Brunner: Step 2 Plan & Advice

So fourth year has come and that last stop between you and graduation is the Step 2 exam. The good thing is that you have been doing Step 2CK practice tests for a year now, since questions from this exam are the content for the Shelf examinations. Also, all your "favorite" things from Step 1 are there: the Fred software style of the computer examination, the Prometric testing center and the joys of printing out scheduling permits and getting fingerprinted for the exam.

My Step 2 study period was brief but busy. I have always taken the "cram it in so that you have free time afterwards" strategy for studying. This meant that when I was studying, I really didn't have any free time in my days - so I would awake in the morning and essentially be involved with some studying modality until I went to sleep. There was a little more leniency than in my Step 1 studying - so I would watch a little football, go to the dentist, or go to a luncheon, but I probably only interrupted the routine 4 times. The good thing is that this means you only study for about 2 weeks. My time to study was limited by exam availability at Prometric, so if you want to add a few days or decrease studying by a few days make sure you plan ahead based on the Prometric schedule.

All said, remember that you have been doing step 2 questions throughout the third year and so if you are more eager just to complete the exam, a shorter schedule will probably be ok.

What is below worked well for me.

I took a few simple resources and decided to review/study these:

USMLEWorld Step 2 CK Qbank

USMLE Step 2 Secrets: Questions you will be asked on USMLE Step 2 by Adam Brochert

Kaplan USMLE Step 2 Qbook - I found this on Amazon for a few dollars.

Clearly, very question-bank-heavy studying. This is because you "know" all or most of the material on the test from the last year; you just need to be primed to remember it. Similarly, this meant that my days were divided among these resources, but not necessarily by a formal rubric, like organ system or anything like that. If you had a resource that you liked from third year studying it would probably work well (I used the Kaplan qbook all year, so included it), but you probably don't want to have too many resources.

Also, I used goljan step 2 audio (you can find this online), which was not as useful as the step 1 audio, but it made me feel like I was doing something by listening to goljan when making lunch or exercising.

The last thing to remember is that it takes a while to go over the answers to the QBank questions. I allotted at least 2.5 hours for each block to a) take a test block and b) review all the material in the answers. Towards the end, when topics were repeated or similar, I would skim the answers more, but each block would still end up taking at least 2 hours.

On the day of the "practice exam" I took 8 blocks of the USMLEWorld questions that I had not seen. I was not interested in the NBME exam because it doesn't give you explanations of what you scored right or wrong, and the bulk of my learning comes from the explanations. Nonetheless, it is probably more predictive of your score. I just felt I could get more out of studying the qbank I had already purchased.

Here is my study schedule:

Sunday / Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday / Saturday
U: 88 questions
am
B: read 30
pages
G: during
meals,
during
30min run
U: 132
questions
pm / U: 88
questions
am
B: read 30
pages
G: during
meals,
during
30min run
U: 132
questions
pm / U: 88
questions
am
B: read 30
pages
G: during
meals,
during
30min run
U: 132
questions
pm / U: 88
question
am
B: read 30
pages
G: during
meals,
during
30min run
U: 132
question
pm / U: 88
questions
am
B: read 30 pages
G: during meals,
during
30min run
U: 132
questions
pm / U: 88
questions
am
B: read 30 pages
G: during
meals, during 30min run
U: 132 questions pm / U: 88 questions am
B: read 30 pages
G: during meals,
during 30min run
U: 132
questions
pm
Practice
Exam:
352
questions
abbreviated
review / U: 88
questions
am
read 30 pages
G: during meals, during 30min run
U: 132 questions
pm / U: 88 questions am
B: read 30 pages
G: during meals, during 30min run
U: 132
questions
pm
K: tests in weak areas / U: 88-132 questions that you got wrong
B: review the “tips”
G: during meals, during 30min run
K: tests in weak areas / Step 2 CK

U: USMLEWorld Qbank. There are ~2400 questions; this schedule lets you do all of them and repeat some you got wrong. I always did only questions that were unused, until the end where I did questions that were incorrect.

B: Step 2 Secrets book. Easy read, it breaks up the pure qbank studying, general overview of concepts, good for guidelines and a few treatment algorithms.

G: Goljan audio. I think there were ~20 hours. Again, if not reading or testing, goljan was on.

K: Kaplan questions. I also used the MKSAP questions toward the end, again to vary my content.

After all of this, the test is pretty gratifying. Much more than the Step 1, you can leave the exam and feel like you have really learned a lot in the past year and a half. Also, you leave knowing that you have essentially finished that last hurdle in medical school, and all that lies ahead is to relax! (And the whole residency thing...)