USMLE Step 2 CK Content Tests Clinical Knowledge Base

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Learn More About USMLE Step 2 CK Content

Now that Step 1 of the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) has become a pass/fail exam, your USMLE Step 2 CK score is more important than ever in deciding your medical residency and career options. In this article, we will review the USMLE Step 2 CK content of clinical science and knowledge examination.

USMLE Step 2 Content Outline

The main goal of the USMLE Step 2 CK examination is to assess your clinical knowledge and basic patient-centered skills. It also examines how well medical students can apply this knowledge and clinical understanding of medical sciences, especially in providing supervised patient care, promoting optimal well-being, and preventing diseases. After all, medical students take this exam before being let loose on the wards as interns, that is, after completing the third year of medical school. The overarching goal of the USMLE Step 2 CK is to ensure that test takers possess the knowledge for the safe and competent practice of supervised medicine in the United States.

The USMLE Step 2 CK is a one-day standardized examination administered in eight 60-minute blocks. Each block of the Step 2 CK will have up to 40 questions, and the entire nine-hour exam will not include more than 318 questions. USMLE Step 2 CK content is weighted for topics selected from the major clinical areas. However, it concentrates only on organ systems, normal and pathological processes, and therapy principles.

Step 2 of the USMLE assesses the clinical science knowledge base of medical students and how well that knowledge is applied in clinical situations. While you will learn a tremendous amount about the practice of medicine during your internship and residency, Step 2 CK is intended to determine whether you have the level of knowledge and skill necessary to practice medicine under the supervision of residents, fellows, and attending physicians. Patient safety is the top priority.

While a small portion of USMLE Step 2 content will cover normal and abnormal processes, the vast majority is designed to assess knowledge of pathological processes. The exam encompasses 18 subject areas:

• General Principles of Foundational Science
• Immune System
• Blood & Lymphoreticular System
• Behavioral Health
• Nervous System & Special Senses
• Musculoskeletal System/Skin & Subcutaneous Tissue
• Cardiovascular System
• Respiratory System
• Gastrointestinal System
• Renal & Urinary System & Male Reproductive
• Pregnancy, Childbirth & the Puerperium
• Female Reproductive System & Breast
• Endocrine System
• Multisystem Processes & Disorders
• Biostatistics & Epidemiology/Population Health/Interpretation of Medical Literature
• Social Sciences: Legal/Ethical Issues & Professionalism/Systems-based Practice & Patient Safety

While some sections are more heavily represented than others, successful students will study all the above areas through reading, review, and comprehensive QBank practice.

While the USMLE Step 1 focused on foundational science concepts, patient history, and physical exam, USMLE Step 2 delves more deeply into diagnosis, laboratory results, imaging studies, drug treatments, clinical interventions, mixed management, and outcomes. To a lesser degree, Step 2 CK assesses professionalism and patient safety issues.

Generally speaking, if you had a core clerkship in a particular area, it is fair game to be tested on the USMLE Step 2 CK. Disciplines tested include

• Medicine
• Pediatrics
• Surgery
• Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Psychiatry and Neurology

Assume that about half the questions on the USMLE Step 2 CK test date will be on medicine, and up to a third will cover surgery. That said, you should prepare by answering dozens of practice questions in all of these disciplines.

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