Take Step 2 before most of 3rd year?

[EHP]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Ok, before everyone just says 'No that's crazy!', hear me out....

I'm on a leave right now for personal/family reasons, after doing OB & Psych. I need to significantly better on Step 2 than Step 1 (mean). While I understand that Step 2 is based on the shelf exams, and I haven't covered big ones like IM and Surgery, I was wondering if the couple of months of free time I have would be a better time to study for Step 2 really hard, and set myself up to do well in rotations in a couple of months as well. The other facet is that I need to take Step 2 by early August at the end of 3rd year at the absolute latest due to early match.

Thanks for your opinions, and try not to be too mean--where else but here would anyone really be able to ask this question? 🙂

 

[Law2Doc]

Ok, before everyone just says 'No that's crazy!', hear me out....

I'm on a leave right now for personal/family reasons, after doing OB & Psych. I need to significantly better on Step 2 than Step 1 (mean). While I understand that Step 2 is based on the shelf exams, and I haven't covered big ones like IM and Surgery, I was wondering if the couple of months of free time I have would be a better time to study for Step 2 really hard, and set myself up to do well in rotations in a couple of months as well. The other facet is that I need to take Step 2 by early August at the end of 3rd year at the absolute latest due to early match.

Thanks for your opinions, and try not to be too mean--where else but here would anyone really be able to ask this question? 🙂

Honestly, that sounds like a really bad idea. It's one thing to try to self teach for the CS (as another poster is contemplating in another thread) but CK is going ot be brutal if you haven't done IM, surgery, peds etc. That's about 7-8 months of material (most of third year) you are going to try to cover in a "couple of months" of free time. So not I think it's foolhardy. But if you want to read ahead for your rotations (and not rush the CK), I see nothing wrong with that.

 

[Scaredshizzles]

Ok, before everyone just says 'No that's crazy!', hear me out....

I'm on a leave right now for personal/family reasons, after doing OB & Psych. I need to significantly better on Step 2 than Step 1 (mean). While I understand that Step 2 is based on the shelf exams, and I haven't covered big ones like IM and Surgery, I was wondering if the couple of months of free time I have would be a better time to study for Step 2 really hard, and set myself up to do well in rotations in a couple of months as well. The other facet is that I need to take Step 2 by early August at the end of 3rd year at the absolute latest due to early match.

Thanks for your opinions, and try not to be too mean--where else but here would anyone really be able to ask this question? 🙂

I think it is a bad idea. There is nothing that can replace clinical experience as far as burning things in your memory. And some stuff just isn't in the books even if you do have a great memory from just reading books. You can use those 2 months to prestudy however, which will help on the shelves and eventually on step 2. If you do well on the shelves, you'll feel much better about the material and have more confidence going into step 2.