USMLE Step 2 CK: The 2025 Passing Score Increase, Explained
Published Aug 8, 2026 · Updated Oct 10, 2026
In June 2025, the USMLE Management Committee raised the Step 2 CK passing score from 214 to 218, effective for exams taken on or after July 1, 2025. That number on its own doesn’t say much without context: the mean score for first-time examinees from LCME-accredited medical schools has climbed slightly each of the past three years — 249 (2023–2024), 250 (2024–2025), and 251 (2025–2026), each with a standard deviation of 15 — which puts the new 218 pass/fail bar at roughly the 3rd percentile, well below where most examinees actually score. The table below shows exactly where any given score falls relative to the 67,824 LCME-accredited first-takers USMLE’s current norm table is built from (testing between July 2023 and June 2026):
- Score 260 — 71st percentile
- Score 255 — 58th percentile
- Score 250 — 44th percentile
- Score 245 — 32nd percentile
- Score 240 — 23rd percentile
- Score 235 — 15th percentile
- Score 230 — 9th percentile
- Score 225 — 6th percentile
- Score 220 — 3rd percentile
A score of 250, for example, sits at the 44th percentile — meaning 44% of first-takers in that cohort scored lower. Because of ordinary measurement error, small score differences shouldn’t be read as meaningful ability differences either: USMLE’s own guidelines put the standard error of measurement (SEM) for Step 2 CK at approximately 6 points, so a given true ability level could reasonably produce scores several points higher or lower depending on the specific test items drawn.
Real 2024–2025 pass rates, by school type: US MD schools passed at 98% overall (98% first-time takers, 70% repeaters), US DO schools at 96% overall (96% first-time, 69% repeaters), and non-US schools at 87% overall (90% first-time, 64% repeaters). One caveat worth knowing if you’re comparing this to older data: starting in 2025, USMLE’s performance data groups examinees from Canadian schools with non-US examinees rather than with US examinees as in prior years, and the 2024–2025 figures above already use the new grouping — so the non-US figures above aren’t directly comparable to earlier non-US numbers, and shouldn’t be read as a drop in performance.
Study takeaway: given the passing score just moved up but still sits far below where most examinees actually land (roughly the 3rd percentile), calibrate practice against a real competitive score band — 240+ puts you above the pass/fail line by a wide margin — rather than the bare minimum, and don’t over-read small score swings given the ~6-point measurement error.