Desperate for help and advice

[confusedguy]

Hi, I just found out I failed ck for the second time, I have submitted eras for fm, I passed step 1 with 212 and cs already. Us img, is there any point of hoping to match, any point of retaking ck?

Any advice would be appreciated

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[jurassicpark]

Hi, I just found out I failed ck for the second time, I have submitted eras for fm, I passed step 1 with 212 and cs already. Us img, is there any point of hoping to match, any point of retaking ck?

Any advice would be appreciated

Hi, I know you're in a tough position and upfront this will be a huge uphill climb. Not impossible, but will be very hard. You've already made it this far, assuming you're a fourth year medical student? At this point for the current match I don't think it's possible without passing CK.

I think you need to step back and figure out what has been going wrong that made you fail CK twice over now. I'm assuming you passed Step 1 and CS on the first try, and assuming no other red flags in your application like failed classes/rotations something's gone wrong. You need to find out what that is an address it with a vengeance before taking it on again, because you shouldn't just pass it, you should hit a home run.

Matching in the future will be difficult for sure, more so as a US-IMG. Not impossible mind you, but honestly very very difficult. I've seen US-IMGs match with multiple board failures on their jacket. But they are far from the norm. If this is what you want, you'll need to pull out all the stops for Step 2 CK, Step 3. Apply broadly, hopefully during your clinical rotations you made a great impression. And make sure you're doing something productive with your time as well, research, etc. Best of luck!

 

[rokshana]

Hi, I just found out I failed ck for the second time, I have submitted eras for fm, I passed step 1 with 212 and cs already. Us img, is there any point of hoping to match, any point of retaking ck?

Any advice would be appreciated

As a IMG you will need to have a passed ck to participate in the Match...if you can’t retake, with confidence that you can retake and pass in the next few weeks .
Frankly, you would be better off withdrawing for this year...get your ducks in a row for next year...ot will give you the time to focus on ck and pass it...your step I score isn’t great so you will need a really good ck to make up for it.

 

[Small Cell Carcinoma]

Get off SDN and go look up "all-out" programs for this upcoming cycle. Do this like today if possible. There are quite a few of them and they take students outside of ERAS and you can write the program expressing your interest. Your app is likely to get passed over with the failed CK on ERAS but a friend of mine in a similar predicament matched into a new community FM program this way. Good luck

 

[confusedguy]

As a IMG you will need to have a passed ck to participate in the Match...if you can’t retake, with confidence that you can retake and pass in the next few weeks .
Frankly, you would be better off withdrawing for this year...get your ducks in a row for next year...ot will give you the time to focus on ck and pass it...your step I score isn’t great so you will need a really good ck to make up for it.

So I was 2 points short of passing. I can think of 10 straightforward questions I messed up on, I did submit my application to retake ck. I am fairly confident I can pass ck, because I had passed it in every nbme and uwsa. I wouldn't have taken ck otherwise. I feel like I already have 2 months of preparation behind me, and taking longer might prove to be counterproductive.

 

[confusedguy]

Hi, I know you're in a tough position and upfront this will be a huge uphill climb. Not impossible, but will be very hard. You've already made it this far, assuming you're a fourth year medical student? At this point for the current match I don't think it's possible without passing CK.

I think you need to step back and figure out what has been going wrong that made you fail CK twice over now. I'm assuming you passed Step 1 and CS on the first try, and assuming no other red flags in your application like failed classes/rotations something's gone wrong. You need to find out what that is an address it with a vengeance before taking it on again, because you shouldn't just pass it, you should hit a home run.

Matching in the future will be difficult for sure, more so as a US-IMG. Not impossible mind you, but honestly very very difficult. I've seen US-IMGs match with multiple board failures on their jacket. But they are far from the norm. If this is what you want, you'll need to pull out all the stops for Step 2 CK, Step 3. Apply broadly, hopefully during your clinical rotations you made a great impression. And make sure you're doing something productive with your time as well, research, etc. Best of luck!

Hi, thank you for your reply. Yes, I am 4th-year student, finished all my rotations. the only thing that is holding me back is the CK, and I wouldn't have attempted ck if I wasn't sure I would pass, but I didn't. I had studied 2 months exclusively for it, I was passing every NBME and assessment I took, but in the real exam, It was not to be. No other red flags in my application, besides the CK.

 

[confusedguy]

As a IMG you will need to have a passed ck to participate in the Match...if you can’t retake, with confidence that you can retake and pass in the next few weeks .
Frankly, you would be better off withdrawing for this year...get your ducks in a row for next year...ot will give you the time to focus on ck and pass it...your step I score isn’t great so you will need a really good ck to make up for it.

i was 2 points away from passing it, so I am fairly confident of passing it. I was supposed to get a very good score considering my NBMEs and assessments, not to be.

 

[confusedguy]

Get off SDN and go look up "all-out" programs for this upcoming cycle. Do this like today if possible. There are quite a few of them and they take students outside of ERAS and you can write the program expressing your interest. Your app is likely to get passed over with the failed CK on ERAS but a friend of mine in a similar predicament matched into a new community FM program this way. Good luck

I am on it.

 

[rokshana]

So I was 2 points short of passing. I can think of 10 straightforward questions I messed up on, I did submit my application to retake ck. I am fairly confident I can pass ck, because I had passed it in every nbme and uwsa. I wouldn't have taken ck otherwise. I feel like I already have 2 months of preparation behind me, and taking longer might prove to be counterproductive.

It’s not about just barely passing ck...it’s about the timeline...even if you took it tomorrow...you won’t have the results for 3 weeks...so mid November? Most invites are given fairly early in the season...and who knows what is going to happen this year...if you didn’t HAVE cs , you potentially could still get interviews...but with TWO failed ck attempts...? lots of places are gonna hold until they see a passed score...and the later in the season, the less interviews are available.
If you have already spent the money, o guess you could let it ride, not dont be surprised if you do t get a lot of IVs.

 

[confusedguy]

i see y

It’s not about just barely passing ck...it’s about the timeline...even if you took it tomorrow...you won’t have the results for 3 weeks...so mid November? Most invites are given fairly early in the season...and who knows what is going to happen this year...if you didn’t HAVE cs , you potentially could still get interviews...but with TWO failed ck attempts...? lots of places are gonna hold until they see a passed score...and the later in the season, the less interviews are available.
If you have already spent the money, o guess you could let it ride, not dont be surprised if you do t get a lot of IVs.

i see your point, I was hoping to have my results back by the end of November, if I take it in 3 weeks, the results take 2 weeks to come back. I have to try to match, I feel like this year might be my best chance. I am not sure what else i can do, but to try my heart out and get the best score that i can.

 

[jurassicpark]

i see y

i see your point, I was hoping to have my results back by the end of November, if I take it in 3 weeks, the results take 2 weeks to come back. I have to try to match, I feel like this year might be my best chance. I am not sure what else i can do, but to try my heart out and get the best score that i can.

Also, it's not just about passing it. "Just" passing is also a bad place for you to be in. You failed it twice. Something is evidently not clicking. As a US-IMG you're already under significant handicap to match. You need to knock it out of the ballpark and plus some.

 

[Goro]

i was 2 points away from passing it, so I am fairly confident of passing it. I was supposed to get a very good score considering my NBMEs and assessments, not to be.

This is a dangerous thought process, because whether you were two points away or a 100, you failed to demonstrate minimal competence, much less any mastery of the material.

 

[candbgirl]

i was 2 points away from passing it, so I am fairly confident of passing it. I was supposed to get a very good score considering my NBMEs and assessments, not to be.

But you failed it twice despite that you think you were “ supposed to get a very good score ...!” You didn’t get a very good score. Don’t be cocky-a third failure would be catastrophic.