Having a hard time studying for Step 2...

How many other people have 260+?

Lots.

How many of them will rock step 2?

Lots.

How many things does that give them above what you have if you don't also rock it?

At least 1.

Get studying!

 

Every little thing helps, I agree Step 2 isn't as important as Step 1. But it won't look good to have a significant drop from Step 1 -> Step 2

 

For schools that require it, it's usually a result of a institutional-based requirement for ALL residents (from any specialty) to have passed Step 1/2CS/2CK before ranking them. They want to avoid the awkward position of having a ranked intern/resident who fails these exams and isn't able to advance to intern year/residency. So, they're mainly looking for a pass on Step 2 CS and CK at the very least.

For actual ranking purposes, I think programs have trouble using Step 2 CK scores as "most" schools will only have them available for a small number of students by match time and thus it can be difficult to be used for comparison. Step 1 is an easier metric because that is available from ALL applicants. Certainly a score much higher or lower than your Step 1 could make a difference, but judging from my classmates.... your performance on Step 2 usually mirrors your performance on Step 1 in 90% of cases...as they're both relatively similar exams in the broader sense.

For actually worrying about studying for the exam.... Step 2 CK studying is generally low yield. You've been taking shelf exams and working in clinics for greater than 12 months now and that's where most of your knowledge-base is going to come from (not from 2-3 weeks of studying...that's just integration time). I remember being bored for the 3 weeks I took to study for it, just because I had already seen the material so many times before. I don't think you need to do better than your Step 1 (if you have a 260, that's hard to accomplish), but I'd try and avoid a significant lower score (i.e. don't score in the 220s or maybe even 230s).

But, I would't sweat too much. The vast majority of programs won't see your score anyway at this point.

 

The only programs I know so far that require Step 2 seem to be UCSF and Cleveland Clinic.