This guide contains information on the resources the library has for preparing for the USMLE Step 2.
AOA Guidance
Do not underestimate this shelf; it can be pretty hard, especially if you’re taking it before Medicine, Pediatrics, and Ob/Gyn. It is a very comprehensive exam with many topics that are fair game. Know your common chronic diseases and musculoskeletal diseases very well because they come up very often on the shelf. AAFP recommendations are critical to learn. Treatment guidelines for diseases like hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and asthma will be covered. Make sure to review biostats as well, but there won’t be more than a couple questions.
Advice from the Class of 2021:
Exam Guru is highly recommended.
Use UWorld Ortho questions from the surgery section. AAFP wasn’t that good and had some wrong answers.
The NBME is a lot harder if you are taking it before Internal Medicine. If after IM, then don't need to do as many questions and can just do ExamGuru.
This is a hard shelf and very broad. It helps to have this later on in the year; if that’s not possible, just do your best with OnlineMedEd videos and learn USPSTF guidelines.
Having IM before helps, but the inverse is also true. Emphasis during this rotation is on MSK and derm.
Highly recommend Exam Guru since UWorld doesn't have a specific section for Family Medicine-specific topics and you would have to pick and choose to go through the medicine questions. AAFP also has good articles and management recommendations to go through for cases you see in the clinic.
Memorize USPSTF guidelines; Study musculoskeletal stuff (our school adds a clinical MSK section to the shelf).
Aquifer cases are long, but HIGH YIELD if you can manage them!
Highly recommend Exam Guru - I felt like it was the only resource with NBME-style questions. Know the USPTF guidelines!!!! It was also helpful to read the ambulatory medicine section of Step Up to Medicine. I felt the AAFP questions and most other resources were somewhat useless.
AOA - "There are no dedicated Family Medicine UWorld questions for this shelf, but the AAFP puts out board review questions (you have to get a free AAFP membership, which takes a day or two). Sometimes they are a little too specific (as they are intended for Family Medicine residents), but the shelf was similar to a lot of these questions, and it’s probably the best source for practice questions."
AOA - "Not as popular because there aren’t dedicated Family Medicine questions available, but some students reviewed dermatology, rheumatology, musculoskeletal, GI, renal, cardio (basically all of medicine). Use it for specific sections if you feel you need the practice questions."
Call Number: Main Collection WB18.2 A259s 2020. Print ONLY.
AOA - "Only the Ambulatory and Dermatology sections. Covers a lot of the common chronic diseases as well as guidelines for treatment that you will get tested on."
AOA - "A list of the screening recommendations from the USPSTF. It is highly recommended to memorize these guidelines as they are easy points come exam day."
AOA - "Not the most popular resource, but you are required to do a bunch of cases for the clerkship anyway so some people decided to get some mileage out of them. You can download a PDF of each case after you finish them, which is more concise and details the important information for each case."
These short, educational videos will expand your knowledge base or refresh your procedural skills. Featured are videos that have either accompanied articles in American Family Physician, or were submitted as freestanding videos for this collection. All videos are peer-reviewed by two medical editors, and selected for publication, as well as on the AFP YouTube Channel, which you can subscribe to here.
