I had a friend recently fail CS. He came up with a great idea to prepare for his retake that I feel compelled to share. If you recently failed CS, skip down to the bottom paragraph. If you are a 3rd year who wants to prevent themselves from failing CS, continue reading.
I'M A 3RD YEAR WHO WANTS TO KNOW HOW TO PREPARE FOR CS:
Best advice I have is to bust your a$$ during your clerkships, and take your OSCE's seriously. Offer to write notes on as many patients as possible, and see patients on your own! Be accountable for what goes into the EMR, and ask your residents/attendings for feedback on your notes! If you do this throughout your entire 3rd year without slacking off, you don't even have to prepare for CS. You could walk in cold and pass the thing. I would, however, read up on CS patient note formatting, which could be done in 1 afternoon by reading FA for CS. If you work hard during 3rd year, you will pass the first time.
I FAILED CS AND WILL BE TAKING IT AGAIN:
My friend admits to dragging his feet towards the end of 3rd year (who could blame him, it gets old after a while), and he barely passed his OSCE's. Here is his idea. He is arranging time with our OSCE coordinator to go over his OSCE video recordings and patient notes to see areas of improvement. He feels he will benefit more from this experience than simply re-reading FA for Step 2 CS.
I'M A 3RD YEAR WHO WANTS TO KNOW HOW TO PREPARE FOR CS:
Best advice I have is to bust your a$$ during your clerkships, and take your OSCE's seriously. Offer to write notes on as many patients as possible, and see patients on your own! Be accountable for what goes into the EMR, and ask your residents/attendings for feedback on your notes! If you do this throughout your entire 3rd year without slacking off, you don't even have to prepare for CS. You could walk in cold and pass the thing. I would, however, read up on CS patient note formatting, which could be done in 1 afternoon by reading FA for CS. If you work hard during 3rd year, you will pass the first time.
I FAILED CS AND WILL BE TAKING IT AGAIN:
My friend admits to dragging his feet towards the end of 3rd year (who could blame him, it gets old after a while), and he barely passed his OSCE's. Here is his idea. He is arranging time with our OSCE coordinator to go over his OSCE video recordings and patient notes to see areas of improvement. He feels he will benefit more from this experience than simply re-reading FA for Step 2 CS.
