MD Is 7 full days of studying enough for Step2CS?

[BigSkyMontana45]

I am a US MD that is now scheduling my Step2CK and CS exams. The best timing I can get right now is scheduling Step2CS 8 days after my CK exam. I plan to take a day off, and then spend 7 full days studying. I plan to just read through FA thoroughly once over and take some notes. Is this enough preparation for a US MD? If not, please share how long you prepared. I keep on reading horror stories about students from top school failing CS and is freaking out a bit.

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[sazerac]

7 days is enough, but practice a few scenarios on another person, using the YouTube videos to simulate the timer announcements.

Also use the official website for filling out notes, and fill out several patient notes under timed conditions. You may have luck filling out the patient notes in reverse order (starting with labs & diagnoses, ending with HPI and PE). It seems to save time to do them this way.

 

[mcworbust]

7 days is enough, but practice a few scenarios on another person, using the YouTube videos to simulate the timer announcements.

Also use the official website for filling out notes, and fill out several patient notes under timed conditions. You may have luck filling out the patient notes in reverse order (starting with labs & diagnoses, ending with HPI and PE). It seems to save time to do them this way.

^^^This is what I did as well, but crammed in over 2 days plus a travel day right before test, and I think it went fine. 7 days would've been real chill!

Just be careful on test day when you fill from bottom to top when they call time to quickly scroll to bottom and hit submit, so you don't get warning for taking 'extra' time. Having to scroll to the button is so dumb...

 

[NickNaylor]

A few years ago, CS was a cakewalk. I spent about a week reviewing a CS review book - I don't even remember which one - and thought that was more than sufficient. There was only one case that wasn't completely straightforward.

 

[BigSkyMontana45]

A few years ago, CS was a cakewalk. I spent about a week reviewing a CS review book - I don't even remember which one - and thought that was more than sufficient. There was only one case that wasn't completely straightforward.

So has it gotten a lot harder? The USMLE Step2CS website performance data shows the passing rate is stable at around 95-97% for 1st time US MD takers for the past 5 years.

It seems like every week there is someone posting on SDN shocked that they failed this test.

 

[mcworbust]

So has it gotten a lot harder? The USMLE Step2CS website performance data shows the passing rate is stable at around 95-97% for 1st time US MD takers for the past 5 years.

It seems like every week there is someone posting on SDN shocked that they failed this test.

It may have gotten a bit harder, but if you have good clinical training and if you perform well on your school osce's as a USMD then it really shouldn't be a problem. When I read thru the mini cases and main cases in step 2 CS FA, there was very little that surprised me and very little that I couldn't think back to a patient I had seen and had to figure out how to manage/what to do. Now, if most of your rotations were shadowing and/or if you didn't try to take an active role, then this test might be harder.

One of the habits I had to stop (from time on rotations) was including what red flags had been ruled out or less likely and why. The CS only cares about what you think it IS and what supports that. This and the timing, for me, were the most difficult, but the content was like second nature due to solid clinical experiences. If I remember correctly, only 1 of my differential diagnoses out of all 12 cases was something "new" I learned in the review book and used on test day, everything else was learned on rotations. Best of luck

 

[Raryn]

I am a US MD that is now scheduling my Step2CK and CS exams. The best timing I can get right now is scheduling Step2CS 8 days after my CK exam. I plan to take a day off, and then spend 7 full days studying. I plan to just read through FA thoroughly once over and take some notes. Is this enough preparation for a US MD? If not, please share how long you prepared. I keep on reading horror stories about students from top school failing CS and is freaking out a bit.

7 hours is enough.

 

[NickNaylor]

So has it gotten a lot harder? The USMLE Step2CS website performance data shows the passing rate is stable at around 95-97% for 1st time US MD takers for the past 5 years.

It seems like every week there is someone posting on SDN shocked that they failed this test.

When we were transitioning into MS4 (and, thus, getting ready to take Step 2), out clinical skills course directors sat us down and gave us a scary-sounding talk about how the fail rate for CS has gone up and it's no longer a test that you can just blow off. I have no idea what they were basing this off of - perhaps a spike in fail rates? - but I personally didn't find the test difficult. I agree with the above in that as long as you have been paying attention on your clinical rotations, can communicate with patients at a minimum level of competency, and have a minimum degree of skill in your clinical exam skills, you will be fine. I thought all of the cases I had were pretty straightforward except for one - and I was by no means the strongest medical student ever.

 

[mcloaf]

More than enough. I spent the train ride to the city reading first aid for CS and the evening before the exam going through scenarios with a friend. Assuming you were well prepared during third year you should be fine.

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[jw3600]

7 minutes is enough.

 

[BigSkyMontana45]

There has got to be someone in here who either failed or almost failed (got all borderline) with these kinds of attitudes. Anyone in here thinks I DO need the full week to study?

 

[PhillyMed777]

There has got to be someone in here who either failed or almost failed (got all borderline) with these kinds of attitudes. Anyone in here thinks I DO need the full week to study?

Yes, take the week. It seems like you have the time and why not be safe? Go for it.

 

[mimelim]

7 hours is enough.

7 minutes is enough.

7 minutes is not enough, 7 hours is too long. And google was unhelpful at finding another unit of measure for time that would fit this schema -.-

 

[sliceofbread136]

There has got to be someone in here who either failed or almost failed (got all borderline) with these kinds of attitudes. Anyone in here thinks I DO need the full week to study?

The way I looked at it was that studying and practicing could at most cost me the few hours that I put into it. Not studying had the risks of hurting my residency chances drastically, costing more than $1000 and wasting oodles of time. I say for the next week you read through the tips in FA for step 2 cs, memorize a good ROS pneumonic and find someone willing to do a couple practice cases a day with you.

Worth putting in the little effort to ensure not failing

 

[Raryn]

7 minutes is enough.

You should have a few hours to go through first aid for CS within the day or two before. There's plenty of little nuances you might not think of (draping, etc) that seem to be considered important on CS.

That said, if you went to school in the states and speak English fluently, a dedicated study week is absurd

 

[educ8r]

memorize a good ROS pneumonic

Sorry in advance, pet peeve of mine. Mnemonic. Silent M. Nothing to do with air.

 

[sliceofbread136]

Sorry in advance, pet peeve of mine. Mnemonic. Silent M. Nothing to do with air.

Cool.

 

[W19]

So many scary posts in SDN, so I am taking a full 2 wks to study for that test... Better be safe since I am taking it very late i.e. won't have time to retake it and got result back before ROL if I fail the 1st time.

 

[W19]

So has it gotten a lot harder? The USMLE Step2CS website performance data shows the passing rate is stable at around 95-97% for 1st time US MD takers for the past 5 years.

It seems like every week there is someone posting on SDN shocked that they failed this test.

Well, I just looked at it and it has been around 96-98% for the past 5 years. I almost signed up to take a class for it because of so much hysteria in SDN about that test.

United States Medical Licensing Examination | Performance Data

 

[NWwildcat2013]

Do you need to dedicate full days to this exam? I was planning on just studying during evenings during an MS4 rotations.

 

[sliceofbread136]

Do you need to dedicate full days to this exam? I was planning on just studying during evenings during an MS4 rotations.

Nah you definitely don't.

 

[BigSkyMontana45]

Does anyone recommend the UWORLD videos for Step2CS or the CSEvideos.com?

 

[EM2Be2017]

It all depends on how well you generally do in the OSCE's. If you are someone who has a history of remediating or barely passing the OSCE's, then you obviously should put in more time. If you are average to above average in these skills, you will likely not need to do much.
At the bare minimum I would look through FA to see what is expected of you. For example, I wouldn't have known we need to provide counseling to every patient if I hadn't read it in FA. It would also be a good idea to run through a few practice scenarios with classmates so you can work on your timing and remembering to complete the specific physical exam maneuvers.
For me, every scenario was very straight forward. The complaints are ones that you will have seen a bunch of times. Make sure you are comfortable doing a quick, focused H&P and write a note rather quickly. Don't forget to ask about red flags and consider the do not miss dx's. After the test I was a little worried because I didn't do any of the "extra" maneuvers such as chest percussion, egophony etc, but I had no trouble passing.

 

[Required--Field]

I am a US MD that is now scheduling my Step2CK and CS exams. The best timing I can get right now is scheduling Step2CS 8 days after my CK exam. I plan to take a day off, and then spend 7 full days studying. I plan to just read through FA thoroughly once over and take some notes. Is this enough preparation for a US MD? If not, please share how long you prepared. I keep on reading horror stories about students from top school failing CS and is freaking out a bit.

Does your school have an OSCE? If so, I would suggest taking it as soon as possible following your school's clinical exam. I felt well prepared following the clinical exam at my school, but I must admit I felt nervous prior to beginning CS. Take a quick read through First Aid for CS. I studied for 2 days prior to the exam. If you can obtain a good patient history and come up with 3 decent differentials and diagnostic plans (and speak English) you will have no problem. Good luck!

 

[cbrons]

All the older residents need to stop offering advice. The exam is nowhere near as easy mode as it used to be and they are failing more people these days. My school had 10% first time failure rate (U.S. M.D.) because the admins and older residents were all like, "Well you speak English so I guess you'll pass". It is not like that anymore.

No you dont need to take a class or anything but studying for a day is a very stupid thing to do. If you fail this test, you'll paying $1,700+ for the privledge of repeating it.


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[738177]

All the older residents need to stop offering advice. The exam is nowhere near as easy mode as it used to be and they are failing more people these days. My school had 10% first time failure rate (U.S. M.D.) because the admins and older residents were all like, "Well you speak English so I guess you'll pass". It is not like that anymore.

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Can someone with multiple failures in this exam still match into a primary care residency?
I was under the impression that it's really only step 1 and step 2 CK that most residencies care about.

 

[cbrons]

Can someone with multiple failures in this exam still match into a primary care residency?
I was under the impression that it's really only step 1 and step 2 CK that most residencies care about.

What is "multiple"? Meaning 2? 3? 4?

Failing the exam once wont exclude you from FM for the most part, but failing any part of the USMLE more than 2 to 3 times puts you in danger of not being able to obtain a medical license, as some states have limits on how many attempts at each step you can have.

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[W19]

All the older residents need to stop offering advice. The exam is nowhere near as easy mode as it used to be and they are failing more people these days. My school had 10% first time failure rate (U.S. M.D.) because the admins and older residents were all like, "Well you speak English so I guess you'll pass". It is not like that anymore.

No you dont need to take a class or anything but studying for a day is a very stupid thing to do. If you fail this test, you'll paying $1,700+ for the privledge of repeating it.


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Well, the 1st time takers passing rate in the last 5 years has been 96-98%. In fact, it was 97% last year. However, I understand that it's a test that no one should take lightly. My school actually is making us feel like that test is more important than CK.

 

[cbrons]

Well, the 1st time takers passing in the last 5 years has been 96-98%. In fact, it was 97% last year. However, I understand that it's a test that no one should take lightly. My school actually is making us feel like that test is more important than CK.

Where did you get 97% from?

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[W19]

Where did you get 97% from?

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The link is above (post #19) in this thread...

 

[cbrons]

The link is above (post #19) in this thread...

They didnt release the 2016-2017 year data yet. I would not be surprised if you see a significant drop-off of 3 to 4 percent. Nonetheless you are right - it is still a high pass rate, but dumb to be one of the few who fails when you easily have enough time to devote toward seriously studying for it.

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[W19]

They didnt release the 2016-2017 year data yet. I would not be surprised if you see a significant drop-off of 3 to 4 percent. Nonetheless you are right - it is still a high pass rate, but dumb to be one of the few who fails when you easily have enough time to devote toward seriously studying for it.

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will see what happen for the 2016-2017 data. I am not taking that test lightly. I have started reading FA and my test is in Sept. I am also taking almost 2 full wks to study for it.

 

[NickNaylor]

No you dont need to take a class or anything but studying for a day is a very stupid thing to do. If you fail this test, you'll paying $1,700+ for the privledge of repeating it.

I agree with this point. I think the key things are 1) you're paying a boatload of money to take this test, 2) it may not be difficult but at the end of the day, what's the worst that can happen if you "over study," and 3) the process will be less stressful if you go in feeling prepared rather than freaking out that you didn't study enough.

No matter what, studying for CS is not going to be nearly as bad as studying for step 1 of CK. Set aside some time to study for it. No, it does not need to be as much as it was for step 1. Yes, it should probably be more than a few hours the day before the exam. I'm not sure what that means for you - only you can know how confident you're feeling - but I would suggest being safe rather than sorry. And again, what's the worst that can happen? You "waste" some time studying more than probably needed to? There are far worse things that could happen.

 

[EM2Be2017]

My school actually is making us feel like that test is more important than CK.

Really? It's really more of a nuasance and huge price tag. When I talked with different programs last application season the vast majority didn't require a CS score in order to rank applicants (US MD/DO applicants). Its pretty much assumed that a US MD/DO student with no history of difficulty in med school will pass. That being said, you obviously don't want to fail as this can destroy your app.

will see what happen for the 2016-2017 data. I am not taking that test lightly. I have started reading FA and my test is in Sept. I am also taking almost 2 full wks to study for it.

As above, don't take it too lightly because you don't want to be that 2-3% that does fail. But you will be able to see pretty quickly how much you need to practice. Most people will not require two full weeks of studying.

 

[mcworbust]

^^^This is what I did as well, but crammed in over 2 days plus a travel day right before test, and I think it went fine. 7 days would've been real chill!

Just be careful on test day when you fill from bottom to top when they call time to quickly scroll to bottom and hit submit, so you don't get warning for taking 'extra' time. Having to scroll to the button is so dumb...

All the older residents need to stop offering advice. The exam is nowhere near as easy mode as it used to be and they are failing more people these days. My school had 10% first time failure rate (U.S. M.D.) because the admins and older residents were all like, "Well you speak English so I guess you'll pass". It is not like that anymore.

No you dont need to take a class or anything but studying for a day is a very stupid thing to do. If you fail this test, you'll paying $1,700+ for the privledge of repeating it.


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Update: I crammed over 2 days plus travel day, thought it went fine, and it did. Got my passing score today..... @Lev0phed

 

[darklabel]

Just to update everyone since some information here is skewed. I heard how when CS was first introduced people would just do the same physical in all cases and still pass, which isn't the case anymore. Also, the NBME came out with a new statement saying that the standards will be raised after September 10th and with the new standard, 3% more USMDs would fail and 8% more FMGs and IMGs would fail. A pass rate in the low 90s% is pretty concerning.

United States Medical Licensing Examination | Announcements

My opinion like others said is to take is seriously and study for it. I took 3 days, but I also studied for my OSCE 2 weeks prior and that helped a lot. I still felt like **** after the exam but I passed. I wish I over prepared if anything because a lot of the symptoms were vague and they do some tricks on you (Like a patient being short with you, phone interviews and now using an iPad for results review).

 

[Stagg737]

7 minutes is not enough, 7 hours is too long. And google was unhelpful at finding another unit of measure for time that would fit this schema -.-

7 dekaminutes. Gotta remember those basic sciences

 

[Electricity]

I can't believe that they are making the pass rate even lower. This is so frustrating. Step 2 CS now appears to have the lowest pass rate of any of the Step exams, while also being easily the most subjective and the least possible to study for. Worst combination ever.

I think that everyone who says that you should just study more is missing this last point. As far as I can tell there is no good data showing that more studying will improve outcomes -- data which clearly exists for the other USMLE exams. Does anyone know of such data?

I would also like to see evidence that this exam is not biased towards individuals based on their perceived gender, race, or appearance. Given that a large part of the exam is based on subjective interaction scores, I'd be extremely worried about this, in a way that I wouldn't be worried about any other standardized exam I've ever taken. Does anyone know if they have published data on this? If they're not taking this seriously from all different possible perspectives, it seems to me like a disparate action lawsuit waiting to happen.

 

[W19]

I can't believe that they are making the pass rate even lower. This is so frustrating. Step 2 CS now appears to have the lowest pass rate of any of the Step exams, while also being easily the most subjective and the least possible to study for. Worst combination ever.

I think that everyone who says that you should just study more is missing this last point. As far as I can tell there is no good data showing that more studying will improve outcomes -- data which clearly exists for the other USMLE exams. Does anyone know of such data?

I would also like to see evidence that this exam is not biased towards individuals based on their perceived gender, race, or appearance. Given that a large part of the exam is based on subjective interaction scores, I'd be extremely worried about this, in a way that I wouldn't be worried about any other standardized exam I've ever taken. Does anyone know if they have published data on this? If they're not taking this seriously from all different possible perspectives, it seems to me like a disparate action lawsuit waiting to happen.

Good luck with that!

I am terrified about that exam because of the subjectivity that you mention... It's a money making exam for the NBME. I guess the docs that graduated before 2001 weren't that good then...

 

[darklabel]

I can't believe that they are making the pass rate even lower. This is so frustrating. Step 2 CS now appears to have the lowest pass rate of any of the Step exams, while also being easily the most subjective and the least possible to study for. Worst combination ever.

I think that everyone who says that you should just study more is missing this last point. As far as I can tell there is no good data showing that more studying will improve outcomes -- data which clearly exists for the other USMLE exams. Does anyone know of such data?

I would also like to see evidence that this exam is not biased towards individuals based on their perceived gender, race, or appearance. Given that a large part of the exam is based on subjective interaction scores, I'd be extremely worried about this, in a way that I wouldn't be worried about any other standardized exam I've ever taken. Does anyone know if they have published data on this? If they're not taking this seriously from all different possible perspectives, it seems to me like a disparate action lawsuit waiting to happen.

They are introducing online scored interviews starting with EM and I'm sure it'll be made mandatory for everyone or almost everyone come next ERAS season. It's ridiculous, but whatever.

Also on your last part, that's precisely why they're lowering the pass rate. Too many students and now physicians (see above) said it was a joke exam and needs to be eliminated, but do you really think that they can eliminate a test that's brining in $1,250? No, what they do is just increase standards and when more people fail they'll say "See! It's a legitimate test and people are failing!". As a student, it's best to just take this **** and move on, more complaints or any new initiatives to end CS will just have them retaliate harder so they can hang on to their cash cow.

EDIT: You can probably thank endstep2cs.com for the increased standards and here is the NBME's official reply to ending CS in the future taken from Urban Legends

The USMLE Clinical Skills exam (Step 2 CS) is 'going away'.
Reality Check: Fiction
Explanation:
The NBME, along with its collaborators in USMLE (the Federation of State Medical Boards and the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates), is committed to the assessment of clinical skills as part of the licensing examination sequence. In fact, a major recommendation from the Committee to Evaluate the USMLE program (CEUP) states: "CEUP recommends that the assessment of clinical skills remain a component of USMLE, but that USMLE consider ways to further enhance the testing methods currently used, in order to address additional skills important to medical practice. It is also recommended that the administrative challenges and costs to examinees associated with related testing formats be given substantial weight in the consideration of future changes."
This recommendation, among others, was approved by all three organizations that govern the USMLE program. The clinical skills examination is here to stay!