Realistic To Prep for USMLE 1 During 3rd Yr

[TerraceHouse]

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Have been scoring borderline passing on recent NBME's for USMLE Step 1.

Would it be realistic to try and study during 3rd year rotations in the Fall/Winter to try and take USMLE Step 1 sometime between January-March or do you think it will be too hectic doing rotations, setting up 4th year rotations, preparing for Step 2?

Pre-emptive notes:
- I do think if given extra time, I can pull up the score another 15-20 points.
- If I had to choose, would rather have an average COMLEX only vs a barely passing USMLE on record.
- Would be my dream to go into ER regardless of location.

Appreciate the insight. I go to a fairly new DO school with not a lot of upperclassmen to direct these questions.

 

[ortnakas]

Not realistic. You will not have as much time as you think, and you need to move on to learn clinical things and study for shelf exams.

 

[ThreeCheers]

Agreed. Third year rotations are a MASSIVE time suck.

There have been studies that show that step scores improve with experience on clinical rotations though. Maybe if you get third year vacation time, you could consider using it as an additional dedicated period and then see where your NBMEs lie. But this is risky, and only feasible if your school gives you a lot of flex time to play with during your clinical years.

 

[ConfusedChemist]

I've known people who have successfully done that, in Canada where we aren't 'taught' to the STEP1 material in the same way that they US is (i.e. biochem pathways are not a thing we learn).

These people aren't aiming for a 240+, but they do well usually. I've heard of people writing during psyc or fam med rotations

 

[deleted545787]

Have been scoring borderline passing on recent NBME's for USMLE Step 1.

Would it be realistic to try and study during 3rd year rotations in the Fall/Winter to try and take USMLE Step 1 sometime between January-March or do you think it will be too hectic doing rotations, setting up 4th year rotations, preparing for Step 2?

Pre-emptive notes:
- I do think if given extra time, I can pull up the score another 15-20 points.
- If I had to choose, would rather have an average COMLEX only vs a barely passing USMLE on record.
- Would be my dream to go into ER regardless of location.

Appreciate the insight. I go to a fairly new DO school with not a lot of upperclassmen to direct these questions.

I did it.
Not going to lie, was a very difficult task to do. Takes a lot of discipline to sit down and study everyday after rotations as well as studying for shelf exams. Although they overlap on some parts, they do not overlap on everything. I found that shelfs kind of helped me due to the constant prep, you feel more confident answering questions. Also clinicals in third year help solidify processes and symptomology of various illnesses (e.g. Knowing word associations with disease vs knowing what they actually look like). It's doable but needs discipline; you probably won't get anything done during major rotations like GS and IM but you will have other lax rotations during the year that will give you time to study. The key though is to have those rotations back to back so that your studying is not interrupted.

If you follow through with level 2 and/or step 2 prep after taking step 1 directly, the prep time will be decreased. That's because a lot of the material being tested you already know in greater depth and it's fresh in your mind.

And also I'm a super average student. Not your average SDNer (top guns) lol

Good luck

 

[TerraceHouse]

If you were in my shoes, how would you both effectively study for the rotations you're on + USMLE in the most time-efficient manner?

(Let's just say you've already decided to take in January 2018. Not an ideal situation, I know, but just curious how the smart folks at SDN would strategize in such a scenario.)

Thank you!

 

[ortnakas]

If you were in my shoes, how would you both effectively study for the rotations you're on + USMLE in the most time-efficient manner?

(Let's just say you've already decided to take in January 2018. Not an ideal situation, I know, but just curious how the smart folks at SDN would strategize in such a scenario.)

Thank you!

Why is not doing this not an option?

 

[TerraceHouse]

Why is not doing this not an option?

Embarrassed to say 🙁 but didn't pass most recent NBME with what would've been my USMLE date few days away. Would you have sat?

 

[ortnakas]

Embarrassed to say 🙁 but didn't pass most recent NBME with what would've been my USMLE date few days away. Would you have sat?

That changes things a bit-- canceling your USMLE after that was the right call.

You're a DO student, right? Have you taken COMLEX yet? You might be someone for whom COMLEX only is the best strategy. I know that's against general SDN wisdom, but in reality, you'd be far from the only one to go that route. I don't know how much you'll be able to improve on your score if you're multitasking with rotations, and one could make the argument that no USMLE is better than a failing or barely-passing one.