Step 2 dedicated time?

Started by Shunsui
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How long should you take for Step 2 dedicated?

  • 2 weeks

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4 weeks

    Votes: 5 20.8%
  • 6 weeks

    Votes: 11 45.8%
  • 8-10 weeks

    Votes: 2 8.3%
  • Depends on Shelf scores

    Votes: 6 25.0%

  • Total voters
    24

Shunsui

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7+ Year Member
I've heard varying opinions so wanted to collect some more perspectives
 
How much time can you take off? Are you doing away rotations? How difficult was Step 1 for you? Any red flags on your application? What specialty are you applying for? Minimum should be one month. I think 5-6 weeks is the sweet spot personally.
 
12 weeks total. 2 weeks are built into the schedule by default.

Not planning on doing any away rotations

Step 1 was a beast but I scored mid 70s on all the practice exams (99% chance of passing within 2 weeks)

No red flags, just vanilla

DR or IR, probably DR

Was planning on doing 6 weeks total
 
I've heard varying opinions so wanted to collect some more perspectives
If you studied for the shelf exams during M3 then you've already been prepping for Step 2 for the past year.

Unless you're trying to address major knowledge gaps, 2-3 weeks is sufficient. 4 weeks will have you hating life (even more). Anything beyond that is pointless self-torture.
 
I struggled majorly with Step 1 (took 12 weeks and still wasn't sure I'd pass) but found Step 2 to be much easier in comparison after having done all my rotations in M3 year. Averaged 70s for all the shelf, took 5 weeks for step 2 dedicated and scored mid-250s. I could've grinded more for 260+ but I decided that wasn't necessary for the specialty I was going for.