244! That number is going make or break my future. At least that is what I’m told. “Your step 1 score is what is going to determine the residency you get into”. Sounds like a magical solution that I’ve been hearing for the past 10-15years. And all this seems like a sham to keep us up in the rat race! All this started in the 10th boards, get this great grades and it sort you for life. Like most things a decade ago and with some convincing thought this was the way for me. Little did I know that this was just the beginning for a long boring journey. The start of never ending saga of giving exams.
My decision to not stay in India stems from the fact that my professional and personal growth were just looking at stagnation. As a child we never stayed at a place for long, and now I was staring at my life in a sleeping ‘Retiree’s Paradise’. Not that I hate this place, but it makes me feel content and comfortable. That in my opinion is not a good thing. I’ve started to believe that constant learning and challenging yourself with new things and experiences is must to grow as a human being. And getting far away as possible made sense.
The decision at first was very easy, a buddy of mine showed me how much fun it might be. “If you are not doing anything here, then get out of here.” Sounded like a great idea. But upon giving it a serious thought, it was very complex. The final decision was taken as a family, with some heated exchanges at the dinner table. Understanding the implication of this was only understood once I had a conversation with my brother. Everything from my attitude to financial situation had to change. Things had to become more organized and less procrastinatory, for lack of a better term.
Before you start get your parent and siblings on board its is going to be long and slow journey. Kinda similar to writing the NEET but more expensive and with a couple of extra steps. You just finish your internship, now somehow decided to apply for the USMLE and you are 2 years late. Everyone in the country thinks that you must worry about PG after internship. It does help to prepare after internship as you’ll have some clinical experience. Nope that never works in my opinion.
Preparation for PG should start in the first year, in principal at least. Because we are prepared for some exam from day one, and its always the wrong exam we prepare for. First its the internals, then its the final exams then its NEET. No teacher ever showed us the importance of the stuff they were trying to teach. Everything was made so boring that you just want to get over it and never give a second thought about it. Keeping yourself updated about with old and out of portion material and topics becomes crucial. Having a broader idea about things makes you more curious to know more and makes you realize that you know only a little. So being up to date lays the ground work for everything else.
Ideally, Step 1 should be given in 3 year MBBS and Step2CK in the middle of internship. So that by the end of internship thing are ready and you are able to concentrate on other more important things, in my opinion. So let me explain the best thing you can do.
USMLE is structured in 3 distinctive steps
First lets get some formalities out of the way. What would help later is thinking about getting a B1/B2 visa for the USA. This will help a lot when you eventually need to run to the US in a hurry!. As a student the visa would be granted much more easily. The would be to register yourself at ECFMG (Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates). The ECFMG is where the official journey starts, get the ECFMG/USMLE ID cost about UD$ 135, getting a credit card at this stage also helps.
Step 1 in my opinion might take about 3-4 months of dedicated studying and close to 6-7 months for someone working full-time and studying. These are just an arbitrary time frame some do it in less and some take years. I would taking this in 3rd year as there is a lot free time to study and the USMLE preparation takes only 3-4 hours per day. There are 100s of resources out there but let me give you the gist of the ones to use.