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

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

Wednesda
y
U: 88
question
am
B: read
30
pages
G: during
meals,
during
30min run
U: 132
question
pm

U: 88-132
questions
that you
got wrong
B: review
the tips
G: during
meals,
during
30min run
K: tests in
weak
areas

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

U: 88
question
s
am
B: read
30 pages
G:
during
meals,
during
30min
run
U: 132
question
s
pm
Step 2
CK

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: 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...)