Usmle > Usmle Step 2 CS Exam Experiences

Exam experience from somebody who passed.

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doconrock:
Hi Everybody. I just wanted to speak briefly about my exam experience and perhaps shed some light about this exam.

To begin, the cases were not a surprise.  You have 12 SPs and if you had to guess what twelve cases are you going to get before walking in to that exam, you will probably be right.  I will not be posting regarding specific questions since that is against NBME regulations, but like I said the cases themselves are very straight forward and you can guess pretty much exactly what you are going to get.

So the cases were fair, but still the exam was challenging.  My most significant challenge during this exam turned out to be the same challenge faced by all the other examinees that I spoke to that day.  TIME! TIME! TIME!

You can be very well rehearsed in what you want to do but when you get in that room, time shrinks as if you are in another dimension.  The best way to attack this problem is to practice! practice! PRACTICE!
The more you become comfortable with taking a history and performing a physical exam, the less you will stumble during the real exam.

Another piece of advice that I have is regarding writing the patient note.  If you are a reasonably fast typer, and are relatively computer literate, I would suggest that you type the patient note rather than hand write the note, since you have the option to do either.

Personally, I think typing has two advantages.  First, most people can type faster than they can write.  Second, typing allows you to edit whereas if you hand write then you will have to cross out and lose space on your sheet on which you have limited space to begin with.  Also, by typing you avoid the possible problem of illegibility.

As far as study material, I think the OSCE/CSA book as well as the UsmleSource.com cases and videos are more than enough.  I do not have experience with any other study resources and so I cannot recommend or condem them. 

If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to ask, but please do not ask about actual exam content as this is against NBME regulations.

Hope that helps.

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