Few Tips for your Step 2 CS Exam

[mle2resident]

Hi guys,
Took my CS last week. Here are some tips I can give to those who are preparing for the CS.
- "Be confident and feel confident" is the golden rule. Don't be nervous, coz I was nervous for the first one n I screwed up that.
- If u do some mistakes, don't lose ur calm, immediately apologize and continue.
- 10 min is suffice enough to type ur PN. No need to practice ur typing.
- Don't think SPs are actors, treat them like you are seeing real patients, thats when it ll be easy for u to show empathy.
- All u got to have in mind is " U r the Doctor and 12 patients are waiting to see u". Forget you are an examinee and its a exam, u ll be all fine.

The whole day went so fast, that by the end of it, I really don't know how well I did.. I didn't feel good either, I don't know if its normal or am I the only one feeling so.. keeping fingers crossed until results.!! Hope my post helps, good luck to all.!! And as always, BIG THANK U to this Forum crew..!!

[mle2resident]

Such a wonderful morning I got here.!!
So happy that I passed the exam..
I am IMG.. Here's how I prepared for it.

Prep time: 3-4 weeks, 4 to 5 hours a day.
Sources: FA, UW, random videos on youtube/itunes.

Read all the cases both in FA n UW.. I didn't have any study partner, so I kept revising on my own (cramming over D/D s and Work up plan ).. except for the last week I practiced random cases with family n thats it.
Gud luck to everyone.!!

[Ray84]

Congratulations on the awesome news...
for those waiting for the results... did u feel like u made a lot of mistakes??
did u forget relevant exam parts, and missed some closures?

[Chococat]

Originally Posted by mle2resident

Such a wonderful morning I got here.!!
So happy that I passed the exam..
I am IMG.. Here's how I prepared for it.

Prep time: 3-4 weeks, 4 to 5 hours a day.
Sources: FA, UW, random videos on youtube/itunes.

Read all the cases both in FA n UW.. I didn't have any study partner, so I kept revising on my own (cramming over D/D s and Work up plan ).. except for the last week I practiced random cases with family n thats it.
Gud luck to everyone.!!

wow!!
have you ever been exposed to the US medical system? it's quite surprising that after reading many experiences stressing the word "practice" you only practiced the week before the exam!
congratulations!

[tootsie]

Originally Posted by Ray84

Congratulations on the awesome news...
for those waiting for the results... did u feel like u made a lot of mistakes??
did u forget relevant exam parts, and missed some closures?

Yes! I made too many mistakes. I had not slept at all the night before the test. Everyday I wake up with nightmares of things that I forgot to do. Major things. Nothing simple like the little things I saw in your post. I got intimidated by many of the SP's, forgot to ask and do phys exam parts...the few that I did do, I then forgot to add it to the patient note.

The only thing I have are my prayers. I don't want to fail this exam. :sorry:

[patelMD]

Originally Posted by tootsie

Yes! I made too many mistakes. I had not slept at all the night before the test. Everyday I wake up with nightmares of things that I forgot to do. Major things. Nothing simple like the little things I saw in your post. I got intimidated by many of the SP's, forgot to ask and do phys exam parts...the few that I did do, I then forgot to add it to the patient note.

The only thing I have are my prayers. I don't want to fail this exam. :sorry:

I dont mean to bring up bad memories, but what did you forget to do? Just want to know about things to pay particular attention to especially when one is nervous.

[mle2resident]

Originally Posted by Chococat

wow!!
have you ever been exposed to the US medical system? it's quite surprising that after reading many experiences stressing the word "practice" you only practiced the week before the exam!
congratulations!

Yeah, I know.. That was actually freaking me out all the way until results.. But I think if u know what to ask and what not forget to ask and do in every case, u should be fine. I think I went thru FA at least 3 times n UW twice.. I am not exposed to the US healthcare as well..

[mle2resident]

I did mistakes as well..

- I dimmed the lights for the ophthalmoscope exam without telling the SP and the SP gave me a perplexed look..Then I apologized and explained why I need to do dim the lights.

- One case I could not diagnose, symptoms were vague and I ended up history taking for almost 10 min.. So I ran out of time and didn't have time for closure.

- Forgot to check CVA tenderness in abd case.

For those of you preparing, this is a great article, it really helped me.
http://cs-protocol.blogspot.com/

[tootsie]

Uff...well now that you mentioned those, I know for sure I didn't ask permission to dim the lights, nor heads-up. I didn't do CVA, and as far as diagnosis...hmmm...my first case I was so nervous, till this date I can't remember the chief complaint.

I think I forgot to ask many relevant questions, do many relevant physicals, missing diagnosis, I don't think I smiled that much, etc.

I have been wanting to collect a list of all of the things I did wrong but I can't remember very well what I did or did not do. Like I said, it's all a big blur, or maybe PTSD. Hopefully it'll all come back to me slowly. I hadn't slept well for 3 days prior to the test cause my flight got delayed within other things.

[USMLE-Syndrome]

Hi how r u today
i have some questions if u can help me about cs taking history
well during taking history they mention i must keep eye contact with the patient so how i can write my notes about what he is saying or disease he have or medication or symptoms duration ? if u can advise me

[mle2resident]

Originally Posted by miss patho

Hi how r u today
i have some questions if u can help me about cs taking history
well during taking history they mention i must keep eye contact with the patient so how i can write my notes about what he is saying or disease he have or medication or symptoms duration ? if u can advise me

I spent like 30 secs b4 entering the room making a note of D/Ds.. Before taking history I asked the SP if its ok I make some notes while talking to her.. But I didn't really look at the sheet while writing instead I was just scribbling points I might forget after I exit the room like the duration, past history, medications, pack years etc..
When u wash ur hands, don't turn ur back to the patient instead keep talking about what u think symptoms are due to or how u ll proceed about it, also in some cases I even took the last part of history while washing hands just to save time.