Upcoming Dec 5 score report day (step 2 CS)

[medicine0509]

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Who has taken CS within the past 2-3 months and NOT received a score report yet? Let's set the cutoff to at least 1 month ago...

I took on October 8 and have not received mine yet... anyone out there take it earlier than Oct 8 and still no result?

 

[emboli]

I think the answer to your question is everyone.

http://www.usmle.org/step-2-cs/#reporting

I took in on 10/1 btw.

 

[justdoit31]

I took mine on 9/18 and am hoping I get the score back this week!

 

[woeiru]

Can't confirm this means anything, but there may be a cheat for figuring out if your score is going to be released later today...

Previously, when I tried to register for CS I got a message saying that I had a current CS appointment open couldn't register for another until my score had been reported. As of 12:30am today, the site allowing me to register once more. I'm still not able to see a score report, but I'm hoping this change in status means that it will be coming later today. (Important note: If you try, you can reregister for any steps you have previously completed. Just because it is allowing you to register doesn't mean you failed and need to repeat it.)

Good luck everyone!

 

[silentreader]

what time is your Validity Period for CS?

 

[woeiru]

Until April 2013

 

[emboli]

Got the email. But no report yet

 

[WiseGuy1]

Got the email. Score report available. Pass!

 

[woeiru]

Passed!!!! Took it end of October.

Because I found it comforting to read other people's mistakes while I've been freaking out for the past month. I passed (rather highly actually) despite having:
1. Missed counseling one patient about Alcohol use
2. Completely missing the top diagnosis for 2 patients
3. Not ordering a few really basic tests that should have been ordered on a number of patients
4. Answering a "challenge question" on a peds case very vaguely
5. Having a patient react poorly to one of my questions (not sure if this was planned or not)
6. Not entirely resolving two counseling things that came up with patients before time ran out.

...I mean obviously don't do those things intentionally, but you definitely can make mistakes and still pass with an easy margin.

 

[JETER]

Passed here, too. And also by a wide margin.

This was singularly the most stressful thing I think I have ever done. I was sure I failed this SOB, and was even looking at prophylacticly scheduling my re-do just so I could get a good date.

To echo above, I too made horrible mistakes, including a minor panic attack during one of the encounters, multiple blanks in the DDx during the writeup, and one interesting patient in which I got off on an tangent on hormone replacement therapy for about 8 minutes, and forgot to (a) take a passable Hx and (b) examine the pt. This was my last pt, and I think at that point, my give-a-damn was all spent. I still somehow passed. What a f'ing waste of 2 grand.

I'm off to induce hepatic inflammation and fatty vacuole deposition. It's 5-o'clock (GMT).

 

[K31]

Passed!!!! Took it end of October.

When in October? I took it 10/26 and haven't heard anything yet. I feel pretty confident, and have always received good reviews on my school's standardized patient exams, but still...

 

[woeiru]

When in October? I took it 10/26 and haven't heard anything yet. I feel pretty confident, and have always received good reviews on my school's standardized patient exams, but still...

PM'ed you

 

[justdoit31]

Passed! Took it 10/18 (I think I put 9/18 earlier when I was sleepy)... had a very wide margin on the pass too (all way in high pass with 2 off the chart)

Hope everyone else got good news!

 

[NTF]

Passed. All three sections way above the borderline bar. My mantra for the exam was that the scoring rewards completeness vs. accuracy/perfection. I just made sure I hit all the sections (HPI, PE & Wrap-up) quickly without stressing about missing one or two things in the process. For PE I did uber-quick (ie in seconds) CV, Pulm, Abd (no fancy maneuvers, just auscultation and/or palpation) for each pt and added ONLY ONE targeted system exam if the CC required it (hypothetical examples - HEENT for URI/PNA, M/S for joint pain, Neuro for acute HA) I left every room early so I had more time to write the note. I bulletpointed every HPI and didn't try to write everything, just the highlights. Made sure I had the at least the minimum DDx and Tests for each note. I likely totally missed the mark on at least 2-3 rooms but collected plenty of "points" just cuz I had something in each column.

And of course, introduced myself, washed hands, offered drapes, quick sympathetic comments ("sorry to hear xxx").

My preparation was 30m of skimming an old copy of FA Step 2 CS. Also our school has an in-house version of CS-like exam we have to pass to graduate.

Congrats on all who passed. Good luck to everyone else!

 

[silentreader]

passed

took it on Oct 31

 

[Omizzle]

Took CS in the end of September. Passed with higher performance in CIS and ICE and a * in SEP. I am a 4th year Caribbean student. Prepared with FA for 2-3 weeks. Practiced some cases in 4-5 sessions with a friend on skype and read the cases multiple times on my own. I was very worried as I felt I made several stupid mistakes - mostly d/t the stress of being on the spot.

I will mention a few of them to ease the nerves of others who are feeling the anxiety I felt afterwards.

1. Made a few misdiagnoses and/or thought of better ones afterwards.
2. Barely filled out the supporting findings fields next to the possible diagnoses d/t lack of many physical findings in many cases!
3. Forgot to examine some vital things - ie. sensation in a limb injury.
4. Was unconsciously clicking my pen during at least one (probably more) encounter (the SP looked at it-bringing it to my awareness)
5. A few stupid mistakes in my patient notes ie. ordering an X-ray of the wrong part of the body in one case (darn anxiety!)
6. Wrote HEENT a couple times when I had not done a complete HEENT exam.
7. Didn't counsel possibly 1-2 smoker/drinker patients.
8. Forgot to take a complete menstrual history in a patient with a very warranting complaint.
9. Ran out of time in 2 cases and was unable to summarize.

What I did right:
1. Counseled/reassured most patients appropriately
2. Asked "Anything else?"
3. Wore gloves each time
4. Showed empathy-more so in my tone of voice and facial expressions rather than saying "I am sorry to hear that" each time like a robot.
5. Summarized the history to patients in their own words.
6. Made patients feel comfortable and helped them through shyness when taking a sexual history or asking personal questions.
7. Made good eye contact throughout.

My advice is to do what you can to calm the nerves beforehand. We all know what we need to do as we have all had many patient encounters before. However the stress can set in and dumb mistakes are made. After each encounter, forget about it!! Don't let a sub-par encounter stay in your mind and mess up the next one. The test is overall very strait forward. Speak clearly and simply, be kind, and after the test, when you get out and start thinking of all the things that you forgot to do, suppress it!! Most likely you will be fine.

 

[K31]

When in October? I took it 10/26 and haven't heard anything yet. I feel pretty confident, and have always received good reviews on my school's standardized patient exams, but still...

Got my score today. Passed by a wide margin. This was with studying FA the day before. My school has us do lots of standardized patient exams, so I felt comfortable with the format.

 

[ar2388]

passed even though i made up an entire MSK exam and never looked into anyones ears even if they had ear fullness, etc as a complaint... and passed by a good margin too 🙂

 

[OPTIMISITIC]

Please advise if CVS and lungs auscultation should be done in all cases? I find it time consuming in all cases and if i will add them, then i could get short of time for closures. What to do? USMLE website also says only focused physical examination should be done.