MD & DO Importance of Step 2 CK in IM application

[TrueRenegade]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I keep getting mixed answers on this, was wondering what the importance of Step 2 CK in IM residency admissions? How does it compare in importance to clinical grades?

Thanks!

 

[DocInFuture]

Intern here.
It is definitely important. You just want to show consistency and CK is mostly IM material.
In relevance to your clinical grades, if shelf exams played a big role in your grade then it will prob correlate with you CK score to an extent.

CK is not as hard to study for as step 1. Take about 3-4 weeks and you should be fine.

 

[Stilla7238]

Not important at all, it's a joke compared to Step 1 and everyone does well on it

No part of this statement is remotely true... CK is definitely important to IM programs since it focuses more on clinical reasoning. However, this year might be a little bit different because of the pandemic and PROMETRIC/USMLE's handling of administering the board exams.

 

[ciestar]

No part of this statement is remotely true... CK is definitely important to IM programs since it focuses more on clinical reasoning. However, this year might be a little bit different because of the pandemic and PROMETRIC/USMLE's handling of administering the board exams.

Not to mention my CK exam was like 75-80% IM

 

[TrueRenegade]

No part of this statement is remotely true... CK is definitely important to IM programs since it focuses more on clinical reasoning. However, this year might be a little bit different because of the pandemic and PROMETRIC/USMLE's handling of administering the board exams.

How will the pandemic affect the way schools see scores? I feel it would remain the same in value (or even more in light of Step 1 transitioning to P/F, as well video interviews shifting the focus towards numbers more). Since a lot of people do not take Step 2 CK before interviews anyways, I feel not much will change.

 

[Frogger27]

Most people I know are taking Step 2CK this year since ERAS is pushed back ~6 weeks and people just want to get it over. n=1 but this notion that less people are taking step 2 is not the case at my school

 

[Stilla7238]

How will the pandemic affect the way schools see scores? I feel it would remain the same in value (or even more in light of Step 1 transitioning to P/F, as well video interviews shifting the focus towards numbers more). Since a lot of people do not take Step 2 CK before interviews anyways, I feel not much will change.

My thought was that they would be more forgiving of people who don't have scores and will not require it for an interview. Some have said with all the stress from the pandemic and a lot of the political strife going on, they'd be more forgiving of poor scores, but i call BS on that.

Regardless, there's been a pretty big trend of placing more focus on CK especially per the PD of my home IM program and some of the virtual IM programs meetings i've watched, so this year might be more favorable for folks who do poorly on CK. However, if you have the score and it's a great score, then it's only an asset like before.

 

[MDMechEngr]

Intern here.
It is definitely important. You just want to show consistency and CK is mostly IM material.
In relevance to your clinical grades, if shelf exams played a big role in your grade then it will prob correlate with you CK score to an extent.

CK is not as hard to study for as step 1. Take about 3-4 weeks and you should be fine.

LOL. Step 2 CK will get alot harder eventually now that Step 1 is P/F.

 

[hawthorn9797]

Step 2 CK was literally ranked of higher importance than Step 1 for both interview selection and rank order list by the 2020 PF survey.... what are you guys talking about lol

 

[PugsAndHugs]

For what it’s worth, one IM PD told me on an interview last cycle that Step 2CK is more important than Step 1, but both are very important.

 

[AceMedBoards]

Step 2 CK has been given much more weight the last 2-3 years from what we have heard. Definitely is important, and given the PD survey you can see it's even more important than step 1 is!