4th year-- SubI vs CK

[ilovedc]

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Hi,

I will be applying to EM this coming fall...scared and excited! I am confused about SLORs and CK.

I want to match in California, stay close to family. My step 1 was sub par--low 220s, I have been told that to be competitive in California, I should take the step 2 and do well.

My last rotation is IM and I will be trying to study as much as I can but its a busy service (we get 1 day off a week)

My question is should I take 6 weeks off after 3rd year to study for CK ...giving me time for only one SubI before applications are due or should I take 3 weeks to study and do 2 SubIs so I can apply with 2 SLORs?

Please advice. I would appreciate any help
Thank you!

 

[gutonc]

My question is should I take 6 weeks off after 3rd year to study for CK ...giving me time for only one SubI before applications are due or should I take 3 weeks to study and do 2 SubIs so I can apply with 2 SLORs?

Do people really do this?

CK is much easier than Step 1. And you didn't do all that poorly on Step 1.

3 weeks is more than enough time to spend on Step 2 (both parts). Assuming you've paid attention in M3, a 10-20 point bump on CK should be par for the course. Actually spend some time and study for it and you should be golden.

 

[sylvanthus]

6 weeks is overkill I think.

 

[mybubbles14]

definitely thought the range of study time for step 2 was 2-4 weeks...with most people being in the 3-4 range. 😕 I'm taking mine right after medicine as well, but with a little over 3 weeks off for studying.

if you managed to do "sub-par" and get low 220s on step 1 with ~6 weeks, you probably don't need to take the same amount of time for this one...

 

[John Lannister]

How many hours a day / days per week are you guys studying 6 weeks for?

That does seem like overkill.

 

[Transmogrifier]

I don't know anyone that studied for more than 4 weeks. Most classmates studied for 2 or 3 and then at about half the pace of Step 1.

What have your shelf grades been? Have you been using UWorld during 3rd year? Studying hard for the medicine shelf will give you a huge leg up on studying for Step 2 right after.

 

[EM2013]

Six weeks for CK?! That's more than I took for Step 1.

I agree with gutonc. Study as much as you can during Medicine - a ton of the CK material is medicine anyway. Take 3 weeks and study your ass off then do 2 Sub-I's and apply with 2 SLORs

 

[justin8818]

I only had two weeks between 3rd and 4th year. Studied for CK one whole week and then went to the beach the other week. I was in a similar position to you, I had low 220's on Step 1 and finished third year on my medicine block. Increased my score 13 points with that little amount of studying and was glad to get it out of the way. I would say study for a couple weeks, relax a week and then crush two Sub-I's and get two good SLORs.

 

[NERDY]

I did EM in July & Sept. Took Aug off for step 2 CK/applications. Can you take step 2 between the two rotations? My step 2 CK score was released end of Sept.

 

[spelledout]

6 weeks is definitely overkill, especially coming off of medicine. my school recommended 4 weeks and i regret doing that much time. i ended up just using it as a mini vacation and studied about 4 hours a day/5 days a week.

i think ck is important, especially if you're not thrilled with your step 1 score. get it over with and you will feel better about yourself. i was in the same boat as you with step 1 score, improved on ck quite a bit and i think that really helped get interviews.

also if you know you want to match in cali - do your aways there (which you probably already know).

 

[EMME]

Agree with most posts. I took 6 weeks for step 2 and ended up peaking at the end of week 3. My world q bank score went from 80% after 3rd week to 65-70% at best by the end of week 5. I was worried about scheduling it too soon and not being ready, but if your finishing up on medicine, things will be fresh I your mind and you'll do well.