Testing Regulations and Rules of Conduct

You cannot discuss the cases with your fellow examinees, during breaks or at any time.

Conversation among examinees in languages other than English about any subject is strictly prohibited at all times, including during breaks. Test center staff will be with you to monitor activity. To maintain security and quality assurance, each examination room is equipped with video cameras and microphones to record every patient encounter.

The USMLE program retains the right to remove any examinee from the examination who appears to represent a health or safety risk to the standardized patients or staff of a clinical skills evaluation center. This includes, but is not limited to, examinees who appear ill, are persistently coughing or sneezing, have open skin lesions, or have evidence of active bleeding. Examinees who are not feeling well are encouraged to seek medical advice prior to arrival at the center and, if consistent with medical advice, should consider rescheduling the date of their examination. This can be done at the website of your registration entity.

Clinical skills evaluation center staff monitor all testing administrations for the Step 2 CS examination. You must follow instructions of test center staff throughout the examination. Failure to do so may result in a determination of irregular behavior. The USMLE Bulletin of Information provides a complete description of irregular behavior and the consequences of a finding of irregular behavior. You must become familiar with the Bulletin of Information before you take your examination.

Irregular Behavior

Irregular behavior includes any action by applicants, examinees, potential applicants, or others when solicited by an applicant and/or examinee that subverts or attempts to subvert the examination process. Specific examples of irregular behavior include, but are not limited to:

• Seeking and/or obtaining unauthorized access to examination materials;
• Providing false information or making false statements on application forms or other USMLE-related documents;
• Taking an examination without being eligible for it or attempting to do so;
• Impersonating an examinee or engaging someone else to take the examination for you;
• Giving, receiving, or obtaining unauthorized assistance during the examination or attempting to do so;
• Making notes of any kind during the examination, except on the blank paper provided to you;
• Failure to adhere to any USMLE policy, procedure or rule, including instructions of the test center staff;
• Disruptive or unprofessional behavior at the test center;
• Interacting with any standardized patient outside of that standardized patient's given case portrayal, before, during, or after the examination;
• Conversing with other Step 2 CS examinees in any language other than English at any time while at the test center;
• Possessing unauthorized materials, including notes and study guides, photographic equipment, communication or recording devices, pagers, cellular phones, digital watches, and personal digital assistants (PDAs) during the entire testing session, including during breaks;
• Altering or misrepresenting examination scores;
• Any unauthorized reproduction by any means, including reconstruction through memorization and/or dissemination of copyrighted examination materials and examination content (this includes the reproduction and dissemination of examination content on the Internet, email and listservs);
• Providing or attempting to provide any information, including that relating to examination content, that may give or attempt to give unfair advantage to individuals who may be taking the examination;
• Engaging in behaviors that could constitute a real or potential threat to a patient's safety, such as careless or dangerous actions during physical examination.

Instances of possible irregular behavior are thoroughly investigated and actions may be taken under the USMLE policies and procedures on irregular behavior. Please refer to the appropriate USMLE Bulletin of Information for Rules of Conduct During Testing and Irregular Behavior.