glmahalak
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How to pass step 2
Focus on Platinum Vignettes and write a summary of all of them in a notebook with a few important details each. You should have about 400
You dont need to cover more diseases than what are in these books !
Read Crush step 3 at least 2x ; mastering this will be more than enough
Do the Trial exam from USMLE to understand the nature of the questions.
You dont have to know topics deeply but you have to be able to recognize the major points with each disease in the Platinum vignettes.
By really understanding the Vignettes, you will be able to start thinking about the differences between the diseases , mark these in your notes under the appropriate dz.
Ex : On left of page, write a very typical 2 line sentence of a pt that
has all the major s/s of the dz you are reading about.
On the right of page, put the name of the disease and list
one or two ways you could identify the disease. Then put the next
step in management. Do this for all 400 dz.
This is studying in a practical manner not theoretical ( step 1 ) and you
must have the courage to break from what has worked for you till now
otherwise you will get about the same score as before.
Keep in mind that you must first assess the pt to determine if he needs immediate treatment ( Low Bp and Dizzy ) or If he is stable and can be sent for further testing. This will determine how you answer the case on the exam. This is CRUCIAL and is the 1st thing to do on the Exam !
Use Boards and Wards to supplement your knowledge but dont try to just read it outright. Think of something you want to know about like  what is the diagnostic step for leukemia ?)and look it up in B&W. Just reading in a linear fashion is mindless and constitutes reading without an objective. Start reading with an objective in mind.
Step 2 demands a different approach than what you used in college, med school and step 1. You have to have the courage to break from your traditional study methods that have worked up till now .
Pretest Medicine, Physical Diagnosis and Clinical vignettes for st 2 are probably all the MCQ's you need to do.
Avoid Kaplan material, it is way off base and only preps you the way you are used to studying ; which will get you a failing grade. I failed using Kaplan.
For step 2, study more superficially and broad than Deep as you did for st 1.
Follow this advice and you should do great.
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Forum Guru
Topics: 140
Posts: 580
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what do u mean by platinum vignettes? also did u mention crush step 3, is this a different book than crush the boards for step 2? thanks in advance
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