Best time to take step 2 CS and CK?

[sorcerer365]

Hey SDN, thinking of applying for ophtho and I have a quick question: when is the best time to take step 2 CS and CK? I am a 3rd year right now and I will be finishing 3rd year mid-june and hopefully starting aways in July. Some people say it's important and others say it is not, I can't really tell anymore. I got 263 on step 1 for reference. Thank you!

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[Newyawk]

Hey SDN, thinking of applying for ophtho and I have a quick question: when is the best time to take step 2 CS and CK? I am a 3rd year right now and I will be finishing 3rd year mid-june and hopefully starting aways in July. Some people say it's important and others say it is not, I can't really tell anymore. I got 263 on step 1 for reference. Thank you!

If you have free time and you are confident you can do well on CK and CS, i would take it earlier rather than later. If youre worried about underperforming on CK based on practice scores, most would say to delay it until the fall. People who did very well on both dont seem to be fairing much better than those who did well on just step 1. Kind of stupid that students arent given much credit for doing well on a test thats arguably just as hard but thats how it currently stands, it seems.
On the flip side, if you arent too sure about ophtho and end up changing your mind, a good CK score will help you a lot with other fields.