AoA all,

On request, below you’ll find the AKU formula for Step 2 that I followed. It takes 2-3 months depending on your level of motivation. Most of us did it in 2 months and that is pretty feasible. As for Step 1 nothing guarantees a 99 and a lot depends on how thoroughly you do everything.  More importantly a lot depends on luck and prayers.

First Read

Stuff you need:

Kaplans for all 5 subjects

Yes that’s all you need for Step 2.

First Read

You should be spending around 4-6 days per subject. Except medicine for which you might require 10-12 days and psych which should not take more than 3-4 days. (A lot of psych is a repetition of BS from Step 1. Some chapters have literally been copy pasted!) Thus your first read should take around 4-5 weeks. It doesn’t really matter what order you do your subjects in but I would recommend doing medicine at the end as that is the subject tested most in the actual exam. Refer to MGH, surgical recall etc as needed but there is no need to actually do these books.

Uworld

You will follow up your first read with uworld. Do full blocks (max questions) and DON’T do them subject wise. Step 2 uworld is a little longer (51 blocks if I remember correctly). The questions are longer than Step 1 so it’ll take longer to finish a block. However the explanations are much shorter so you actually spend less total time on a block. Depending on how many blocks you were able to do during your Step 1 prep; you can estimate how long Step 2 uworld will take you. Under no circumstances should it take longer than 17 days as that simply implies you are not spending enough time on uworld. Make your uworld notes either separately or in your Kaplans whatever you find more convenient.

A score in late 60s or higher is pretty good. Anything in 70s or higher pretty much predicts a 99 in my opinion. After having done uworld do the official usmle practice questions.

Second Read

This should take a total of 2.5 – 3 weeks. You should spend around 4 days per subject except maybe a week for medicine and 1-2 days for psych. This read is very important and is best done after having done uworld as then you would know what’s important and needs to be learnt thoroughly. Again it’s best to do medicine at the very end as that is tested the most.

Unlike Step 1 your level of confidence might be a little lower but that’s okay. While a 3^rd read might be useful BUT no one has that much time when it comes to Step 2. And if you can get great scores with two reads why bother with a third.

Last day before the exam

• Do the official tutorial so that you can skip it in your exam (except maybe check the sound quality in your headphones) and add that time to your break time
• Revise your uworld notes.
• I went through immunologic diseases, enzyme disorders, glomerular diseases, adverse effect of drugs etc from my First Aid Step 1 book. You can decide if you want to go through these. Didn’t take me too long to go through these though.

Exam Day

You’ve taken Step 1 so you know what to eat, drink and what documents/IDs you need to take with you. Just ensure you manage time effectively. That seems to be the major problem for most test-takers in Step 2.

Miscellaneous

Nothing tells you that you are ready for the exam (except maybe your uworld score?). You just follow this protocol, take the exam and then leave the rest to Allah. The key to step 2 is the same as it was for Step 1 – stay motivated and study despite whatever else is going on in your life.

Aim for July to first week of August for Step 2 so that you are certified on Sep 1^st when you apply to programs (ideal scenario). Programs start reviewing applications around mid Sep so even if you take your exam in mid to late Aug you should be fine. Just remember the more you delay your exam the more you harm yourself. Again being certified on time is not essential for getting a large number of calls but it does help. Your aim should be to make your application as perfect as possible. Another issue to keep in mind is that you will be writing your personal statement, filling out the common application form (CAF) etc during August (so that you can apply on Sep 1st). These require quite a bit of time too and are much harder to do when you have a Step 2 to study for as well. Thus it’s best to take your Step 2 by the first week of August or earlier.

Review book. I am sure you must be wondering why I haven’t mentioned a review book for Step 2 like the truly awesome First Aid for Step 1. For Step 2 there are two review books that people have generally used in the past – Crush Step 2 and First Aid for Step 2. Seniors had advised me to do crush once 2-3 days before my exam. I wasn’t keen on reading a new book just days before the exam so I read Crush along with uworld with the plan to do it once more before the exam. I found it to be a really crappy and superficial book. But that wasn’t it. It even had incorrect management differing from what was written in Kaplans and uworld! Needless to say I did not do crush again before my exam as I felt it would be a HUGE mistake. Most of us did not even bother to open Crush. I hadn’t done First Aid so I can’t comment much on that. But from what seniors had told me it was just too long and not worth it unlike First Aid for Step 1. Another book out there is Secrets. It’s by the same author as of Crush, has the exact same content as Crush but unlike Crush it’s in a question and answer format (like Surgical Recall). Most of us did NOT do any review books for Step 2. Don’t worry – Kaplans will suffice.

Kaplan Qbank. It’s hard for me to comment on this as I didn’t do it. It wasn’t something recommended by seniors (they hadn’t done it either) but having done Qbank for Step 1 we all felt it would be a good idea to do it for Step 2 as well. However, most of us did not have the time so we were forced not to. The two of us who did do it found it to be quite useful. Kaplan Qbank would definitely help but if you do not have more than 2 months for your prep then you can choose to skip it and not fret too much over that. For those rare hard workers who took their Step 1 really early, you should do Kaplan Qbank for each subject after finishing the first read of that subject. This will probably add 3 more weeks to your Step 2 prep.
Let me know if you have any further questions. Forward this mail to whoever needs it as I don’t have everyone’s email address. Step 3 advice is already ready for you guys (I wrote it for my classmates during my interview trail) so let me know when you need it and I’ll forward that to you guys too. This email completes my advice for all the Steps now. Keep in mind that I am no expert when it comes to USMLEs, that this is only my perspective, and that you should do whatever works best for you.

Best of luck and remember me in your prayers! Right now I’d like you guys to pray that I get my H1b visa in time so that I start my residency on time (inshaAllah). Yes I do expect you to actually pray for me! I don’t think that is too much to ask.

Take care and Allah hafiz,

Abdullah Khan, M.D.
Class of 2008
Aga Khan University – Medical College