Only The Very Best/Most Useful Sources for USMLE II CK Exam

[Pursuing MD]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hello all,

How useful did you guys find the books/resources mentioned below as a way to study for the USMLE Step 2 CK exam? Which one(s), if any, do you highly recommend as a way to prepare for the exam? ...

-- Boards and Wards: A Review for the USMLE Step 2 & 3 (ISBN: 1405103418)

-- USMLE Step 2 Secrets (ISBN: 156053608X)

-- Kaplan USMLE Step 2 CK Qbook (ISBN: 0743273443)

-- Kaplan QBank

-- USMLEWORLD Questions

Finally, what single source is the very best for reviewing medicine for the Step 2 CK exam?

Feel free to recommend any other sources that you found to be a must have while studying for the exam. Thanks!

 

[manning18]

can comment on Secrets and USMLEworld (UW). I think Secrets is too general and is very weak in many key sections, namely OB, GYNE, Peds, Psych and some of the Medicine sub-specialties. I think First Aid is much better than Secrets. In its defense, Secrets has received some positive feedback on this site (with no shortage of negative feedback, either). UW is excellent. I've done about 800 of the 2100 questions. I hope to finish all the questions and review all the answers in time for my exam (8-1-06). Many people on this site have said excellent things about UW. Most people would agree that UW is a better source of questions than Q-Bank. I went with UW based on feedback of people on this site and from my school, where UW was the clear choice. I didn't think Q-Bank was that good for Step 1, which made me a bit reluctant to buy it for Step 2. Board and Ward (BW) gets pretty positive feedback on this site. I skimmed through some of the sections while on the wards, but I don't know the text well enough to comment thoroughly. I would say that UW should be your question source, for sure! Beyond that, I think the Secrets vs First Aid debate has a lot to do with your knowledge going into your exam preparation. If you're just coming out of M-3 year (un-interrupted) and did well on the shelves, maybe Secrets and UW will be enough. My M-3 year was spread out for many reasons, so Secrets was not enough, by any means! I have noticed an improvement in my UW scores since I began to focus my reading of First Aid on the sections that were costing me the most points. Those sections were: OB, GYNE, Peds, Psych, Cardiology, Heme/Onc and Gastroenterology. I also added in Renal. Surgery was hurting me, but I didn't read it separately, as a lot of it overlaps with Emergency Medicine, GI, etc. Basically, I am formally reading the First Aid chapters in the specialities mentioned above, as those are the ones costing me the most points (in the combination of how often they have been tested in UW and my percent of correct answers in UW). For the remaining sections, I will "study" by going through the UW answers. Good luck!

 

[Bevo]

4 times posted, must be impt

 

[bulldog]

doing uw now. i actually don't think it's as good as qbook. a lotta cryptic questions. and, for sections like surgery, like 20 questions were on fractures and how to tx them. one of the authors must be an orthopod....

 

[Pox in a box]

doing uw now. i actually don't think it's as good as qbook. a lotta cryptic questions. and, for sections like surgery, like 20 questions were on fractures and how to tx them. one of the authors must be an orthopod....

Where do you get "Qbook"? Is this actually called Qbook or is it something Kaplan gives in their USMLE packages?

 

[manning18]

I believe Q-Book can be purchased separately. Q-Book is the formal name of the question set, which consists of 850 (or so) questions. Q-Book is provided in some of the USMLE courses offered by Kaplan. You might want to check kaplan.com or maybe kaplanmedical.com and see if you can purchase it online. About the UW questions: I have completed about 800 of the 2100. I did notice a LOT more Orthopaedics than expected; I was really surprised. It's almost as if, next to OB/GYNE, the 2nd most common topic is Ortho and fractures. I'd imagine the relevance of Orthopaedics is exaggerated on UW, for whatever reason. What do you mean by "cryptic" questions?

 

[jojo14]

Where do you get "Qbook"? Is this actually called Qbook or is it something Kaplan gives in their USMLE packages?

I got mine from amazon.

 

[bigfrank]

Where do you get "Qbook"? Is this actually called Qbook or is it something Kaplan gives in their USMLE packages?

You may be able to buy it separately from Kaplan or maybe on Amazon or eBay? I am not sure but I know it is a great book.

ISBN: 0-7432-6239-5

 

[bigfrank]

Finally, what single source is the very best for reviewing medicine for the Step 2 CK exam?

To pick one, I'd have to go with MKSAP-2

 

[Pursuing MD]

To pick one, I'd have to go with MKSAP-2

The MKSAP-2 book is a question book; correct? Or is it a textbook?

Thanks.

 

[manning18]

Question book, though you should be able to purchase it in an electronic (ie CD) format as well.

 

[bulldog]

I believe Q-Book can be purchased separately. Q-Book is the formal name of the question set, which consists of 850 (or so) questions. Q-Book is provided in some of the USMLE courses offered by Kaplan. You might want to check kaplan.com or maybe kaplanmedical.com and see if you can purchase it online. About the UW questions: I have completed about 800 of the 2100. I did notice a LOT more Orthopaedics than expected; I was really surprised. It's almost as if, next to OB/GYNE, the 2nd most common topic is Ortho and fractures. I'd imagine the relevance of Orthopaedics is exaggerated on UW, for whatever reason. What do you mean by "cryptic" questions?

hey, i got qbook on amazon. 850 questions. by cryptic, i mostly meant some picky details that i don't think will be testing. based on shelf, i can say that doing uw questions didn't really give me any edge in terms of picking up questions i wouldn't have been able to answer w/o uw. uw more just for getting to think in the right mindset. and i'd have to agree qbook is more like buzzwords.....

 

[razorback831]

The MKSAP-2 book is a question book; correct? Or is it a textbook?

Thanks.

There is a new 3rd edition of MKSAP. There are a number of changes, so go for it. As soon as I get my step 2 score back, mine will be for sale.

 

[sponch]

If I could pick only one resource, I would pick UW. This gives allows you to become familiar with the question format, testing software, as well as a thorough review of the big topics. I would do 46 question, 1 hour timed exams with random questions from all subjects. After, I would review both the questions I got wrong as well as correct. I would then track these questions on a separate spreadsheet in Excel by noting the topic, question asked, and fact that helped answer that question. Every question that I got wrong or I got right but guessed the answer would go into this spreadsheet. At the beginning and end of each day, I would read through these questions to make sure I remembered everything, marking off those that I had committed to memory.

If I could pick only two resources, I would pick Secrets/Crush and UW. While people have generally criticized Secrets for lacking depth, I don't think you really need much depth for Step 2. After all, it is not supposed to be a big shelf exam. 90% of the questions on the actual exam, at least mine, were about things we've all seen or read about on the wards. The point of the exam isn't to see if you know zebras, it's to make sure you have a firm, broad based fund of knowledge to handle situations you may encounter as a resident. Often, I was tested on my ability to differentiate between two common conditions with similar presentations; e.g., headache from migraine vs. headache from CNS tumor, vaginal discharge from trichomonas vs. candida, wheezing from bronchiolitis vs. asthma. It is not enough to memorize how a condition presents, you need to go an extra step to be able to differentiate it from distractors.

There's a lot of debate on Boards & Wards. My take on it is that this book only works great if you have been reading from it throughout 3rd year. It is simply too much to read and absorb and integrate if you only have a month to study. The reason is that this is a review book and should be used to remind you of high yield facts you at one time learned. The old addage that "You can't review what you haven't learned" holds true. Memorizing a stripped down outline simply is not a substitute for solid understanding it takes to answer the two or three step questions they have on the boards.

 

[sponch]

Someone asked for a sample of my spreadsheet so here goes.

 

[VincentAdultman]

I'm using FA and Qbank. Proudly not a member of the u-dub cult.

 

[Shah_Patel_PT]

Someone asked for a sample of my spreadsheet so here goes.

Good study habits!!

 

[Pursuing MD]

(read the title)