This is an understandable question and one we, the MSDPs and the UP faculty, are constantly keeping in mind. I can empathize that being part of anything which differs from the mainstream can be intimidating, especially when your medical future is on the line. With that said, we believe our students will do at least as well as their peers on Step 1 and we are excited to show that with our scores in a few years. Realistically, medical school curricula teach a reasonable percentage of Step 1 content, teach a whole slew of content not tested on Step 1, and miss a fair chunk of what is on the exam. To complement this reality, virtually all medical students therefore lean heavily on external test prep resources (Firecracker, First Aid, Pathoma, UWorld, etc.) in order to score highly on Step 1. Usually this happens parallel to what is going on in your medical school classes, is largely resented by faculty, and results in a stressful balancing act between the curriculum and USMLE test preparation. At University Park, the MSDPs have strongly voiced the need to integrate this inevitable shadow curriculum into our actual curriculum, and we are working with the people at Firecracker and other groups to integrate test prep work into our mainstream curriculum so that they are less mutually exclusive. I have been utilizing Firecracker, Pathoma, etc. to begin studying for Step 1 just like my peers at Hershey, though I have been working with the faculty here to find ways that this studying can complement, instead of work counter to, what is done in our clinic and seminar time. We also believe that because we are teaching through real clinical experiences with patients, and interleaving that learning through further clinical experiences, our students will maintain strong long term memory of information; since you can't know which facts you'll need for your next patient, you'll have to stay on your toes and have a diverse set of information at the ready unlike when you're only focusing on a specific organ block for weeks. Further, UP students will of course have several weeks of dedicated Step 1 study time prior to the exam, just like their peers at Hershey and other medical schools.
