Step 2 Timing

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ToasterThief

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I'm trying to figure out when to take Step 2 CK. Part of me wants to get it out of the way early, but I don't want to do that at the expense of bombing it. I did fairly respectably on Step 1 (low 240s) and will have a paper or two and a few posters, but nothing really stellar. Would taking Step 2 CK early benefit me or should I stick to my original plan and take it in October? If I take it in October would that allow me to e-mail program directors if I do well?

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Has this changed at all? Would taking step 2 ck in october still be an advisable thing in 2013 in the rad onc match process?
 
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Went through this process last year. Moved my Step 2 date 3 times and eventually took it in late February. Unless you want to go to UCSF, no need to take it early.
 
Has this changed at all? Would taking step 2 ck in october still be an advisable thing in 2013 in the rad onc match process?

Didn't take it until February and it wasn't mentioned once. I think the general rule of <240ish take it early, >240ish hold off still applies.
 
Went through this process last year. Moved my Step 2 date 3 times and eventually took it in late February. Unless you want to go to UCSF, no need to take it early.

I'm just a little conflicted because I've been told what you just said by residents but was told by an actually RD to have it done and scored by ERAS submission time on Sep 15th. :confused:
 
I'm just a little conflicted because I've been told what you just said by residents but was told by an actually RD to have it done and scored by ERAS submission time on Sep 15th. :confused:

15+ interviews with 6-20 faculty at each one and I think one person mentioned it. So 1/200 cared enough to ask. :)
 
15+ interviews with 6-20 faculty at each one and I think one person mentioned it. So 1/200 cared enough to ask. :)

Well that settles it. Greatly appreciate your input Sheldor and Hye :thumbup:
 
I scored well on Step 1 but wanted to get Step 2CK out of the way. I took it June 14th, 4 weeks after finish internal medicine clerkship. I know this could have been a dumb move, but I improved from step 1 score (step 1>250, step 2>step 1). I think if you take the test seriously, you will end up doing better than step 1, especially if you had been doing well on shelf exams.

As long as you don't do worse, I imagine taking 2CK with results would benefit an applicant (at least I hope so)
 
This has been discussed MANY times before on this site. There is no hard and fast rule but the bottom line is in general there is no benefit for anyone taking step 2. It doesn't matter what you got on step 1 in most cases. Step 1 is generally used as a screening tool in Rad Onc and virtually no one will look at step 2 if they don't like your step 1 score. Basically no one cares about step 2, good or bad. Everyone's score goes up because the grading looks the same as step 1 but its really not. The mean on step 2 is generally 10-15 points higher than step 1. If you do 5 points higher on step 2 than step 1 you likely dropped pretty far in your percentile range. There are a ton of ridiculous step 2 scores out there so its real hard to impress anyone assuming they even look at it.

Don't listen to advisors or people outside of rad onc when it comes to step 2. Its very different for many other fields.

Just take it when you feel like it.
 
Just take it when you feel like it.

Probably the best advice, with the addendum that the earliest you take it is at the point where the score would be released after you submit your eras and you check to manually release scores.

This is the best of both worlds. Did great? Release it and everyone will see it. Did poorly? Don't release it and nearly no one will bring it up.

The people that take it before this are brave, in my opinion. Like someone somewhere said to me, "Even Jordan had off games."
 
"Even Jordan had off games."

Someone else may have said it, but I told you last year that "Even Labron doesn't score 40 every night" :D

That's what one of my advisors told me. So true...
 
You mangled nothing in my mind. This is Carolina country and they would crucify you because, well, to them Jordan DID score 40 every night. I love saying Lebron is the best ever in front of choice people here and seeing where that goes.

But for anyone who did watch the finals this year go look up Lebrons stats from game 4. They are very different from the rest. Everyone has bad days. I killed steps1 and 2 and then got a very peds and OB heavy step 3 and SCAPED by. I know a few people that had similar issues on step 2. Don't risk it.
 
I've been grappling with the decision of when to take Step 2, so this thread has been really helpful! I'm taking a year off between 3rd and 4th year and was wondering if anyone had any advice with regards to Step 2 timing. I did well on Step 1, so I want to instinctively push Step 2 off to post-ERAS time, but I've heard from a lot of non-rad onc people that it may look bad on the interview trail if I still hadn't taken Step 2 and it was 1.5 years past the end of my 3rd year. I'm assuming this may not be true for rad onc.

Any advice from people recently on the interview trail or other students who took a year off to pursue research, other degrees, etc? Thanks!
 
I've been grappling with the decision of when to take Step 2, so this thread has been really helpful! I'm taking a year off between 3rd and 4th year and was wondering if anyone had any advice with regards to Step 2 timing. I did well on Step 1, so I want to instinctively push Step 2 off to post-ERAS time, but I've heard from a lot of non-rad onc people that it may look bad on the interview trail if I still hadn't taken Step 2 and it was 1.5 years past the end of my 3rd year. I'm assuming this may not be true for rad onc.

Any advice from people recently on the interview trail or other students who took a year off to pursue research, other degrees, etc? Thanks!

From someone who took a year off - I 250% recommend taking step 2 (CK and CS) before you start your year off, regardless of your Step 1 score. You have the maximum amount of applicable knowledge you will ever have by the end of your third year rotations, and after your year off you will have to study harder to recall it. The farther you get out from peds, OB, psych, etc. the more difficult it will be. You also will NOT feel like taking it then. If you did well on Step 1 and third year, you're realistically not going to bomb step 2. Just get it over with.
 
From someone who took a year off - I 250% recommend taking step 2 (CK and CS) before you start your year off, regardless of your Step 1 score. You have the maximum amount of applicable knowledge you will ever have by the end of your third year rotations, and after your year off you will have to study harder to recall it. The farther you get out from peds, OB, psych, etc. the more difficult it will be. You also will NOT feel like taking it then. If you did well on Step 1 and third year, you're realistically not going to bomb step 2. Just get it over with.


I had no questions about step 2, took it in December, and will not have scores back by rank list time (I think). That being said, it was hard to study for it, as SJM001 said.
 
I had no questions about step 2, took it in December, and will not have scores back by rank list time (I think). That being said, it was hard to study for it, as SJM001 said.

Agreed here... I actually just got my score back yesterday. I had Step 1 low 240s and decided to take it in December so I could release it before rank list was made if necessary. Ended up with 11 interviews all at decent places and not a single person mentioned Step 2. I actually lost a lot of motivation to bust my ass once I got the interviews. If you get the interview... then in general you are good enough on paper already. My score actually went down from Step 1 (oops!)... so I won't be releasing it. Unless you bombed Step 1 or are gunning for UCSF, there is probably more potential for it to hurt than help. But you should take it before the end of December so you get your score mid-January in case someone does want to see it...
 
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