NMS Review for USMLE: United States Medical Licensing Examination, Step 2

Rating:
Summary: Good Review Book (paperback edition)
Review: Generally it's provides good practice tests, however, about a third of the questions are non-board-like questions (300 out of 900). However, the other two-thirds (600) are board-like questions and the answers are sufficiently detailed to joggle your memory on important areas that you may have inadvertantly forgotten. I give this question book 4 stars due to the poor format of that third already mentioned . I gave 5 stars to the "Pretest Clinical Vignettes for the USMLE Step 2" because 95% of its questions (400 in total) were in a current board-like format, i.e. "What is the diagnosis?" and "What is the next step?" I recommend both of these books for anyone who likes to do lots of questions to prepare for board exams.

Rating:
Summary: Not very up to date
Review: I used this book in the last two weeks before the exam...the questions were pretty difficult, maybe a little more picky than the real exam. But the topics tested were high-yield - a lot of the topics came up in the actual exam. This is a good book to fill in any gaps in your knowledge before the exam. Together with this book, the "Pretest Clinical vignettes" and the Kaplan Q-book, I did enough questions to get me a 97 on the exam.

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: I used this book in the last two weeks before the exam...the questions were pretty difficult, maybe a little more picky than the real exam. But the topics tested were high-yield - a lot of the topics came up in the actual exam. This is a good book to fill in any gaps in your knowledge before the exam. Together with this book, the "Pretest Clinical vignettes" and the Kaplan Q-book, I did enough questions to get me a 97 on the exam.

Rating:
Summary: Most Like the Test
Review: I'm a practicing Canadian MD who wanted to pick up the USMLE Step 2 exam. This book was really quite good in that the vast majority of the example questions were in the same format as the actual computer-based exam, though the hardest questions in the book were harder than the most difficult ones on the exam. Over-all a very worthwhile study aid for the person who more or less knows the material but needs practice writing exams. It would be even better if it was on disk in the EXACT same format as the exam, but as a book it was excellent.

Rating:
Summary: Most Like the Test
Review: I'm a practicing Canadian MD who wanted to pick up the USMLE Step 2 exam. This book was really quite good in that the vast majority of the example questions were in the same format as the actual computer-based exam, though the hardest questions in the book were harder than the most difficult ones on the exam. Over-all a very worthwhile study aid for the person who more or less knows the material but needs practice writing exams. It would be even better if it was on disk in the EXACT same format as the exam, but as a book it was excellent.

Rating:
Summary: First practice tests that you should work on
Review: If you are an IMG, start from working on the tests on this book. This is the standard tests that many of us worked on. I agree that the clinical viganettes are shorter than the real exam, and some of the questions are too much in detail. However, they do cover the important topics that actually appear in the exam. If you are able to answer all the questions in this book, you are sure to pass the exam. Do not forget that you are required to answer the multiple choice questions at the exam, and that does not always mean that you know about the topics in depth. So the shortest way to pass it is to practice its format. Further, there is a list at the end of this book that enables you to choose the questions on the subject that you are working on (e.g. surgery, OB/Gyn etc).

Rating:
Summary: excelent
Review: Its truely a good preparation for Step 2 the questions are alike and the detailed answers make the difference. I'm recomending this book for all who are studying. The first part about 'how to learn' is helpfull.

Rating:
Summary: obscure detail
Review: Most of the questions in this book are a waste of time. The Usmle is not going to test you on the relative ratios if LDH1 to LDH2 to LDH3 to LDH4 ... or the most common infection in people named joe with 11 toes and 3 elbows... but this book will. I'm always surprised at the reputation this book has. It is a waste to learn the detail in this book. The best question book is Mock step2 by brochert - You will learn the high yield stuff.

Rating:
Summary: NMS USMLE step 2 practice tests
Review: Overall a pretty useful book for studying for the boards. Covers a multitude of subjects. Detailed explanations of answers are a plus as very often most books just give you the right answer, leaving most asking, "why did I get that wrong?" Drawback to the book are that the questions are not always test-quality in that they can be ambiguous or at worst, wrong.

Rating:
Summary: saved me
Review: This book contains 5 practice tests with questions similar to the actual exam questions, only harder. I took the first test to gauge how much I remembered. The task of working through all the tests seemed daunting, but I actually did 3 of the tests in two days before the exam--and I rocked it. I only used another quick comprehensive review book as a reference. It prepared me well for topics I had learned about but needed help answering questions on. Also I learned new things that I saw on the exam. Great workbook.