delayed Step 1

[medhead96]

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Does it matter when I take the Step 1? I know most people take it the summer after their second year of med school, but somehow I've delayed it so that now I'm in the fall of my third year, and I'm scheduled to take it in December.... Will this affect my chances when applying for residencies? I know the scores will come out in time for application deadlines, but do residency directors take the date of the test into account when looking at the scores?

Thanks in advance to anyone who answers this.

 

[medhead96]

Is anyone else taking their step 1 around this time?

 

[Krazykritter]

I didn't know you could start clinical rotations before you passed Step I. Isn't passing Step I required to be able to work on patients in the hospital?? I guess I always assumed it was a legal thing b/c my school will not allow students into the clinical setting before they pass Step I.

If it's not required, how do you have any right to practice medicine on a patient?

 

[medhead96]

I didn't know you could start clinical rotations before you passed Step I. Isn't passing Step I required to be able to work on patients in the hospital?? I guess I always assumed it was a legal thing b/c my school will not allow students into the clinical setting before they pass Step I.

If it's not required, how do you have any right to practice medicine on a patient?

I've never heard of that before. I'm on my third rotation right now, it hasn't been a problem. I don't think any students (MS I thru MS IV) have the right to practice medicine unsupervised until they get their doctor's degree. When doing clerkships your 3rd and 4th year, your mostly following the intern, and your notes have to be signed by the attending anyway. I think some schools require step 1 before 3rd year just to get the step 1 out of the way before the students start doing heavy rotation hours.

But back to the question at hand... Does an applicant's Step 1 date affect application for residency?

 

[39094]

You are not required to take Step 1 in order to start clinicals or do anything else for that matter legally. Different schools have different policies in that regard. Our school actually only requires you to sit for, but not necessarily pass, Step 1 in order to received your degree.

We have plenty of people who take Step one well into 3rd year. This in no way will affect your residency application which you aren't even able to submit until September of 4th year anyway. As long as you take it before then you'll be fine (but if you're worried about not passing certainly earlier is better to give yourself time to retake if necessary).

good luck!

 

[medhead96]

Thanks Lab Monkey Extraodinaire!

I feel so much better now. 🙂

 

[Krazykritter]

Thanks for correcting me. I am, however, surprised that passing (or at least sitting) the first part of the licensing exam is not a prerequisite for working in a hospital & taking care of patient.

 

[39094]

Thanks for correcting me. I am, however, surprised that passing (or at least sitting) the first part of the licensing exam is not a prerequisite for working in a hospital & taking care of patient.

I suppose, but it'd be a tough argument to make that what's tested over on Step 1 is at all related to clinical performance. It's a measure of how well you did in your basic science classes, not a predictor of how you will perform on the wards. There it's more about the ability to work without sleep, get along with grumpy people, and suck up enough to make people like you but not so much as to make people think you're a suck up 😉. Granted BS knowledge will also help for shelf exams and Step 2, but not for the day-to-day.

 

[sykosomatik]

medhead, I'm not sure how the timing will matter. I think in the end they just want to see how you did. If you do well, then its probably not going to matter much. this is all just my opinion, so take it with a huge grain of salt. anyways, good luck.

btw, my school forces everyone to take Step 1 before going into 3rd year. I'm not sure what they do if someone doesn't pass it, but I think they may require a passing grade since they feel that acceptable mastery of the concepts tested in Step 1 is needed before one can go onto the wards.