passing ck with 12 days to study?

[flga]

I am taking a year off of school due to family obligations (sick parent) and planning on going thru the match in 2008. My ck eligibility runs out on Jan 31 for which I haven't studied for since my last rotation, which was last August. I completely forgot about this deadline (duh?) and am wondering if I should go ahead and give it a go, or just forgo the $500 ive already paid. I do feel a little out of touch with the material at the moment, but I do have some other family members in town who can help take care of my loved one. I would have about 6 hours of study time per day till the exam-probably 10-12 hours on the weekends. At worst, a 182 will suffice as I am going for FP. I was planning on using UW and Crush. Does any one have any other recommendations as far as material or a schedule I could follow? Thanks for your help and advice.

Urban

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[pillowhead]

I am taking a year off of school due to family obligations (sick parent) and planning on going thru the match in 2008. My ck eligibility runs out on Jan 31 for which I haven't studied for since my last rotation, which was last August. I completely forgot about this deadline (duh?) and am wondering if I should go ahead and give it a go, or just forgo the $500 ive already paid. I do feel a little out of touch with the material at the moment, but I do have some other family members in town who can help take care of my loved one. I would have about 6 hours of study time per day till the exam-probably 10-12 hours on the weekends. At worst, a 182 will suffice as I am going for FP. I was planning on using UW and Crush. Does any one have any other recommendations as far as material or a schedule I could follow? Thanks for your help and advice.

Urban

I think it depends entirely on how well you did on step 1 and how you did on your shelf exams. If you did reasonably well on step 1 (beat the mean) and have done well on your shelf exams, then I think 12 days is sufficient for studying. It also depends on what your specialty of choice is. If you want to do FP, great. But if you heart is truly set on something like radiology or ortho, then I'd definitely consider postponing the exam unless you have good reason to think you can get >240 without much studying (like you got >250 on step 1).

 

[docrv]

I'd consider postponing the exam. Even FP is now very competitive nowadays.

 

[guy_incognito]

I'd consider postponing the exam. Even FP is now very competitive nowadays.

What is your definition of very competitive? According to the most recent stats only 1 person with a 211 or higher did not match (out of roughly 500). Also of those with a 181-190, only 10 did not match out of 185 (~95% success).

I'd agree with pillowhead, it all depends on how well you have done on previous tests. If you did not have problems passing before, 12 days should be enough time to pass. Also, don't forget about the NBME self-assessment exams, which can give you a rough idea how well you may do, and will also give you a breakdown of your performance in the different areas, so that you could tailor your limited study time.

 

[phillme]

i would say go for it if you feel confident. i studied for two weeks during my medicine sub-i in the afternoons or when i had downtime on call. i did usmle world for the quizzes, which were a huge help and a lot cheaper than kaplan. even if i only studied for those two weeks, my score went up nine points from step 1 (243) to step 2 (252). it's all up to you, though.

 

[YouDontKnowJack]

ha. fp will never be competitive until they raise the mean salary to $275000