Surgery Rotation necessary before taking Step 2?

[justpremed]

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how important is it to have taken the surgery rotation before step 2? i'm in a bit of a dilemma in terms of scheduling--i'll definitely have all of my basic rotations except e-med completed by the time i hope to take step 2. i can either fight to also fit in surgery, or spend that time doing a rotation in the cardiac icu + a sub-internship in medicine. which seems as if it would be more helpful?

thank you all in advance for any advice 🙂

 

[meowdoc]

You definitely need to study surgery topics at the 3rd year med student level before step 2. But you definitely do not need to hold retractors and cut sutures for 8hours a day beforehand. So don't do the rotation but study like you would be taking the shelf exam instead.

 

[turkeyjerky]

You definitely need to study surgery topics at the 3rd year med student level before step 2. But you definitely do not need to hold retractors and cut sutures for 8hours a day beforehand. So don't do the rotation but study like you would be taking the shelf exam instead.

Agreed, you should be alright w/o the surgery clerkship, but you'll need to dedicate like 5 days or so to just studying surgical topics.