Scheduling question for fourth year and step II

[justinbaily]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I'm having a very difficult time deciding when to schedule Step II. The deans at my school recommend that everyone take the test ASAP regardless of their situation because they think that that is when we will be most prepared, but my advisor recommends that I put it off until further into the application season because he does not believe that it will help my application. My indecision is currently messing up my fourth year scheduling.

For reference I have a 260 for step one, AOA, Gold Humanism, A's on all clerkships with one left, some decent extracurriculars and some non-radiology research but no publications.

My current options would be to take Step 2 in July after finishing third year clerkships, an AI in medicine and 4 weeks of required 4th year IM rotations, or at the end of September after a large gap between the end of rotations with a lot of DR and IR research time. My advisor thinks that the main thing I need is research and that using time to study for the step would be time better spent publishing. My main concern is that the July date would get me the most prepared, but it would sacrifice research time and my score would be available. With the September date, I would probably not be as well prepared, but I would have done more research and I would not have to immediately release.

Any advice would be strongly appreciated.

 

[DonnaChang]

Personally, I would not immediately release under any condition. You just never know what could happen, although for someone like you, I doubt that you wouldn't do well (and even if you didn't, that it would even really matter).

My stats were somewhat similar to yours, and I took mine at the end of September (during my primary care month). Honestly, yes, it would have been slightly easier to have taken it fresh out of 3rd year, but I still did well on it and didn't feel like the questions that I thought I missed on the real test would have been things that I knew during 3rd year but had forgotten.

Not too many places I interviewed at cared about Step II--maybe 4 total (3 rads and 1 TY). You could probably even take it in October if you had time (I wouldn't start banking on November, because it might conflict with interviews).

I'd take CK September/October, but definitely get CS out of the way as early as possible. I did, and I was really glad. There is a long score delay (3 months for most people this year), so if you take it too late in the year, you won't have your grade (P/F) back in time for match in case your program needs it. Also, after having done a bunch of rads rotations, my brain was a little mushy working up some of the patient cases. It requires very little prep (esp if you're coming off 3rd year), and it'll become such a pain in the butt later on. Just do it and knock it out.

 

[Doctor D]

It won't help you much since your step 1 is great but it could hurt you if you score 10+ points lower. It could affect final ranking decisions at some programs regardless of if you take it in July or September. I would study 2-3 weeks and knock it out. Almost everyone improves.

 

[Trastuz]

I second DonnaChang. It won't help you cause you are already baller. Could definitely hurt you if you have a bad day.. Unlikely but why risk it?

Not to derail the thread but what's the deal with admins pushin hard for early step 2? At my school it was the exact same story you described, despite the rads PD telling them otherwise. Kinda frustrating - they were all over me til I took it.