Step 2 CS
Started by Lazyeye9
It's pass/fail. Enough said
I just wanted to chime in that if you're waiting to take Step 2 CS because you're trying to find time to study for it, don't. It's a near-useless exercise that you will almost certainly pass if you are the type of applicant considering ophthalmology. Spend 2 or 3 hours with the "First Aid for CS" book and then take it. Communicating decently in English gets you 2/3 of the points on the thing. It's trivially easy to pass. No idea about screening for ranking but I doubt it since everyone knows it's absurdly easy to pass.
The scoring of it changed this year and nbme released that last year around 20% rather than the mere 5% would have failed based on the new grading. Still not a huge deal but it might be different now.
Here's the link that describes the change:
http://www.usmle.org/announcements/default.aspx?ContentId=110
"If the new minimum passing requirements were applied to the group of first-time examinees who recently tested under the new examination structure, the overall passing rate for examinees from US medical schools would be approximately three percent lower and the overall passing rate for examinees from international medical schools would be approximately eighteen percent lower."
http://www.usmle.org/announcements/default.aspx?ContentId=110
"If the new minimum passing requirements were applied to the group of first-time examinees who recently tested under the new examination structure, the overall passing rate for examinees from US medical schools would be approximately three percent lower and the overall passing rate for examinees from international medical schools would be approximately eighteen percent lower."
They are trying to do anything possible to keep the test relevant so they can charge $1200-$1300 to poor medical students. This article from the NEJM gives some perspective: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1213760
I think this is the real issue. That study showed that the test is basically irrelevant except for IMGs. If they keep it around it should only be required for foreign medical school graduates since basically no US medical grads are screened by it. My guess though is that it is much like legislative inertia - once this sort of thing is started it's very hard for the entrenched system to be overturned.
I agree. The test is warranted for IMGs, but not for US students. US medical school admissions already weed out most potential docs with language or personality issues.
