This is all completely rumor at this point, but I have decent information that Step 2 CS is going to be retired beginning next year or the year after. Since I’ve been out of the medical school game for awhile now, this is something that you guys may be hearing around your schools as well.
The rumor is that US medical graduates will no longer be required to take the exam, but FMGs will still have some version of it. It’s basically a reversion back to the old days pre-CS for American graduates.
Let us know if you’re hearing the same things around your school.
I want my fucking money back.
Yep, me too PB. If this is indeed true, I think they’ve finally realized that CS is nothing but a money and time sink for students and offers very little added value to the medical education process.
Oh please God please. Next year PLEASE!!!! I’ve gotta take the damn thing in a little over a year.
I want my $2000 + traveling costs back. How about a class action lawsuit? Fuck the NBME, ECFMG, and USMLE.
it would be awesome to have it cancelled! Where did you hear about this possibility (a student, school administration, etc.)?
From other students as well as a member of administration from where I trained.
I’ve heard it from other students as well.
BUT a radiologist at my program claims to be on some USMLE board and claims it’s not going away. Of course, he said that back in November.
Who knows. I’m already out the cash. Ugh. At least I passed.
Assuming what you heard is true, would it mean that us lowly third year med students would not have to take it?
It sure would TPG. Pray hard. =)
Is this different information that the one that’s been passed on every year? People have been saying it would be cancelled for several years now, but when I took the exam back in June, they made it clear that this stupid test isn’t going anywhere.
MS, no idea. I honestly haven’t heard this rumor until now. It could be that it’s repeated every year…who knows.
If you are talking about anything that is making money in a bureaucracy, it will not be canceled but more likely a new step will be created for the cash it generates with someone in the USMLE wanting “find” extra money for some new project, after all, the students are “only” spending and extra grand per person, “right?” Money exists on paper to those jerks.
The people on those boards are bores. They operate like Sporting mommies– one person says something and everyone’s eyes light up, having and each contributing new “creative” ideas and what had been an intent to make a simple, one page plan for the year turns into a fifteen page plan with sub plans to be developed later causing half of the participants to drop out. When it comes to an organization where money is involved, nothing stays simple.
Bullshit. The only way it will go away is if it is combined with CK in some way. Then it would be a 2 day, more expensive test. Trust me on this.
Other people have mentioned that Step 1 is going away, to be combined with Step II. Nobody in the NBME is talking about this publicly, but our school seems to think that it is important enough to change they curriculum to be more like “Earl” (thanks PB).
I would sure love to believe that the Step 2 CS will be cancelled, but it always seems that the source of these rumours are never well substantiated. At the end of the day Step 2 CS has turned into a big money grab, yet another cash outlay for med students and I doubt it’s going to go away anytime soon.
Jesse, you’re probably right. This was the first time that I had heard these rumors, but if you guys have been hearing them for awhile now it’s probably not going to happen.
What a waste of time and money. Step 2CS was nothing more than another expensive brick paving the road to my MD. Its a $1500.00 politness test with no true bearing on modern medicine. Panda’s right: I want my money back.
Is anybody interested in a class action lawsuit? Failure of this little POS test has caused a great deal of hardship in my family…who grades this moneyh grab anyway?
The CS is here to stay. When I sat in that Houston testing center all I thought about what, “Holy shit they make a ton of money on this stupid test.” I had about 23 applicants multiply that by approximately $1000/head. No way they are going to get rid of that test. On top of that you got John Doe in the hospital going up to the patient advocates crying about how the MDs have no bedside manner; it is exactly why they instituted the bedside manner exam…err I mean CS exam in the first place.
Kogie et al.,
I am very interested in filing a class action lawsuit. I failed the ICE portion of the exam… There is absolutely no way I could have failed that part. I’ve always been complimented on my bedside manner. I have multiple documents that specifically support my claim. I think it’s total bs that we are not allowed a specific explanation as to why we were deemed deficient at patient communication. Especially because the grading on that part of the exam is so subjective. Anyone who is interested in filing a class action lawsuit, please contact me at k1mrb@yahoo.com. I am very serious about this.
Thanks
It is just a rumor and there is no truth to it.
It is just a rumor and there is no truth to it. It is approaching 2009 and it is still around.
The CS is a total waste of time, effort and money, lets sue NBME.
It’s not going anywhere. $1,000 per 24 candidates times 5 sites = ~$120,000 a day, run virtually every day of the year. It’s a huge moneymaker, bringing in tens of millions of dollars a year for the USMLE.
Of course, any test that 98% of people pass isn’t actually testing anything real, but that’s irrelevant. It’s just free money.
Like all parasites the NBME only exist because the hosts (medical students) are helpless to resist it. In the case of the NBME, it is an ideal parasite. It sucks a little life out of many hosts without killing them. It is the original parasite that makes the parasitic USMLE preb book industry thrive. Therefore, it is unlikely that the CS test will be eliminated. It is a superb financial drain on the hapless individuals who wander into the medical profession oblivious to those bottom dwellers lurking in the darkness. Quite frankly, the only medical licensure test that a U.S. medical graduate should have to take is USMLE step 3. Otherwise, what the heck does U.S. medical school accreditation mean? Absolutely nothing! It is just a rubber stamp for a massive moneymaking enterprise and the medical student is just fuel for the fire. U.S. medical schools consistently bend over and just take whatever the NBME dishes out. Why is that? Wise up folks! Go to pharmacy school, optometry school or dental school instead. Those three professions out earn many M.D.’s anyway.
I am starting a project “U.S. jobs for the American Citizens (USC) and Permanant Residents (LPR) first”. These are the people that pay the taxes and sacrifice for the U.S.A. So the match should be first for the the Americans (USC and LPR) first – foreign visa doctors should not be allowed to participate in the match or postmatch, the same for the post match and then any left over can go to the foreign visa doctors on the pretext that they will definitely return to their home country – no waivers (period). Lets talk to our senators and congressmen and above all the program directors. If you are interested lets get together and send me an e-mail at I have a plan and vision.