Step II

[jmattwilson]

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So any ideas when the best time to take step II is. I am a third year and trying to get my fourth year lined out. My school seems to insist that we need to have step II in by november. There reason is residency programs may require it early for decision making. Do Surgical residency programs really care when step II is taken or what you make on it for that matter?

 

[njbmd]

Hi there,
Most programs make their decision to invite you for an interview based on your Step I score. I was asked about my schedule for Step II by most of the academic programs that I interviewed at. The community programs didn't care at all.

I took Step II in August of my fourth year so that there would be nothing between me and graduation. That was the best feeling! I took an easy AI in Radiology and studied a couple of weeks. It really doesn't take anymore time than that. (Much better than Step I)

njbmd🙂

 

[Astroman]

I'd take it early... Believe me, you will NOT get any smarter during your 4th year. Like njbmd, I studied during an easy elective in July and just got it over with. The only reason I would wait would be if I had done REALLY well on Step 1 and didn't want to risk doing worse on Step 2, or if you were going to blow it off (like many people do that take it late). But I think programs like to see you've taken both (and done well on both).

 

[Sachin]

I took my Step II and did well on it (went up from Step I significantly).. Many programs interviewed me because of my strong Step II and discussed it with me during interviews,

Sachin

 

[@70mphC2005--->]

Hey Matt,

Some schools want to see it done earlier like my school because they've had several people fail it and unable to schedule it through NBME before graduation date, supposedly they say. So these people graduated late as a result and had to arrange with the residency to start late or apply again later for match.
THey tell us the latest to take is December to avoid this.

 

[Bovie9]

I took mine in November, pretty early. I didn't get the result in time for the initial application, but I had it for most interviews.

What you can do is take it early, but opt not to release the score automatically. If you do well, release it as soon as you get your score. If your score will not contribute to your competitiveness, then hold it until after the match.