Rumor: Step 2 CS To Be Retired

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.

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22 Comments so far »

  1. Panda Bear said

    May 3 2007 @ 1:19 pm

    I want my fucking money back.

  2. Hoover said

    May 3 2007 @ 2:10 pm

    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.

  3. Miami_med said

    May 3 2007 @ 2:11 pm

    Oh please God please. Next year PLEASE!!!! I’ve gotta take the damn thing in a little over a year.

  4. Cherokee said

    May 3 2007 @ 3:24 pm

    I want my $2000 + traveling costs back. How about a class action lawsuit? Fuck the NBME, ECFMG, and USMLE.

  5. MS III said

    May 3 2007 @ 7:37 pm

    it would be awesome to have it cancelled! Where did you hear about this possibility (a student, school administration, etc.)?

  6. Hoover said

    May 3 2007 @ 8:07 pm

    From other students as well as a member of administration from where I trained.

  7. Parchomd said

    May 3 2007 @ 10:38 pm

    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.

  8. The Peanut Gallery said

    May 5 2007 @ 1:34 am

    Assuming what you heard is true, would it mean that us lowly third year med students would not have to take it?

  9. Hoover said

    May 5 2007 @ 2:46 am

    It sure would TPG. Pray hard. =)

  10. MED STUD said

    May 5 2007 @ 10:18 am

    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.

  11. Hoover said

    May 5 2007 @ 1:28 pm

    MS, no idea. I honestly haven’t heard this rumor until now. It could be that it’s repeated every year…who knows.

  12. Et al. said

    May 5 2007 @ 6:41 pm

    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.

  13. McNinja said

    May 7 2007 @ 7:23 pm

    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).

  14. Jesse said

    May 14 2007 @ 11:45 am

    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.

  15. Hoover said

    May 14 2007 @ 1:51 pm

    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.

  16. Dr. Survivor said

    May 15 2007 @ 7:41 pm

    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.

  17. Kogie said

    December 6 2007 @ 8:03 pm

    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?

  18. LifeSucks said

    April 1 2008 @ 3:06 am

    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.

  19. CS is BS said

    May 12 2008 @ 9:26 pm

    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

  20. Jon said

    August 22 2008 @ 11:23 am

    It is just a rumor and there is no truth to it.

  21. Jon said

    August 22 2008 @ 11:24 am

    It is just a rumor and there is no truth to it. It is approaching 2009 and it is still around.

  22. Doctor Z said

    December 20 2008 @ 9:08 pm

    The CS is a total waste of time, effort and money, lets sue NBME.

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