Customer Reviews

Medical Boards Step 2 Made Ridiculously Simple (MedMaster Series, 2002 Edition)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I just recently finished studying for the USMLE II. I received a passing score and was able to go on to an amazing residency. About my studying: I used a variety of resources, howvever, one instrumental tool was the Boards Made Ridiculously Simple Step 2 by Andreas Carl. I felt that this little book, seemingly insignificant, was really a brilliant text to supplement my other studying. At first glance, this book seems too limited in scope and difficult to understand how and where to integrate and understand the material. However, after studying other resources and taking a closer look at this book, one sees that this text is anything but limited. This book helped tie together many loose facts from my other studying and also, due to the many charts and tables, repeats key concepts and ideas that by the end of my studying, these phrases were etched into my memory ready or the TEST ITSELF. Thus, I highly recommend this book to anyone who will seriously study other resources as well as this book because I found that, alone, this book does not help at all, but, together with other sources, it proves to be a unique way to tie in and bridge together seemingly unrelated facts and topics to give you a better overall understanding of what fits in where. So, buy this book if you are seriously going to study the correct way!

In just one hour I read about 45 pages with ease, this book is intended for those who are short of time and need the facts in a simple clear way. It is not intended to be a complete resource for your usmle preparation but for sure it is a great help.

In just one hour i read about 45 pages with ease, this book is intended for those who are short of time and need the facts in a simple clear way.

It is not intended to be a complete resource for your usmle preparation but for sure it is a great help .

Excellent book. The information is in a very useful summary, and the CD allows to practice before the test, something extremely important. This book is the "sine qua non" for the Step 2. Do not go to the test without studying it .

I found the concept of tables and visually organized facts good. However, this book should not be used as single source as many facts are not as current as they should be, e.g. treatment for hyperlipidemia without statins etc.

Again, the book does a very good job in organizing key facts such as clinical signs and symptoms. Those are not subject to tremendous change over time.

For clinical, especially therapeutic issues, please take care and consult another more "serious" review book.

This book would have been fine for studying for step 1, but not so much for step 2. It contains many mistakes and missing information. The author would reply that it wasn't meant to be complete, but the missing information is KEY information, and mistakes are just that, mistakes. This book would have been handy, though, for studying for step 1. It contains all topics in table format with little hints and such here and there. However, step 2 focuses on treatment and management of disease, whereas this book focuses strictly on basic science and diagnosis of disease, which makes it not very useful for step 2, except as a simple review of the basic science, which I'm sure that most people buying this book have already accumulated enough books for that. I was also disappointed that it really didn't have many useful and memorable mnemonics like the better of the Made Ridiculously Simple books are not only known for, but intended for. I probably wouldn't have bought this book if I could have thumbed through it at a book store.

Great book to review for the steps - note that it is a flashcard-like quick-quiz format (described as the "prayer hands" approach in the book, where you cover half a table with your hand and quiz yourself), and not a primary resource.