.

[stickflip723]

---

Members do not see this ad.

.

 

[longhaul3]

Yes. I think schools with a schedule like yours are already prepared for a move to emphasizing CK. Someone who has just finished clerkship year and studied hard for Step 1 for 4-8 weeks could take CK the day after Step 1 and do fine.

So, in the future, I could see someone using those dedicated weeks to study for CK and then just take Step 1 the next day. There's no way that someone who has studied hard for CK would fail Step 1.

The only catch will be that the USMLE changes include a stipulation that you have to pass Step 1 before you can take CS. Since it's so hard to schedule CS, and you need to do it almost a year in advance, it may be dangerous to take Step 1 that late. I can also imagine that people on your schedule could take 1-2 weeks right at the end of preclinical and take Step 1 so you can just get on with your lives.

 

[A Ryan Seacrest Type]

I go to a school with a 1.5 year preclinical and Step 1 taken after our clinical year (so 2.5 years in). I've read that people like to take Step 2 CK after their clinical year when it's all still fresh in their head.

Given the recent announcement making Step 1 P/F and the likely consequence that Step 2 CK will replace it as the important exam for purposes of stratifying applicants, as well as the utility of knowing where you stand score-wise before making plans on specialties and which places to apply to, would it be reasonable or even preferable to tackle Step 1 and 2CK in relatively quick succession following the clinical year? That way you'd have your CK results back ASAP and could plan from there.

One other question:
Does a solid foundation of Step 1 knowledge later facilitate better results on shelf exams or Step 2 CK?

Thanks in advance.

My school does the exact same thing as yours (if we don’t go to the same one lol), and I can tell you the answers to your questions are yes and yes. To expand, It actually goes both ways. Step 1 knowledge most def helps for Shelf’s and step 2ck. But shelves help for step 1 a lot too. It actually benefited us since step 1 was the more important exam, it gave us a chance to “practice” taking nbme exams with the shelf exams In order to be more familiar with the material and exam format for step 1. Now with the advent of p/f step 1, students with a 1.5 curriculum will need to take step 1 and then ck in quick succession to get a score before aways and stuff.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[PantherPride]

My school does the exact same thing as yours (if we don’t go to the same one lol), and I can tell you the answers to your questions are yes and yes. To expand, It actually goes both ways. Step 1 knowledge most def helps for Shelf’s and step 2ck. But shelves help for step 1 a lot too. It actually benefited us since step 1 was the more important exam, it gave us a chance to “practice” taking nbme exams with the shelf exams In order to be more familiar with the material and exam format for step 1. Now with the advent of p/f step 1, students with a 1.5 curriculum will need to take step 1 and then ck in quick succession to get a score before aways and stuff.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

I agree with this as well. I took Step 2 recently and was surprised by how much Step 1-eqsue material is actually on it. If you have clinicals fresh on your mind + recently reviewed all the pathophys/micro/pharm from step 1, it will carry you a long ways on Step 2. Many of my classmates did a short dedicated for step 2 following step 1 and it worked out well for them