ok now before everyone starts wondering why i am not writing about step 1 first here's the thing...i did ny step 2 exams first.why?because my cousin thought it might be better that ways especially since i was fresh out of clinics from internship and i happened to agree with her...ok now everything in detail.
so i came back home...in about last week of august.all done with my internship and all that and all geared up to go at war with the USMLE Step 2.my ammo consisted of kaplan books...the entire set.and thats that...see i am not even beggining to deny that i went wrong in many places.but whats gone is gone.so from the 1st week of september i started studying.i studied regularly but not much...about 4-5 hours daily...which seems like a lot....but not when you plan to give your exams in about 3 months.anyways..i started with kaplan books.someone told me that i was to use first aid book for medicine.but i stuck to kaplan.another mistake on my part.kaplan is a good set but only kaplan for medicine isnt enough.and since medicine is one subject which has the most weightage in the exam DO NOT take medicine lightly.ask around and see what books are required because i am telling from my personal experience that kaplan medicine is not enough.anyways my friends who were giving USMLE too told me that i was supposed to download kaplan lectures too.even my cousin told me this...but for heaven knows what reason i kept on putting it off till the last minute.and yes...its all there on the internet.you only need to know where to hunt for it.and yes i know its wrong to promote piracy or whatever but then kaplan has to make their softwares more piracy-proof...it will keep on happening otherwise.anyways coming back to my preps...i started with kaplan theory.trust me after 9 month of hibernation (with periods of REM sleep in between) its not easy to sit down with your books...my advice?if you have not studied for a prolonged stretch of time then dont plan to give your exam in 3-4 months...give yourself at least 6 months...that ways the time that you spend on re-forming study habits dont count.
after about 2 months....we had dussera and diwali in between...excuses excuses...but anyways...after about 2 months i finished the kaplan theory.i found behavorial sciences and paediatrics a little difficult but i thought i would make up as i went along...i made up in behavorial sciences not so much in paediatrics.anyways i finished theory once by last week of october..and then started my uworld qbank.which maybe was another mistake...i do believe theory should be read twice minimum...but this one i dont regret so much...i am not the read the same thing twice person...maybe its a bad quality in me but well thats the way i am...anyways i started uworld.i had heard a LOT about it and well everyone advised me to study from uworld qbank.my advice...uworld is the best....go for it...they have about 2100 questions in all subjects.the format of uworld is exactly the way it is in the real exams.46 questions 1 hour.you can do the questions in timed untimed (which are self explanatory) and tutor mode.the tutor mode is the one in which there is a question, you answer it and then immediately you get to know whether answer is correct or not and an explanation come along with it.in timed and untimed mode you have to finish all the questions first before you get your answers and the explanation...ok about this one i would advice everyone to start with the tutor mode because well....why waste the time....but as you draw closer to you exams...like one month before or something start the timed mode so that you have enough time management practice.i never used the untimed mode.period.
no i am not done with uworld yet...you can also choose the number of questions you can do each time...its not 46 strictly...like for instance you are waiting for your food (yes i had my food brought up to my room....one of the many many advatages of having a rich father in india) and you dont want to waste your time then you can do just 5 questions...you get the idea rite?another choice is used questions, unused questions, marked and incorrect questions...used unused and incorrect...well everyone understands that...marked questions....hmmm now this one was something that the dumb me took time to figure out so i might as well tell everyone before hand...when you see a question whose answer you think is imporatant...then mark it...on the days before the exam you can read it once twice as many number of times you want to...like for instance maybe you have a question on down's syndrome and the answer explains ALL features of downs plus the major features of the other answer choices...it is a mini revision for all the mentioned diseases right??so of course you would want to read it again right??so there....mark the question...ok thats that about marked...oh one more thing once you choose "marked" your marked questions get unmarked so dun forget to re-mark them again...ok thats enough confusion
yes also...you can choose you questions subject wise...i dont know how helpful that is...i did all subjects but thats entirely up to you...like everything is...
also...use the un-used questions first before you move on to other stuffs...so that ways you get to go through all the questions...i know NOW it sound like a silly thing to say....i mean obvious isnt it.but then the thing is...the smart me thought that if i chose "all" questions then i get to read some questions again and again...so i wasted my first 1 week choosing "all"...dont do that....finish all questions first before doing new things...
also....i used to do about 3 blocks of 46 questions each per day (by now my daily studyin had gone up to about 6-8 hours...thank god!!)...but this many too isn advisable....there's only so much your brain can hold...my suggestion 2 blocks of 46 questions...plus one topics which you find difficult plus maybe 1 or 2 lectures.
click on this happy face for the cost of uworld subscription :) ...nothing to be happy about....i just wanted to be cute...he he
ahem...
i have been to a lot of forums and manyof my friend have told me that the scores you get in uworld...if you add 30 to it then thats your real step 2 scores...i dont know how much of that is true...i used to score about 55-60...and my real score...i guess i will talk about it later :(
how long did i study uworld...about 2 and half months.november december and then half of january...i gave my exams on the 19th of january so...2 and half month.i finshed uworld questions once in 1 and a half month and then i finished 2/3 of it again before giving my exam...
i guess thats about it about my preps...
advice....minimum requirements for your step 2 preps
1. kaplan theory books
2. kaplan lecture videos
3. usmle world aka uworld..A MUST A MUST A MUST....about 60% of questions in my exams had same or almost same questions as the uworld ones.
4. first aid for medicine
5. pen paper notebooks etc for your own notes...these help A LOT too...some school teacher of mine had once told me that if you write things and read it later you remember them better when you see them in your own handwriting.i follow this advice like a religion.i was famous in my college for my note making :)
ps: yes i finally managed to get the kaplan lecture videos but i never used it...i got them all about 1 week before exam and i was surely not going to try anything new then right?
so i came back home...in about last week of august.all done with my internship and all that and all geared up to go at war with the USMLE Step 2.my ammo consisted of kaplan books...the entire set.and thats that...see i am not even beggining to deny that i went wrong in many places.but whats gone is gone.so from the 1st week of september i started studying.i studied regularly but not much...about 4-5 hours daily...which seems like a lot....but not when you plan to give your exams in about 3 months.anyways..i started with kaplan books.someone told me that i was to use first aid book for medicine.but i stuck to kaplan.another mistake on my part.kaplan is a good set but only kaplan for medicine isnt enough.and since medicine is one subject which has the most weightage in the exam DO NOT take medicine lightly.ask around and see what books are required because i am telling from my personal experience that kaplan medicine is not enough.anyways my friends who were giving USMLE too told me that i was supposed to download kaplan lectures too.even my cousin told me this...but for heaven knows what reason i kept on putting it off till the last minute.and yes...its all there on the internet.you only need to know where to hunt for it.and yes i know its wrong to promote piracy or whatever but then kaplan has to make their softwares more piracy-proof...it will keep on happening otherwise.anyways coming back to my preps...i started with kaplan theory.trust me after 9 month of hibernation (with periods of REM sleep in between) its not easy to sit down with your books...my advice?if you have not studied for a prolonged stretch of time then dont plan to give your exam in 3-4 months...give yourself at least 6 months...that ways the time that you spend on re-forming study habits dont count.
after about 2 months....we had dussera and diwali in between...excuses excuses...but anyways...after about 2 months i finished the kaplan theory.i found behavorial sciences and paediatrics a little difficult but i thought i would make up as i went along...i made up in behavorial sciences not so much in paediatrics.anyways i finished theory once by last week of october..and then started my uworld qbank.which maybe was another mistake...i do believe theory should be read twice minimum...but this one i dont regret so much...i am not the read the same thing twice person...maybe its a bad quality in me but well thats the way i am...anyways i started uworld.i had heard a LOT about it and well everyone advised me to study from uworld qbank.my advice...uworld is the best....go for it...they have about 2100 questions in all subjects.the format of uworld is exactly the way it is in the real exams.46 questions 1 hour.you can do the questions in timed untimed (which are self explanatory) and tutor mode.the tutor mode is the one in which there is a question, you answer it and then immediately you get to know whether answer is correct or not and an explanation come along with it.in timed and untimed mode you have to finish all the questions first before you get your answers and the explanation...ok about this one i would advice everyone to start with the tutor mode because well....why waste the time....but as you draw closer to you exams...like one month before or something start the timed mode so that you have enough time management practice.i never used the untimed mode.period.
no i am not done with uworld yet...you can also choose the number of questions you can do each time...its not 46 strictly...like for instance you are waiting for your food (yes i had my food brought up to my room....one of the many many advatages of having a rich father in india) and you dont want to waste your time then you can do just 5 questions...you get the idea rite?another choice is used questions, unused questions, marked and incorrect questions...used unused and incorrect...well everyone understands that...marked questions....hmmm now this one was something that the dumb me took time to figure out so i might as well tell everyone before hand...when you see a question whose answer you think is imporatant...then mark it...on the days before the exam you can read it once twice as many number of times you want to...like for instance maybe you have a question on down's syndrome and the answer explains ALL features of downs plus the major features of the other answer choices...it is a mini revision for all the mentioned diseases right??so of course you would want to read it again right??so there....mark the question...ok thats that about marked...oh one more thing once you choose "marked" your marked questions get unmarked so dun forget to re-mark them again...ok thats enough confusion
yes also...you can choose you questions subject wise...i dont know how helpful that is...i did all subjects but thats entirely up to you...like everything is...
also...use the un-used questions first before you move on to other stuffs...so that ways you get to go through all the questions...i know NOW it sound like a silly thing to say....i mean obvious isnt it.but then the thing is...the smart me thought that if i chose "all" questions then i get to read some questions again and again...so i wasted my first 1 week choosing "all"...dont do that....finish all questions first before doing new things...
also....i used to do about 3 blocks of 46 questions each per day (by now my daily studyin had gone up to about 6-8 hours...thank god!!)...but this many too isn advisable....there's only so much your brain can hold...my suggestion 2 blocks of 46 questions...plus one topics which you find difficult plus maybe 1 or 2 lectures.
click on this happy face for the cost of uworld subscription :) ...nothing to be happy about....i just wanted to be cute...he he
ahem...
i have been to a lot of forums and manyof my friend have told me that the scores you get in uworld...if you add 30 to it then thats your real step 2 scores...i dont know how much of that is true...i used to score about 55-60...and my real score...i guess i will talk about it later :(
how long did i study uworld...about 2 and half months.november december and then half of january...i gave my exams on the 19th of january so...2 and half month.i finshed uworld questions once in 1 and a half month and then i finished 2/3 of it again before giving my exam...
i guess thats about it about my preps...
advice....minimum requirements for your step 2 preps
1. kaplan theory books
2. kaplan lecture videos
3. usmle world aka uworld..A MUST A MUST A MUST....about 60% of questions in my exams had same or almost same questions as the uworld ones.
4. first aid for medicine
5. pen paper notebooks etc for your own notes...these help A LOT too...some school teacher of mine had once told me that if you write things and read it later you remember them better when you see them in your own handwriting.i follow this advice like a religion.i was famous in my college for my note making :)
ps: yes i finally managed to get the kaplan lecture videos but i never used it...i got them all about 1 week before exam and i was surely not going to try anything new then right?
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