Anybody heard anything about putting off Step 1 until rotations?

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Thelonious Monk

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Ok, so, here is my deal. I have exactly 4.5 weeks to study for the boards, both USMLE and COMLEX, take them both, pack my stuff, move half-way across the country, pseudo-unpack, and be ready to start rotations at another schools hospital (long-story). Anyways, I really need some advice here. Giving myself a realistic 1.5 weeks to recover after boards, pack, move, at least unpack the essentials, and be ready for rotations, I have only 3 weeks to study. The kicker is I have 2 exams to take, IF I take USMLE first, the cram OMM for 2 days and take COMLEX, then I can do it, but that only leaves me with about 2.7 weeks of study time for USMLE, less than ideal for sure.

My other option is to give myself slightly more than 3 weeks to study for the USMLE, take it, move, start rotations, then review first aid again once or twice, cram the OMM and take the COMPLEX about 3-4 weeks after the USMLE.

Which should I do? Please keep in mind two things. 1.) I know that 3 weeks is the bare minimum for study time, which is why I will be studying my ass off all semester until then. 2.) I want to rock the USMLE's, I only need to pass the COMLEX.

So, have any of you hear of anyone putting off the boards (or at least the least important one) until rotations? Will I forget everything and fail? Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you very much for your time.

-Monk

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If your DO program is anything like ours, you are required to pass COMLEX before you begin rotations. You really should contact your school to determine if thats the case.

Either way, I would take the COMLEX whenever you need to take it and do as well as possible. Then schedule your USMLE sometime later (maybe as late as January/February? I know international grads take USMLE around then) and give yourself plenty of time to prepare for that one.

At this point, you probably have enough time to do decently on the boards... but to "light it up" (as it seems like you want to do)? With this amount of time, I don't think thats very realistic.
 
I think that both of your plans sound good. "2.7 weeks" is enough for many people at my school and if you're working hard now and have a good plan in place, should not hurt your score. But if you really just need to get a passing score on COMLEX, and your school will let you start rotations without it, the other plan sounds reasonable as well..
 
Thanks for the advice. At the moment, I'm definately leaning more towards taking them both before rotations. By the way, do you feel your school especially prepares you for the boards (with 2 weeks being enoguh study time)? I only ask because many people I talk to recommend 3-4 weeks.

Thanks,
-Monk
 
Thanks for the advice. At the moment, I'm definately leaning more towards taking them both before rotations. By the way, do you feel your school especially prepares you for the boards (with 2 weeks being enoguh study time)? I only ask because many people I talk to recommend 3-4 weeks.

Thanks,
-Monk

My school gives us 4 weeks, I think most people choose to take 18-21 days. Some people take it as late as possible. I think it's enough.
 
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