To take usmle step 2 or not

[Obtuse illness]

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DO student here. I took usmle step 1 last year, got an average score. Then I rocked the comlex. So now the second round of exams is coming,and I have the comlex PE and written scheduled in August. I'm expecting to do just as well this time around. My question is, does anyone have experience with allopathic residencies requiring step 2 if our comlex score is really good? I'm not scared to take it, it's just with 2k spent on the PE (including flight and hotel) and five hundred on comlex, I'd really like to not take it it if possible. With the practice exams and everything it just adds up. I'm going to go into primary care in the allopathic match if that helps. Thanks guys.

 

[bays]

i would contact the programs that you're interested in and see what they say. i called around to the program coordinators and they were very helpful... it ended up convincing me to take the usmle. but i think generally it depends on what residency you're going into, what part of the country you hope to do residency in, and whether or not they've taken DOs in the past.

 

[tom10]

As said, it really depends on what you are trying to do. If you want to do something like community IM or FP, don't worry about it. Also, I would not expect to do better on Level 2 compared to Level 1. Average score is still 500 while the usmle is not averaged so you could get more questions right on Level 2 and end up with the same score or lower.

 

[Stedari]

If you are doing family medicine then you should be fine with good COMLEX scores. Save yourself the money.