The Final Step is Complete

As I am five days away from working again, I received great news this morning that came in the form of an email that has plagued medical students for years and brings a distant memory of anxiety for current residents, the notification that your score report is available for viewing. If you are unfamiliar with the medical field, then you are probably a little lost. . . keep reading, you will understand.

The USMLE (also known as the "Step" examinations)are a series of exams that test the knowledge of medical students and physicians at various phases or "steps" in their career. At the end of the second year of medical school, students across the country take Step 1. This is arguably the most difficult of all the USMLE exams. It is associated with the most steps as some residency programs and specialties (foolishly) have specific cutoffs in order to receive an interview when applying to their programs. This test is 8 hours long.

Step 2 is typically taken after a medical student completes their third year of school. Doing well on this exam can make up for a lower Step 1 score so that the "foolish" programs can overlook a marginal Step 1 score if the med student can replace it with a "stellar" Step 2 score. This test measures the clinical knowledge learned during the medical students' clinical rotation. This test is also 8 hours long.

Step 3, the most chill of them all (though I managed to stress myself out for three weeks while waiting for my score). This exam can be taken at any point during a resident's (yes a resident IS a physician)training. In order to receive a permanent medical license, the resident must pass Step 3. It's focus is to test a physician's knowledge in general medicine and not just in their specific specialty. It's better to take the test during the first couple years of residency. I recently found out that you can register in any state to take the exam and can get around waiting the mandatory 9-12 months that some state's require in order to take Step 3 (I can't remember which states and frankly I'm done so I'll let you look that up if you are curious). This test tops them all at a total of 16 hours spread over two 8 hour days :)

Each test cost about a grand give or take. It is a mass money making machine for the ACGME/NBME, etc. . . and I'm happy to never see you again :) For those of you still in the process, hold your head up high and know you will finish all of this before you know it!!!! Good luck to all, I wish you much success!