Worried that I failed Step 2 CS

[amphatoast21]

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I just took Step 2 CS and it was a disaster, mainly because I slept so poorly the night before. For one of the patients, time was called and I panicked and abruptly left the room (without saying bye) after giving a summary and answering a challenge question. Will this lower by CIS score by a lot? I'm really worried about the CIS part, especially since it seems to be graded subjectively. I'm worried about having to pay $1500 again and how a failure will affect my match.

 

[amphatoast21]

Thanks for the reassurance. That definitely wasn't the only mistake I made, and I'm worried that the patient thought I was being rude by leaving abruptly. I should've closed with at least a bye, but at the time I wasn't sure if that would be irregular behavior to say something after time was called. It was just a really dumb mistake that I could've prevented if I got more sleep. The time leading up to my score release will be torture.

 

[NYCdude]

People keep dogging this test yet 5% of people fail. That seems like an awfully high number for what is touted as the "know English and you'll ace it" exam.

 

[Planes2Doc]

People tend to focus on only the few things they did wrong, never the many things they did right.

 

[W19]

People keep dogging this test yet 5% of people fail. That seems like an awfully high number for what is touted as the "know English and you'll ace it" exam.

2-3% have failed in the past few years, with 4% in the 2017 'performance data'. That % will keep creeping up so NBME can have a justification for that exam...

 

[NYCdude]

I'm absolutely not suggesting that this exam is "know English and you'll ace it." Certainly don't mean to suggest not preparing for it or not worrying about having a routine you got through for every patient. Yes, you should read FA and practice with SPs/classmates and come up with a routine/mnemonic for your history and physical and all that jazz.

What I AM saying is that there is room to make lots of minor mistakes and even a couple big mistakes, so don't worry about that after you've already taken the test. Even if you royally screwed up, there's no benefit at all to freaking out until your test score comes back - though I absolutely know that's easier said than done. And like I said - after the fact, if you know enough to know what you did wrong, you're probably fine.

And in fact if you look at a lot of the posts here of people who failed, it's almost always "I have no idea what I did wrong, I don't know how this happened" type of stuff. And the people who can list 25 different things they screwed up usually come back and say they passed (I did!).

Sorry if I sounded like I directed my post at you, I was just making a general statement based on posts that I've seen.

Also, I'm pissed off because I have to take this thing in 2 weeks and have absolutely no motivation to study for it lol.

 

[deleted103644]

I just took Step 2 CS and it was a disaster, mainly because I slept so poorly the night before. For one of the patients, time was called and I panicked and abruptly left the room (without saying bye) after giving a summary and answering a challenge question. Will this lower by CIS score by a lot? I'm really worried about the CIS part, especially since it seems to be graded subjectively. I'm worried about having to pay $1500 again and how a failure will affect my match.

As long as you washed your hands, you’re fine.

People keep dogging this test yet 5% of people fail. That seems like an awfully high number for what is touted as the "know English and you'll ace it" exam.

That sounds like a reasonable approximation of the % of people who take that test without a firm grasp of English.

 

[atomi]

I didn’t study for this exam. Literally just read instructions on usmle website. I passed but was borderline in a couple of areas. If you studied at all you probably passed. Try not to worry.

 

[atomi]

As long as you washed your hands, you’re fine.



That sounds like a reasonable approximation of the % of people who take that test without a firm grasp of English.

I have a friend from Europe who is a absolutely brilliant. Destroyed step 1 and 2ck. He studied for months and months for CS. He has a fair command of English. Not great, but he can hold his own in daily conversation. Uses the wrong word sometimes. He failed.

Considering I didn’t study at all and passed and and was an average medical student nowhere near my friend, I do really think it’s mostly a communication exam.

 

[W19]

As long as you washed your hands, you’re fine.



That sounds like a reasonable approximation of the % of people who take that test without a firm grasp of English.

The SEP part has a > 99% passing rate... It would be a high number if 4% of US med students didn't have a good enough command of the English language to be able to pass CS. I am a US grad who does not have great command of the English language and I passed CS on 1st attempt; my SEP was way to the right. I think the ICE is the most difficult part of the Exam.

 

[PickleRick19]

That happened to me on one encounter too, wasn't a big deal. You did the right thing in leaving the room anyways because if you overstay and try to keep talking that could possibly get you in trouble. Also, I made a ton of other mistakes too and passed comfortably. There's a thread somewhere where I listed all of my mistakes, and trust me it was a lot haha. Everyone I know who freaked out about the exam and could recall all of their "mistakes" passed with flying colors. I know of one or two people who failed, and those people walked out feeling good and couldn't think of a single thing they did wrong. I think cj_cregg is right, if you're that aware of your mistakes, it means you were also prepared enough to know what you were supposed to do and thus probably did enough things right anyways to pass. Hang in there!