Anesthesia and Step 2 question

[Treyno1]

I'm a current ms3 and plan on applying to anesthesia. I am having trouble on deciding when to take step 2. I did well on step 1 and scored a 259/99. I would ideally like to take the step 2 early with most of the material from 3rd year still fresh and with hold my scores in case things didn't go as well on step 2. If you take the test in July and with hold scores, do most schools ask about your step 2 score during interviews or require the score to rank you? I understand that a lot of people that do well on step 1 just take the exam in January after interviews and don't even have to worry about this but unfortunately my school requires that you "post an attempted score by January 31st of your 4th year". So my second question is, would it be better to take step 2 early or wait until november/decemeber in midst of interview season and try to take it then? Any response is appreciated.

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[shift_roro]

You won't be able to withhold your Step 2 score if you take it in July, because the USMLE transcript is sent in its entirety when you submit your ERAS (September 1st).

Since Step 2 score reports typically take about 3-4 weeks, the earliest you can take it (and have your score withheld) would be mid-August, assuming you submit your ERAS on or very close to September 1st. Also, you would have to make sure to check the box that says you do NOT want your USMLE transcript automatically updated.

I took mine at the end of September with basically your plan in mind, i.e. hold scores if I don't do well, but still have the option of releasing it if it's the same or better. Ended up being better so I released it in October, so all my interviewers had both scores by the time I interviewed. I've heard that occasionally some will ask when you plan to take Step 2 if they don't see a score, but I think with your Step 1 score, no one is going to be that concerned about it. I have heard that some programs do want to see at least a passing score by rank time (early Feb) however, although not an explicit requirement.

Hope that helps and congrats on the awesome Step 1 score!

 

[Bertelman]

I'm just going to throw this out there: if you scored a 260 on Step 1, I really don't think you have much to worry about. Even if you drop 20 points, you'll still be well above most candidates.

"Trey, could you please explain why you plummeted from the 99 percentile to the 95 percentile between Step 1 and 2?"