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Got my score yesterday, and I passed. Here's the lowdown:
Me: General Surgery resident at the end of my PGY2 year.
Study Time: One week, during a vacation month. Studied 10-14 hrs/day.
Time to score report: 23 days. It seems they often report on Wednesdays.
Study Materials: Unfortunately, with the burden of med school debt and now a mortgage on my back, I couldn't afford to spend a couple hundred dollars on USMLEworld, etc. Here's what I used:
1) NMS question book. Bought a "like new!" used copy cheap off Amazon. Great for content and for targeting weak points!
2) Step 2 Secrets. I'd heard it was very similar to Crush, and I already had a copy fully annotated from my Step 2 prep, so I just returned to it.
3) First Aid. Again, bought it used.
Study Schedule:
Day 1-2: Did 300 questions in NMS. I took time to study the answers, and looked the topics up in Secrets. Tackling questions cold turkey helped me to target my weakest areas (not surprisingly, ObGyn & Peds)
Day 3: Did the practice CD to make sure I was on-target. Started reading Secrets.
Days 4-5: Read Secrets
Days 6-7: Read First Aid
I took about a page of notes for each chapter in First Aid, focusing on my rustiest areas or the parts that required rote memorization. I reviewed these notes the night before the exam. On the evening between the two testing dates, I studied the CCS cases at the back of first aid.
My Test: This test was, in a word, annoying. The questions were often vague and their relevance to daily patient care doubtful. There were a thousand nondescript rashes. That said, knowing the appropriate makeup of CSF and synovial fluid helped; knowing antibiotics helped; a good knowledge of cardiac and ID were helpful.
I scored 223/92, which is far better than I expected, since I only aimed to pass and I thought the test was awful. If I'd wanted to ace the thing, I would have read through a family medicine book (maybe even blueprints?). Personally, I found the inpatient questions much, much, MUCH easier than the clinic ones (a fact that annoyed me when they constitued only about 20% of the test!)
I don't recall all of the case scenarios, but I know they included newly-diagnosed lung CA, UTI in a pregnant woman, meningitis, pneumonia, and a weird outpatient topic re: possible PCOS/ metabolic syndrome.
Best of luck to everyone facing the beast/
Me: General Surgery resident at the end of my PGY2 year.
Study Time: One week, during a vacation month. Studied 10-14 hrs/day.
Time to score report: 23 days. It seems they often report on Wednesdays.
Study Materials: Unfortunately, with the burden of med school debt and now a mortgage on my back, I couldn't afford to spend a couple hundred dollars on USMLEworld, etc. Here's what I used:
1) NMS question book. Bought a "like new!" used copy cheap off Amazon. Great for content and for targeting weak points!
2) Step 2 Secrets. I'd heard it was very similar to Crush, and I already had a copy fully annotated from my Step 2 prep, so I just returned to it.
3) First Aid. Again, bought it used.
Study Schedule:
Day 1-2: Did 300 questions in NMS. I took time to study the answers, and looked the topics up in Secrets. Tackling questions cold turkey helped me to target my weakest areas (not surprisingly, ObGyn & Peds)
Day 3: Did the practice CD to make sure I was on-target. Started reading Secrets.
Days 4-5: Read Secrets
Days 6-7: Read First Aid
I took about a page of notes for each chapter in First Aid, focusing on my rustiest areas or the parts that required rote memorization. I reviewed these notes the night before the exam. On the evening between the two testing dates, I studied the CCS cases at the back of first aid.
My Test: This test was, in a word, annoying. The questions were often vague and their relevance to daily patient care doubtful. There were a thousand nondescript rashes. That said, knowing the appropriate makeup of CSF and synovial fluid helped; knowing antibiotics helped; a good knowledge of cardiac and ID were helpful.
I scored 223/92, which is far better than I expected, since I only aimed to pass and I thought the test was awful. If I'd wanted to ace the thing, I would have read through a family medicine book (maybe even blueprints?). Personally, I found the inpatient questions much, much, MUCH easier than the clinic ones (a fact that annoyed me when they constitued only about 20% of the test!)
I don't recall all of the case scenarios, but I know they included newly-diagnosed lung CA, UTI in a pregnant woman, meningitis, pneumonia, and a weird outpatient topic re: possible PCOS/ metabolic syndrome.
Best of luck to everyone facing the beast/
