Step II STEP 2 CS STUDY GUIDE

[shinshimaster]

Longtime lurker here, I thought I would share study guides I made because I used a lot of advice from these forums and have found this website very useful over the years. Long story short, I failed step 2 CS and was forced to take it again. With my back against the wall and one more chance to pass it before I started residency due to timing, I worked my butt off and created some study guides which I believe will help anyone in a similar situation or even if you are taking it for the first time. Although I strangely failed the CIS portion, I was only slightly above borderline on ICE the first time so I decided to still work on improving both sections as to not leave anything up to chance. I basically extracted all of this information from First Aid for CS, so if you solely use these three study guides (Differential Diagnosis list, Script, and Special Situations) you should be totally fine, in fact I would recommend it. I ended up doing really well the second time in both CIS and ICE so, for what its worth, this method works. Memorize the script, get familiar with differential diagnosis and tests to order and just briefly review special situations. For good measure, I would practice the physical exam maneuvers a few times and time yourself with a friend maybe for a few scenarios and youll kill it. I know this is overkill, but for anyone who wants to pass with 100% certainty, just use this method. Best of luck to all! ALL OF YOU can defeat this stupid, stupid test

 

[DoctaDocta12]

Just wanted to add to this post because I felt like I had completely failed Step 2 CS and was googling programs to apply to with a failed CS - that's how bad I felt. I'm an IMG - 3rd year, took the exam before I finished my cores because of my Caribbean school situation... anyway I figured if my post was helpful to just one person, it'd be worth it.

1) I felt like it was helpful for me to write down a few differentials & mnemonics right before I went in - which I noticed a lot of students didn't do. That helped to build my ICE score cause I was able to write about pertinent negatives in my notes. Also helped because I never missed any social, family, or medication/allergy history.
2) Vitals - straight copied and pasted to my PE section - such an easy point builder too
3) Literally did not do a single PE maneuver without telling them. "Is it okay if I untie your gown?" "Okay, I'm going to tie your gown back now, is that okay?"
4) Even though I didn't practice much, I'd suggest that you do just to get it all down
5) Be friendly, introduce yourself, make eye contact, listen, don't interrupt, didn't palpate pain areas - like common sense things.

Here's some things I did wrong - which might give anyone freaking out some hope...
1) Accidentally told someone we had to rule out cancer - and the patient FREAKED OUT. Not even sure I handled it well afterwards.
2) Put some unnecessary differentials as my 3rd just because of nerves or whatever...
3) Forgot smoking/weed counseling on like 3 cases - do we even counsel for weed since it's legal in a lot of places!?!
4) Didn't say all of my differentials or tests to be ran but wrote them on the note
5) I think I messed up right and left a few times and wrote the wrong anatomical structure for at least one differential
6) Forgot to write sexual history on like 2 patients even though I asked
7) Had a patient with a psych issue that I was super awkward with
8) Forgot an important PE maneuver that would have changed the differential
9) Forgot a lot of pertinent questions for a lot of cases
10) Did some lower extremity reflexes with the patient lying down - IDK what the heck I was thinking
11) Didn't make small talk/ask if they were comfortable/what they thought was causing their problem in almost every case
12) Didn't put ANY pertinent negatives in the differentials section - but read a lot of blogs AFTER MY EXAM that said you can...
13) Answered the challenging questions kind of awkwardly & probably unsatisfactory
14) Some awkward PE moves - only listened to 2 listening posts for most of the patients
15) Told another patient they may have a grievous illness - don't think I should have done that either...

And honestly, probably a lot of other things... halfway through, I felt so defeated, I basically gave up and just tried to get through to end the day... but NONE of my scores touched borderline. I was scared about ICE at first because I had missed so many relevant questions but then after reading other blogs, I was freaking out about CIS. Anyway, there is HOPE! The best thing to do while you're waiting is just occupy your time - anxiety and insomnia about this dreadful exam will drive you insane for two months but like everyone says, there's a good chance that you'll pass and if you don't, it's not the end of the world. There is PLENTY of hope and SO MANY match success stories - even for IMGs! It's a long, hard, crazy road, but it'll be worth it in the end!

Good luck!