USMLE Step II Study tools, MKSAP/IM Essentials

[Boricua27]

Saludos!
In our pediatric rotation we used the MedU CLIPP cases and they were really useful for me. So I went back to do the MedU Internal Medicine cases, SIMPLE. They keep mentioning the "the ACP/CDIM suite of student products", including the "MKSAP for Students 5 Digital." I follow the link and it takes me to the product, "IM Essentials". None of my classmates or 4th years I've talked to have used it...just the standard Uworld, FA, etc. I'm assuming it offers questions and cases like those in SIMPLE. From what I've seen there is a $1000+ MKSAP and a $55 IM Essentials. Would anyone care to share about their experience with MKSAP/IM Essentials?

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[Ismet]

MKSAP 5 costs like $40. You were probably looking at the MKSAP for actual internal medicine board prep. MKSAP 5 is for medical students and it is basically student-level IM questions for prep for your IM shelf. IM Essentials is the textbook that goes along with it. I had both and I honestly barely used them. UWorld and FA is enough for IM.

 

[Bru]

They rebranded the MKSAP stuff for med students a year or two back as you have noticed. There are two products: IM Essentials Text and IM Essentials Questions.

The first is the textbook and the 2nd is the question book. Neither are particularly like the SIMPLE cases. I own IM Essentials Questions and it was ok -- I used to during my medicine clerkship as an adjunct. It sort of follows the Uworld format with decent explanations and 1-2 sentence summary of what point the question was trying to convey. I think they are making online-only based on their website (https://store.acponline.org/ebizatpro/ProductsServices/ProductDetails.aspx?productId=21195).

As has been mentioned above, your time is better spent using Uworld.

 

[Boricua27]

Ismet, Bru, thank you both for the feedback!