Assuming rest of application is very strong
Does step 2 ck score matter or just pass
- Thread starter bd4727
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Everything matters. This matters less than a lot of things.
Score trend is important. Get a 215 on Step 1 and a 230 on CK? Nice job. Get a 240 on Step 1 and a 215 on CK? Houston we may have a problem.
Score trend is important. Get a 215 on Step 1 and a 230 on CK? Nice job. Get a 240 on Step 1 and a 215 on CK? Houston we may have a problem.
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No one can answer this question other than individual PDs, and even then the answer only applies to that individual PD. Some probably yes and some probably no. The problem is, you are never going to know which PD is which. The better use of your time would be to focus on the things you can control, like not getting a mediocre score on Step 2.
You have nothing to lose from studying and doing well on Step 2 except for some free time. You have lots to potentially lose by blowing it off and not scoring well.
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Score trend is important, and it's important to keep in mind that the mean person goes up 15 points. So if you get a 240 on Step 1 and a 240 on Step 2, you actually did almost a full standard deviation worse on the second exam than the first (it's a little bit more complicated b/c the standard deviations of the two tests are different, but I'm not calculating z scores 😛)
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Well if you send it late in the Spring you will have already matched (or not) and it will be irrelevant.
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Many programs seem to want to see it before rank lists go in, though, if only to be 100% certain that you will pass before going to residency.
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I am crossing my fingers that a good step 2 ck(250+) will help more in my overall ranking as I feel like it did not help me much in getting interview invites.
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I am well aware of that. My point was that s/he said "Late Spring" at which point, it will be irrelevant.
But yes, if a program needs it to rank you, you're stuck with releasing it and letting the chips fall where they may.
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Having a decent step2 ck score will help with competitive fellowships too. For ex. Albany cardiology fellowship has a "USMLE I, II, III (minimum of 240 on your first attempt)" policy on their website. During my card application process, most places don't have this kind of requirement or at least not posted online.
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people care about Step III scores?
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Maybe. I feel that by the time you're applying to fellowship there are a lot more important things in your application like where you did residency, your LORs, your research... It is kind of weird that albany of all places has a minimum requirement for step I-III
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most places I interviewed (20+) made it awfully clear they would rank without a passing step 2 CK in hand... CS was a bit more forgiving but I would want that in to
I mean c'mon students, get real, you HAVE to have passed Step 1 Step 2 CK & CS in order to start work in June. Period. (to get a temporary license to practice medicine under supervision, the one you need as a intern most states to my knowledge require those 3 passing scores). Do you think in February the PDs looking over the 10 people for every 1 slot they have that they interviewed that they are that interested in people who they have no idea if FOR SURE they can start work in T minus 4 months? Compared to the slews of people they have scores in hand and they know NOW from a score persepective that they are ready to rock n roll come June? If you match in March and THEN they find out you failed CK or CS, 3 months with the scheduling and scoring cycle being what it is does not leave a lot of leeway for that student to become employable by the time residency starts, and one fail can always lead to another. That can be the biggest f*show ever for a program. So I can tell you right now a lot of them just won't bother ranking you or will put you dead last if they don't have that score.
I mean, why in the hell would they **** with it? they wouldn't
so you didn't need to get those step 2 CK and CS scores in to get invited for interviews necessarily, but do yourselves a f*ing favor and make sure they're in before the program's rank list deadline (which by the way is a different date than yours, theirs comes a bit sooner)
and if you are getting them late as soon as you get those passes email each and every one of those programs an update because even auto-releasing the scores you don't know if they are going to re-download the ERAS data and see them
as far as what that score is, while they always say step 1 is more important partly because it is considered more difficult, a poor showing on Step 2 CK raises an eyebrow seeing as it is more clinically oriented and a lot of that I'm sure they are legitimately hoping you know starting internship as you'll be using some of it (whereas as an intern you will not use the step 1 tested knowledge of how many subunits are in a ribosome I guarantee you). I may be wrong too that CK is generally looked at as a greater predictor of how you'll do on Step 3, which every program is definitely worried about because non-passes of Step 3 intern year = cannot get unlimited license for 2nd year = hole in coverage as you try to get your PGY1 to PGY2 LATE due to need for retesting
you should always delay a step if you are in danger of failure because NO SCORE is better than FAILED then PASSED, but you are better off with a mediocre pass than a total question mark come rank list time IMHO
hope this helps somewhat
TLDR:
for ****'s sake don't fail a step
that said, for ****'s sake get all 3 scores passed and in to programs before ranking or risk total career disaster that is failure to match
try to do well on Step 2
how much does a crappy Step 2 hurt you? can't worry about that kids got to get it passed and submitted in time so do what you can and get it done
I mean c'mon students, get real, you HAVE to have passed Step 1 Step 2 CK & CS in order to start work in June. Period. (to get a temporary license to practice medicine under supervision, the one you need as a intern most states to my knowledge require those 3 passing scores). Do you think in February the PDs looking over the 10 people for every 1 slot they have that they interviewed that they are that interested in people who they have no idea if FOR SURE they can start work in T minus 4 months? Compared to the slews of people they have scores in hand and they know NOW from a score persepective that they are ready to rock n roll come June? If you match in March and THEN they find out you failed CK or CS, 3 months with the scheduling and scoring cycle being what it is does not leave a lot of leeway for that student to become employable by the time residency starts, and one fail can always lead to another. That can be the biggest f*show ever for a program. So I can tell you right now a lot of them just won't bother ranking you or will put you dead last if they don't have that score.
I mean, why in the hell would they **** with it? they wouldn't
so you didn't need to get those step 2 CK and CS scores in to get invited for interviews necessarily, but do yourselves a f*ing favor and make sure they're in before the program's rank list deadline (which by the way is a different date than yours, theirs comes a bit sooner)
and if you are getting them late as soon as you get those passes email each and every one of those programs an update because even auto-releasing the scores you don't know if they are going to re-download the ERAS data and see them
as far as what that score is, while they always say step 1 is more important partly because it is considered more difficult, a poor showing on Step 2 CK raises an eyebrow seeing as it is more clinically oriented and a lot of that I'm sure they are legitimately hoping you know starting internship as you'll be using some of it (whereas as an intern you will not use the step 1 tested knowledge of how many subunits are in a ribosome I guarantee you). I may be wrong too that CK is generally looked at as a greater predictor of how you'll do on Step 3, which every program is definitely worried about because non-passes of Step 3 intern year = cannot get unlimited license for 2nd year = hole in coverage as you try to get your PGY1 to PGY2 LATE due to need for retesting
you should always delay a step if you are in danger of failure because NO SCORE is better than FAILED then PASSED, but you are better off with a mediocre pass than a total question mark come rank list time IMHO
hope this helps somewhat
TLDR:
for ****'s sake don't fail a step
that said, for ****'s sake get all 3 scores passed and in to programs before ranking or risk total career disaster that is failure to match
try to do well on Step 2
how much does a crappy Step 2 hurt you? can't worry about that kids got to get it passed and submitted in time so do what you can and get it done
