Step 2 CK Subject Weighting: What the Official Outline Says
Use the official USMLE system, physician-task, and clinical-science ranges to prioritize Step 2 CK review without inventing a fixed topic list.
Short answer: USMLE does not publish one fixed list of diseases that will appear on every form. It publishes overlapping ranges by organ system, physician task, and clinical science. Use those ranges to organize review, then use your own recent score report to decide where the next study block goes.
Official clinical-science ranges
- Medicine: 55–65%
- Pediatrics: 17–27%
- Obstetrics & Gynecology: 10–20%
- Psychiatry: 10–15%
- Surgery: 5–15%
USMLE says clinical-science totals exceed 100% because many questions are classified in more than one science. Do not add these ranges or convert them into a promised question count.
The task being tested matters too
The current physician-task table emphasizes diagnosis, laboratory and diagnostic studies, management, pharmacotherapy, clinical interventions, prevention, prognosis, patient safety, and professionalism. That means a useful review plan should practice decisions and sequencing—not just memorize isolated facts.
A three-step prioritization rule
- Start with the official content ranges so a narrow topic does not consume a disproportionate share of your time.
- Use the content-area feedback from your most recent assessment to identify where your own performance is lower.
- Choose the intersection: a broadly represented area where your recent report also shows a weakness, then reassess with new questions.
A content-area bar is feedback, not a diagnosis and not a guaranteed point-gain forecast. Confirm any scheduling decision with current official readiness information and more than one recent signal.
Related next steps
- Use the Step 2 CK predictor to compare recent comprehensive assessments.
- Use the CMS score guide only for subject-level context; a CMS form is not a substitute for a comprehensive CCSSA.
- Read the methodology before treating an internal planning range as an official score forecast.
Primary references
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