Late Step 2

[CandidateofDerm]

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I have a problem. I received a score of 250 on step I so I was going to try and take step II late at the advice of PD. My school won't allow it though. We must have step II completed by the end of September (no excuses). Does this hurt me (I feel it does) and when should I take it. Should I take it immediately following my third year so that I am most up to date with information. Or should I wait until late September to take it on the off chance that I can somehow "withhold" my score. I am not really sure what the timelines are so I don't know how to play this out. Which offers the best advantage to me? Thanks for the advice guys!

 

[Dermocrat]

Hmm...September is crraaazy early for a deadline.

In that case, you really have to try and maximize your score. If you can do a sub-I and your home derm rotation in July and August, and then take September off to study, or take a light rotation, that might work. It would get a little more complicated if you decided to do any aways in derm, but you could still make it work. You don't HAVE to do a sub-I before you take step 2, but it helps.

Anyone else?

 

[Mariah246]

if you scored 250 on step 1, it's rather hard to go down in step 2

i say take it early when the material is fresh and pound step 2 like 1

 

[scumbagderm]

take step 2 as early as possible. The further away you get from those shelf exams the harder it is.

 

[dermgoblin]

Why can't you click the box in ERAS that says not to report scores and then who cares if you drop a little on step 2? That's what I (and several of my classmates that were taking it early) did and nobody brought it up in interviews.
If for some reason you needed to kill Step 2 because step 1 was an issue then you can't do that, but you don't have to worry about that.

 

[CandidateofDerm]

Why can't you click the box in ERAS that says not to report scores and then who cares if you drop a little on step 2? That's what I (and several of my classmates that were taking it early) did and nobody brought it up in interviews.
If for some reason you needed to kill Step 2 because step 1 was an issue then you can't do that, but you don't have to worry about that.

This is a very interesting idea. So you actually did do this and nobody brought it up? Do residency programs know when I have taken step II/have my score? Because if I take it in July (closest time to when I finish third year) and don't release it by the time applications roll around (September?) then wouldn't that look funny like I am hiding something (which I might be).

If not it seems like I could just take it as early as I can (positive in terms of info) and not release it unless it is better or the same (positive in terms of not hurting me)...? I don't know, it seems like there has to be a catch or else this is what everyone would do instead of waiting until all step 2 pertinent information dribbles out of your head later in the year.

 

[dermgoblin]

Yeah you can do it, but I don't think you can retroactively, through ERAS, choose to send your scores if you do well. The reason is, you choose to either not release scores or release them in ERAS, then they download your app at some point(October or whatever) and generally they don't download it again. Although some programs will redownload for updates, most don't.

And yes, I did it this year and haven't matched yet obviously but got interviews and nobody brought it up. Good luck.