Step 1 as a "current" Exam

[dubd]

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Hi all,

I have been reading all of the advice being doled out on these forums, and thought that it was about time that I reactivated my account and took my part on!

I am sitting for the Step 1 in Mid-September (I'm a US citizen attending Medical School in Ireland) and was wondering about how current the exam is...will the most current information be in the 2009 editions of my review books, or will we see things like Swine Flu, for example.

Any advice would be much appreciated, and if you have suggestions of newer techniques/diseases/medications that may or may not be published in review materials but could very well be tested, please share!

Thanks!

 

[njbmd]

Step I like most board exams will lag behind current research and practice by about 2 years. With that being said, swine flu doesn't require any new science. Step I is the application of what you learned in basic science (pre-clinical science) to their presented problems. You might not get a question about swine flu specifically but you might have a problems about the epidemiology of influenza or the pathology of influenza.

 

[McGillGrad]

The review books keep up with what is "current" so they are a great guide. You will need to pay more attention to them because of the difference in the Irish vs. US curriculum.

 

[Captopril]

It takes 2-4 years for a new question to be approved for the exam, so you likely won't see anything specific from current events. But like an above poster said, you very well could be asked the path/epidemiology of stuff that happens to be going on right now.