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This guide contains information on the resources the library has for preparing for the USMLE Step 2.
AOA Guidance
Big Points
Try and think about what worked or did not work for you in your first two years and adapt that to your studying now. It is recommended that you try to study every night when you get home. On some rotations that may not seem realistic, but at the very least try to do a little bit each night. This will prevent you from having to cram a few days before your shelf. It is incredibly important to start studying early for your shelf exams! Your time is spent mainly at the hospital in the third year and clinical duties take precedence over studying, so utilize your time wisely!
Shelf Exams: These exams may be a little different than what you’re used to. In general, the questions will present you with a case vignette with lab/radiology findings and from there ask you one of a few common questions. The most common questions are: “what is the diagnosis,” “what is the next step in diagnosis/treatment,” “what is the pathogenesis of this disease,” “what was the patient treated with,” or “what is the physician’s most appropriate response to this question.” The first two years of medical school were based on “what is it?” In the third year, the focus shifts to “We know you know what is going on here, but what do we do about it?” Obviously, there will be questions outside of this list, but these are what show up most often. So, when you’re studying get into the frame of mind of wondering how you would diagnose something, or what’s the next step in the management of a certain disease.
Step 2 CK UWorld QBank: Most people buy it for 1 year at the beginning of 3rd year and renew it when it comes time to study for Step 2 CK. It is most useful for Medicine, but there are questions for most of the rotations. Most people use this as their main practice question source.
Online Med Ed: A series of free videos. There is also a version you can pay for to get notes, download the videos, and access a Qbank that some people found very helpful. These are a great resource for all rotations, especially if you’re the type of person that learns by listening.
Emma Holliday Videos: Another series of free lectures. Very good for review the day before your shelf exam. The slides have disappeared behind a password-protected wall, but they should be lurking around the internet somewhere and the videos are available via YouTube.
Practice NBME Exams: Just like on Step 1, there are practice exams (called the Clinical Skills Mastery Series) that you can buy for each shelf. Many people use these to gauge where they are before the exam. They are 50 questions each (the shelf exams are 110 questions).
USMLE Easy / PreTest: Another question bank provided by NYMC for free through the library; this q-bank is much more helpful in third year than you may have found in first/second year. These are basically PreTest questions and are especially useful for neurology, family medicine, and pediatrics clerkships!
AOA - "Access this through the NYMC library website and make sure you download it on your phone. This is a great resource for reading up on your patients, and also for preparing for presentations you may give. In some cases, you can go a little too deep down the rabbit hole and get deeper into things than you need to as a student, but in general it is very useful."
AOA - "This is a great app for looking up drugs, and drug interactions. They also have a lot of calculators that are very useful on the floors. You’ll need to make a free account."
AOA - "The worst name in history, but a very useful app. You can plug in age, sex, pregnancy status, smoking status, and sexual activity for your patients and the app tells you what screening is recommended using the guidelines from the USPSTF."
AOA - "You can use this to plug in patient data, and the app gives you their overall cardiovascular risk, which is especially useful on the IM and Family Med rotations (where you will be seeing patients on cholesterol lowering therapies)."
AOA - "This app will take chief complaints and give you a differential. Good if you get stuck on things; in terms of learning, it’s probably best to come up with your own differentials first and then use this to fill in any gaps."
AOA - "This is a nice app to look up how to say medical phrases in Spanish. This is probably most useful if you already know Spanish and just need to learn the medical side of things. NOTE: This cannot be used as your primary translation method if you do not know Spanish and need to talk to a patient who only speaks Spanish; you must used the approved translation services at your site."
Global Medicine offers a number of online courses for physicians and healthcare providers to improve patient care for globally mobile populations including immigrants, refugees, and travelers, as well as to gain expertise in the diagnosis and treatments of tropical infectious and noninfectious diseases. You can complete all of our online courses at your own pace. Global Medicine courses are asynchronous - meaning you don’t have to attend online classes at a specific time. Our courses are developed by faculty and technologists who understand the specific needs of learners in an online environment. We continue to integrate new technologies into our courses to support our online learners.
The current COVID-19 pandemic is affecting healthcare institutions in ways that may disrupt the training of future health care professionals. It is more important than ever to ensure that the community has access to high quality educational materials to ensure trainee preparedness for these clinical and global health challenges.This collection features peer-reviewed teaching resources that can be used for distance learning, including self-directed modules and learning activities that could be converted to virtual interactions. As always, the resources are free to download and free for adaptation to local settings. The collection will be reviewed and updated regularly.
FreeCME.com has provided the broadest range of free continuing education available for more than a decade. Healthcare professionals come to us knowing they will find activities that consistently meet their continuing education requirements: easy to use web portal makes it easy to find courses and track credits; accredited activities for over 30 medical specialties; over 100 active courses at any given time. Activity accreditations include ACCME, ANCC, AANP, ACPE, and more. Most importantly, our content is always current, and always free.
Medscape's online medical simulations provide real-world scenarios and patient interactions to enable healthcare professionals to practice and learn in a safe, true-to-life environment.
Don’t let emergency medicine stump you. Learn how to perform some of the most essential procedures in emergency medicine—from lumbar punctures and vertigo maneuvers to transvenous pacing and defibrillation—so you can diagnose and treat important conditions with confidence. We’ll teach you when to use which procedure, how to perform it safely, and how to troubleshoot common complications.
This high-yield review delivers a thorough exam preparation guide for the USMLE Step 2 CS. 44 full-length practice cases that simulate the real exam. A revised and expanded set of 39 minicases representing common complaints. Detailed descriptions and illustrations of high-yield physical exam maneuvers. Updated maxicases. Expanded guidelines on how to deal with challenging situations, including those that pose ethical and confidentiality issues.
In USMLE Step 2 CS Lecture Notes 2019, you'll get step-by-step advice on how to master essential patient care skills so you can complete all 12 of your cases efficiently. Time management is key on the CS exam, and our test-like cases help you get comfortable gathering patient information, performing physical examinations, and communicating findings so that you can ace the test
Symptom to Diagnosis teaches you an evidence-based, step-by-step process for evaluating, diagnosing, and treating patients based on their clinical complaints. By applying this process you will be able to recognize specific diseases and prescribe the most effective therapy. Each chapter is built around a common patient complaint that illustrates essential concepts and provides insight into the process by which the differential diagnosis is identified.
