Time needed for step 2

[white coated]

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Hi all,

What's the time needed to study for step 2 if someone is working about 8 hours a day?

Thank you in advance.

 

[SimonSez]

Hi all,

What's the time needed to study for step 2 if someone is working about 8 hours a day?

Thank you in advance.

There's no universal answer to that question as it tends to differ from person to person. I can tell you my experience though....I am an IMG from the Caribbean. I did Step 2 on January 7th 2009 while working in Internal Medicine. My work hours were 8 to 4 with 24 hr calls at a frequency of roughly 1 in 5. I started working in late August 2008, however, I started studying in mid July (while I was at home). This meant I had a month of full time studying plus 4 months while working. I was actually ready to write the exam in early November but could not get any time off work until January.
I believe that anywhere between 2 to 5 months would be enough time to prepare while working 8 hours a day (a wide range because as I said earlier it differs from person to person). My advice to you would be to start your eligibility period 2 months from the time you started studying. So if you start studying in early August then your eligibility period should be from October to December....this would give you that 2 to 5 month window. Use USMLEWorld as your number one resource and take an NBME every so often to find out where you stand. Based on your NBME scores you can decide when to set the actual exam date.

 

[SimonSez]

Small Correction: My exam date for Step 2 was January 20th 2009 not the 7th

 

[Arb]

Do you annotate into FA for UW like for Step I?

 

[AFDuck]

To the OP, I think most people do not study 4-5 months for step 2. Having done fairly well 3rd year, I studied about 8 hours/day for 4 weeks, which was more than enough time. I think I could've done as well in 2-3 wks using UW and a book if you like (I used Crush).
SimonSez, how did you get away with working 8-4 on IM? I'm jealous!
Arb, check out the other thread someone has going on how to prep for step 2 during 3rd year.

 

[SimonSez]

To the OP, I think most people do not study 4-5 months for step 2. Having done fairly well 3rd year, I studied about 8 hours/day for 4 weeks, which was more than enough time. I think I could've done as well in 2-3 wks using UW and a book if you like (I used Crush).
SimonSez, how did you get away with working 8-4 on IM? I'm jealous!
Arb, check out the other thread someone has going on how to prep for step 2 during 3rd year.

The hospital I worked at had a very easy work schedule.... Monday to Friday 8 to 4...24hr call every 1 in 5....weekends and Public Holidays off (unless your on call day falls on one of these days). If your on call day is on a weekend or a public holiday then you can claim a compensatory day.

What are your work hours like?

 

[AFDuck]

On IM I would come in around 0615 to preround and would typicaly get out around 1800. Similar call schedule to yours. Our residents would get report from the night team at 0700 and check out at 1800, so it was pretty much expected that we work closely with them. Rough couple of months when you factor in the need to study as well!

 

[FreakofMeds]

On IM I would come in around 0615 to preround and would typicaly get out around 1800. Similar call schedule to yours. Our residents would get report from the night team at 0700 and check out at 1800, so it was pretty much expected that we work closely with them. Rough couple of months when you factor in the need to study as well!

Damn that's a tad long. That's 12 hour daily and 72 hours weekly without taking Calls into consideration. I get in at 7:00 and leave at around 16:30 to 17:00 if it was a good day, 18:00 if I need to finish some work. 21:30 if I am on call (we have night floaters).

 

[SimonSez]

The system at the hospital I worked in is such that there are 4 Residents on call on any given day. This on call team was responsible for all patients as of 4pm. If you had any particularly sick patient/s you would hand these over to one of the on call Residents. That way on a non call day you would leave at 4pm (unless you had a lot of things pending....which was the exception rather than the rule). Our IM department consisted of 8 teams each comprised of a Consultant (Attending), a Registrar (Fellow), 2-3 House Officers (Residents), and an Intern. We would usually finish all our work before 4pm....each team would have about 25 patients under their care....8 hours was plenty time to sort them out.