thoughts on releasing step II ck scores

[tonyc1726]

just got my ii ck score back, got a 99 but my raw score was actually 3 points lower than step i. ive interviewed at pretty competitive programs so i was wondering if this would help or hurt my chances. i know that obviously no one here can tell me that answer but just wondering what you would do or have done in this situation. thanks

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[SocialistMD]

If your 2-digit score is 99, why on God's green Earth would you think that would hurt you? Did you post here four years ago asking if you should retake the MCAT because you only scored a 42-44 and didn't nail that 15 on the Physical sciences? Give me a break; there will be no harm in releasing your score.

These threads are funny in the Allo forums, but if you seriously have to ask this question in the surgery forum, I wonder about your maturity in matching for surgery more than your intelligence.

 

[tonyc1726]

appreciate your condescending opinion. i'm obviously happy with the score itself but everyone says you should do better on step II unless you just wing it so my worry is that programs will read into that. is having a high score going to help me more than having a worse score than step i going to hurt me? seems like a pretty legitimate question.

 

[SocialistMD]

appreciate your condescending opinion. i'm obviously happy with the score itself but everyone says you should do better on step II unless you just wing it so my worry is that programs will read into that. is having a high score going to help me more than having a worse score than step i going to hurt me? seems like a pretty legitimate question.

I disagree. You know your Step 1 score was great, and you probably had little room for improvement. Those improvement guidelines are more for people who have Step 1 scores in the average to slightly-above average range. Again, you do not fall in that range and, more importantly, you know you don't. Statistically, your score is the same, so no, it won't make a difference. You came off as either (a) someone who does not have the common sense to understand that having a through-the-roof Step 1 score is not hurt by having a through-the-roof Step 2 score that, while a few points lower, is still in the same statistical range or (b) an arrogant punk who is rubbing it in the face of 99% of the population who did worse than him by feigning concern over a score that most people would dream to have. I assume that most people who score that high have at least enough common sense to not fall into category (a), so you can see from where my "condescending opinion" originated. Then again, you know what they say about making assumptions...

Good luck with the match.

 

[Blade28]

Programs only look at the two-digit score anyway.

 

[SocialistMD]

Programs only look at the two-digit score anyway.

Perhaps at most programs, but not at all. I saw the sheets made up for the applicants to our program and it containted the three-digit scores.

 

[Blade28]

Perhaps at most programs, but not at all. I saw the sheets made up for the applicants to our program and it containted the three-digit scores.

Well that's a good thing!

The unfortunate problem is that many older PDs and attendings still think of the two-digit score as the "percentile," which is of course incorrect.

 

[Winged Scapula]

yeah, ours used the three digit scores as well.

 

[Bill_Brasky]

i still don't get the two-digit score, but my 91 sounds more impressive than a 219 so I'll gladly go with that I guess.

can anyone enlighten why a program would use one over the other?

 

[Blade28]

A 99 is easy to understand.

But no one seems to know the max three-digit score.

Is it 350? 325? 300? 290? 275?

The two-digit score may have represented a percentile back in the day, but it long ago was converted into a scaled score.

 

[TXSurgResident]

I have absolutely no idea what the two digit score represents.. to me the dude that got a 99 makes me think of Gretzky.

When we interview people, we get a sheet with what the candidate's three digit score is, and how that compares to the national average overall and in G-surg. If the step I score is great, then we're not generally interested in step II (unless its a huge drop- so if you did well on step 1, I would blow off step 2 'till after interviews).

If the step I score is not hot, but the step 2 is great, then we'll take the better score.

If step I is not hot, and step II is worse... major red flag... not prohibitive... but you got some 'splainin to do.

To echo Socialist's tirade... you can score a 260 on the exam but if you come off as an arrogant jackass in the interview (or at the social event) and rub someone the wrong way (interviewer, secretary, resisdent's SO you talked to) enjoy your residency somewhere else. I have watched it happen.

 

[jubb]

3 points is nothing in the three digit scale. That's an acceptable margin of error and nothing to be ashamed of. I did 3 points better on my Step II score, but I just assumed they'd be lumped together as being consistent between basic science knowledge and clinical knowledge. Who wants to go to a program that is that up tight anyways? Release the score and relax, you did well.

Justin