all, really liked the course, and considering its brevity, it's not going to cover everything you need to know so I'd advise supplementing it with Step Up to Medicine and all the other sections EXCEPT for IM from Master the Boards 3. I'm finding that to be quite useful. Good luck! 🙂

Forgot to add: Fischer does explain a few concepts and add things. You'll find yourself writing a few things in during his sections which helps with understanding quite a bit.

Well I don't like someone reading stuff to me that I can read for myself (if that's what DIT is). I'm looking for something analogous to Goljan (VERY integrative and emphasizes a "common sense" approach to explaining things) or Pathoma/Dr. Sattar (very basic way of explaining things).

Is Dr. Fischer's series something comparable to those? And damn, I didn't know it was a MIX of lecturers...coulda fooled me. Are they still all going through the textbook though (MTB2)?

(Also, is your suggestion - MTB2+3 AND Step up to Medicine or MTB2 and either MTB3 or SUTM?) Because I checked the previews on Amazon and they all look like easy, interesting reads. I'm debating getting all 3 but don't want to overwhelm myself, though I do know the suggestion is MTB2+3.

 

[Esprit00]

Well I don't like someone reading stuff to me that I can read for myself (if that's what DIT is). I'm looking for something analogous to Goljan (VERY integrative and emphasizes a "common sense" approach to explaining things) or Pathoma/Dr. Sattar (very basic way of explaining things).

Is Dr. Fischer's series something comparable to those? And damn, I didn't know it was a MIX of lecturers...coulda fooled me. Are they still all going through the textbook though (MTB2)?

(Also, is your suggestion - MTB2+3 AND Step up to Medicine or MTB2 and either MTB3 or SUTM?) Because I checked the previews on Amazon and they all look like easy, interesting reads. I'm debating getting all 3 but don't want to overwhelm myself, though I do know the suggestion is MTB2+3.

To be honest, I don't think there's anything on par with what's out there for Step 1 like Goljan or some of the others out there. I would have bought the Comprehensive course from Kaplan but I learned that it was outdated so my only option was High Yield. They do have another option out now where you get access to live lectures, Classroom Anywhere (http://www.kaptest.com/Medical-Licensing/Step2ck/s2ck-comprehensive.html?tb=anywhere). That's probably most up-to-date but I didn't take that course so can't comment on it.

The slides that come with the course are pretty much MTB2 in slide format and point-form with maybe one or two topics missing per section e.g. Cardio section didn't have any slide notes or videos on Takotsubo cardiomyopathy but it's in MTB2. However, you don't need to print the slides; you can just buy MTB2 and annotate from the videos into that. Either method will work.

And my suggestion is to use MTB2 AND Step Up To Medicine for Internal Medicine + MTB3 for every other non-IM section. It's still worth watching the videos for the non-IM sections in High Yield so you can annotate directly into MTB3. Then couple that with UWorld. I'm finding that to be very useful. Good luck! 🙂

 

[thawunandonly]

Yeah I know, not much can get close to Goljan and Pathoma. Worth a shot though... I just need something that is NOT simply reading to me. I know how to read!

But I assume you finished - how many hours worth of videos is the Kaplan course?

And I like the idea of using SUTM also, glad I'm not the only one. As a side note.............. maybe off-topic and I know it varies by school, but since you're around answering - what kind of OTHER books did you use during the actual school year?

 

[Esprit00]

Yeah I know, not much can get close to Goljan and Pathoma. Worth a shot though... I just need something that is NOT simply reading to me. I know how to read!

But I assume you finished - how many hours worth of videos is the Kaplan course?

And I like the idea of using SUTM also, glad I'm not the only one. As a side note.............. maybe off-topic and I know it varies by school, but since you're around answering - what kind of OTHER books did you use during the actual school year?

High Yield is about 45 hours, 30 hrs if you go at 1.5x apparently. I bought Blueprints for Peds but didn't touch it. For Psych, I bought Deja Review Psych and again didn't touch it.

The book I mostly used and heavily annotated into was Toronto Notes but it's geared towards the Canadian healthcare system. It's got terrific detail in terms of symptoms and is a nice encyclopedic book for most of the specialties out there but isn't necessarily organized in the best initial test and most accurate test format so it can be hard to study for step 2 using just that. But for learning symptoms and pathophys I found it to be very useful for peds, ob/gyn and psych. It's excellent for IM too but because I'm running short on time, I had to change gears and rely on Step Up To Medicine.

I also used Beckmann for OB/GYN and annotated into OB/GYN in Toronto Notes. I'm currently in surgery now and plan to do Pestana's notes but since my Step 2 exam is in a few weeks, I haven't gotten around to it. Also, USMLE Step 2 Secrets is pretty good too. And because I like flash cards, I bought Kpalns' USMLE Physical Finding, Most Likely Diagnosis and Diagnostic test flash cards which I found to be very useful as well when riding the bus or working out.

 

[link2swim06]

To be honest, I don't think there's anything on par with what's out there for Step 1 like Goljan or some of the others out there. I would have bought the Comprehensive course from Kaplan but I learned that it was outdated so my only option was High Yield. They do have another option out now where you get access to live lectures, Classroom Anywhere (http://www.kaptest.com/Medical-Licensing/Step2ck/s2ck-comprehensive.html?tb=anywhere). That's probably most up-to-date but I didn't take that course so can't comment on it.

The slides that come with the course are pretty much MTB2 in slide format and point-form with maybe one or two topics missing per section e.g. Cardio section didn't have any slide notes or videos on Takotsubo cardiomyopathy but it's in MTB2. However, you don't need to print the slides; you can just buy MTB2 and annotate from the videos into that. Either method will work.

And my suggestion is to use MTB2 AND Step Up To Medicine for Internal Medicine + MTB3 for every other non-IM section. It's still worth watching the videos for the non-IM sections in High Yield so you can annotate directly into MTB3. Then couple that with UWorld. I'm finding that to be very useful. Good luck! 🙂

This isn't true or we are talking about different comprehensive cases.

http://www.kaptest.com/Medical-Licensing/Step2ck/s2ck-supplemental.html

These included new guidelines within the past 5 years. They are as up to date as any other resource.

 

[Esprit00]

This isn't true or we are talking about different comprehensive cases.

http://www.kaptest.com/Medical-Licensing/Step2ck/s2ck-supplemental.html

These included new guidelines within the past 5 years. They are as up to date as any other resource.

I meant the Comprehensive Step 2 CK Course with the 140 hours of videos.