Customer Reviews

Crush Step 2, 2e

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is by no means a comprehensive review book but it's an excellent source of concise, high-yield info that's most effective when read several times shortly before the exam day. It contains so much of the material covered in the actual test and was definitely a factor in my (rather good :)) final score. Buy this, buy this, buy this!!!

This is a well-written text with valuable, pertinent sections. Brochert includes a good balance of high-yield sections + explanations, which allows you to avoid repetitively memorizing facts. If you couple this with QBank, and then add a book or two on your weaker sections, I think you'll do well. Cons? I thought the surgery section was a bit lacking, as you'll see a number of abdominal complaints on the Boards that are glossed over in this book. But the stronger sections more than make up for it. Highly recommended.. if you can read it 312 times back-to-back like some of these speed-readers, good for you. If you're like everyone else, having a good knowledge of the info inside will go a long way. Good luck.

I would highly recommend this book. It's shorter than First Aid for step 2, which is another good book but quite lengthy, and it's concise and tells you what you need to know for step 2. I have had a ton of Kaplan Qbank questions that come straight from this book. It's easy to read, good layout, nice summaries. Use with a question book or Qbank for best results.

When I was buying books I really felt that there was very little "sound and objective" reviewing out there and it basically came down to quantity of positive reviews or just trial(and lots of error) in book choices. I've already written a review for Brochert's Secrets book in which I basically say that his books are good sources of hot button topics and a good starting point. I would just differentiate this book from Secrets:
For me his books are essentially fact biopics and I felt that both the format and layout of the Secrets book was superior in conveying that essential marrow of his material. Crush wastes alot of space with tons of blankness on the pages which kind of irritated me. Also I dislike bullet layouts, I just don't think it's efficient or interesting (it creates a sense of tedium easily by it's loosely connected listing of facts). The tables were also not very helpful (which is true of Secrets as well by virtue of the fact that they're the same in both books). So in layout terms I think Secrets has the distinct advantage.

In terms of content they're essentially similar/same. Perhaps Secrets has even more but honestly I havn't done a head to head count of "factules." Certainly because of the layout advantages Secrets reads faster and crisper, staying true to it's essential factoid nature.
Though i have come to accept review books as just that and not primary learning sources it would be nice to see books with more effort toward algorithmic or clinical thinking focus. I did feel during the exam that unlike Step 1 (where a key word was all you really needed to know to activate the circuit that would scan the answers for appropriate response) there was much more thinking and decision making to be done on this exam and the algorithm was more complex than simple 1 or 0 binary. The ability to scan the tediously overstuffed question stems for the key information and build that into the clinical context/stage of the patient's pathology (with primary focus on the acute vs stable condition) and take appropriate steps was important. Though many questions are still diagnostic in nature to do very well you must have good clinical judgement. This book (or any other review book out there) is not equiped to teach you that.

I purchased this book per the recommendations that I read here. I was very pleased with the book and found it to be a helpful review book for step 2. I read the sections I had trouble with more than once. The book is organized in a very enjoyable way so that studying is quite painless. I did well on the exam thanks to reading this in the 2 weeks before the exam.

One of the better rapid review books out there, but not sufficient as a "sole" review source (although I don't think such a thing as a single review source exists for an exam such as this one). I found it to be a little more on target than First Aid, with better organization, more pertinent information, and concise enough that I could read it in just a few days. There were definitely some good things I picked up from it, and as with any of the review books you read, I would highly advise supplementing it with a lot of practice style questions. Step II is an unpleasant enough experience, but this is a good resource to use to make it a little less dreadful.

Good to review HY facts after exausting other lower-yield sources. Easy to read and very useful for step 2ck. Still, one might feel to complete it with some other review book. However, it's one of the best in this field. Good to keep it for step 3 too.

Concise with high-yield info !! This the best description I could think of ! It might e a good idea if you read it 1 or 2 weeks before the exam.

- It provides information that has appeared on recent adminstrations of USMLE Step 2. It tells you what the next step in managing a patient, which is stressed in the Step 2. Recognition of a diseae is crucial for solving USMLE (and for future quick diagnosis especially in the ER).
This author gives you useful hints to solve common questions e.g. he tells us that a presentation may be normal (especially in Peds or Psychiatry) and need no treatment!

- The contents include: Introduction, Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular medicine, Pulmonology, Gastroenterology, Endocrinloy, Nephrology, Rheumatology, Hematology, Oncology, Infectious disease, Dermatology, Neurology, Immunology, Genetics, Geriatrics, Preventive Medicine, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Psychiatry, Gynecology, General surgery, Ophthalmology, Orthopedic surgery, Neurosurgery, ENT surgery, Vascular surgery, Urology, ER, Peds, Pharmacology, Radiology, Laboratory medicine, Ethics, Photos, Signs, symptoms, and syndromes, Abbreviations, and Index.

- One of the things I liked about this book is that the author tells you possible scenarios and how to answer each one. For example, if you encounter a question about a patient who gets pneumonia after cave exploring or exposure to bird droppings in Ohio and Mississipi River valleys, then think of Histoplasma capsulatum. This question came in my exam, but I didn't know the answer. I knew it later after reading this book !

- It has many pictures, diagrams, and tables.

- This book comes in 272 pages , in its 2nd edition (2002),a and is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Publishers (great company !). It's surprising to know that the author was an intern in Internal Medicine when he wrote this book !

Buy this book and I'm sure you will pass the any exam with flying colors!

Not a bad review for Step2CK. By this point in your med school career, you should be pretty familiar with all the material just from being on the wards daily. This book gives you a good overall review of most of the subject matter that will appear on Step2CK, including some areas that you may have not had much (or any) exposure to, such as ophtho, ortho, ENT...

This book is NOT comprehensive, however, so if you're especially weak in the clinical sciences, you may want to look elsewhere for a more extensive review.

Also, consider supplementing your study time with a question bank. USMLEWorld.com is a good resource and not too expensive.

I bought this book and reviewed it about three times now. It contains a lot of errors and it is not complete. And the index is terrible, if you try to look up something chances are you won't find it there. It is a good book if you just want to get the basic idea and read it for fun. But, I would not recommend this book for students preparing for USMLE Step 2.