Island Med Student

I have received many emails asking me about the above question, so I thought I’d share my limited insight. As always, please accept my disclaimer: I am in no way an expert on studying for anything. I only know what has worked well for me. I did not completely kill the Step 2 CK, but I did well. Study at your own risk!

Okay, now that we have that over with, here are answers to some questions:

1) Which books should I use? Well, I used various books to study during each of my core rotations. Perhaps I’ll post that info another day. But for the Step 2 CK, I basically just used First Aid for the USMLE Step 2 CK (First Aid USMLE)
and Step-Up to Medicine (Step-Up Series). There are a million other books that people have found useful, but these worked well for me.

2) Which question banks should I use? I swear by USMLE World for the Step 2 CK. Do every question. Do them over and over until you get them right. Read every explanation, even if you get the answer correct. They are wonderful.

3) What other tests can I use? I did the four practice exams available on the NBME website. They are great. My score on the real exam was very close to what I got on the practice exams. Do them, do them, do them!

4) What core rotations do I need to have completed to take the USMLE Step 2 CK? Well, you technically don’t have to have completed any of them, unless your school has special requirements. However, I think the best case scenario is to have completed all of them. Every core rotation contributes to the Step 2 CK. Everyone told me not to worry, because it really didn’t matter if I had completed a rotation or not. However, I took the CK without having completed ob/gyn or pediatrics, and I ended up doing not as well on those two areas. I am a hands on type of learner, so I think not having real life exposure made it difficult for me to learn the material. However, some people learn better with books or they can memorize. Maybe then it’s not as important. But the problem for me was that my schedule just couldn’t accommodate. I needed to get my CK scores for my residency application. If that hadn’t been an issue, I would have delayed taking the CK until I completed ob/gyn and pediatrics. But that wasn’t possible, so I took it in advance. You have to look at your own situation and make your decision based on that.

5) How much time did you take to study? Well, that’s sort of complicated. I mean, I studied each particular subject some while I was doing my cores. I also started doing USMLE World questions many months in advance. However, I didn’t really hit the studying hard until the last two months before the exam. This was plenty of time for me. But I am a fast reader, and fast test taker, and I was doing electives, which allowed me plenty of time to study. Again, you have to figure out how much time you will need based on your schedule and other variables.

Okay, that’s all I can think of for now. As always, please comment or email me if you have any other questions, changes, or additions, and I will add them to the list!