My brother Jeffrey has completed his second year of med school, which also means it's time for the first big, very important board test. Here's a quick summary I found
online:
Your first licensing examAfter you complete your first two years of school, you must take Step 1 of the USMLE, or the United States Medical Licensing Exam. This is the first of a series of three exams you must take, and it measures your ability to understand and apply basic science concepts to medicine. If you can demonstrate mastery of these concepts and pass the exam, then you can move on to your third and fourth years of medical school. Consider this an addition to your requirements for medical school (for the second 2 years, at least).
The second two yearsYou really start getting down to the practice of medicine during the last two years of medical school. You'll continue to take classes, but also spend a significant amount of time completing rotations in hospitals and clinics. These are the years where you learn by watching and doing. You'll probably cover a little of everything including obstetrics, family practice, psychiatry, surgery, and emergency medicine -- just to name a few. In general, your third year rotations cover more of the fundamental areas that all students need to learn, but during your fourth year, you may be able to choose rotations in areas that interest you.
The way Jeff has explained it to me, it's important to prepare and do your very best because this test can keep doors open, or shut doors. Meaning if you do well, then you get to choose what type of doctor you become, whereas if you do not so hot, that's dictated for you.
Jeff has been preparing and studying for the past 6 weeks for this test, which is June 23 (Monday!!). We are sure rooting for him... Go Jeff, go brother, go uncle jeff, go dr jeff!!
He goes to Costa Rica with his friends basically right after the test :)
In case you missed it,
here is an old blog post by Jeff about med school.
