USMLE Preparation courses..are they necessary ?

So many people ask about preparation courses for USMLE. The vast majority of people do not take those courses and do well, however some people that have the extra cash to invest may find that these courses are helpful. Kaplan, for example, gives the nice material that everyone is looking for all the time, plus it gives you a nicely laid out schedule. So it may be very good to keep you focused for the exam.

Personally I have not taken one of those courses, but if I had the money and time I would probably go for it maybe 3 months prior to the test. Also, I think it is far more useful for Step 1 than it is for Step 2, as Step 1 has a lot more of things that you can memorize and master the exam, whereas USMLE Step 2 is more of a general knowledge type of exam, which makes it more difficult to study for it.