One thing I don't understand is why a lot of people are harping on the fact that St. Chris doesn't require Step 1 to start clinical rotations...?

I personally believe this is rather beneficial; giving me the option of starting clinical rotations and studying for step 1 at the same time. The more options that are available, the better able the college is to accommodate the greatest number of people, thus attracting a larger applicant pool.

I hope the college won't change this policy as it would really be the last straw for me...

I guess it would be beneficial to take USMLE after doing atleast 4 months of clinicals, but I guess G, and Picard and tell more: Is having some clinical experience before taking USMLE beneficial?

step 1 is best taken pre-clinical...the stuff you learn on the wards won't help you as much as the basic science classes you just had. the further from those you are, the worse off you are, imho....and, if you are doing your rotations right, you should not have the time to study that you did in the pre-clinicals. you will be in the hospital all the time, and when you read it should be about your patients.

frankly, requiring students to pass step 1 should be required. before we get set loose on the wards, i think it is appropriate to verify that a minimum level of knowledge has been aqquired.

The best time to take Step I is right out of basic science. The test is designed to test you basic science knowledge.

Once you start clinicals, you will be too busy studying for your clinical material, not to mention the work hours.

I don't know about you, I couldn't draw the Kreb cycle or what remember what heme metabolism pathway looked like 8 weeks into my clinicals...

So no, I would not start clinicals without getting Step I out of the way first.

P

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Picard is right. To all students, it's best if you take your USMLE Step 1 fresh out of Basic Sciences, because everything is till in your head. If you wait too long you'll begin to forget all the High Yield stuff and you'll be playing catching up later, and most likely do very poorly on your clinicals if your studying for the Step 1 during your clinical years. Whether the school requires it or not, and this applies to ALL Schools, take the exam right after you finish your Second Year. Chances of you scoring better on the exam are higher than to wait till after you graduate from Med School, or have it interfere with your clinicals. My professors which graduated from a Spanish Medical School in Dominican Republic, were told to wait until they graduated from Medical school to take it, they didn't prepare them for the exam, but believe me you they made sure that when you graduate from there you know your ^&*(. As a result they've failed the exam twice and are taking it again December 18, 2003, they just finished taking the Kaplan Live Lecture Course for the third time. Take it will all the information is still fresh.

Darlyn3, what exactly is your background? Are you a med student, resident, attending, etc...?

Sadly to say, none of the above. I'm a pros Med Student. Why???

The reason I ask is that people who give advice on when to take Step 1 are typically later in their medical education/career. However, you were giving advice on when to take Step 1 as a Pre-Med, so it seemed a little out of step with the rest of the people here who were replying that have already been through Step 1 or have completed their medical education.

Your are you trying to say that my information is incorrect? The reason I speak and give them advice is because I see my Docs what they're going thru. It's up to them to follow it or not. It may seem out of step to you but to others it makes sense.

But how can you give educated advice on something you haven't yet experienced...? If you haven't been through the process of taking Step 1, you couldn't possibly know whether the advice you are giving is correct or not.

What you are talking about is akin to me advising people on how to write a dissertation about advanced particle physics just because I saw someone writing one, even though I personally have never had any formal education in advanced particle physics. You made several very specific suggetions that you couldn't possibly know are correct unless you experienced this for yourself, and you haven't.

Furtheremore, the difficulties of the doctors you know may have more to do with their capabilities rather than the timing of their exams. Since you aren't speaking from personal experience, you can't ever truly know the reason why they performed so poorly on their Step 1 exams.