Possibly signed up for CS too late?

[withoutface123]

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So I saw the email with my scheduling permit a while ago but it completely slipped my mind and I only just not got around to signing up for Step 2 CS, and got a date of November 3rd. I see from the reporting schedule that puts me right at the beginning of the period when scores will be "reported February 3 to February 24 2016". I have Step 2 CK scheduled for July 10, and my step 1 is 231, and I go to a US allopathic school with no red flags. Is this going to be a huge deal for psych programs?

 

[slappy]

Not at all. Don't worry about it.

 

[Psychotic]

A huge deal? Not "huge" in my mind, but you may feel differently when you find there are some programs that say they will not rank you without the score. I commented on another thread that I recall maybe one quarter to one third of the programs I applied to had this requirement (2 years ago) I applied to a broad cross section of programs, from "safeties" to "reaches." It turns out that I got my passing score in December so it didn't matter for me, but I remember being very paranoid about all of this.

How did I know which programs? I scoured the website of every program I planned to apply to and made notes. So don't be lazy and start asking questions here like "which programs...." because, well, it is lazy, but more importantly, reqs change and people have poor recall of these things. I know that I could not tell you which programs required it and which didn't, but I do remember that it made very little sense, or seemed very random, the programs that did this.

Finally, and I don't know this for sure, but I wonder if every program that says it requires the score for ranking actually follows through with it. I question it because I attended interviews at most of the programs in the fall, before my score came out, and I only remember one program emphasizing that they needed the score to rank. Maybe some PDs will chime in here about how hard and fast that req is, but my guess is that if you are a strong candidate with no red flags and a score history that suggests you will likely pass CS without much trouble, some of these programs may turn a blind eye to it.

One other thing: lots of my med school classmates going into other specialties did not seem to encounter this req nearly as much as I did in psych. Not sure if psych is somehow worse about it than other residencies...so don't extrapolate your classmates' experiences unless they are also going into psych.

 

[notdeadyet]

One other thing: lots of my med school classmates going into other specialties did not seem to encounter this req nearly as much as I did in psych. Not sure if psych is somehow worse about it than other residencies...so don't extrapolate your classmates' experiences unless they are also going into psych.

I have a hunch one of the big reasons for the psych emphasis on CS is the fact that CS is as close to a "how's your English really?" exam as we have in this process and the field gets lots of international applicants.

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

It would be interesting to look at programs that require CS vs. those that do not. It would be natural to think that the more competitive programs could afford to make CS a requirement, but I suspect this would not be the case. Most people don’t run into much trouble with the CS, and programs that are truly working with only the best applicants probably ignore CS. Places that have been burned with applicants not graduating because of the CS are the ones that learn to pay attention.

Very unlikely conversation:

“Here is an exceptional applicant from the Ivy league with a PhD, lots of research and scores that will knock your sox off!”

“Too bad he/she hasn’t passed CS.”

“Oh yah, too bad…next!”

 

[NickNaylor]

I took my test on December 1st and got my scores in time for the rank deadline. You will almost certainly be fine.

If you're that worried about it, scour the scheduling tool and change your date. I was originally scheduled for a January test date but was able to move my test back within a couple of days of registering by checking for openings a few times a day. I wouldn't rely on the e-mail reminders - actually login and see what's available.

 

[vanfanal]

I agree with the above. I've been waiting for an earlier CS date and the email reminders are unreliable. Just keep checking the site, multiple times daily,

 

[Freddie Mercury]

I took my test on December 1st and got my scores in time for the rank deadline. You will almost certainly be fine.

If you're that worried about it, scour the scheduling tool and change your date. I was originally scheduled for a January test date but was able to move my test back within a couple of days of registering by checking for openings a few times a day. I wouldn't rely on the e-mail reminders - actually login and see what's available.

Relieved to hear this. Because of the way my 4th year schedule/electives turned out, the only way I would have more than 1 week to study for CK was to take it mid November, and CS early December, and that's what the plan is right now. I really would have liked to get CS out of the way ASAP.

 

[Psych56]

Took mine dec 30 and I was fine!!

 

[bonvivant07]

If you want an earlier date then there is a way to get it. I used this based on a recommendation from someone else on the internet and it worked much better than email notifications.
1) Download Mozilla Firefox
2) Download the check 4 change extension
3) Go to the your CS Scheduling site and highlight the days you want checked ( Using the mouse, select the text you want monitored for changes.)
4) Select refresh time, the extension will refresh the page based on the length of time you set it to do so. (Right-Click. In the Check4Change context menu, select how often to check. The tab icon will indicate this page is being monitored by changing to C4C.)
5) Leave the Firefox page running in the background while you do other things. The extension will notify you whenever a new spot will open in that time period (which actually happens more often than I thought it would).

I did this every morning and just left it open the whole day while I studied. New days opened up and I would hear a sound notification. I noticed this was much faster than the email notification, since by the time I clicked on the link in the email the date would be gone already.

Good luck

 

[bonvivant07]

Another thing...
I actually opened up several tabs for different months and different testing centers and left them running (I think refreshing every 5 seconds or so) all at the same time, while I used Chrome to study and do my other stuff.

 

[HarryMTieboutMD]

I took mine Dec 26 and was fine. One program emailed me asking when I planned to take it, but other than that, no one really paid attention. The most annoying this is waiting for the result.

 

[enoughsaid12]

The only reason to really take it before december is so you can retake it if you fail before residency starts. Very few schools, if any, will ask about it during inteview season and a simple "i havent gotten my score back yet" is sufficient. You will most likely will do fine. But as a warning, I was a AMG with no red flags and I failed my step 2cs. Found out after inteviews but two weeks before ranks were due. I just kept my mouth shut, retook it 1 week after I got the fail back, and passed with flying colors the second time. Just dont blow it off, which was my mistake. I took mine a day after an interview that was on the otherside of the country, didnt bother taking a few days to read FA. I paid for it with undue stress and money. In the end, I matched at my top choice, it was just a gigantic headache.

 

[Psychotic]

The only reason to really take it before december is so you can retake it if you fail before residency starts. Very few schools, if any, will ask about it during inteview season and a simple "i havent gotten my score back yet" is sufficient. You will most likely will do fine. But as a warning, I was a AMG with no red flags and I failed my step 2cs. Found out after inteviews but two weeks before ranks were due. I just kept my mouth shut, retook it 1 week after I got the fail back, and passed with flying colors the second time. Just dont blow it off, which was my mistake. I took mine a day after an interview that was on the otherside of the country, didnt bother taking a few days to read FA. I paid for it with undue stress and money. In the end, I matched at my top choice, it was just a gigantic headache.

Hell, I took it in September and it still was an anxious wait for that early December score release. I remember sweating a no pass report, and worrying if I could schedule a retake in late Dec / early Jan that would produce a pass in time for programs to rank me. I seem to recall that it was very dicey on the scheduling...thank god I got that pass on the first go. The single greatest relief I felt all through the pre-med, med school, and intern year process, from MCAT to passing Step 3, was getting that CS pass.

My recommendation to people is to take CS as early as possible, like in MS3. Pushing it off to MS4 is not worth the anxiety during interview season. I have heard of programs that require students to take it early in MS3, and with the right kind of program support (practice patients, etc), that is entirely feasible.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

The only reason to really take it before december is so you can retake it if you fail before residency starts. Very few schools, if any, will ask about it during inteview season and a simple "i havent gotten my score back yet" is sufficient. You will most likely will do fine. But as a warning, I was a AMG with no red flags and I failed my step 2cs. Found out after inteviews but two weeks before ranks were due. I just kept my mouth shut, retook it 1 week after I got the fail back, and passed with flying colors the second time. Just dont blow it off, which was my mistake. I took mine a day after an interview that was on the otherside of the country, didnt bother taking a few days to read FA. I paid for it with undue stress and money. In the end, I matched at my top choice, it was just a gigantic headache.

Yeah, for the vast, vast majority of people, CS is just annoyance, but I've heard stories of random people who failed it who are otherwise smart, good applicants. With my anxiety around this type of stuff, I opted to take it in July of my MS4 year. Of course I was still stuck waiting 3 months for my score, which put me into early interview season -- jeez, that test is stupid. If you do take it later, definitely do some (not much) but some prep for it. Back in my day, FA was totally adequate. Understanding how you're scored and how you accumulate points is really the critical thing. Knock on the door, state the patient's name, introduce yourself, sit down, wash hands, drape, offer water if pt coughing, offer tissue if needed and so forth.

 

[Psychotic]

Yeah, for the vast, vast majority of people, CS is just annoyance, but I've heard stories of random people who failed it who are otherwise smart, good applicants. With my anxiety around this type of stuff, I opted to take it in July of my MS4 year. Of course I was still stuck waiting 3 months for my score, which put me into early interview season -- jeez, that test is stupid. If you do take it later, definitely do some (not much) but some prep for it. Back in my day, FA was totally adequate. Understanding how you're scored and how you accumulate points is really the critical thing. Knock on the door, state the patient's name, introduce yourself, sit down, wash hands, drape, offer water if pt coughing, offer tissue if needed and so forth.

The year I took it (2013) was under the new scoring format designed to raise the bar and increase the failure rate, raising my anxiety another notch.

By far my least favorite and the most worthless Step exam.

 

[NickNaylor]

The year I took it (2013) was under the new scoring format designed to raise the bar and increase the failure rate, raising my anxiety another notch.

By far my least favorite and the most worthless Step exam.

I was mildly amused at how fake the cases were.

There was also one SP when I took it that kept looking at himself in the mirror (he didn't have a shirt on). It was quite distracting.

 

[lockian]

Anybody else going into Psych who has an experience taking Step 2 CS in early January? Or snagging an earlier spot with check4change? I am currently stalking the scheduling website with the widget, but I don't even have my permit yet because I'm a ******* and didn't realize how hard it would be to schedule a date -- or that some places require it for ranking, for that matter.

The sense I got from talking to various people in my own dept of psychiatry and our office of the dean was that it comes down to how concerned programs might be that you won't pass. I am otherwise a no red flag applicant (one low pass in peds and a weird comment to the tune of "average communication skills" from a surgeon on my MSPE, but my other steps and grades are on the high end for psychiatry).

 

[withoutface123]

Anybody else going into Psych who has an experience taking Step 2 CS in early January? Or snagging an earlier spot with check4change? I am currently stalking the scheduling website with the widget, but I don't even have my permit yet because I'm a ******* and didn't realize how hard it would be to schedule a date -- or that some places require it for ranking, for that matter.

The sense I got from talking to various people in my own dept of psychiatry and our office of the dean was that it comes down to how concerned programs might be that you won't pass. I am otherwise a no red flag applicant (one low pass in peds and a weird comment to the tune of "average communication skills" from a surgeon on my MSPE, but my other steps and grades are on the high end for psychiatry).

I suppose I should update this thread with what happened after my original inquiry! I was still uneasy about having a November date, but every day for about a couple weeks I faithfully opened up the scheduler and fired up check4change, leaving it on in the background while I did other things. Finally, one day it paid off, and I snagged a spot on September 11, this past Friday. And I think it went decently! So the widget definitely works, but I'm under the impression that programs understand that sometimes scheduling this exam is the pits. In reviewing a bunch of psych programs app requirements, mostly west coast, I think I only saw a couple that required a CS pass in order to rank.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

It would be interesting to look at programs that require CS vs. those that do not. It would be natural to think that the more competitive programs could afford to make CS a requirement, but I suspect this would not be the case. Most people don’t run into much trouble with the CS, and programs that are truly working with only the best applicants probably ignore CS. Places that have been burned with applicants not graduating because of the CS are the ones that learn to pay attention.

Very unlikely conversation:

“Here is an exceptional applicant from the Ivy league with a PhD, lots of research and scores that will knock your sox off!”

“Too bad he/she hasn’t passed CS.”

“Oh yah, too bad…next!”

Well...just to play devil's advocate, suppose all of that research is in a lab, and the poor guy is "on the spectrum" so obviously that every other discipline has said "go to psych, they'll love you"? Or is a brilliant Chinese physician-scientist that can hardly put together 4 intelligible words in English?

Still, I'd think we'd catch that on the interview, with or without CS.

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

Good point, I know just what you mean by the on the spectrum lab guy. We had one applicant who was half way through a non-patient contact specialty when he became fixated on the idea of becoming a psychiatrist. Everyone told him not to do it and he did an elective rotation with us. To this day I have never seen any individual more uncomfortable communicating with patients. Not sure how that turned out.

 

[lockian]

Got an early November CS date that'll most likely get me a result by the time rankings are made. Thanks check4change!