Exam Center: Los Angeles Exam Date: 6.June.2007 Result: Passed Weeks for Result: 10 My Experience: I am not allowed to disclose the cases in the exam, but I can talk about my preparation. I think digitaldoc's website was crucial for my success. I also looked up some step2 CS exeperience forums. I concentrated on the first aid. Then a friend of mine lended me a kaplan book and some stuff printed off from the USMLE world, which were also somewhat useful. I've read up this book on communication skills because I didn't think this was one of my strong points. Have a look at my website for some of my notes on communicating w/ patients in general: http://www.wretch.cc/blog/goodyvo&article_id=6585698 I did not attend any live courses- I guess it wouldn't be helpful for people who graduated med from an English speaking country~ Another thing is, I couldn't find anyone else in Australia that was also sitting this exam, so I just got a friend to act as a patient for 2 days (but I didn't practice doing physical examination on my friend). My Advice & My Errors: Notes (this was the format I followed when I wrote my patient notes): l DD & Mx first l P/C & their description l Significant ¡Vve Hx l Systemic exam l If time left: PAM HUGS FOSS General Mildly ill appearing, no apparent distress observed VS: WNL (BP T R P) HEENT (can be more concise than below or omit if irrelevant) Head: normocephalic, free of visible lesions. Facial muscular revealed N movement. Eyes: ocular mvts normal, conjunctivae clear, PERLA ENT w/o alteration Neck (omit if irrelevant) Supple, no JVD, thyroid gland normal, cervical nodes negative, no bruit Chest Resp: Clear breath sounds bilat (Breath sounds, added sounds) Cardiac: RRR, Normal S1S2, no murmurs, rubs or gallops (rhythm, HS, murmurs) Abdomen Abdo soft, non-distended, non-tender, no organomegaly, +BS Neuro MSE: Alert, orientated, MSE & speech normal CN II-XII: normal Motor 5/5 Coordination: unremarkable Sensory: intact to pin, vibration, proprioception Reflexes: DTRS 3/4, Plantar downgoing Gait Musculoskeletal (head to feet, don¡¦t have to examine each part, know RICE) I tended to finish off the history and examination bit right at the end of the 15 minutes. I generally finish typing up the notes before time's up. I felt I missed quite a few things, eg I forgot to mention to a patient w/ melaena about doing a PR, and forgot to palpate the chest wall for tenderness in a patient w/ chest pain... but nevertheless passed! My Stay / Cost / Travel to Center: As a busy intern in Australia this year, and not wanting to spend too much of my annual leave to sit an exam, I took 1 week of annual leave and went over to take the exam w/ only 1 day's rest between arriving in LA and having the exam... furthermore, the time lag was the worst it could be! Right before coming to LA, I was doing emergency room shifts at the time when people in LA would be sleeping, and sleeping at the time when people in LA would be awake! Took some melatonin - dunno if that was helpful or not. Booked a cheap flight w/ China airlines (approx $1200 Australian dollars) which allowed me to stopover in Taiwan for a few days^^ LA is the cheapest I can get (flights to other US cities were a lot more expensive!). Lived in Hacienda Hotel, which was approx 5min walk from the exam center. Went off w/ a study buddy to Disneyland right after the exam (oh yeah!)~ tried walking to the nearest beach from Hacienda hotel the day after and seriously regretted it~ It took forever! I'd advise people to take a cab! then flew off from LA that day! A short, but economical trip^^ Name : goodyvo

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