At what time during your MBBS you should start preparing for USMLE? And when one should write the step 1?
Ideal Timing:
• End of preclinical years (usually after 2nd year) of med school is optimal — right after completing foundational subjects like anatomy, biochemistry, pathology, etc.
• Typical timeframe: April to July of that year is popular, as it gives:
• Enough time after coursework to review.
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If someone is interested in USMLE pathway, then one should start studying material for USMLE as soon as possible. The course content for USMLE is definitely different than MBBS curricula from Indian medical curricula. Or at least, emphasis and approach to disease /clinical decision making is definitely different. For eg, USMLE pays a lot of emphasis on Behavioral sciences, Genetics and immunology (for step 1). The level of details on these subjects may not be seen in Indian MBBS curricula. Then, comes the way we approach disease processes. DD and approach to management is also somewhat different, despite the commonality in patho-physiological processes.
Thus, I would say start preparing for USMLE 1 from first year, but the best time to write step 1 is 4th year, because by that time grey matter has matured much and confidence level in tackling all step 1 subjects has increased. After all, you do not want step1 1 to demoralize you or give you nightmatres (even if these days scoring is not done on step 1, it is just pass/fail).
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Many of seniors from my college gave their step 1 during 3 rd year and got good marks
It’s so obvious that during third year you got so small subject to do so you can prepare for it .!
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Start from 1st year itself
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