Practice Makes Perfect
- Step 1 : 233 (first attempt)
- Step 2 CK : 249 (first attempt)
- Step 2 CS : Pass (second attempt)
- GAP since graduation: 3-Years
- Non-US IMG
- First attempt at matching
- Number of interviews: 4
Here's the story of a non-US IMG who rushed to take the CS exam and failed but used practice, patience, great interviewing skills to make it thru and get his match!
Hey Doc, I hope this story can help someone:
While we were doing a year of rural service in the Amazon jungle, in 2016, my girlfriend decided to study for the USMLE steps. As I saw her studying at home while I played videogames, I decided to accompany her in her studying. Days later I realized it was not as hard as I thought and made up my mind, so I embarked in the journey of the USMLE. We studied steadily during 6 months and finally took the Step 1 in February 2017 and placed our CS date for early March.
I think this was the first misstep, dates were too close and I felt I did not have enough time to prepare for the CS in only two weeks. We flew to Philadelphia with little-to-non practice on the CS cases. In fact, the only real practice we had was a few hours the two previous day to our CS. We took the CS traveled a little and came back home. Few days later step 1 results came in, I got 233 which I though was good enough for psychiatry (however not good enough for myself). Back home we started studying for CK.
April came and we got our CS results. She had passed. I had not.
I felt devastated, didn’t know what to do, I thought of abandoning this journey but at the same time started to look what options were still available to overcome this situation. Later that same day I filled in a new application for CS. That day I couldn’t study anymore, but from the next morning on, I put double effort in studying to destroy the CK. One week later I was selecting the earliest date possible which was September 23rd. I needed to retake the CS before July 15th to be ECFMG certified or I would have to apply with pending documents.
Constant, active checking of the date’s availability is stressing and demanding… but it paid. I got a date! July 5th in Atlanta. CK was scheduled for June 26th and I had a booked flight to Boston in June 27th. I took the most of that little time I had to re-read the CS First Aid and practice like crazy all day with my girlfriend and my cousin. 4th of July is not my celebration but I took the day to relax, next morning I was flying to Atlanta for the CS in the afternoon.
Airport-to-test center and test center-to-airport; that was my short stay in Atlanta. This time I felt much more confident and knew I had done well.
Later in July I got my CK report, I got 249 and I felt just fine. Then in August the CS report came. With complete nervousness I opened the e-mail just to see I had passed, I was so thankful in that moment; thankful of all the support I received from friends and family and thankful that I didn’t give up. Now I had my chance. One week later I got my ECFMG certificate and I was ready to apply.
I applied widely to 92 programs (which was very expensive) and got only four interview invitations. I feel I did well in 2 of them and excellent in the last one. I was still scared I would not match because of a small number of interviews, but as wise Barone says “you only need one”!
I believe my CS failure hindered my chances and that I might have gotten a few more invites if I hadn’t failed (a failed CS if you apply to psychiatry is something to observe), but in the end how you perform in the interview is what gets you the match.
On Monday I was afraid I wouldn’t match. My girlfriend called while I was working, telling me she had matched! I checked my e-mail trembling of nervousness and saw it… “You have matched!”
That moment, for the first time in a long time, I felt peace.
Some advice to take:
* If you fall you can always get up and back on track
* Practice is super important for CS
* Personal statement gets you interviews, not only scores
* If you have a red flag, try to compensate by upgrading your other features
-G. D. March 15, 2018
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