Took Step 2 today...

[vanelo]

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and I feel soooooooo liberated !!!

My sincere opinion: Definetly much easier than the first one, the questions were not AS long as many people say ( but longer than the first one), and you feel so much good at the end of that test you will only know when it is your turn.

 

[dchristismi]

Glad to hear it! I'm up for it next week, and am looking forward to the feeling.

 

[Blade28]

Also have mine coming up (7/24)...QBank, here I come! 🙂

 

[Scooby Moo]

Congratulations, vanelo! Mine's still 5 months away, and I can't wait to get it over with.

 

[dochubert]

Did you do Q-bank or the Kaplan materials in preparation and if so, did they prepare you enough and how did Q-bank compare to the real thing?

Congrats on having it over with....

 

[Mr. Plow]

Did you do Q-bank or the Kaplan materials in preparation and if so, did they prepare you enough and how did Q-bank compare to the real thing?

Took Step 2 today. I'd say Q-bank was quite close to the real thing and probably was the most helpful study aid for me with respect to the content covered. Good luck!

 

[mjl1717]

Which are considered the top 5 study guides for step 2?

 

[Mr. Plow]

Which are considered the top 5 study guides for step 2?

The top 5 study guides according to Mr. Plow:
1. Qbank (priceless)
2. Crush Step 2 (easy read, hits major themes)
3. NMS Step 2 (almost tied for #2, many questions are too detail oriented)
4. First Aid Step 2 (detailed, time-intensive)
5. Step 2 secrets (much the same as Crush Step 2 but in Q&A format)

Some people really like Boards and Wards. I didn't use it personally.

 

[vanelo]

Did you do Q-bank or the Kaplan materials in preparation and if so, did they prepare you enough and how did Q-bank compare to the real thing?

MMMmmm, for me the Secrets is the most important book overall. I did Kaplan, NMS and Mock exam. The three are very good too.

 

[KidDr]

Definitely Boards and Wards and Secrets. I used those two almost exclusively and did fine. And use whatever source of practice questions works for you. I didn't personally use Q bank, but sounds like it's a good resource. Like all advice given for the boards, take it with a grain of salt. Everyone learns differently. Good luck to all.

 

[Mr. Plow]

Like all advice given for the boards, take it with a grain of salt. Everyone learns differently.

Well said. 🙂

 

[Blade28]

I've been relying on Crush Step 2, along with QBank. I occasionally will flip through Boards and Wards for some extra tidbits.

It's in a week...I'm scared... 🙂

 

[Mac O. Phage]

how was the clinical skills part?

 

[Jaded Soul]

how was the clinical skills part?

Step 2-CK and Step 2-CS are not on the same day. They are actually independent from each other. You have to register and schedule them separately.

 

[jmattwilson]

Not to be anal, but for those of you who just finished the test, is 1 month of Q-Bank enough to get through all the questions?

 

[jmattwilson]

What are there 1,200 questions?

 

[Carm]

I am taking them in 50 question blocks right now, and it is taking me an hour and a half to answer the question and then read the explanation. Depending on how fast you read (I would guess I am average speed) this should be a good guide as to how long it will take you. I plan on finishing it in a week the first time through, but I am not on a rotation now so can do about 200 per day.

 

[Carm]

There are 1252 questions

 

[Mr. Plow]

Not to be anal, but for those of you who just finished the test, is 1 month of Q-Bank enough to get through all the questions?

The 1 month of Qbank was sufficient for me. I studied 12 days for Step 2 and completed Qbank in that time. Good luck!

 

[smellycat]

how many questions do they give in an hour?
when i make my test on qbank it gives me 1 hour and 4-5 minutes...
i figure on the real exam it is a 1 hour block, do they give you 50 questions still?
people say it is longer than step 1....more sections?

 

[Scooby Moo]

how many questions do they give in an hour?
when i make my test on qbank it gives me 1 hour and 4-5 minutes...
i figure on the real exam it is a 1 hour block, do they give you 50 questions still?
people say it is longer than step 1....more sections?

Yes, I believe the exam has eight sixty-minute blocks (400 questions).

 

[Mr. Plow]

how many questions do they give in an hour?
when i make my test on qbank it gives me 1 hour and 4-5 minutes...
i figure on the real exam it is a 1 hour block, do they give you 50 questions still?
people say it is longer than step 1....more sections?

There are 8 blocks, 46 questions per block, and 60 minutes allotted to complete each block.

 

[Scooby Moo]

Oops! I guess I heard wrong. Thanks for the info, Mr. Plow. 👍

 

[jmattwilson]

The 1 month of Qbank was sufficient for me. I studied 12 days for Step 2 and completed Qbank in that time. Good luck!

Thanks

 

[suburbanite]

A few things I've heard from people who've taken Step2 recently (comments please) that are a little different than Qbank:

No developmental milestone questions (please Lord).

No percentage questions, i.e. questions with 4 percentages for answers.

Almost no rare syndromes, very few.

Some questions are more like Step 1 than Qbank suggests, like "what is the mechanism..."

Like Qbank, I hear there's a lot of trauma and EM.

I am currently kind of bugging out. I seem to remember that just before Step1 my Qbank was running in the mid 60s, and then I pulled out a good score. Currently I am bombing Qbank Step2 with a week to go. Here's hoping a pattern develops.

Good luck...


😳

 

[smellycat]

ahhhh...
thanks for the info...i couldn't find it on the nbme site...
46 hehe...where did they pull that number from? oh well...more time...i guess.

 

[dchristismi]

I took it yesterday. Feel pretty good about it... similarly to how I felt after rocking the peds shelf. (Woo hoo for that 94th percentile...if only Step II goes as well!)

To briefly comment:
>No developmental milestone questions (please Lord).
I didn't get any.

>No percentage questions, i.e. questions with 4 percentages for answers.
I had a stat question like that, but only the one, that I recall. (Stats was mercifully pretty limited for me.)

>Almost no rare syndromes, very few.
I wouldn't necessarily spend time on the "Zebra" section of Boards & Wards, but I would definitely look over it. The ones that your professors told you would be there (you know, the molar pregnancies, Kawasaki Syndrome, SCID, portal hypertension, etc) will likely be there.

>Some questions are more like Step 1 than Qbank suggests, like "what is the >mechanism..."
I had a bunch of these.

>Like Qbank, I hear there's a lot of trauma and EM.
I agree. I'm glad I'm currently doing an EM rotation - I actually "saw" several patients on Step II that I've seen in real life. The trick was believing the exam when it told me that the patient doesn't drink or do drugs. I'm like "um, yeaaah riight. Oh wait, duh."

Overall, I thought it was easier than Step I, mostly because it's almost all clinical vignettes. The questions in Boards and Wards were pretty representative - while some of the questions were nauseatingly long, most of them were refreshingly short.

Good luck, guys. It's not that bad. Really. (Now that I've finished it, of course!)
Danielle