Which IMG Medical School Year to do USMLE Step 1

[Hala Makahleh]

Hi all

am a third year medical student , just wondering when is the best timeing to do USMLE step 1 ..
should i wait until i finish my six years ..or should i do it now ??

Thanks alot

[cage92]

first where are you from and what is the system you r university if you finish you r basic science in your 3rd year so you need at least 1 clinical year

[maioush91]

Step 1 is for Basic Sciences = preclinical .. I believe you're 6 years with your internship .. meaning 5 years of studying .. probably 2 years of preclinical and 3 years of clinical . therefore you're ELIGIBLE to take the step 1 after your 2nd year.. but let me remind you it'll take ltos of studying to ACE (not only pass) step 1 .. in order to get a residency in US .. u should start asap to at least get to know the books.. what's recommended and such .. anyways u can always go to usmle.org to find out more.. but since you're an IMG .. u'll read everything in ecfmg.org I believe ..hope it helps

[drhma]

Originally Posted by Hala Makahleh

Hi all

am a third year medical student , just wondering when is the best timeing to do USMLE step 1 ..
should i wait until i finish my six years ..or should i do it now ??

Thanks alot

im a 4th year medical student in jordan now, in JU
I took step1 just after finishing the 2nd semester of third year and before starting 4th year, and got 230!
it was extremely hard to work on studying for university and for step1, but it all payed off.. i highly recommend u do it now at least u can do electives in the top universities in the states as long as u have step1

[Hala Makahleh]

Originally Posted by drhma

im a 4th year medical student in jordan now, in JU
I took step1 just after finishing the 2nd semester of third year and before starting 4th year, and got 230!
it was extremely hard to work on studying for university and for step1, but it all payed off.. i highly recommend u do it now at least u can do electives in the top universities in the states as long as u have step1

Yes am aware of that ,, i just cant make up my mind to do it now or wait
although i want to do my elective out side of jordan
thanks alot

[Hala Makahleh]

Originally Posted by cage92

first where are you from and what is the system you r university if you finish you r basic science in your 3rd year so you need at least 1 clinical year

Am in jordan university a 3rd year medical student and
i want to do my elecive courses outside
and do i really need one clinical year to do step one ???

[drhma]

Originally Posted by Hala Makahleh

Am in jordan university a 3rd year medical student and
i want to do my elecive courses outside
and do i really need one clinical year to do step one ???

no u do not, i did it directly after third year, without even a single day in 4th year... [first 3 years here are "basic"] and the 4,5,6th years are clinical
just study as hard as u can, have a focused plan, u can do it, u'll get even higher than 230

[aspiringdoc93]

Originally Posted by drhma

im a 4th year medical student in jordan now, in JU
I took step1 just after finishing the 2nd semester of third year and before starting 4th year, and got 230!
it was extremely hard to work on studying for university and for step1, but it all payed off.. i highly recommend u do it now at least u can do electives in the top universities in the states as long as u have step1

hi could you please share your studying strategy? i am currently in 3rd year and i plan to take step 1 next year before i go into 4th year, just like you did. but i find it so hard to balance studying for usmle and university at the same time! how did you do it?? please help! im really starting to worry and wondering if i can handle it

[Yes/No]

If I were you, I wouldn't rush to sit for my STEP 1. Trust me, having some clinical experience is really important when dealing with MCQs. It's all so clinically oriented and you can score A LOT better with some actual, tangible experience in real life medicine. I am in a 6-year program as well and sat for the exam in the beginning of fifth year, ended up with an awesome score and got a ton of electives.

My advice is to work really hard to understand the material you are taught in med school, invest in a year of quality clinical practice and then focus for your step. That way you will be done with the whole thing in 3-4 months and hopefully score great.

Best of luck!

[lemontree52]

Originally Posted by Yes/No

If I were you, I wouldn't rush to sit for my STEP 1. Trust me, having some clinical experience is really important when dealing with MCQs. It's all so clinically oriented and you can score A LOT better with some actual, tangible experience in real life medicine. I am in a 6-year program as well and sat for the exam in the beginning of fifth year, ended up with an awesome score and got a ton of electives.

My advice is to work really hard to understand the material you are taught in med school, invest in a year of quality clinical practice and then focus for your step. That way you will be done with the whole thing in 3-4 months and hopefully score great.

Best of luck!

Hi, I'm currently in the 2nd year of a 6-year program. We have 3 didactic/preclinical years followed by 3 clinical years.

I've looked at some of the USMLE books (like FA) and I've realized that my school's preclinical curriculum isn't as clinically oriented. For example, in anatomy we mostly just learn about the structures/relative positions, etc. and we only learn very little about the diseases that could occur (very little clinical relevant information).

I'm wondering if your school is also like that and if you also experienced the same problem trying to adjust to the US curriculum. I'm also thinking that maybe I'll take step 1 right after my 1st clinical year so I'll at least have some clinical exposure while hopefully not having forgotten too much of the basic sciences. Do you think it's a good strategy?

Finally, how long did you spend studying for step 1? What advice would you give to me, should I start reading extra stuff for step 1 now? Thank you so much!!