Originally posted by BeeGee:
•Like the subject: for all you upcoming 4th years, when do you plan to take Step 2 and what do you think is a good date to begin studying. Is it alot easier and students just take it for granted and end up failing? All advice appreciated.•••
Hi there,
You should definitely prepare for USMLE Step II. In some ways, it is easier than Step I(generally more focused on medicine) but some of the questions can be very tricky. You should take the test as early as possible; I recommend no later than the third week in September of your fourth year.
You can get good prep with Prescription for the Boards and NMS Prep for Step II along with Q-Bank for Step II. The Q-Bank for Step II is not a good as step I but it does keep you thinking and gives you some application practice.
I found my Step II to be more difficult than Step I. The most difficult part was the length of the test. I breezed through Step I in six hours. It took the full 8 hours for me to finish Step II. By the seventh block, my eyes were beginning to cross from all of the reading. The case scenarios are pretty lengthy!
Do not believe the old quote that you can just study a couple of weeks for Step II. You need to put some quality time in on a regular basis for at least a month especially if you took Internal Medicine as your first rotation third year! Peds is also pretty well represented on this exam.
Good luck
NJBMD