Foreign medical graduates educational commission for foreign medical graduates

issuance of visas and travel to and from the United States are subject to change. You should review current

requirements before applying for a visa. For additional information, visit the 

DHS website

 and the 

U.S. Department of

State website

.

Step 2 CS is administered only in the United States. Upon request, ECFMG provides Step 2 CS applicants with a

letter that may assist during the process of applying for a visa. The letter indicates that the applicant is registered for

Step 2 CS, one of the exams required for ECFMG Certification. The letter also indicates that the applicant is required

to travel to the United States to take the exam and provides the date by which the applicant must complete the exam.

You can request this letter when you apply for Step 2 CS. After completion of the registration process, ECFMG will

issue the letter, and it will be available to you through 

IWA

. If you are unable to obtain the appropriate visa to enter the

United States to take Step 2 CS, you may request a full refund of the exam fee. See 

Refunds

 in Your ECFMG

Financial Account.

If you are traveling from a distant location, you should consider arriving a day or two before the examination in order to

be rested.

Last updated: September 7, 2017

Copyright © 2017 by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. All rights reserved.

Page 36

---

The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE)

About USMLE

 | 

Registration and Test Delivery Entities

 | 

Applying for Examination

 | 

Scheduling the Examination

 |

Preparing for Examination

 | 

Taking the Examination

 | USMLE Program and Irregular Behavior | 

Examination Results

 |

Reexamination and Reapplication

USMLE Program and Irregular Behavior

The USMLE program defines irregular behavior as including, "any action by applicants, examinees, potential

applicants, or others that could compromise the validity, integrity, or security of the USMLE examination process." Test

center staff monitor, in person and via video/audio recording, testing sessions for USMLE Steps and are required to

report any violations of USMLE or test center rules. You must follow instructions from test center staff throughout the

examinations; failure to do so may result in a determination of irregular behavior and permanent annotation of your

USMLE transcript. See Testing Regulations and Rules of Conduct and Irregular Behavior in the 

USMLE Bulletin of

Information

. See ECFMG’s 

Policies and Procedures Regarding Irregular Behavior

, which also may apply.

Important Notes: Providing information relating to examination content that may give or attempt to give

unfair advantage to anyone who may be taking the examination, which includes postings regarding

examination content and/or answers on the Internet, is a violation of the USMLE Rules of Conduct.

Evidence of violation of any test administration rule, including the USMLE Rules of Conduct, will result in

actions being taken under USMLE Policies and Procedures Regarding Irregular Behavior. If you are found

to have engaged in irregular behavior, your score report and transcripts will include this finding, you may be

barred from taking the USMLE in the future, and your score may be canceled.

Anomalous performance and/or unusual testing history may impact your access to the USMLE. If your

performance raises concerns about your readiness to test or your motivation to pass, the USMLE program

reserves the right to restrict your future access to its examinations and/or to impose conditions upon future

access. Do not test if you are not able or not ready on your scheduled test date. Taking a Step examination

to familiarize yourself with the examination format, or for any reason other than to pass, is prohibited and

may limit your future access to the USMLE.

The above-described conduct may also be considered irregular behavior under ECFMG’s 

Policies and Procedures

Regarding Irregular Behavior

.

Last updated: September 7, 2017

Copyright © 2017 by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. All rights reserved.

Page 37

---

The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE)

About USMLE

 | 

Registration and Test Delivery Entities

 | 

Applying for Examination

 | 

Scheduling the Examination

 |

Preparing for Examination

 | 

Taking the Examination

 | 

USMLE Program and Irregular Behavior

 | Examination Results |

Reexamination and Reapplication

Examination Results

For ECFMG Certification, you must obtain at least the USMLE-recommended pass outcome for each required Step or

Step Component. See 

Examination Requirements

 in Examinations for ECFMG Certification.

Score Reporting

Results for Step 1 and 2 CK are typically available three to four weeks after your test date. However, release of results

may take longer for various reasons. When selecting your test date and inquiring about results, you should allow at

least eight weeks to receive notification that your score report is available. Results for Step 2 CS are available

according to the Step 2 CS Schedule for Reporting Results, available on the 

USMLE

 and 

ECFMG

 websites. For more

specific information about potential scoring delays, visit the Announcements section of the 

USMLE website

.

ECFMG reserves the right to reverify with the medical school the eligibility of medical school students and graduates

who are registered for examination. If ECFMG requests reverification of your student/graduate status with your

medical school, your score report will be issued only after reverification of your status has been received by ECFMG.

Score reports are issued in electronic format only and can be accessed using ECFMG's 

OASIS

; you will not receive

a paper score report by postal mail. Once your score report has been issued, ECFMG will send a notification to the

e-mail address in your ECFMG record.

Score reports are available for approximately 120 days from the date of e-mail notification. Once the score report is

removed from the website, your results will be provided to you only in the form of an official USMLE transcript. To

obtain a transcript, you will be required to submit a request and pay a fee. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that

you print and/or save your score report while it is available.

Important Note: ECFMG may provide your medical school with data on your performance on

administrations of USMLE Step 1, USMLE Step 2 CK, and USMLE Step 2 CS. Data provided include

whether you passed or failed the exam administration, and, for Step 1 and Step 2 CK, your numerical

score. You have the option to withhold your exam results from your medical school. See ECFMG's

Provision of Performance Data to Medical Schools in 

IWA

 for more information.

See Score Reporting in the 

USMLE Bulletin of Information

 for additional information. For up-to-date information on

minimum passing scores, examination performance data, and general scoring methodology, please visit the 

USMLE

website

.

Score Validity

The USMLE program reserves the right to cancel scores that are at or above the passing level if the USMLE program

has a good faith basis for questioning whether they represent a valid measure of knowledge or competence as

sampled by the examination. If there are questions related to the validity of your score, your score report may be

delayed, or any further reporting or verification of such scores may be withheld, pending completion of further review

and/or investigation. See Score Validity in the 

USMLE Bulletin of Information

.

USMLE Transcripts

To request an official USMLE transcript, you must contact the appropriate registration entity. You must contact the

Federation of State Medical Boards if you are registered for or have taken Step 3 and/or you want to send your

transcript to a U.S. medical licensing authority. In all other cases, submit your transcript request to ECFMG by sending

a completed 

Request for Official USMLE

®

 Transcript (Form 172)

 and the appropriate fee to ECFMG. Form 172 and

additional information are available in the Resources section of the ECFMG website and from ECFMG, upon request.

You can use 

OASIS

 to check whether your USMLE transcript has been sent.

If you apply to residency programs through the 

Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS)

, you may request

electronic transmittal of your USMLE transcript to these programs. For additional information, refer to the 

ERAS

Page 38

---