- Joined
- Jul 21, 2017
- Messages
- 7
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Hey everyone, here's yet another Step 2 CS freakout
US med student. Did fine in clerkships and Step 1. Took CS July 2017. Pretty sure I bombed the crap out of it - specifically the ICE section. I'm not sure what exactly goes into grading, but here's hoping it's fairly lenient. Like many other anxious people, I've spent too much time crawling through SDN looking for similar experiences with passing results, but I feel like my errors are too glaring.
Mistakes I made/Concerns I have:
1) for 4-5 encounters I had 3ddx, for half I had 2/3 ddx, and for two I only had 1ddx (fml). One of them realized after the encounter what I had probably missed in the H&P, and the other was so cut and dry I couldn't think of any other options. I feel like I was supposed to get 3/3 on all encounters, so this is what I'm most stressed about.
2) used incorrect medical terminology in some patient notes. Anxiety got the best of me and I blanked on proper terms.
3) probably missed some obvious diagnosis, and felt like some of the encounters had a clear diagnoses and that my alternate diagnoses were very unlikely but still somewhat possible
4) Some of my work-ups were very short. I didnt pan-order labs (CBC's/BMP's/etc) if they didn't seem relevant or if they wouldn't help patient managment. But I'm not sure if that was a mistake or not. Idk if work ups are graded on completeness or just if they're reasonable enough.
5) some complaints were so vague that I hope that I was in the ballpark with my ddx
I feel like my encounters with the patients were overall good/passable, but my concern is that my documentation will be my downfall. Praying that I'll make it along with 95% of the other test takers, but the fear is definitely setting in.
Supposedly scores come out in a few weeks. Regardless of the outcome, I'll post my results.
If anyone has any opinions or other experiences comment below. Thanks and good luck to everyone else!!
US med student. Did fine in clerkships and Step 1. Took CS July 2017. Pretty sure I bombed the crap out of it - specifically the ICE section. I'm not sure what exactly goes into grading, but here's hoping it's fairly lenient. Like many other anxious people, I've spent too much time crawling through SDN looking for similar experiences with passing results, but I feel like my errors are too glaring.
Mistakes I made/Concerns I have:
1) for 4-5 encounters I had 3ddx, for half I had 2/3 ddx, and for two I only had 1ddx (fml). One of them realized after the encounter what I had probably missed in the H&P, and the other was so cut and dry I couldn't think of any other options. I feel like I was supposed to get 3/3 on all encounters, so this is what I'm most stressed about.
2) used incorrect medical terminology in some patient notes. Anxiety got the best of me and I blanked on proper terms.
3) probably missed some obvious diagnosis, and felt like some of the encounters had a clear diagnoses and that my alternate diagnoses were very unlikely but still somewhat possible
4) Some of my work-ups were very short. I didnt pan-order labs (CBC's/BMP's/etc) if they didn't seem relevant or if they wouldn't help patient managment. But I'm not sure if that was a mistake or not. Idk if work ups are graded on completeness or just if they're reasonable enough.
5) some complaints were so vague that I hope that I was in the ballpark with my ddx
I feel like my encounters with the patients were overall good/passable, but my concern is that my documentation will be my downfall. Praying that I'll make it along with 95% of the other test takers, but the fear is definitely setting in.
Supposedly scores come out in a few weeks. Regardless of the outcome, I'll post my results.
If anyone has any opinions or other experiences comment below. Thanks and good luck to everyone else!!
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