I would partially disagree with that assessment. It definitely is important to have good preclinical preparation for the Step 1. Most residency programs look at Step 1 in lieu of your first two years of med school simply because, its standardized (like the MCAT). It is the great equalizer, and if it comes down to having awesome pre-clinical grades or an awesome Step 1 score, the latter will definitely open many more doors for you. The only grades that residencies will really scrutinize is your 3rd year grades, as they assess your clinical competence and team rappoire. Step 1 will assess whether you know the basic science knowledge or not.
I definitely noticed an advantage to UF's curriculum when taking step 1. All of your tests at UF are CBT (computerized-based testing) which are similar in format to USMLE. It's really nice, because it really makes the USMLE just seem like a long version of the tests you've already been used to taking
🙂 You take practice shelf exams at the end of every subject (which may or may not be true at the other schools), but most importantly, the averages when I was there were phenomenal. It's a lot of material, and it helps to have faculty members that are interested in teaching you the salient points. Most people felt that the basic sci faculty (pathology and pharm are real stand-outs for their lecture quality) definitely played a role in performing well on the shelf exams and eventually, Step 1. Here's a link for UF's stats:
http://medinfo.ufl.edu/year3/USMLE_cbt_2006.pdf
Ultimately, there are too many factors to really tease out whether its the average quality of student at the school in question that ultimately contributes to what each school touts as their USMLE average. But FWIW, i felt solid about step 1 before I even started studying in May-- and I know that I wasnt alone.
