I did it! I took Step 2 today and it feels sooooooooo good to get that over with. Now I’m on a very nice alcohol high … Natalie, we went to Sweetwater and I enjoyed two different very nice ales with substantial EtOH content AND the baby back ribs – the hell with weight watchers tonight! 
I really hope Natalie;s forecast is right, and that I scored much better on this one than on Step 1; I did within spittin’ distance of average on Step 1 and could get used to getting ABOVE average, that would be cool. I actually didn’t think it was that bad - the questions weren’t as godawful long IMHO as I’d heard, or maybe I just read fast and picked out the key stuff. Or maybe I totally f***ed it up, too 
but I don’t THINK so.
All in all I thought it was a fair test. Only thing is it’s so damn long - 8 one-hour blocks of 46 questions (yeah, it used to be 50 Qs per block - they dropped a few questions 'cause I guess people complained that it took too long). I had time to go over ALL the questions in every single block so I felt very comfortable with my time. Many of 'em were slam-dunk easy. Some of 'em took some figuring and head-scratching. Very FEW of them had me staring at the screen thinking “WTF???” which was a substantial improvement on my experience with Step 1. And it was only in blocks 7 and 8 that I became really conscious of test fatigue - reading questions over and over, or getting easily frustrated with a hard one and thinking, “Oh, hell, I don’t know, this sounds good.” Since I was conscious of it, I tried my best to work through it and I think I did. At any rate, I am SURE that I passed so I won’t be on pins and needles waiting for the score to show up.
So I left in a pretty good mood. Then - get this - I came home, picked up the mail, and my last grade from third year was there: I got Honors in my OB rotation, yee-haaaw! Talk about your total shocks. Considering that I got called on the carpet for allegedly skipping a surgery AND telling the resident that I didn’t see why I needed to be there (these allegations were a complete surprise to me and I have yet to figure out what I DID do or say that could’ve been construed that way)… well, by the time I finished the rotation I did have a few residents on my side, including one chief who just loved me, so I was holding out hope for a high pass, and hoped that there weren’t a bunch of other harbored grievances against me that somehow never got mentioned (they are a bunch of psychos on that service, I tell you). To get HONORS, well, I just laughed and laughed in my beer. Hee hee.
I think I have to take a few tests in rotations this year - Anesthesia has one, I think, and so do Ortho and Neuro. BFD. Today’s test was the last MAJOR test I’ll confront until after I am signing stuff Mary Renard, M.D.
I am a happy (pain-free!) camper tonight, I tell ya!
Super job Mary!!!
I can’t wait to be there myself. 
Congratulations!
Congrats Mary - it must be such a feeling. I hope I'm where your at in a few years!!
Great job Mary! That must be a great feeling! Can’t wait until I’m in your shoes.
Congratulations!!!
Congrats! Can't even imagine how wonderful that feeling must be!
(Trying not to be too jealous, not too jealous at all…)
Congrats again!
Epidoc
Congrats Mary!!! YOU ROCK
You will be breezing through fourth year and soon get to put MD after your name!
Congratulations Mary!!!
Way to go, Mary! 
Congratulations on passing Step II! You’re almost there… 
Love,
Stacy
Yeah, Mary! Way to whup up on that mean ol' thing!
Take care and enjoy your downhill journey from here on out!
Jeff Jarvis
Congratulations Mary! Way to go!
Andrea
Damned strong work! It is AWESOME to have that beast behind you. Now, I am staring Step 3 right in the gullet…less than 1 year!
Hey Mary,
Congratulations on getting past Step II. I thought the thing was too long and I just got tired of looking at that computer screen. Just imagine, Step III is two days of looking at that stupid computer screen. Like you, I thought that the Step II questions were pretty straight-forward and not tricky. It is just a “Long D–M Test”. For Step III, I am just going to get some major sleep the night before the test and have at it. I will be doing Step III in a couple of weeks while I am on vacation.
Sweetwater Tavern! It does bring back memories. Glad you did some good celebrating and what a nice feeling to have almost nothing between you and graduation except showing up. Start working on a good case of Senoritis and we have to hoist a couple early next month.
Natalie
Mary,
Many congratulations on Step II and your much-deserved honors…wonderful!
“the other Mary”