step II book question- sorry

[Coleman]

I know this isn't a specific emergency forum question, but I know you guys, I don't know all those "general" posters . . . I don't even know what that means.

Anyway,
in studying for step II


Crush the Boards vs. Prescriptions for the Boards


Which do you prefer? Discuss.
(First Aid for Step II is way too superficial for me)

Thanks all, I owe you. I'll buy you all lunch when I'm interviewing next year (residency and relocation loans!!)

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[Path]

Hey Coleman,

I have used both first aid and crush the boards and haven't heard of prescription for the boards. I have to agree with you about first aid, it was really, really superficial. It seemed like they covered only a few topics per field (surg, med, peds...) and what they did cover was lacking a bit.

With that said....I read it twice. I also read crush the boards twice. Crush is good, but damn it is just paragraph after paragraph. At least throw in a picture or two to amuse me (exaggerated of course). I remember that it seemed that crush, although it had tons of great info, didn't stress anything as really important. Like...HEY, if you are gonna know anything about this disease, know _________.

One little book that is a quick read is USMLE step 2 secrets. Great book as a companion to crush the boards. I liked this book the best.

Most importantly though, I did a ton of questions. I did all of Q Bank and lots of NMS questions (super hard) and some other question book too.

My plan was just like step 1. I read a section in first aid, then the corresponding section in crush, and then did the questions for that same section in Q bank. I would take notes in the books from the answers in the questions (right and wrong answers).

Anyway, I didn't particularly like any ONE book for step 2, but if used in combination, they work pretty well together. I would definately do tons and tons of questions. I think I did about 2000 by test day. (1000 from q bank alone and those 150 q sets in the books add up quickly).

The above worked for me..... I got a 245. (i guess the force was with me. I somehow managed to not think of Quinn's picture during the exam )

I hope this helps and was the info you were looking for.

Path

 

[DrQuinn]

I will agree with Path. Perhaps the reason why I did well on Step 1 was because I used many books (kaplan, Youel's, BRS, First aid). I would suggets on step 2 is to:

Use First Aid for your EMergency Medicine clerkship for Step 2. Atleast read it twice. It will help you on ALCS if you're nto good at it, becasue I had around 5-10 questions on ACLS. Also, I would recommend First Aid for USMLE Step 2 for the rest of it. I also did the NMS Questions for Step 2, as well as the Kaplan CD Step 2 questions. I also glanced at the case scnarios (clinical vignettes) for step 2 but didn't think they helped me at all (any DO students PM me).

Step 2 sucks. There really isn't any way to study for it (ok, so I took Step 2 of the COMLEX, not USMLE), so its a little different, so I may be able to help those taking the COMLEX only more...

Also, I wont' know my score until the middle of March... so if I fail the boards, I wouldn't use my advice.

Ok, so my Maker's Mark Buzz is more important that anything else right now.
Q

 

[mikecwru]

Originally posted by Coleman
I know this isn't a specific emergency forum question, but I know you guys, I don't know all those "general" posters . . . I don't even know what that means.

Anyway,
in studying for step II


Crush the Boards vs. Prescriptions for the Boards


Which do you prefer? Discuss.
(First Aid for Step II is way too superficial for me)

Thanks all, I owe you. I'll buy you all lunch when I'm interviewing next year (residency and relocation loans!!)

I used First Aid alone and got a 245, which is a decent score, not the best. I also used Q-Bank and did a lot of questions, which I think is the key rather than what book you use.

I just wanted to point out that you can read First Aid and do more than just passing the test. I've heard the most good things about Crush the Boards, but as one person was saying, it's harder to read. I studied for about a week, a couple of hours a day, if that. Really half-assed.

mike

 

[jpgreer13]

I read both Prescription for the Boards and First Aid for Step 2, and got a 249.

 

[marinedoc]

Boards and Wards is a very high yield book. Much of what you read in this book will show up on the boards.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

I'm convinced that how well you do on Step II has much less to do with how long you studied for and which books you used than it did for Step I. I think the three most important things one can do are:
1) Be a good test-taker (yeah, easier said than done)
2) Study hard for Step I (Surprising amount of overlap)
3) Study very hard for the shelf exams throughout third year (Because Step II is just one big long shelf exam)


That said, I used First Aid and NMS for about 10 days and improved on great Step I scores.

 

[Coleman]

Thanks for your help all.

I've got a quick side question about board scores. When you get your board score and there are the two numbers (the example they give is like 170 and 70 I think), what does the second number represent?

Is it the percentile for that test? and if so, can I assume it is out of 100?

Thanks

 

[jaydoc3]

Coleman,
The 2digit number is not a percentile, it is just a two digit representation of the 3digit score. Does that make sense to you? Me neither! All I know is that I got a 249 on step1 (which should have translated to 94-95 percentile) and a 99 as my 2digit number. That makes no sense to me, because presumably no one could have scored higher than my 2digit score, but in reality a few thousand people scored better than I did.

Anyway, I used FIRST AID FOR STEP2 (fast and easy to read, but too superficial for complete preparation) and NMS (questions are great and the explanations are the best that I have found. Overall it is very in depth). I agree though that the FIRST AID FOR EM is also a good book to read. I also used the step 1 book "STEP UP" because it has many easy-to-use tables for the rare disorders.