Askdoc's USMLE Blog

People have been badgering me for sometime now on writing more about how to prep for Step 2 CK. Some even wants me to start a Step 2 CK prep course. However, due to time constraints and the Step 1 Prep Course, it has not come to pass.

Lately there had been too many people asking questions about their Step 2 CK preparation and problems they are encountering. Although I still don’t have time to write a full article on it, I have decided to tackle the 4 most common reason that people do poorly in the Step 2 CK. I am also reposting an article about “What to do for Step 2 CK” an older post that needs some rewriting but is still relevant

1. Not Studying Enough Detail. The most common mistake people make in studying for Step 2 CK is not studying enough detail. You see so many reviewers in the market that purport you can ace the exam by studying the little material it contains. That is a lot of bull. Medicine is a very broad subject and Step 2 CK covers all the most common and even some rare cases.Those little reviewer just does not give you enough detail to do well in this exam. An exception is Kaplan Notes. Very good detail. However, you need to know 85% of it in order to know enough to pass. Higher if you want a higher score. And that is impossible to do unless you do a minimum of 3 revisions. I will discuss the various study materials you can use in another post.

Continue reading Most Common Mistakes in Step 2 CK Prep

*note: I wrote this way back in 2007 and posted it in prep4usmle. I am reposting it here because many people have been asking about how to prep for Step 2 CK and I am busy to write one. Although this may need a rewrite, it will do until I actually finish and post a new article.

The purpose of this post is to help people prepare for Step 2 CK. I purposefully did not title this as ‘How to get a 99 in Step 2 CK’ even though I got one using these preparation techniques. The reason is that it takes more than knowing how to prepare to get a 99. How much sacrifice and effort you put into your preparation is most important.

Some of you may already know me, from my post on how to prepare for step 1. I posted it in answer to a question on ‘What to Do’ in Step 1, and it’s purpose is to guide people in how to prepare for step 1 rather than how to get a 99 even though, again, I got one using those prep techniques. I’m posting a link to that thread:

For those who don’t. I am an Old IMG from the Philippines. Graduated way back in 1989 at the top medical college in my country. I took Step 1 last April 24, 2006 and got a 99/256. Took Step 2 CK last November 20, 2006 and got 99/258. Back in late 2004, when I started this journey and like most of you dreaming of 99′s, whenever, I see someone posting that they got 99′s, 2 things always pop up in my mind, wishing that it was me and wondering how it’s done. And always, when I read what they write about how they did it, it talks of what books they read, what lecture they listened to and what QBanks they used. Of course, the problem was, everybody seems to be doing the same things and most of them are not getting 99′s and some are even failing. So the only conclusion I can make is the secret does not lie in the preparation materials rather in how you used the preparation materials. And since different people have different starting points and different capabilities, their preparations and the materials they used must be adjusted accordingly.

Someone once asked in this forum if the reason I know so much about USMLE is I had taken it before. The answer is no, this is the first time I am taking all Steps. The reason I seem to know a lot about it is that it has always in my nature to know as much as I can about any task set before me. I have never failed an exam in my life and even though USMLE is supposed to be really tough especially for old Grads, I’m not about to let this be my first time. So, I set out to discover as much as I can about the exam, analyzing it and planning out what I hoped was a coherent well thought out study plan taking into consideration my special situation (a very old graduate) and my own prep capabilities.

It is not enough to study hard, one has to study smart too. I believe that with proper prep and hard work, anyone can pass this exam, hence this “what to do”. It is also my belief that with proper prep and really hard work, most can get high 80′s and even 90′s. Someday I’ll probably write a post about how to get double 99′s but for now I’ll stick to proper preparation for Step 2 CK.

Continue reading What to Do in Step 2 CK