<p>Curm–Yes, step 1 prep was miserably time consuming and annoying, but at the very least, it’s a thing of the past. And (always looking for that silver lining!) at least my friends were all doing it with me too. </p>
<p>Icarus–yes, great feeling, as I’m sure you remember. I have also heard it’s downhill from here, which I am crossing my fingers is true.</p>
<p>Somemom, elleneast, and WOWMom–thanks! And yes, it’s a huge relief. Nice to have a few weeks to do whatever I want…it’s been a little while since I could do that!</p>
<p>Kristin, glad to hear you have reached another milestone - the STEP-1.</p>
<p>As I posted in another thread, DS is struggling through the STEP-1 test today. He did not have a good sleep due to nervousness. I heard 4 students from his class shared a cab to the test center. The test center is not far from where they are. Hopefully, the cab would show up on time.</p>
<p>Regarding: “a few weeks to do whatever I want”, poor DS only has 4 days. But I heard the winter break is long for MS3,</p>
<p>It is 5:30 pm in DS’s time zone. DS must have gone through the “hell” of his STEP-1 test.
Not only the test is the longest he has ever taken, but also he needs to do it without a good sleep.</p>
<p>Like my wife said, he is young, and healthy, so he should be able to pull it off even with little sleep the previous night.</p>
<p>We will know how he felt about this test this Saturday evening the latest
Assuming that he passes the test, he is officially MS3.</p>
<p>Since the first time pass rate for american MD students is in the mid 90s, the question is very rarely “whether a student will pass” but rather “whether a student will do well”</p>
<p>with regard to test time/sleep, I don’t know if it’s just because I’m in a major city but there are occasional 1pm start time slots (instead of the traditional 8am) which made getting enough sleep the night before the test very easy :)</p>
<p>my son got his Step 3 score back yesterday; 255; now on to getting that first medical license, at least he his paying for his own medical license. Amazing how the fees vary by state-from a few hundred to thousands depending on which state you live in.</p>
<p>After residency, there are specialty “boards.” The same is sometimes true after a fellowship. And there are periodic relicensure exams (I’m not really sure what’s on these).</p>
<p>Finally heard from DS who had just completed his STEP-1. This call was made after several of his classmates had gone to an expensive restaurant to decompress and a very long sleep.</p>
<p>It appears he is still in one piece. But he said he wanted a “do-nothing” day today.</p>
<p>He said among the 4 test takers who shared the cab to the center, almost all of them had not had a good sleep the night before. In the dinner for decompressing, they still kept talking about STEP-1. A quite nerdy behavior to me.</p>
<p>In our conversation, we kept far away about the question/topic: how well did you do on the test? He mentioned briefly this kind of test is not easy (as compared to, say, prereq tests as a premed.)</p>
<p>Reading few stories here on CC, made me realize that my D. was much less emotional about the test than most. She was just happy to be done and mentioned that they never talk about it with the only other girl who took it on the same day (I belive at different time, not sure). More so, when D. received her score and I asked about her friend if she received it also, D. replied that they simply never talk about the test, score,…etc., so D. had no idea if her friend has received the score at all. Frankly, D. had many more emotions about her trip to the friend’s wedding than the Step 1. The only change is that now she is looking into residency programs much closer and sounds like she is seriously into making certain plans and compiling the list</p>
<p>Finally heard from D1. Got a phone call about 8pm last night. It’s been 2 weeks? 3 weeks?</p>
<p>Apparently she’s been ‘enjoying’ the ‘doctor’s lifestyle’–two back-to-back weeks of 90 hour work weeks. Today she has a day off and then she’s on for the next 8 days.</p>
<p>Such fun! :rolleyes: Bet med schools don’t put that in their glossy brochures for prospective students.</p>
<p>DS seems to schedule the “easier” rotation first and postpone those potentially tough ones later. He also mentioned that the students with similar targeted specialty tend to hang out by themselves. An extreme case: one student declares to some fellow students that he will only be interested in a specialty for which most patients he treats are rich and are capable of paying bills.</p>
<p>One of my friends and I have a running gag that we’re going to apply to plastics residency and in the interview process just talk about how all we want to do is super high end expensive cosmetic surgery - just to see what happens. Unfortunately the TOS here won’t let me write some of the answers to potential interview questions we’ve come up with.</p>
<p>One week to step2. Qbank done. Full length practice test done. 12 hour study day (10 hours study/2 hours of break) , 7 days a week. She really needs a plan. She hit a good number but wouldn’t mind 10 more points. She’s thinking she won’t take another practice test and just concentrate on her lesser areas, one of which is the rotation she skipped. Imagine that.</p>
<p>Well. Damnable test taken. She is not that happy a camper. It appears that this particular edition was peppered with questions from the “skipped” rotation. </p>
<p>Takeaway point. Try real hard not to do that to yourself. Apparently, it’s not a good thing. </p>
<p>(My bar exam was the exact opposite. The course I had just finished formed the basis of several of the essay questions . Thank The Lord.) </p>
<p>Can you say “over-confident”? Yup. I think you can. Same kid who took the MCAT after soph year and didn’t “need” an official prep course. “I’ll just use the resources. I’ll be fine.” </p>
<p>Have any of your friends taken the test yet? “Nope.” ??? “I just wanted it over.”</p>
Same kid who took the MCAT after soph year and didn’t “need” an official prep course. “I’ll just use the resources. I’ll be fine.” </p>
??? “I just wanted it over.”</p>