adeelmd
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Hello, I am taking the kaplan step2 ck course in New jersey till May 8th. I thought It would good to start a journal of my experience here and it would be nice to get some input from everyone here. I did pretty good on step one, but I just started prep for step2. So far, we have covered Gynecology, and psych is starting in Saturday.
The obs class is taught by Sakala; and he's been really good so far (tommorrow is the last day) It really is amazing the amount of information they can give in a few days. The toughest part is just getting used to 8 hours of lectures everyday that just pound you with information.
The accomodations in New Jersey are at the Wellesley. They are absolutely perfect for studying. Trust me, there is NOTHING else to do here except study; even the tv has only 11 channels- so it's only good if you have the stamina.
My strategy is to try to read before the lectures, Otherwise you end up writing more notes than paying attention. Pretty much everything is in the Kaplan notes; Live lectures just help reinforce them. Plus the teachers help answers any questions you have.
as far as gyne/obs is concerned, Sakala hasn't really stressed one thing over the other. Actually he did emphasize Incontinence more than I thought and that surprised me. Otherwise it seems that everything is game in obs/gyne. The Kaplan book was written by him and I think it is very thorough (longer than the "ten teachers" i read in med school). After medicine, I think obs/gyne is the most important for ck. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I'll post updates every few days. Let me know if you have any questions, comments, and advice.
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| abhi
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i'm doing my first reading too. still have medicine left, hopefully will be done with first reading by 15 of april and then start with 2nd reading and kaplan Q bank. I have kept usmle world to do along with my 3rd reading.
When are u planning on taking your step 2 CK. I will probably take it in August.
I noticed that you went to Dr. Schwartz workshop for CS in NY from your posts on the forum. I am planning on going for the workshop too in May. My CS is in June. Would appreciate if you could give me some feedback about the workshop. thank you. can i have your email id so that i could mail you or you can mail me at passmle@yahoo.com. thank you and study well.
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| nafisa
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hey,
im also planning to give my cs in june and wanted to know if got the information for the workshop for it.
thanks
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| adeelmd
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We had epidemiology today. Daugherty is really good in teaching this stuff, but it is all so redundant with step one.. kind of gets really dull. Today was the first good day weather wise so noone's mind was really into studying. My strategy now is start plowing through medicine aafter the lectures cause it's going to start in one week, I might even take a day off and just review medicine.
Anyone out there have any questions on epi/biostats ask away; but Daugherty is only here for a few more days so I wont be able to ask him after he leaves.
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| adeelmd
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Psychiatry was pretty bad. Neurology was pretty good though. Dr. Levy was very good in getting our concepts right. Today we had Dr. Fisher.. he was really good... but It was a little too chaotic jumping from disease to disease, I don't feel like I have a grasp of cardio yet.
Otherwise, the course is pretty good.. It's a much more relaxed atmosphere here than in the step one course i took at indian lakes. There aren't that many people here either. Anyways.. back to studying.
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| bm
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hey, how's it going? haven't heard from you in weeks. anything good about the lectures? 
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| adeelmd
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not really. Medicine was great, and if you want to take a course, take it in new york or new jersey. Conrad Fischer is a really good teacher. What pissed me off mainly was pediatrics. Psychiatry was not that well done either, but pediatrics was just dumb. I hope and pray that surgery goes well. It's our last week and hopefully i will be able to say positive things about surgery. So far, obs/gyn, epidem, and medicine were great, but psychiatry and pediatrics were really subpar. Before taking the course, really try to find out about the teachers.. because that is where the true value lies.
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| bm
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that sucks  at least you got something out of it still it would have been a total bummer if you haven't. i guess you'll be going through the kaplan notes again, before you take ck?
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| adeelmd
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In all honestly, I blame myself partially because i wasn't studying as much as some of the other kids here (u people have stamina!) but I think the best way to put a live course is that it is an answer to "what is important" question. For example, who would have thought that black widow is not high yield but a brown recluse spider bite is high yield??
Surgery is being taught by vernese and he is like a breath of fresh air after the dementia that was pediatrics. He spent 8 hours going over the first ten pages of that book, so you can imagine how filled everyone's margins are, and it really did help solidify it in my head.
Of course I am going to review this stuff again, Kaplan can only get you to pass, but a 95+ you got to get on your own.
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| berkeleyboy
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A course journal for step2!!! great idea. I haven't started my clinical rotations yet but I'm def. going to get my hands on kaplan lecture notes set and read that sucka after every rotation. I hope by the time I have to take step2 there will be an official prep journal forum for step2 like there is for step1.
Good luck!
Berk
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