Interview Dates

[TooMuchResearch]

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I cannot find any of the 2013 interview threads anymore. Not sure why.

I am trying to schedule Step 2 CK and am in a bit of a calendar bind. My school recommended I take the test in late December, as that time of interview season tends to be slow. Will some of the recently matched and possibly graduated, assuming you have the fine motor control to type, comment on the span of this past EM interview season and any perceived slow periods (i.e. no interviews from the week of Christmas through New Year's Day or something like that).

 

[Akail]

I cannot find any of the 2013 interview threads anymore. Not sure why.

I am trying to schedule Step 2 CK and am in a bit of a calendar bind. My school recommended I take the test in late December, as that time of interview season tends to be slow. Will some of the recently matched and possibly graduated, assuming you have the fine motor control to type, comment on the span of this past EM interview season and any perceived slow periods (i.e. no interviews from the week of Christmas through New Year's Day or something like that).

Is this what you were looking for? http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=950658

I think the bulk of interviews happen from november-january. I saw a couple programs interview as early as the last week of october and as late as first week of february. Not sure if there's a slow period...mostly just depends on when people want to schedule their interviews. I had 9 of mine done before december but I had friends that did their 10-13 solely throughout december/january.

Personally, I scheduled my step 2 before the interview period to just not have to deal with the scheduling complications. I felt pretty comfortable about both parts and would recommend it if you feel like your prep allows for it.

 

[spelledout]

most people that i knew did not have any interviews scheduled during the week of christmas/new years (though I personally had one two days after christmas, i was in the minority). I would say there was a brief lull during that time in terms of what is available.

You can also schedule your interviews in whatever method you want and, if you are planning on going to less than 20 (which is pretty hard anyway), you should have time to put CK anywhere you want. now whether you should schedule CK that late is different story and you will get many different opinions on that.

 

[EM2013]

I cannot find any of the 2013 interview threads anymore. Not sure why.

I am trying to schedule Step 2 CK and am in a bit of a calendar bind. My school recommended I take the test in late December, as that time of interview season tends to be slow. Will some of the recently matched and possibly graduated, assuming you have the fine motor control to type, comment on the span of this past EM interview season and any perceived slow periods (i.e. no interviews from the week of Christmas through New Year's Day or something like that).

Why are you taking the exam so late? December is NOT a slow time during the interview season. Why would you want to be studying during interviews and take the test around Christmastime and New Year's when you should be chilling with family and friends?

More and more EM programs are demanding to see the CK score by the time you come to interview. I recommend you take it before September if you have <240 on Step 1 and no later than early-mid October if >240. Why disadvantage yourself during the application process?

 

[TooMuchResearch]

Why are you taking the exam so late? December is NOT a slow time during the interview season. Why would you want to be studying during interviews and take the test around Christmastime and New Year's when you should be chilling with family and friends?

More and more EM programs are demanding to see the CK score by the time you come to interview. I recommend you take it before September if you have <240 on Step 1 and no later than early-mid October if >240. Why disadvantage yourself during the application process?

I am taking the exam late because I 1) do not have a gap in my schedule for exam prep and 2) have been told by multiple PDs that they don't need Step 2 prior to interview invites. The PDs I spoke with stated they really only care about USMLE scores to make sure they don't hire residents that will be unable to do well enough on exams to become BC EM docs. The gist was that as long as Step 1 is above 220ish, very few programs will have concerns about an applicants ability to pass board exams, so Step 2 can be put off until December if needed.

 

[Transmogrifier]

I have two concerns (well maybe 3) about taking it in December

- Studying around interview travel will be pretty impossible. If you really wanted to you could block out a few weeks for it but that's putting yourself at risk to not be able to go on some interviews.
- You will start forgetting more and more of the stuff from 3rd year the longer you wait to take it. I took it in September and had to really do a lot of refreshing on the material from my first few months of third year
- You may very well improve on your step 1 score. Why not take it in time to show it off?

 

[deleted547339]

Get step 2 behind you ASAP. It is a big relief. You only need a few days to study. I spent about 1-2h a day for a week and a half then had 2 weeks of dedicated study time. About 4 days into my devoted study time I was done.

You know the material and the amount you study will likely have very little influence on your score. It tests whether or not you learned the material during 3rd year.

Do 2 weeks part time studying while on a rotation that isn't brutal and get it done by the middle of October.

You DON'T want to have to turn down an interview at your "ideal" program because they only have 1 date and you have to take CK then. You would kick yourself.

 

[EPtoB]

I took mine at the end of September, right after having 2 months of EM (home and away) during Aug and Sept. I had >240 on Step 1. You would be surprised how much EM is on Step 2, so if you are studying for your rotation you are studying for CK. I just had to brush up on a few non-EM topics and I was pretty much set. Made about 10 points higher with 1/4 of the effort that I put into Step 1.

Agree with the above posters, don't take it in December. I had lots of interviews then, and it would have been really hard to schedule my interviews around CK.