Professor told me they are doing away with Step 1 SOON

[starkcrazy]

Instead of eliminating MSI summer, which I think is valuable as a lot of people use it for personal gain (getting married, traveling abroad, etc) or professional experience (clinical or research, etc)...

I agree that MS1 summer should stay. People who want to shadow and explore specialties can choose to do that over the summer. I think it's sad to get rid of the summer for everyone for the sake of elective time. Afterall... it's the last full summer vacation that many of us will ever have.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Dral]

I remember when Step 2 CS was just a horrible rumor...

FWIW, I think Step 1 is the most irrelevant test ever. I bet 90% of MDs would fail it if they had to take it again. Forcing med students to take it any time after the end of 2nd year (or retain most of that information past 2nd year) is cruel.

I'd assume that the exam would integrate the basic science knowledge in with the clinical knowledge...hopefully 'forcing' medical school curricula to change accordingly somehow.

 

[sooku]

Law2doc,
They say that item types in CS2 will change in 2nd half of 2011, and in Step 1 shortly thereafter. Sounds like the work you mention has been going on. I agree that the combined Step 1/2 probably won't happen till 2015 or so.

 

[Steeler7588]

Something needs to be done to open up more elective time prior to match, so people can actually make an informed decision about their specialty.

Do you think that's a pretty big issue in the current 2/2 format that most schools use? I really like a 1.5 preclinical school mainly because of the extended elective time. I have no idea what I want to do and I feel like that'd give me the most leeway, but I've been wondering if I'm overrating the importance of elective time. Do you think people are choosing things without enough time to pursue other areas?

 

[thesauce]

Do you think that's a pretty big issue in the current 2/2 format that most schools use? I really like a 1.5 preclinical school mainly because of the extended elective time. I have no idea what I want to do and I feel like that'd give me the most leeway, but I've been wondering if I'm overrating the importance of elective time. Do you think people are choosing things without enough time to pursue other areas?

Yes. That's exactly what's happening. As an example, I never touched derm, ortho, ophtho, uro, ENT, plastics (or many other surgical subspecialties), or path. In the current system, most of the elective time comes after applications are in. I like the systems that cut down the length of the basic sciences and open up more elective time.

 

[slowlybutshelly]

Having one exam would have saved me a BUNCH of $$$.

 

[thesauce]

Having one exam would have saved me a BUNCH of $$$.

LOL. You reopened the discussion to post this??? LOL.

 

[Maneuver]

Med school prof told me my class (2014) wouldn't even have to take step 1...and that we would just take 1 USMLE at the end.

Is this true? I've heard this from multiple sources...

I heard it would be on December 21, 2012