Kaplan Medical USMLE Master the Boards Step 2 CK (Kaplan Medical Master the Boards)

The information inside is well laid out in a good organized fashion. Information is clear and to the point, no vague run-on explanations you dont need. It has some helpful hints as side notes that dont clutter the pages like First Aid does. Questions inside the chapters are well explained and helpful. Dr. Fisher gives you exactly what you need to know for the test in every chapter and no boring random fact fillers like you would find in other books. Lets face it we don't need to waste time with more random fact memorization; we need a high yield source that is easy to read and this book covers it all. I used it for my CK along with Secrets for step 2, Uworld, and some flash cards and I got very good results. I highly recommend this book for the exam!

I did a lot of research to find that one book to use for CS. I looked in to Step Up to Step 2, First Aid, Crush, Secrets, and probably any other book you can think of, and this book emerged victorious. I felt that it was the easiest to read (didn't like the outline format of Step Up; After using FA for Step 1, I was expecting the same for FA Step 2 and it was not even close and was really unorganized). There is probably more info in Step Up and FA, but again the formats killed me. In MTB, the info may be a little skippy, but there is plenty of room in the margins to make notes from World. With that said, I focused too much on adding extra info to the book from World instead of actually focusing on World itself. I feel that if you didn't have a book, and just killed it doing World questions, trying to understand what each question is saying and not making too many notes (just the main points), you would dominate Step 2 CK. Although I do think that Secrets was a good little book to have if you are stuck somewhere with some downtime, I don't think that it is wholly sufficient. However, the biostats section was money after reading it the day before the actual test.

Conrad Fischer is a well known Boards Prep master. Not quite up there with Goljan, but near there.This is an easy to read prep book for Step 2CK. What do I mean by that? It's not dense to read, doesn't strain your brain with random facts. It's just a nice book to have around when you have a few minutes to flip around. You can get thru this book alot faster than you think and you'll be glad you did when you find you're already done with it! Of course the proof is in the final score, and lets just say I was VERY happy.4 stars

This book has everything an outstanding review source ought to have. It covers pretty much everything you need to know for the test; it makes liberal use of colors in its text, tables, side-boxes, and images making it a super easy read. And tips and clinical cases are generously sprinkled through out the chapters.The text in the book revolves around answering the basic questions asked on the exam, namely "What is the most likely diagnosis?", "What is the next best step?", "What is the best initial test?, "What is the most accurate test?" and "What is the best initial therapy?".The clinical cases are excellent because they help drive concepts home and highlight very important subtleties of clinical reasoning that are not typically found in other review books but are the focus of questions on the exam. However, biostatistics has been left out, which is really surprising.Overall, this book is brilliant.

Master the Boards has a lot of deficit for the overall information that have potential for being on the test, including high yield material. The information that is presented however, are VERY high yield and come with questions to help you study, which gives a good review of that material. This is not a book for comprehensive review of information. If your didactic and clinical experiences are strong, and you are aware of the pathophysiology of most of the diseases out there, this may be the "very high yield material" book for you. However, if you do not feel so confident of your knowledge, I would not use this book initially to study.

For me, this book was a great addition to my Step 2 studying, and here's why:1) The book is written like a tutor (Conrad Fischer) is actually talking to you. Easy to read, easy to follow. I would blast through 30 pages at a time without even realizing it.2) Formatting. Visually appealing quick tips and bullets in a decent sized font that doesn't tire out your eyes.3) It tells you blatantly what answers and common mistakes you should avoid, and why they are incorrect. Again, like a tutor. Love those parts.Basically, this book will give you a nice firm grounding in every subject you need to study for Step 2. Read this first if you feel you are conceptually weak in certain areas, and then move on to the in-depth Qbank tutors. Worked well for me.

If you're studying for the CK, get this book. You need not seek further for an optimal view-point of how to prepare yourself for this exam. You see, CK is a case-to-case exam and precise details aren't exactly what you need, unlike Step 1. What you need is what Dr. Fischer gives you in this book: learning how to analyze data and evaluating patients. This is what will get you a competitive score on the CK.

I was a medical student in New York and there were representatives from Kaplan telling students to write a good review on amazon or a nice comment on Conrad Fischer's youtube page in exchange for Kaplan course discounts/free Kaplan books. I think Conrad Fischer's videos are really, really, really good. He certainly has a way of drilling information verbally into his students' heads and he has a passion for it. I don't think this book, however, is all that great. I also don't like how he senselessly plugs his non-USMLE books. It kind of lacks class to have your Kaplan minions bribe stressed out and vulnerable medical students.

good review as long as you have had suitable grounding in medicine. it does tend skim through a number of topics.

Good book for even step3, nice print and easy read.

I definitely recommend this book!! It covers all the pertinent points regarding management. Sure there are some things that are missing... But it covers a solid chunk of the material, saving you from reading several different sources. I got a lot out this book!

Master the boards is one of the best review books I've ever seen, it contains the highest yield topics that is probably be in the exam questions, I used it for my MCCEE exam.

great book! the only necessary review book for step 2ck. summarizes high yield topics. gives advice on how to answer complex questions.