title: The USMLE Step 2 CS: Time for a change.
abstract: The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE(®)) Steps are a series of mandatory licensing assessments for all allopathic (MD degree) medical students in their transition from student to intern to resident physician. Steps 1, 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK), and 3 are daylong multiple-choice exams that quantify a medical student's basic science and clinical knowledge as well as their application of that knowledge using a three-digit score. In doing so, these Steps provide a standardized assessment that residency programs use to differentiate applicants and evaluate their competitiveness. Step 2 Clinical Skills (CS), the only other Step exam and the second component of Step 2, was created in 2004 to test clinical reasoning and patient-centered skills. As a Pass/Fail exam without a numerical scoring component, Step 2 CS provides minimal differentiation among applicants for residency programs. In this personal view article, it is argued that the current Step 2 CS exam should be eliminated for US medical students and propose an alternative consistent with the mission and purpose of the exam that imposes less of a burden on medical students.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Medicine , Johns Hopkins Hospital , Baltimore , MD , USA.
authors.forename: Matthew D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Alvin
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D008004:Licensure; D013337:Students, Medical; D014481:United States