DO student middle of class. should I take USMLE?

[JimBone905]

Hey guys. Almost done with 2nd year. finishing as a 55th/60th percentile in my class (84/85 avg). I get B's except like 4 A's and 2 high C;s.
took my first OSCE a few months ago as a mandatory school assessment and got a 450 (our class average was much lower than that surprisingly).

have been using USMLE RX and have been doing a mix of block specific and class specific blocks of 20-40 questions. have done ~1.2k questions and average a 60% correct in the bank. (lowest I got was a 40% highest was a 78%). I plan on starting Uworld once I finish RX.

I use anki (60% mature anking) and write in/highlight first aid while watching pathoma/sketchy ( study slides very quickly and dont spend much time bc i think professors slides suck and I dont learn from the lectures, i just watch at x2 speed to see if they cover something I might miss otherwise). probably wont finish anking but ill try to keep up with reviews when I am not doing practice questions during dedicated.

I want to do IM and subspecialize so I want to match well. I believe taking USMLE and getting a 210+ would be in my best interests but I feel very not confident in myself. Should I register now to take it in late May? My COMLEX 1 date is May 24th.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[The Med-Peds Dude]

Despite what you may have heard, IM is not super competitive. A strong resident in an average program (assuming good LOR and some scholarly activity) will get their GI (or whatever) fellowship. Unless you are hell-bent on matching to certain programs or regions, you don't have to take USMLE.

A websearch using the terms "internal+medicine+comlex+accept" will yield useful results, many without even needing to open the link.

You will, of course, get different opinions here (and on Reddit), many of them from people who haven't gone through the match, yet.

This table may give you an estimation of DO-friendly programs: https://mk0nrmp3oyqui6wqfm.kinstacd...pecialty-by-State-and-Applicant-Type_2020.pdf

Here is some hard data about DO's in the match: https://mk0nrmp3oyqui6wqfm.kinstacd...utcomes-in-the-Match-2020_DO-Senior_final.pdf

 

[Dryad8212]

You should take the USMLE. Can you match into it without? yes. But if a PD has a choice between complex and a DO student with a solid step 1, they will give the other DO student that spot.

Aunt is a psych PD. But same principles apply.

 

[deleted954943]

There is a monomaniacal obsession with Step 1 among DO students. I was planning on taking it, but it was canceled last summer due to COVID. I never rescheduled and I probably won't. I want to do IM as well. My COMLEX score is not superb, but it is not prohibitive either. If I clear 600 on level 2 and make a positive impression while rotating, I think I will make as strong a statement I can make...step or no step.

Suppose you take it and do mediocre or worse? There's always that risk. Instead of the "you must take Step 1 even if you have to sacrifice your firstborn" mentality, I would say take it if you feel really confident that you can get the score you want and if you have the time and/or motivation to put in that work. On philosophical grounds, I'm opposed to the idea of DO students having to take DOUBLE the number of board exams simply because it's easier for program directors to interpret one 3-digit number compared to another. We have our own exams to take. Their eyes glance over your score for half a second and you either impress them or you don't. Those are my thoughts.

 

[Dryad8212]

There is a monomaniacal obsession with Step 1 among DO students. I was planning on taking it, but it was canceled last summer due to COVID. I never rescheduled and I probably won't. I want to do IM as well. My COMLEX score is not superb, but it is not prohibitive either. If I clear 600 on level 2 and make a positive impression while rotating, I think I will make as strong a statement I can make...step or no step.

Suppose you take it and do mediocre or worse? There's always that risk. Instead of the "you must take Step 1 even if you have to sacrifice your firstborn" mentality, I would say take it if you feel really confident that you can get the score you want and if you have the time and/or motivation to put in that work. On philosophical grounds, I'm opposed to the idea of DO students having to take DOUBLE the number of board exams simply because it's easier for program directors to interpret one 3-digit number compared to another. We have our own exams to take. Their eyes glance over your score for half a second and you either impress them or you don't. Those are my thoughts.

Majority of residencies in good locations and universities/solid programs have high amounts of MD applicants applying for them. Taking step 1 helps equalize the playing field unless you want to match in a small DO community program in Nebraska.

 

[JimBone905]

one of my deans told me that my grades are fine and i did well on my comsae so he thinks i could take it. as a follow up question:

should I start Uworld now and just use RX for class specific material? I have classmates that have started using Uworld alongside another qbank like combank for lectures/getting used to OPP style questions.

I am super eager to start Uworld and wouldnt mind using it starting now if that is a good idea. (dedicated starts in 2 months).

 

[The Med-Peds Dude]

one of my deans told me that my grades are fine and i did well on my comsae so he thinks i could take it. as a follow up question:

should I start Uworld now and just use RX for class specific material? I have classmates that have started using Uworld alongside another qbank like combank for lectures/getting used to OPP style questions.

I am super eager to start Uworld and wouldnt mind using it starting now if that is a good idea. (dedicated starts in 2 months).

I've been doing this for a long time; I think you are making the right decision.

 

[Deecee2DO]

one of my deans told me that my grades are fine and i did well on my comsae so he thinks i could take it. as a follow up question:

should I start Uworld now and just use RX for class specific material? I have classmates that have started using Uworld alongside another qbank like combank for lectures/getting used to OPP style questions.

I am super eager to start Uworld and wouldnt mind using it starting now if that is a good idea. (dedicated starts in 2 months).

A. Take USMLE I think you will do fine!
B. Do not start UWorld until about 8+ weeks out-You want to save these questions as they are the most like the real thing than anything else when it comes to questions banks. You want to simulate test day leading up to the exam. Stick with Rx for now, finish it and start UW after completing Rx. Research shows there is a direct correlation with number of questions completed and score on Step 1, not the number of anki cards completed. Is anki helpful? sure it is but I personally think it is a huge time sink and doesn't get you to apply and integrate knowledge for the exam which is the type of exam that it is. For reference I scored mid-250s on Step 1 and I am a USMLE tutor for one of the professional tutoring companies. This is the strategy I use for all my students

 

[JimBone905]

A. Take USMLE I think you will do fine!
B. Do not start UWorld until about 8+ weeks out-You want to save these questions as they are the most like the real thing than anything else when it comes to questions banks. You want to simulate test day leading up to the exam. Stick with Rx for now, finish it and start UW after completing Rx. Research shows there is a direct correlation with number of questions completed and score on Step 1, not the number of anki cards completed. Is anki helpful? sure it is but I personally think it is a huge time sink and doesn't get you to apply and integrate knowledge for the exam which is the type of exam that it is. For reference I scored mid-250s on Step 1 and I am a USMLE tutor for one of the professional tutoring companies. This is the strategy I use for all my students

thanks for the words of encouragement. you don't think it would be a good idea to get used to the question styles sooner than 8 weeks? I hear from 3rd years at my school that doing a 2nd pass at uworld helped them get a high score and that they started before dedicated near the end of 2nd year. I would be grateful with anything over a 220 lol.

 

[Deecee2DO]

thanks for the words of encouragement. you don't think it would be a good idea to get used to the question styles sooner than 8 weeks? I hear from 3rd years at my school that doing a 2nd pass at uworld helped them get a high score and that they started before dedicated near the end of 2nd year. I would be grateful with anything over a 220 lol.

If youre shooting for anything over a 220 you can start UWorld whenever. For the 245+ i def suggest the strategy i mentioned aka Id highly encourage waiting. it isnt uncommon to hear from classmates that doing UW 2x is the best method to attacking Step. I do not think this is the best method. seeing as many new/unique questions that youve never seen before is the most advantageous strategy and I think will carry you furthest. Again for a 220+ simply knowing UW in and out by doing it 2x should get you there