Medical School Students
To be eligible for Step 1, Step 2 CK, and Step 2 CS, you must be officially enrolled in a medical school located outside the United States and Canada that is listed in IMED, both at the time that you apply for examination and at the time you take the exam. In addition, the "Graduation Years" in IMED for your medical school must be listed as "Current" at the time you apply and at the time you take the exam. An authorized official of your medical school must certify your current enrollment status; instructions will be provided at the time of application for examination. As soon as you graduate and receive your medical diploma, you must send two photocopies of your medical diploma and one full-face, passport-sized, color photograph to ECFMG (see Provision of Credentials and Translations). The photograph that you send must be current; it must have been taken within six months of the date that you send it. A photocopy of a photograph is not acceptable.
In addition to being currently enrolled as described above, to be eligible for Step 1, Step 2 CK, and Step 2 CS, you must have completed at least two years of medical school. This eligibility requirement means that you must have completed the basic medical science component of the medical school curriculum by the beginning of your eligibility period.
Although you may apply for and take the examinations after completing the basic medical science component of your medical school curriculum, it is recommended that you complete your core clinical clerkships, including actual patient contact, before taking Step 2 CK and Step 2 CS.
If you have passed the former ECFMG CSA, you are not eligible to take Step 2 CS, except under certain, well-defined circumstances. Eligible circumstances include: taking Step 2 CS to permanently validate an expired CSA examination date for the purpose of entering U.S. GME (see Validity of Examinations for Entry into Graduate Medical Education), taking Step 2 CS because your most recent performance on a clinical skills exam (CSA or Step 2 CS) is a failing performance (see Official Performance of Record for Examinees Retaking a Previously Passed Step in the USMLE Bulletin of Information), and retaking Step 2 CS to meet a time limit (see Reexamination and Reapplication and Retakes in the USMLE Bulletin of Information).
ECFMG reserves the right to reverify with the medical school the eligibility of medical school students who are registered for an exam. If your medical school informs ECFMG that your status has changed, and ECFMG determines you are no longer eligible for examination, your registration will be canceled. When a medical school does not participate in the ECFMG Medical School Web Portal (EMSWP), ECFMG's reverification of the status of the school's students may include ECFMG sending a written request for reverification by postal mail to the medical school. If such reverification is requested by ECFMG, ECFMG may cancel the student's registration or withhold the student's score report until ECFMG has received reverification of the student's status directly from the medical school. If your registration is canceled, you may be required to reapply.
