As promised, here was my experience: Passed Step 2 CS. Took it in philly on 9/10. AMG. Score was released in the second week of the reporting period at 11am EST. Permit disappeared after 9pm EST the preceding Sunday. FCVS stated pass on Monday morning.
ICE had several stars in borderline, while CIS and SEP were high performance. I found this strange because I felt that my notes and differentials were all of high quality, and was definitely more concerned about CIS coming out of the exam. Perhaps I was dinged on physical exams, because I only prioritized what I thought was absolutely necessary (did not listen to heart/lungs at all stations, minimal exam maneuvers at some stations) and focused more on thorough histories, "tell me your concern" type questions, and closures. Although this does give me confidence in the conclusion that this exam is sort of bulls*** because I behaved exactly the way I do in my hospital's ED (in terms of history, exam, and workup) and am consistently praised in that setting for thoroughness.
I went through about 30-40% of FA in the days prior to taking the exam and practiced 2 cases with a partner the day before. Most of the practice I did was in my hospitals ED/wards floor in the weeks prior to the exam (Sub Is).
Mistakes I remember making (although probably made quite a few more than this):
1) forgetting to provide tissues to a pt that was upset (was such an obvious act, i had trouble taking it seriously)
2) nearly laughing at a patient who told me a very ridiculous history (but i course corrected quickly)
3) running out of time on one station and not being able to close the encounter
4) forgetting to ask key history questions at 2 stations (realized while i was writing the HPI)
5) not copy pasting vital signs into all of my notes
6) providing vague closures at a significant number of stations
