After conquering Step 1, it’s time to strategize for Step 2. This second exam in the USMLE series evaluates your clinical science knowledge and patient care skills, making it a critical step in your medical education journey.

Now that Step 1 is pass/fail, Step 2 strongly affects your residency application and overall competitiveness as an applicant more than ever. If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by this, you’re not alone! We’re going to fill you in on some important details like Step 2 score benchmarks by specialty, the exam’s structure, content, and some frequently asked questions. Let’s dive in!

Preparing for Step 2? Meet the new combined Step 2 & Shelf Exams Qbank with 5,500+ practice questions that most closely match what you’ll see on your USMLE Step 2 and all of your shelf exams. 
Get started with a 7-day free trial!

Why USMLE Step 2 Matters in 2026

1. It showcases your clinical acumen to residency programs. 

Take Step 2 seriously, as programs consider your score an indication of your clinical reasoning skill and readiness for direct patient care.

2. It demonstrates your broad clinical competency. 

Step 2 evaluates knowledge across various medical specialties, emphasizing diagnosis, management, and patient outcomes, which are essential for residency training regardless of which specialty you apply to.

3. It can give you a shot at redemption.

For those with blemishes on their residency application, a strong Step 2 score can demonstrate growth and preparedness, which will strengthen your application. 

 4 FAQs About USMLE Step 2 

1. How long do most students study for USMLE Step 2? 

According to our statistics, Blueprint learners study an average of 103.5 days for Step 2. 

2. What are the most popular months to take Step 2? 

The top three months for Blueprint Med School Study Planner users to take Step 2 are July, June, and August. For a complete list of when our customers most often take Step 2, visit our page with the most popular months.

3. What do I need to score on Step 2? 

The minimum passing score for USMLE Step 2 is 218. In the United States and Canada, 98% of MD students passed Step 2 on the first attempt in the 2023-2024 academic year. The pass rate for DO students was 96% for the same year.

The mean score for the 2024-2025 academic year was 250, with a standard deviation of 15.

4. What is considered a good score on Step 2? 

According to the USMLE, scoring above 250 is above average, though it will highly depend on the specialty you apply for. Scoring above 260 puts you in the top quartile. 

💡 For even more information, be sure to check out my other post on Step 2 FAQs!

Score Benchmarks by Specialty

Your Step 2 score is a major factor in how you match. The most competitive specialties, including dermatology, plastic surgery, orthopedics, and interventional radiology, often have applicants with scores well over 250.

(Source: NRMP 2024 Charting Outcomes)

Use your target specialty’s average as a benchmark and aim to exceed it if possible. As program directors increasingly focus on USMLE Step 2 scores, the exam has become a differentiator. Competitive applicants often use Step 2 scores to highlight their ability to excel in residency training.

Note: Step 2 CS, the clinical skills portion, was discontinued in 2021.

USMLE Step 2 Exam Structure (2025 Update)

Here’s a breakdown of the key details:

USMLE Step 2 is a one-day exam divided into eight blocks of multiple-choice questions, each lasting one hour. Each block has up to 40 questions, but the number varies. The total number of questions for the entire exam will not exceed 318. You’ll see how many questions are in a given block before you start the exam.

You’ll have the option to take a 15-minute tutorial prior to taking the exam. If you finish early on one or more blocks, your cumulative break time between blocks may exceed 45 minutes and you can use your break time at your discretion.

So, to summarize:

⏰ Total Testing Time:
9 hours (including instructions and exam breaks)

⌛ Time per Block:
60 minutes

☕ Break Time:
45 minutes (which can be extended by finishing blocks early or skipping the tutorial)

❓Total Questions:
No more than 318

🧱 Questions per Block:
No more than 40

Questions Typically Seen on USMLE Step 2

1. Single-Item Questions

A single patient-centered vignette is associated with one question followed by four or more response options. The response options are lettered (i.e., A, B, C, D, E). A portion of the questions involves interpretation of graphic or pictorial materials.

You’re required to select the best answer to the question. Other options may be partially correct, but there’s only ONE BEST answer. This is the traditional, most frequently used multiple-choice question format on the examination.

2. Sequential-Item Sets

These consist of two or three consecutive questions about the same patient scenario. You can’t return to previous questions after answering the first question in the set, as it may give away the answer to following questions. 

A single patient-centered vignette may be associated with two or three consecutive questions about the information presented. Each question is associated with the initial patient vignette but is testing a different point.

You’re required to select the ONE BEST answer to each question. Questions are designed to be answered in sequential order. You must click “Proceed to Next Item” to view the next item in the set. Once you click on this button, the next question will be displayed, and you won’t be able to change the answer to the previous question.

3. Abstract-Set Questions

The abstract-item format includes a summary of an experiment or clinical investigation presented in a manner commonly encountered by a physician, e.g., as an abstract that accompanies a research report in a medical journal. 

Examinees must interpret the abstract in order to answer questions on various topics, including:

• Decisions about the care of an individual patient
• Biostatistics/Epidemiology
• Pharmacology/Therapeutics
• The use of diagnostic studies

Step 2 Content Distribution

Below is a content outline of USMLE Step 2 as provided by the USMLE.* Test questions are grouped into 18 categories, focusing either on concepts and principles relevant across organ systems or those specific to individual organ systems.

Each topic is weighted, meaning you can expect a certain percentage of exam questions to be based on it. Be aware that not every topic from the content outline appears on every USMLE Step exam, but the overall content coverage is consistent across the different exam forms taken by examinees. 

* Note that these percentages are subject to change at any time.

Systems

** The Human Development topic includes Normal Age-Related Findings and Care of the Well Patient.

Source: USMLE

Physician Tasks/Competencies

** Test items that assess patient care competencies may also assess knowledge of underlying foundational science concepts.
*** Test items that assess history and physical exam competencies are covered in Step 1 and Step 3 examinations.

Source: USMLE

Disciplines

Source: USMLE

Preparation Tips for USMLE Step 2

1. Use the data above to your advantage. 

Identify Weak Areas 

Review your performance data to determine which topics or systems you performed poorly on (e.g., pediatrics, neurology, internal medicine).

Prioritize High-Yield Areas 

Cross-reference weak areas with the percentage weight each subject contributes to the exam. Focus first on weak areas with higher weight.

2. Tailor resources and practice. 

Use targeted question banks, review books, or videos for the topics you struggle with. Practice questions specifically in these areas to solidify knowledge and improve application skills.

Be sure to monitor your progress. Reassess performance in weak areas by tracking question bank scores or taking practice exams. Adjust focus if certain areas improve while others remain weak.

Take advantage of NBME practice exams or the official USMLE self-assessment to gauge your readiness. Make sure you set the same timing parameters as the exam to truly test yourself. 

3. Create a study plan.

Although most schools allow dedicated study time, it’s up to you to figure out the schedule that works best!

I recommend allocating 6-8 hours per day, including:

• 4-5 hours of question bank practice
• 2-3 hours of reviewing explanations and weak areas
• 1 hour for passive review, such as flashcards or revisiting incorrect questions

🗓️ Check out Blueprint’s “smart” Med School Study Planner if you need help getting started.

Final Thoughts

Knowing the latest when it comes to USMLE Step 2 structure and content means you’ll be ahead of the curve. Be sure to take note of the Step 2 content distribution update and create a good study plan so you’re ready on exam day. And remember, while some things change, others stay the same. There’s no substitution for hard work.

Start early, create a study schedule, and you’ll reap the rewards of a good Step 2 score. Including—just maybe—your dream residency program!

As a med student this late in the game, you’re familiar with stress. You and stress are frenemies, if you will. You know how stress likes its eggs, you know where stress goes when it needs to get away, you know stress’s middle name.

Despite the bond you share, stress is still the worst! No one wants stress at their party. But, according to psychologists, a little stress can actually be quite helpful. If you somehow dodged cramming the Yerkes-Dodson curve into your brain back when you were prepping for the MCAT, allow us to explain!

What is the Yerkes-Dodson Curve?

In 1908, a couple of psychologists (Yerkes and Dodson, of course) discovered that mice performed both simple and difficult tasks better at an optimal level of arousal. This optimal level of arousal sat between low arousal and high arousal (illustrated below). To be accurate, they also found that performance in simple tasks continued to increase with high levels of arousal or stress, but that difficult tasks took a dive in performance as anxiety increased.

The model below is the more popularized Hebbian version of the Yerkes-Dodson curve, which is the one most relevant for our purposes.

Although the curve is based on older data, modern research shows there’s an inverted, U-shaped relationship between arousal and learning. 

Yerkes-Dodson and Your Stress Sweet Spot

As with everything, the optimal level of stress is different for everyone. What may be very little stress for one person may be incredibly challenging for another. You know what this feels like, though, remember? Frenemies?

Having a little fire under your feet can be good. It’s motivating and clears your head. But you also know how it feels to be so stressed it seems like maybe you never actually had access to your own thoughts. Or so bored you can’t remember what you ate for breakfast, let alone recall any complex information.

In other words, you know what amount of stress works for you, and what amount sends you spiraling.

Change Your Mindset.

So, what does this mean for you? It means in order to study effectively you’re going to need to administer the optimal level of electric shocks to your body. Sorry, we don’t make the rules. Kidding!

Actually, it means you can use time and reasonable constraints to your advantage. For example, understanding how arousal levels impact your performance helps you see the timing tools on your Qbank blocks not just as ways to practice for the actual test, but as tools to better your focus and determination.

It also means that building a strict-not-so-strict study schedule (dare we say optimal) is not something you do just for planning purposes. It can also help your performance overall!

And you know who can help you build a study schedule?

Let Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner take away the stress of planning and managing a study plan for USMLE Step 1, Step 2, COMLEX, and your shelf exams—sign up today and create your personalized study plan in minutes!

How to Apply the Yerkes-Dodson Curve

We see this information as a tool for your intuition. Next time you just can’t get your head on straight during your dedicated, take a moment to analyze your stress levels. Are you feeling lifeless? Maybe you need to add an attainable time constraint to the block you’re on, or try to challenge yourself with a new topic. 

Other things you can do to stay in the sweet spot of the curve include:

Stay curious.

Curiosity is a great knowledge builder because it keeps you motivated. It supplies a perfect amount of drive to stay in the sweet spot of the arousal curve. 

If you’re stuck studying something that isn’t particularly interesting, start with the aspect you find most intriguing and take it from there. Once your curiosity is engaged, the topic can open up to you in a whole new way.

Get a body double. 

Body doubling is a technique in which you work with someone else present. The amazing thing is the mere presence of the other person can make you more productive, even if they aren’t doing the same thing you are. 

Doubling is a great way to stay in the optimal part of the arousal curve, all while having some company. That’s always good to have during the sometimes lonely season of dedicated.

Use active learning methods.

You can use any number of active learning techniques like self-explanation, elaborative interrogation, elaborative discussion, learning by teaching, dual coding, or interleaving. These learning methods will help you stay engaged and in the sweet spot of the curve.

Get some exercise.

Try to get some exercise on study days. Physical activity will keep you in a state of arousal and attention that’s conducive to learning. Getting moderate exercise during a study break is a great way to stay energized and focused during exam preparation.

Do something different. 

If you’re getting bored, it means you’re sliding into the low end of the arousal curve. That means it’s time to mix things up! You can change the topic, the study materials, your study methods, anything you need to do to stay engaged.

Release your inner B.F. Skinner! 

Positive reinforcement is good for learning. To stay motivated, give yourself things to look forward to. Schedule breaks to have coffee, a little chocolate, or give your friend a call. Or just relax and feel proud of the progress you’re making. 

That said, rewards need to keep you stimulated, happy, and excited to learn. If they make you lethargic or create too much distraction, you’ll no longer be in that wonderful Yekes-Dodson sweet spot. So choose your reinforcements wisely. 

So, those are six things you can do if you’re feeling lifeless and not motivated to study. Now let’s take a look at some steps to take if you don’t need to induce stress, but reduce it. 

How to Reduce Stress and Stay in the Optimal Part of the Curve 

If you’re feeling too stressed, consider taking a walk, or step away to get a few things done that you can’t get off your mind. Some other things you can do to reduce stress when studying include: 

Don’t fear confusion. 

If you’re stressed out because you’re confused by a particular topic, try to relax. Like curiosity, confusion could also be a sign that a serious dose of discovery is on the way. Whatever the subject is, you’ll get it eventually, even if it takes a while. And that’s fine, because once it all clicks in a beautiful moment of insight, it’s unlikely to be forgotten. 

Break overwhelming topics into manageable pieces.

Feeling challenged is great, as it means you’re mentally stimulated and in the right part of the Yerkes-Dodson curve. But if you never want to be overwhelmed. If there’s a topic you just can’t wrap your head around, try breaking it into manageable pieces. Maybe start with the one you’re most curious about. This will help you stay motivated while avoiding as much stress as possible. 

What do you do if you’re at the extreme end of the stress/anxiety curve? 

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by general anxiety or panic attack symptoms, take a break from studying. As the curve indicates, you’re probably not going to learn anything, and it’s important to remove yourself from the situation so you can get a handle on your anxiety. 

Deep breathing (diaphragmatic or belly breathing) exercises are great for reducing anxiety and ending a panic attack. They can also be used to prevent an attack if you feel one coming on. 

One deep breathing technique many people find helpful is known as “box breathing.” It can be done anywhere at any time. Simply breathe in through your nose for four seconds, hold your breath for four seconds, breath out for four seconds, and then hold your breath for four seconds. Repeat this cycle until your anxiety subsides. 

While box breathing and other deep breathing exercises are great for temporarily reducing anxiety, if anxiety symptoms are interfering with your studying it’s important to consult a mental health professional. The good news is that anxiety is treatable, so they can help you. But it’s important to get your anxiety symptoms under control so you can get back to the Yekes-Dodson sweet spot and maximize your learning! 

Conclusion

Stress is a frenemy! The right amount can actually help you prepare for your exams. Be sure to use the Yerkes-Dodson Curve to your advantage as you prepare for USMLE Step 1 and Step 2. Look for signs your arousal level is either too low or too high, and adjust accordingly. Remember, a little stress is a good thing! Good luck preparing for your exams, and be sure to reach out to the tutors at Blueprint if you need further assistance!

You ready? Let’s get started!

Finally, you’re done! You spent hours on Excel creating a study plan, and you’re letting out a sigh of relief.

But your joy is short-lived: your professor adds another suggested book to your reviewing list, a friend insists a lecture series is a must-have based on their experiences prepping for Step, or you get an additional research project, become sick, or have to take your cat to the vet. Bam – your study plan doesn’t work anymore.

Does that sound like you? Spending time constructing a new schedule is the last thing you need on top of everything else you’re dealing with! 

That’s where Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner comes to the rescue. Blueprint Prep enables you to create a highly flexible, personalized study schedule to accompany your med school experience, whether you’re just trying to keep up with classes or prep for any one of the many major med school exams.

Thousands of medical students use Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner to save hours of planning time, see exactly what to do each day, and ace their med school exams. Get unlimited access today!

You can always come back to add, edit, or remove resources from your study plan, giving you the luxury of worry-free studying even if your plans change. You can also use the “Edit schedule” page to change or customize any of your settings, any time you want. Whether your first introduction to Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner is today or you’re a power user, this pro tips guide is here to help make your study planning even more helpful and efficient.

Here are some ways medical students can maximize Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner:

Maximize the Value of Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner When You Set It Up

A medical student can get the most out of Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner from the very beginning by paying attention to how you create your plan.

Input your information with your purpose in mind

You will begin by answering a series of questions – what you’re preparing for, where you go to school, and your graduation year. Then, you’ll pick the dates most relevant to you – when you’re testing, when you plan to start studying, and when you want to wrap up your studies.

Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner lets you create multiple study blocks that you can layer as needed, so with each block you build, you should make sure you’re entering your info with that specific purpose in mind. With these blocks available it’s incredibly important to make sure you name your study blocks accurately. Medical students who get the most out of Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner typically create more than one study block so they can stay better organized, and naming is a big part of keeping your blocks straight!. 

Take time to add your resources

Once you’ve set up your plan, it’s time to add your resources. Blueprint Prep has over 400 resources (books, lectures, flash cards, and Qbanks) in our database to choose from.

If you’re still not sure which resources to use, we offer a choice of pre-selected bundles of the most popular resources, as well as bundles of free resources for all major medical exams to create a balanced plan. If you know what resources you’ll be using, just search and add them to your plan.

Once you’ve added a resource, you won’t have to do that work again for a given study block – so take the time to customize as much as you need the first time you’re adding a resource.

Here are some tips for adding resources:

• Looked through our list of Supported Study Resources and can’t find a resource you want? Need anything very specific, like your professor’s handwritten manual that exists in 5 physical copies? We’ve got you covered! You can add your custom book, lecture, question bank, or flashcards right away, or you can ask us to add it for you within 3-5 business days. Add as many resources as you need! You can find detailed instructions on how to add your custom resource here.

• You don’t have to add the whole resource. If you’d like to use your resources concurrently with your school curriculum, use the option to manually select only the lessons/chapters you want to make sure your Study Plan is tailored exactly to your needs. 

Group your resources 

Now that you have all your resources added, group them in a way that works especially well for you. There are 3 options:

1. If you sort your resources by subject (default setting), all chapters and videos on the same subject will be put together in your schedule.

2. If you sort your resources by system, Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner will group all chapters and videos together by system.

3. If you sort your resources by resource, you’ll be able to go from beginning to end of your book or lecture series. All the resources you choose will run concurrently.  

To change the order of the subject or systems, simply drag them into the order you desire, and click Save & Rebalance. 

Take advantage of many time settings  

Set your pace for each resource wisely. Once you’ve chosen your resources, you’ll have an opportunity to customize your plan further by selecting your pace for each of the different types of resources you’ve chosen.

Take a minute to analyze your study habits. Think about how you like to watch your lectures. Do you pause them from time to time to take notes? Or do you speed them up? If you like taking notes, then 1 hour of lecture will take you 2 hours to finish; if you prefer watching your lecture at 1.5x pace, you’ll be done with it in 40 minutes. 

Need help analyzing your study habits? Download our free “Hero’s Guide to Defeating the USMLE” for exercises and action items to help you learn how you learn!

Then, set aside some quality time for yourself! Go to the Time Off & Workload section to schedule some recurring days off and vacations, and treat your downtime activities as seriously as you treat your study time.

Since you’re already in the Time Off & Workload section, take advantage of catch-up days. Whenever you choose a catch-up day, Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner makes sure not to schedule anything on that day. This way, you save up some time to get up to speed if you happen to fall behind. 

Your workload differs each day of the week, and Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner takes this into consideration to keep a healthy balance between your life and studies. Use the Routine function in your Time Off & Workload section to adjust the relative distribution of tasks per day. Set which days you want to have a light, normal, or heavy workload. A light day will have about half as much work as a normal day, and a heavy day will have about twice as much work as a normal day. 

With these few steps, you’re ready to create your study plan! 

Maximize the Value of Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner During Daily Use

Life didn’t go according to plan and you ended up accumulating too many overdue tasks? Just use the Rebalance feature and feel the burden lift off your shoulders – as your overdue tasks get redistributed throughout the rest of your schedule in mere seconds. 

To make sure you’re always aware of the big picture, use Calendar View. It shows you which tasks you are to complete each day, grouped by resource and subject. If you are covering different subjects in the same resource on a given day, those tasks will be shown separately on the calendar. Resources are colored according to the subject covered in the readings or videos; flashcards and question banks can cover many subjects, so those tasks will always appear light gray.

Maximize the Value of Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner to Prepare for Different Medical Exams

Passing your medical exams is your goal, and study blocks are an especially useful tool. In medical school, you don’t always prepare for one exam only during a certain period of time (we wish), so take advantage of creating study blocks. Study blocks are basically concurrent or overlapping schedules, which can be useful in many situations: 

• If you want to create a light studying period during classes, and a dedicated studying period after classes.

• For giving a resource a second pass for review.

• If you need to create study plans for different exams that overlap. 

Use Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner to prepare for Step 1 and COMLEX Level 1

Here’s when the Study Blocks feature comes in handy! You can create a Step 1 Study Plan and a COMLEX Level 1 Study Plan that run concurrently, yet independently.

You even can make your COMLEX study plan a week longer to give you time to cover OMM preparation. 

Use Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner to prepare for Shelf exams

Make separate study blocks in Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner for each rotation as you go. Then, add the relevant resources to each study block – that way, they’ll be spaced out perfectly for the duration of your associated rotation. Feel free to add your framework Step 2 CK resource to your plan for each rotation as part of your pre-dedicated study time. 

While prepping for Shelf exams, try to incorporate watching and reading most of the materials in the first ⅔ of your rotation. Again, you can create a unique study block for each exam, and even for each resource, to go through it most efficiently. This way, you can spend that final lap of your rotation reviewing the areas you feel uneasy about. 

Just remember, it can be tough to fit in Shelf and Step studying during rotations! Use the “workload” tools to plan for only a few assignments on most working days. 

Use Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner to prepare for Step 2 CK

First, don’t forget to schedule a practice exam to figure out your weak areas and focus on the resources that will help you where you need it most. If you did your first pass through Step 2 resources by incorporating them into Shelf exam prep, feel free to choose the topics you struggle with manually in each resource. This way you’ll create a highly personalized plan without overloading yourself with additional topics you covered already. If you’ve used some lecture resources during your rotations and want to use them again, add them to your Step 2 study block, and use accelerated pace settings for your lecture settings. Again, you can manually choose the subjects you want to revise. 

Summing it all up, as a medical student, you’re eventually going to face medical exams, as stressful as they might be. To paraphrase J.R.R. Tolkien, you can’t leave live dragons out of your calculations if you know they’re out there. Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner gives you the freedom to include all of your dragons in your schedule. The more effectively you use Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner at the outset and during the course of your preparation, the less daunting those dragons will become.

Image by Rob Sullivan for Med School Tutors

In commemoration of Valentine’s Day, we think it’s the perfect time to explore a gesture of love that med students neglect far too often: self-care. And no, staying up all night slurping ramen in preparation for USMLEs doesn’t count. Moreover, self-care for medical students entails much more than slapping on a face mask or binge-watching TV. 

Rather, effective self-care is an internal process that involves discovering your unique soothing techniques, reducing stressors, and practicing gratitude. Sound tricky? We promise that it’s not nearly as hard as trying to stay sane with nothing but face masks and junk food.

So, are you ready for some top-tier med school advice to rebalance your internal scales? Discover your personal form of self-care, so you can approach your medical education and career with confidence and clarity. You will be AMAZED by what the power of self-care can enable you to accomplish.  

1. Define Self-Care for Yourself

If you haven’t considered what self-care is for you, think about times when you felt stress-free, happy and fully immersed in the moment. Where were you? What were you doing, and who were you with?

Pursuing similar experiences is likely to foster positive emotions and can become an effective form of self-care. You may need to think creatively; if you are most happy while on week-long camping trips, think of how to replicate that experience in smaller doses.

For example, try:

• Taking a ten-minute walk
• Reconnecting with the friends who organize the camping trips
• Studying in a park instead of a library

Self-care does not need to be a solitary endeavor. Some people find that they can recharge their mental wellness by reconnecting with others and proactively reaching out for help. Also, helping someone else—by giving a lonely family member a phone call, sending a nice text to a stressed friend, or buying little something at the store for a roommate—often helps you feel at peace with yourself and forget about your own to-do list for a moment. You can return to your own responsibilities with renewed energy and perspective.

2. Reduce Unnecessary Stressors

Considering all the unique stressors med students face, self-care for medical students is not just about inserting positive experiences into your day. It also involves reducing negative influences to allow you to maintain the wellness you gain from positive experiences. For instance:

• If unanswered emails bother you during or after a weekend camping trip, answer them before you leave.
• If the clutter in your apartment distracts you during a planned evening study session, do your laundry and tidy up your kitchen before you go ice skating with a friend for the afternoon.

You’ll also enjoy any activity more if you know you did all the chores already! Sending a message that’s been sitting there for a while, creating a study plan for the eventual Step 1 exam that is hanging over your head, or finishing up a pesky assignment may all be ways to pursue self-care by soothing lingering or extraneous anxieties. 

For more guidance on managing exam stress, check out my blog post “Reducing Test-Taking Anxiety in Med School“!

3. Maintain Realistic Expectations

You can’t remove all worries, challenges or missteps from your life. Some worry is inevitable, and a small amount of it can actually be a motivating force that encourages you to work on a project or study for an exam. The goal of self-care is to help you gain a comfortable perspective about your daily successes and failures.

Discover your personal form of self-care, so you can approach your medical education and career with confidence and clarity. You will be amazed by what the power of self-care can enable you to accomplish. 

Whenever you think you have not succeeded at something—whether that means failing Step 1 or struggling with rotations, remind yourself that it is okay to not be perfect. Self-care involves accepting yourself, even if you don’t want to repeat a behavior and instead want to improve. 

Celebrate every victory, as little or as large as it is. Take a few moments  just to sit and remember that you are in the middle of a wonderful but very challenging field of medicine. No one has a career in medicine without experiencing failure some time. Learn from your mistakes, and grow as a professional.

4. Pursue Gratitude

You don’t necessarily need to sit and write out a list of items that you are grateful for (although that cliched exercise can be quite helpful). Anytime you use something throughout the day (coffee grounds, soap, a car), briefly remind yourself to be grateful by picturing your life without that magical smell of coffee in the morning or by remembering how happy and excited you were when you first bought that new car. 

Commercial approaches to wellness are so pervasive because their central premise is correct: nice things help people temporarily feel better. At the same time, there is no need to buy new things all the time to improve your mood; just make sure to enjoy the things you have every day and don’t take them for granted. You can get  an even more potent form of gratitude by reflecting on and valuing the intangibles in your life that are dear to you, such as your relationships with others.

No one has a career in medicine without experiencing failure some time. Learn from your mistakes, and grow as a professional.

5. Adapt to Busy Times to Overcome Them

”Adapt and overcome” sounds easier said than done, but these practical strategies have really helped me to stay positive and productive during busy times:

Consistently set aside some time for self-care

Although medical education and professional responsibilities tend to occupy much of your day, most activities that improve wellness require only five or ten minutes. When you’re pressed for time, try meditating, taking a quick walk, listening to a favorite song or briefly texting with a friend.

Focus on self-care activities that have long-lasting benefits

Although many experiences feel good in the moment, activities that release endorphins (such as exercise) or significantly affect your daily functioning (such as sleeping) have more powerful benefits. Make them a priority when you have limited time and energy to devote to self-care.

Make necessary tasks more pleasant

You may not be able to allocate large chunks of time for self-care during your dedicated period of Step 1 studying or during a busy rotation in medical school. Instead, try to insert elements of self-care into required tasks.

Treat yourself to a favorite dessert when you’re studying on a Friday night or set aside a few moments to practice deep breathing exercises while waiting for rounds to start on the Internal Medicine service.

Define small choices as self-care instead of believing that your entire daily routine is completely out of your control. This way you will stay centered even when your daily life does not seem amenable to personal wellness. 

Write a list of problems and an action plan

By solving problems instead of letting them simmer, you can prevent anxieties and worries before they start to interfere with your self-care routine and mental peace.

A Final Reminder: Self-Care Is Not Selfish

Showing yourself a bit of much-needed love is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, self-care is necessary in your medical education and career in order to become the most centered and competent version of yourself. By following the above tips and adapting them to suit your individual needs, you’re nurturing your potential to become an outstanding medical student and clinician.

Everyone needs help at one time or another, and med school is no exception. In fact, entering medical school is most likely going to be a significant (and stressful) change from your schooling and work prior to entry. Unless you are in the minority of medical students who transitioned from a high-pressure corporate job and have significant real-world experience, you were probably in somewhat of a “bubble” while going through high school and undergraduate studies.

However, there’s no need to struggle to figure this all out on your own. While medical school can be a difficult adjustment for anyone, there’s one critical source of comfort, wisdom, and stress relief that far too often goes underutilized: reaching out for help.

The Challenges of Med School: Signs to Ask For Help

Upon starting medical school, you’re figuratively thrown into the deep end and forced to learn how to swim. That is not to say that medical school is completely representative of the “real world,” but it is still a stressful environment that can take a toll on many aspects of your life. For example, you may very well struggle with the following issues and need the right support system to overcome them.

Challenge 1: Academic Pressure / Resource Exhaustion 

For one, time spent in academic studies ramps up immensely in medical school. The adage “drinking from a fire hydrant” accurately describes the feeling of embarking on preclinical courses. The sheer volume of material you have to learn is vast and remains ever-growing as modern medicine expands its horizons. 

And to make things even more confusing, there is an overabundance of educational resources available to you. This creates a paradox of choice that paralyzes students with the dilemma of picking which tools to spend their money and time on. If you find yourself struggling to keep up or trying to find a study method that is effective for you, that does not mean that you are bad at studying or not smart enough for medical school. It simply means that you could benefit from some guidance to help you adapt to what is understandably a new and difficult situation. 

Challenge 2: Poor Mental Health

Your academic performance may not be the only aspect that gets challenged in medical school. Mental health can also take a toll due to the combination of stress, time constraints, and life-or-death situations that medical students are often exposed to. Approximately one-third of medical students experience burnout and depression, which is higher than the prevalence in the general population, as well as students not in the medical field.

Check out the post “What is ‘Study Burnout’ and How to Prevent It” to help prevent burnout and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Shame and loneliness due to academic struggle can also further affect your mindset, and in extreme cases create a vicious cycle of your mental health detracting from your performance, and vice versa. 

Challenge 3: Harassment

Finally, the medical field is no exception to the same issues of harassment that plague other professions. You may witness, or unfortunately experience, hazing or workplace harassment during your training, which can further put you in a terrible position or even turn you off the field completely.

How can asking for help benefit you (and others)?

If you’ve been in medical school or spent a lot of time in the pre-medical student community, you’ve likely cottoned on to how competitive and intense everything can feel. Med students are constantly surrounded by high achievers and other motivated individuals who seemingly thrive under intense conditions, like thermophiles. 

If it appears that everybody around you is succeeding academically and you’re personally finding it extremely difficult or exhausting, that feeling of falling behind can further isolate you and exacerbate the problem. As much as comparison is the enemy of happiness and we’re often reminded not to compare ourselves to others, it is a human tendency that can pierce through even the toughest mental armor. 

This perception that everybody is doing better than you can contribute to stigma or fear of asking for help. I know the last thing you probably want to do is look weak, or admit defeat. However, asking for help does not make you weak. Perhaps this was the case in the not-so-distant past. It cannot be denied that the culture of medicine has had a history of toxicity and blaming individuals rather than larger systemic issues. But today, in light of the data surrounding high rates of physician suicides, more and more people are realizing that we need to actively combat this culture. Things aren’t perfect yet, but the tide is turning. 

That is why asking for help if you’re struggling in medical school can be the most mature and insightful action you can take. For one, it helps you. You may not get the attention or assistance you need if you don’t recognize that need and address it. Unfortunately, the ones around you may be too wrapped up in their own responsibilities to recognize the signs of crisis in another. 

Additionally, speaking up could potentially help others. With the rates of depression among medical students being as high as they are, it’s probable that many of your peers are also secretly struggling in silence. Bringing issues to light will allow you and your peers to find each other and not feel so alone, as well as normalize the fact that asking for help is beneficial and necessary. 

Who knows? You may also end up drawing necessary attention to systemic deficiencies that could benefit from an update, or end up saving your peers or even patients from abuse or injustice. Ideally, asking for help early will give you the best chance at benefitting and improving your situation. Don’t let stigma and fear detract from your success and put you in a worse position. 

What does ‘asking for help’ look like?

Of course, asking for help may look different for different people. Maybe you just need a little peer support, or a study group to help you get your thoughts together. Maybe you just need to commiserate with somebody who understands what you’re going through and talk it out together. Some may wait until they fail an exam—or worse, an entire clerkship—before mustering up the courage to ask for help. Don’t be that student. Remember that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and reach out for support early on, as soon as the warning signs arise.  

There will also be times when you might need more help than what you currently have available. If you’re having difficulty with the academic aspect of school despite trying multiple resources, or you feel uncomfortable or embarrassed talking about your academic struggles with your classmates, you might consider hiring a professional tutor to help you get back on track. Here are just a few signs you might need a med school tutor:

• Your core issue is test anxiety/test-taking.
• The volume of information feels like too much to handle.
• Your scores aren’t good despite trying various methods.
• You need an objective assessment of your weaknesses and strengths.
• You don’t feel comfortable going to your peers.

Additionally, if you’re struggling with your mental health, you may need to seek out professional mental health services. If you’re worried about anonymity, some institutions provide student support services that preserve your privacy, which may be the right fit for you.

It’s no secret that medical school comes with its fair share of struggles. That does not mean that you have to struggle alone. Asking for help when you need it means that you have your eyes on what’s really important—it’s not ego, it’s not the posturing of others, and it’s not what others think about you—it’s about choosing the right path for your success.

Further Reading

• How to Get Standout Letters of Recommendation for Your Residency Application
• What’s the Best Med School Study Planner?
• Help, My USMLE Study Plan Isn’t Working! How to Get Back on Track

Matriculating into medical school is an exceptional feat, and all who manage it should feel an enormous sense of pride and accomplishment. Once you enter those hallowed halls of preclinical lectures, small group sessions, physical exam essentials, and patient interactions, many students wonder one thing: “How do I succeed on Step 1 and Step 2?”

Given the weight that your Step 1 and Step 2 scores carry on residency application, there is an extremely large number of resources for these exams. You may experience “resource overload paralysis” when deciding on the best study schedule to make sure you retain the information and can apply your knowledge to the question at hand. Well, you’ve come to the right place to help guide you through this challenge! Here are some benefits and drawbacks to various med school study planner methods.

Option #1: Handwritten Study Planner

First, let me discuss the benefits and drawbacks of creating your own handwritten study schedule. Many people need the tactility of putting pen to paper making to-do lists, grocery lists, and study schedules to keep them organized. There is also always a sense of satisfaction when you make that check mark at the end of an arduous task. I keep a handwritten calendar for major events and projects and keep it taped on my wall.

This method has some shortcomings, however. It is extremely time-consuming to create a handwritten calendar. With color coding, times, and adding in extra events, you end up facing an all-day project. Additionally, this method lacks flexibility in that if you do not finish a task or there is an extenuating circumstance keeping you from your studies, it becomes difficult to move tasks to readjust and you end up having a cluttered, chaotic calendar covered in crossed-out words.

Option #2: Digital Study Planner

Now, let me discuss the first of two electronic forms of study scheduling. The first is using Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or an electronic calendar. These are excellent options because you can easily code your tasks, copy and paste repeating tasks, and move things around as needed. These methods, like the pen and paper method, do take a fair bit of time to create as you must input each to-do item, its time, etc. They are more flexible, however, because you can simply drag items to a later date if you are unable to complete them. 

Both the paper and the electronic method discussed above have their own merits as well as serious downfalls. With so many resources, it can be difficult to know how much time should be spent on each resource in your day-to-day studying. Should you read 50 pages, do 120 questions, and 600 Anki cards? Will that allow you to get through everything in time for your test? What if I need to have a rest day or a catch-up day? These methods rely on you, the student, to know exactly what you need to do every day and simply display it for you. They are passive forms of organization that don’t offer much more than a place to gather everything into one place. Luckily, there is a solution to this problem.

Option #3: Smart Study Planner

Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner is a “smart” option when it comes to studying. This unique scheduling tool does everything that electronic and paper organizers do and much more. It allows you to create multiple study calendars for various med school exams including Step 1, Step 2, and shelf exams.

Thousands of medical students use Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner to save hours of planning time, see exactly what to do each day, and ace their med school exams. Get unlimited access today!

One of my favorite features of the Blueprint Med School Study Planner is that it has a database of just about every resource you can think of and allows you to add it to your study tools. UWorld, Pathoma, Boards and Beyond, First Aid, Anki, and dozens of others. This allows you to easily add your favorite resources to your calendar. Once you select your resources and input the date of your exam and when you would like to be done studying, Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner will create a calendar that gets you through the resource and how many hours per day you can expect to be studying.

Luckily, you can fine-tune this calendar to fit your personal needs. If your Tuesday is particularly busy with school activities, you can make this a “Light” day and Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner will automatically give you a more manageable workload. If on Saturday, you have all day free you can make this a “Heavy” day and you will be given a more intense schedule of work. This provides an enormous opportunity to fit your study schedule around classes, clinicals, and your weekly board game night.

Finally, Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner allows you to be human. Were you unexpectedly pulled into a meeting and could not complete your reading for the day? Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner has you covered. You can mark a task as “Not Done” or “Incomplete” and it will rebalance your schedule adjusting it to ensure you can still cover all the material before your test. You can even preschedule vacations, weddings, catch-up days, or other events and Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner will automatically balance your workload around your schedule.

What’s the Best Med School Study Planner?

You all have many options when it comes to creating your study plans and they each have their benefits and drawbacks. From my own experience, Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner made me feel the most in control of my studying and helped encourage me through the standardized testing process.

Finally, you are never limited to just one of these methods. You may choose to use Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner to schedule your day-to-day academic schedule while using a paper calendar to have a constant reminder of major dates such as test day, practice tests, weddings, and more. This method allows you to utilize the flexibility of Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner while having the sense of accomplishment that comes with checking off a task on paper.

Further Reading

• The Most Popular USMLE Step 2 CK Resources for 2022
• Top USMLE Step 1 Resources for 2022
• How to Use Cram Fighter to Create a Study Schedule for All Your Med School Exams
• Introducing Cram Fighter 2.0: The Ultimate USMLE and COMLEX Study Planner

“Your Step 1 score is the most important part of your application.” For many medical students, this was the message we heard throughout our preclinical years. According to a 2021 NRMP survey, residency program directors cited USMLE Step 1 scores as the number one factor in granting an interview.

Now, you may be wondering: if Step 1 is pass/fail, how much does it really matter, and how much do I have to study?

If you’re just starting your USMLE exam prep, read this FREE Hero’s Guide to Defeating the USMLE, a 38-page master class from the experts that will save you time and ensure your success when you reach the final boss and face your exam.

How Important is Step 1? 

We don’t have data yet about just how important a Step 1 pass is relative to, say, a high Step 2 score or a good personal statement when applying to residency. However, it’s clear from the 2021 NRMP survey that a failed attempt at a board exam is among the top five most important factors that residency programs take into consideration when deciding to interview candidates. For this reason, it’s much better to “overprepare” to guarantee a pass, instead of risking a failing score by shooting for a low pass.

With that said, studying for Step 1 is one of the most anxiety-inducing parts of medical school. If you are reading this after a failed attempt and are studying for a second or third time, do not despair. Board exams are just one of many components of your application, and creating a thorough, focused study plan can help you conquer Step 1. Read on to find out how! 

Step 1 Studying Begins Your First Day of Medical School

For most students, Step 1 is the most challenging board exam of your medical career. The sheer amount of information you must memorize is immense. This is why preparation actually starts in your preclinical years! If your preclinical foundation is not strong, you will have to essentially learn or relearn all the Step 1 information in your dedicated period, which is a daunting task.

In your first two years of medical school, you should be using a spaced repetition method to retain information. Spaced repetition through a flashcard program like Anki means that as soon as you begin to forget information, you are forced to recall it again. This has been proven time and time again to be the most effective method of retaining large amounts of information. Start early, and you will thank yourself later!

What is “Dedicated?”

After preclinical years, students take an average of 6-8 weeks of “dedicated” study time to prepare for Step 1. The amount of time you need will depend on your own weak points and your foundation of knowledge. The number one point to keep in mind is that your dedicated time should be as free of other obligations as possible! Do not take on extra research projects, and try to avoid scheduling big events such as weddings during this time. Your sole focus should be Step 1. 

Mapping Resources

A great way to start making a study schedule is to make a list of resources that you hope to get through by the end of dedicated. Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner is a smart study planner tool that allows medical students to create a personalized study plan in minutes to prepare for board exams including USMLE Step 1, COMLEX Level 1, USMLE Step 2, and Shelf exams. Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner has fully indexed hundreds of resources, so you can simply select the books, lectures, Qbanks, and flashcards you want to review for the exam. Then, it will map these resources as study tasks over a detailed schedule. If you fall behind, Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner will automatically redistribute the tasks throughout the study period with the click of a button.

If you find yourself devoting a lot of time to creating a study schedule from scratch, Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner may be a good option for you to spend more time studying rather than planning.

Which Study Resources Should I Use? 

From my own Step 1 tutoring experience of almost two years, as well as my experiences as a student, there are three high-yield Step 1 resources that will maximize your success on the exam. 

1. UWorld: This is the holy grail of practice questions and will make up the bulk of your study plan. Currently, there are about 3,600 questions on Uworld. An attainable goal is getting through 2 blocks of 80 questions per day. This means that, not including break days or practice exam days, you need at least 6.5 weeks of study time just to get through UWorld.
2. Anki: Continue your spaced repetition daily! Try to cap your flashcard time to an hour or two per day while in dedicated.
3. Practice exams: There are two UWorld practice exams (UWSA 1 and 2), and six NBME exams (NBME 25-30). Aim to take at least four practice exams throughout your dedicated period. Be warned: each one takes about a day of extra study time to thoroughly review!

Extra Resources For Content Review

Many students find they have weak points throughout their dedicated time that they need to brush up on. Here are a few resources that are incredibly effective for extra content review. While the bulk of your study day should be practice questions, you can supplement with these as needed.

1. 1. Physiology review: Costanzo Physiology. The subjects my students (and me!) struggle with most are cardiology, pulmonology, and renal due to the heavy physiology focus. This textbook makes these concepts much more digestible.
2. 2. Pathology review: Pathoma.
3. 3. Microbiology and pharmacology review: Sketchy Medical (especially if you are a visual learner).
4. 4. Biochemistry review: Pixorize.

Final Tips

Give yourself break time during dedicated! The students that burn out the most quickly are overambitious with their study plan and don’t build in breaks. Through my tutoring experience, the most effective break plans seem to be a break day after each practice test, as well as at least one half-day of a break per week. This means that in order to get all your content and questions done, and to have enough time for breaks, you should aim for an 8-week dedicated study period. However, your study days can (and should) start building your foundation much earlier than your dedicated period. The average Blueprint Med School Study Planner user spends 128 days studying for Step 1, which averages about 18 weeks total!

Step 1 is a daunting exam, but you’ve made it this far, and you can do it. Using the right resources can reduce your stress, and help you stay on track and perform well enough to land the residency of your dreams!

Flashcard Decks: Your Options

Anki is well-known among medical students for its use of spaced repetition to boost information retention. As with any other flashcard application, you have to fill in a blank or identify a term from a prompt.

The unique aspect of this service, however, is that afterward, it will ask whether you were right or wrong and how easy or difficult you thought the question was. Anki then uses your input to specify the interval of time before you see that card again. If you mark the question as “easy”, it might be many days before you see it again, but if you mark that you answered it incorrectly, the question might recur in mere minutes. If you continue to get a question right, the length of time before it comes back will increase.

Sounds complicated? Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a software engineer to use Anki. The platform allows you to make many adjustments in how cards are presented. You can embed images, use so-called cloze deletions, and take advantage of spaced repetition based on whether your answer is right or wrong. However, you don’t have to use all of these tools: the default settings are perfectly sufficient to provide you with the best of spaced repetition. All you need to do is plug in the content you want to learn and stick to the study plan Anki lays out. Feel free to spend less time learning all the “bells and whistles” of Anki and more time learning the material.

If you feel overwhelmed by Anki but still want to use flashcards, that’s also OK! There are many other options that may be more intuitive like Quizlet and even handwritten index cards. These options don’t give you the ability to set intervals for when you will see harder or easier cards again, but using them can still be time well spent. Just choose the option that works best for you.

How To Use Flashcards: Ground Rules

1. Flashcards shouldn’t be your primary means of studying.

Cards are meant for content review, but they can’t replace textbooks and question banks. It’s reasonable to spend an hour or two each day working through decks, but if you’re spending more than that, cards will inevitably come at the expense of learning new material and ultimately will slow you down.

2. Make your cards correctly.

A great flashcard is short and to the point. The perfect one contains just enough information to remind you of the answer when studying it later. Don’t paste in large paragraphs of text and don’t make a card that’s too vague.

3. Stick with your routine.

The main strength of this study method is it allows you to return to information you’ve seen before, but spaced repetition is valuable only if you go through your cards on a regular basis over a long enough period of time. You don’t have to use flashcards to do well on a test day, but if you plan to use cards, make sure you have enough time to review them and do it regularly.

Be wary of unwieldy pre-made decks

A common pitfall is using large libraries of Anki cards made by previous students. These decks may be impressive and comprehensive, but you will have difficulty keeping up with the number of new and review cards each day and inevitably spend most of your day doing these decks in lieu of using other more important resources. Furthermore, the deck isn’t really tailored to your strengths and weaknesses; you might find yourself having to wade through many cards covering topics you already know before you get to ones covering topics you don’t.

A deck you make yourself better targets high yield content and isn’t going to be so large that you find yourself having to spend hours each day to keep up. Not to mention that you learn a lot while putting cards together! A good approach is to pick one or two short facts from a question explanation or the page of a textbook and incorporate them into a card. You may not be able to put in every piece of content, but you’ll slowly develop a high-yield deck you can use to study. If you consistently put in just a little time flipping cards every day, you may be surprised how much information stays with you by the time test day comes.

Integrating Flashcards into Your Study Schedule

Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner allows you to select flashcard decks you’d like to study (or add your own custom decks). You can then adjust your flashcard settings to indicate how many flashcards you want to study each day and generate an accurate estimate of your workload (along with the other Qbanks, textbooks, and lectures you have in your schedule). Check it out now by creating a study schedule with a Blueprint Med School Study Planner account.

Through Blueprint’s Med School Study Planner, we can help you answer those questions  with comprehensive data we’ve gathered from thousands of students who use our study schedule manager to prepare for this milestone exam. According to data acquired from our students, June, July, and August are the most popular months to take the USMLE Step 2 CK, and the average preparation time is 58 days. So if you’re reading this as of mid January 2021, now is a good time to start planning out your April and May studies, and we’re here to help! 

Just to let you know, there are fewer resources built specifically for Step 2 compared to Step 1 – which is both good news and bad news. Further, there’s less consensus amongst Step 2 preppers regarding which resources are the most helpful for the exam. Our Med School Study Planner supports hundreds of different options, from books to question banks, and you can even add your own resources – so if you already know what you plan to use, you can get started study planning today! If you’re not quite sure yet how you want to prepare, a list of student favorites may well come in handy! Hopefully, this post will help you pick your future favorite study materials.

Let’s take a look at the most popular resources of 2021 based on what resources USMLE Step 2 students have added to their study schedule:

UWorld is truly indispensable and an absolute must-have: according to our statistics, 71.8% of students added it to their schedule! It is a comprehensive Qbank with more than 3500 exam-like formulated questions which are updated on a daily basis. The vignettes in this resource closely resemble the ones you’ll have to face during the actual Step 2 CK, and the questions are of similar difficulty. This resource will help you become familiar with the question styles seen on Step 2. Remember, this is a timed exam, so after answering hundreds of practice questions, you will develop a sense of how long each one should take you and can strategize accordingly. We know that having access to a Qbank is a must-have for preparing for Step 2, and UWorld tops the charts. If you’re not impressed with Uworld and looking for something different, AMBOSS (the 4th most popular resource) is another Qbank with a slightly different feature set. Some students find questions in AMBOSS to be even harder than the real exam questions.

The #2 resource, OnlineMedEd Clinical, was chosen by 32.9% of students. This resource is gold for every kind of learner: it includes lecture videos accompanied by notes, flashcards , and practice questions. OnlineMedEd Clinical focuses on high-yield information, breaking down bulky concepts into bite-size pieces, and is easy to use. The audio-visual component of OnlineMedEd Clinical can be especially effective if you alternate video review with practice items in your Qbank of choice. 

Anki, a popular flashcard resource, took third place: we found that 28.9% of students used it to prepare for Step 2. With Anki, you can make your own cards or rely on premade decks. Just make sure the Anki deck you’re choosing to use is a reputable one (or one that you build yourself!).  

The first book in our list, First Aid for the USMLE Step 2 CK, has been added by 15.6% of students on the Med School Study Planner. This book consists of over 650 pages divided into systems.  Although some find it not as essential as First Aid for USMLE Step 1 as Qbanks cover most of the concepts needed for the exam, it is a great supplemental material to use along with UWorld and OnlineMedEd.

The last two resources that at least 10% of students chose are Boards and Beyond Step 2-3 Clinical (12.8%), a video lecture resource, and Master the Boards USMLE Step 2 CK (10%), a book resource. Boards and Beyond Step 2-3 Clinical contains more than 250 videos and a growing question bank; it may prove a good fit if the style of OnlineMedEd’s videos does not appeal to you. As for Master the Boards USMLE Step 2 CK, it consists of 750 pages grouped into systems. Some say it is too concise and lacks high-yield facts that are important for the exam. However, if you love textbooks as part of your prep, this one is definitely worth checking out!

As you can see, many of these resources provide you with similar information in different formats. Some of them might not suit your individual needs, but they should be a good starting point as you select USMLE resources to excel on your exam. With this in mind, the use of Qbanks with practice questions, combined with supplementary resources, is key for Step 2 CK preparation. 

Remember, having a study schedule is essential, as it prevents you from getting lost in endless information you need to cover. As professional baseball player Yogi Berra once said, if you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else. As simple as the above statement is, it’s hard to argue against it! That’s why our Med School Study Planner is always ready to guide and support you on your way to success along this bumpy road. Sign up to create your personalized schedule now!