Taking a year off....what resources will keep me fresh?

[Smachadams]

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Hey guys,

I'm finishing up my 3rd year and because of having to leave immediately for a master's program after I finish rotations, I wont be taking my step 2ck until I'm done. The master's program is accelerated and won't allow me 3 weeks to study for step 2. Im making the call of postponing it for a year and studying lightly throughout to keep the material somewhat fresh; taking an intensive 5-6 wk review after the program is done. I did reasonably well for step 1 and am confident I can trust myself to be responsible with the review...for the most part.

I don't do well with short 15-30min reviews sporadically throughout the day, I prefer intensive scheduled study time. I was planning on completing questions and seeing kaplan step 2ck videos throughout. What have you guys heard about kaplan? Are the videos still horribly out of date? Thanks for all the help so far guys!

 

[Phloston]

Hey guys,

I'm finishing up my 3rd year and because of having to leave immediately for a master's program after I finish rotations, I wont be taking my step 2ck until I'm done. The master's program is accelerated and won't allow me 3 weeks to study for step 2. Im making the call of postponing it for a year and studying lightly throughout to keep the material somewhat fresh; taking an intensive 5-6 wk review after the program is done. I did reasonably well for step 1 and am confident I can trust myself to be responsible with the review...for the most part.

I don't do well with short 15-30min reviews sporadically throughout the day, I prefer intensive scheduled study time. I was planning on completing questions and seeing kaplan step 2ck videos throughout. What have you guys heard about kaplan? Are the videos still horribly out of date? Thanks for all the help so far guys!

Your situation seems to parallel how I went through things. I'd say the most important thing during your masters year is to keep up with doing questions. It really is easier said than done, and you will get busy with your masters (if you're actually trying to get something out of it). 5-6 weeks at the end, interestingly, will seem like a huge drag to you, because you'll find intensive review for 2CK is a little bit more disorganized and equivocal relative to Step 1.

What I recommend:

1) Get through Rx and/or Kaplan QBank for 2CK during the year. However many questions you need to do per day, do it, and stick to it. If you find yourself going weeks without doing any, that's momentum you don't want to fall into.

2) Your reading during the year should be cursory overviews of MTB2 and MTB3, as well as solid reading of UpToDate on important issues (you'll figure out what these are, eg., cancer screening guidelines, endocarditis prophylaxis, HIV in pregnancy, etc.).

3) Save UWorld for your 5-6-week intensive review. Don't read books during this time. Just use UpToDate alongside UWorld. Also get the clinical mastery series, free-131 and NBMEs done during these 5-6 weeks.

That's it.

 

[Smachadams]

I definitely want to get alot out of the master's program which is why I know I need an organized game-plan to keep myself accountable throughout the year. I was gonna hold back on reading the MTBs step 2 just because I dont want to get bored of it by the intensive period. I like a combined read-question approach when it comes to review, because of the sake of variety: I know that's a personal choice.

I'm thinking the new ed. MTB step 3 book will be acceptable for year-long review. I plan on using Rx and holding off on Uworld just the same, but what is the clinical mastery series?? Btw, I agree uptodate will be a staple during this next year.

 

[Phloston]

I definitely want to get alot out of the master's program which is why I know I need an organized game-plan to keep myself accountable throughout the year. I was gonna hold back on reading the MTBs step 2 just because I dont want to get bored of it by the intensive period. I like a combined read-question approach when it comes to review, because of the sake of variety: I know that's a personal choice.

I'm thinking the new ed. MTB step 3 book will be acceptable for year-long review. I plan on using Rx and holding off on Uworld just the same, but what is the clinical mastery series?? Btw, I agree uptodate will be a staple during this next year.

I'm just going to put it out there that you don't want to wait to get the MTBs out of the way. A lot of the info in those books doesn't align with UpToDate. Obviously do what you need to do for yourself, but I would never recommend to any one of my students to touch the MTBs within the months prior to their 2CK; they're better for generalized foundation building. I was done with the MTBs ~5-6 months before my 2CK. Yet again, I only got a 260 on it, which isn't high for 2CK, so you don't have to take my advice.

 

[Smachadams]

I'm just going to put it out there that you don't want to wait to get the MTBs out of the way. A lot of the info in those books doesn't align with UpToDate. Obviously do what you need to do for yourself, but I would never recommend to any one of my students to touch the MTBs within the months prior to their 2CK; they're better for generalized foundation building. I was done with the MTBs ~5-6 months before my 2CK. Yet again, I only got a 260 on it, which isn't high for 2CK, so you don't have to take my advice.

I took your advice for step 1, it would be foolish not to listen now 🙂 I think you definitely have a point when it comes to the inaccuracies, and I'll have to account for that as I sketch out the schedule. I'm big on consolidating; so I'll just correct the MTB as I go, and not save it for the last minute.. Lol

 

[vicabc]

Your situation seems to parallel how I went through things. I'd say the most important thing during your masters year is to keep up with doing questions. It really is easier said than done, and you will get busy with your masters (if you're actually trying to get something out of it). 5-6 weeks at the end, interestingly, will seem like a huge drag to you, because you'll find intensive review for 2CK is a little bit more disorganized and equivocal relative to Step 1.

What I recommend:

1) Get through Rx and/or Kaplan QBank for 2CK during the year. However many questions you need to do per day, do it, and stick to it. If you find yourself going weeks without doing any, that's momentum you don't want to fall into.

2) Your reading during the year should be cursory overviews of MTB2 and MTB3, as well as solid reading of UpToDate on important issues (you'll figure out what these are, eg., cancer screening guidelines, endocarditis prophylaxis, HIV in pregnancy, etc.).

3) Save UWorld for your 5-6-week intensive review. Don't read books during this time. Just use UpToDate alongside UWorld. Also get the clinical mastery series, free-131 and NBMEs done during these 5-6 weeks.

That's it.

Do you think you could suggest a list of topics you went over in UpToDate (in addition to what you mentioned already). I'm taking the exam in a week or so and haven't done any UpToDate - it would be really nice to know what was useful for you.

 

[Phloston]

All cancer screening guidelines, HIV in pregnancy, endocarditis prophylaxis. And I can't give away the exact question, but for the different pediatric hip disorders, use UpToDate to look up what imaging modality you use to visualize the pathology at different patient ages (that's as specific as I'll be, but UTD saved me on this one).