Thsi is why I like this guy, he gives a real and honest answer for the soul purpose of helping us. Thank you hearing what things will be like and getting advice early heavily reduces the stress

Please make a video explaining how to get multiple pubs, abstracts etc. published efficiently for those pursuing competitive specialties.

One of my plastic surgery research mentors told me when he took step 1, all he had to do was pass. He said he studied for like 2 days for it. He is now a nationally recognized academic plastic surgeon. Step 1 was never intended to become this end-all-be-all metric for residencies, yet it became one because residencies do need some form of a meteric. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Ultimately I think it will just get more people with a true passion for a certain specialty into those specialty instead of, after taking step 1, so many people have a new found love for dermatology......

This is why I follow you always straight to the point and saying what others won’t say.

I’m so early. Appreciate hearing your thoughts on this.

I have an idea. Why not finally FORCE by LAW the residency programs to treat their residents like human beings and not like a profit center. These OSHA laws are not doing enough. They used to not have any problem having surgery residents working 120 hours a week, unbelievable. Think about it....they pay roughly $60K at most for people doing skilled educated labor and work that is valued much higher, as much as 4-5 times as what they are paying them. They have no incentive to NOT burn them out. If they fall into severe depression or even commit suicide well that is a personal failing, boomers love to blame the person and never the system and boomers are still deep in control of all aspects of the medical system. Why is it that in any other first world country, even European countries, that their residents work much less and have a better work life balance. If you were sick or needed surgery in France or Germany would you be nervous your doctor is not smart enough or trained well enough? Why is it that so many female residents can not or do not start families and that also leads to depression, or the male students that can't be at home with their wife or kids? The competitive nature of getting in medical school, finishing medical school, competing for highly sought after residency spots (usually the big money residencies), completing residency training produces a very stressed out and burned out population of doctors and other health care workers. It is never ending for over a decade and even starts in college. Of course the system is broken. Once people are jaded and tainted with the non stop stress, judging, testing, and HUGE DEBT that affects what type of person they become. I've seen so many promising medical school students who were altruistic and get incredibly jaded and just started to look after themselves, especially ones that didn't come from money and had to bear the whole brunt of undergraduate and graduate education.

Is this 1.25x on default?cool

This video is huge!! So well articulated in showing a BOTH sides of each variable in this predicament. ps the reddit reference had me rolling lol

I like the point you made about shifting the stress and anxiety from step 1 to other areas on ones resume. what they basically did can be metaphorically described as just shifting the potassium when treating hyperkalemia with insulin. yes less potassium in the blood, but it’s still there (the anxiety) one could manage a high score(since it’s purely merit based exam)

Medical school are just procrastinating med students stress til' step 2 CK

You really gave me hope......thanks Dr Kevin Jubbal!🙂

Thank you so much!!!!!!!!! Finally we are receiving the best information!!!! God bless you 🤗

Dr. Jubbal is smart, fine, and honest. He is literally perfect.

I love Dr. Jubbal because when he says “what no one else will say” I believe him

Most if not all of your publications were in plastics! How do you get to do 60-65 in I would assume 4 years? And how did you approach those professors and what was required of you? 60 is insane, it’s amazing! 🤩

I respect you sir for being so kind and helping out people to find the right way for going into medicine

This is a wonderful video. Dr. Jubbal is a wonderful speaker and very insightful

Step 1 was undoubtedly the worst part of med school. I'm thrilled for the med students coming after us for this change. Step 2CK is way more relevant. But I really need whatever "objective" metric that replaces it isn't highly biased, like many med school evals are

I'm wondering how this new change is going to have an effect on non-US med students that wish to apply to residency in the US. What's your opinion about that?

Yes, other factors of your app will be weighed more heavily. E.g. if you attended a top 30 MD school

You're the best Kevin !! I've been waiting for this

Hey, can you please tell us how Pass/ Fail will affect Foreign medical students writing the exam? Will they be evaluating us only based on our Step 2 score now (provided we pass step 1)?

As a current MS2 (the change won't directly affect me), it just feels like a move to delay the stress of residency applications from beginning of med school to the end. Theoretically, med schools will like the change because this should mean students will be less focused on a high score for Step 1, but I'm sure other issues will arise. The change will continue to highlight the fact that there seems to be not enough residency spots for all of the graduating medical students.

Love the logical perspective here! Ive seen a lot of people freaking out and none really taking a realistic approach. I feel the cream will most likely rise to the top regardless for competitive specialties - in most cases at least

All I know is as a DO student, I'm now going to have to prep for Step 2 and COMLEX during clinical rotations, instead of having dedicated study time. This only makes my anxiety worse. If they're making one pass/fail, they should make them all pass/fail.

Lots of truth in this. Be the best you can be everyday.

Something I haven't heard you address in your videos is that if you want to enter a top 10 program in internal medicine and other specialties like this one, you also need to be a superb candidate, not only for surgical specialties.

Another reason for the switch is to because of the medical schools and the faculty in them. NO ONE goes to class and only a minority of students even look at the PowerPoints our faculty put so many hours into. These physicians (many of which still practice on top of teaching) are trying to impart the knowledge they think we will need as future physicians. However, everyone is so concerned with Step 1, we outright ignore them in favor of all the review content out there. Why sit through an hour long lecture when Boards and Beyond covers it in 20 min right? Kind of wrong. We are focusing on the most high yield material for step not for clinical practice. PS: the preclinical years are pass/fail at my school.

This is what always confused me: why does a dermatologist need to know more basic science then an internist? 260+ vs 230. Like really?!

lol the copyright Uworld cracked me up. So relatable 😂

Makes sense. The whole reason Step 1 is so stressful is not because of the test itself, but because the goal is matching to a desirable residency and program. So making Step 1 pass/fail just passes on the stress to other tests or aspects of the application. If they really want to minimize the student-resident transition stress, they should increase the number of residencies so that all competent students can more easily match into the residency they want. Otherwise, few residencies for too many students keeps the competition cut-throat and the resulting stress high.

So instead of focusing on rotations, learning the clinical environment, and spending as much time as we can third year, it will turn into who can leave the hospital at noon to study. In addition, doing research and gunning for a competitive specialty, only to bomb CK two months before residency apps are due and you find out you need to find a new specialty

Can you please remake a video about this pass fail thing discussing what do program directors prefer after 2022 especially for IMG?

Pass/fail is a huge drawback for med students who do not have a home program/department/faculty in their desired specialty to obtain research and letters of rec from. Luckily my Step 1 score allowed me to get my foot in the door for away rotations and interviews. Yes it's a stressful exam, but it's in your control (unlike the prestige of your school and the Chair letter that you can't get). Mediocre students from top schools already clinch a significant number of total spots in competitive specialties. Now with pass/fail that proportion will be worse.

Great insight! I was waiting for your take!!

Thank you doctor Great video as always!

Highly appreciate your effort.

These are the exact thoughts that I had when I heard the announcement. MS1 here, so hopefully this won't affect me much since I'll take the Step 1 prior to the change.

I agree that step one doesn’t reveal how dood of a doctor you will be. I believe it’s great to put more emphasis on other aspects of the application. Step 1 is an exam that is referred to by many physicians as “not relevant”. High volume research shows passion and innovation. You’re able to search through journals and develop your own project (s)? You can not only develop them, but present/publish as well? You’ve published and presented numerous case studies over your thee years of medical school? You were in the clinic day after day running your study, collecting data to ultimately organize the results into a meaningful conclusion? Now that is passion!! And with great LOR + networking (in smaller fields), i do not believe anyone will have trouble matching, regardless of school prestige.

Another superb video, Dr. Jubbal! Great insight mentioned~ x

A lot of residency programs interview applicants before Step II scores are even released though.

It sucks that DO students have to now take Step 2 as well, if in fact Step 2 replaces Step 1 . So we've got 4 exams instead of 2.

In Portugal (and most Europe), we have a standartized exam for residency. Your score is the only factor.( if its a tie, they check your gpa)

Dude Lets Face it.. Perceived Prestige of Medical School will start to play a HUGE factor and this will be no shock..

i hear what youre saying, medical students are braver than the marines #saveourdoctors

I discovered one of your videos by chance. Really like your videos and subscribed. Looking forward to your new content :)

You should mention that the COMLEX for DO schools is still scored! This is actually worse for lower ranked MDs than for DO programs.

I do agree when considering that in order to compensate for these changes in step 1, more importance will be given to step 2 scores. However, I’d like to ask if you think that studying less hard for step 1 would make it so that students will start to give less importance to such fundamental knowledge thus affecting in a negative way their step 2 scores.

Personally, I think now residencies will look more at how you do on interviews, if you had a more rounded life in med school instead of being hyperfocused on grades and boards, your 3rd year and 4th year will matter a lot more now because it doesn't all just end with "Oh I did great on step 1, now I can chill". I think 3rd and 4th year should set you apart from other candidates because this is where you are in hospitals and clinics, interacting with patients, colleagues and preceptors and these interactions and the grades coming off of there should matter more than some standardized testing score. Ultimately, in medicine, it matters how you get along with people, you can be a shitty doctor because of your personality but do really well on exams and it will hinder you from providing the best care. Just my 2 cents.

Thank you for this video !! 😊 It helped me understand more about Step 1.

Thanks Dr.Jubbal! I'm an IMG, and based on my timeline I do have a chance to postpone my step 1 until it becomes pass/fail (I could take it anywhere between the end of 2020 to the beginning of 2022..6 year program). However, it makes it closer to my expected step 2 date. Still trying to decide but you've given me something to think about!

Here's a terrible scenario related to the matter: Student doctor Joe is interested in dermatology. Joe does all the necessary extracurricular activities (research, clubs, volunteering). Step 1 being pass/fail now puts immense importance on Step 2CK. Joe schedules all of his away rotations for dermatology. Joe then bombs Step 2CK. He now knows that he will not get into derm with that score but also cannot change his away rotations due to the time constraint. Joe is now using all of his away rotations for a residency he will most likely not match in. He has zero time to course-correct and schedule away rotations suitable for his score.

As Italian final year student I can say that your real problem, as in Italy, it's the need of increasing residency posts to avoid this stupid bottleneck-effect. We have the same problem and the government is going to put more money in to increase our residency posts. Don't take in a lot of students if you can't guarantee them to specialize in something. It makes no sense. Every med graduate should have the possibility to specialize even if it will be less money to doctors but at least you can sustain your healthcare system .

I would rather take a test to dictate my future than have someone else evaluate weather iam fit to be in a competitive field. This will just create more bias, and it’s kind of stupid.

This is not fair to MD physicians like myself where our whole future pretty much depended on our USMLE Step 1 score to get into certain fields of medicine which determined our career and future. If anything USMLE Step 3 should be pass/fail, because most of us had to take this 16 hour board during Residency where we are on call and working 15 hour or longer days with limited time to study. I highly disagree that USMLE Step 1 should be pass/fail and this is probably to accommodate the shortage of doctors. I feel like all of us that had passing as a numerical score got the short end of the stick. I agree with how Step 2 CS should be pass/fail, but not Step 1. If anything make Step 3 pass/fail.

Man had 60 freakin publications... I have 1 (in undergrad but still) LOL what a legend

Thank you sir☺️☺️✨👍

Now i have a question... what happens if i have a numerical score (took the test before 2022) and my colleague has a pass/fail score (took the test after 2022), then we apply to the same program in the same year (for example in 2025)... will my numerical score get reduced to a pass/fail??!!

makes sense, surgeons don't have to be PIs in NIH founded biochemistry labs

You failed to acknowledge that DOs also use step 1 to differentiate themselves on VSAS so they can be accepted to away / audition rotations. Now increasingly important LoRs are harder to get. Step 2 is too late in the game to be considered for VSAS. I've already matched, so it doesn't affect me, but I don't want more nepotism in medicine and you shouldn't either.

huge thanks @ mrfartbutt for the APGAR meme I chuckled

As a current 3rd year just having gone through step/comlex 9 months ago, I think this is really going to hurt the foundation of biomedical knowledge that we need to accumulate during didactics. All of the clinical skills we learn 3rd year build upon a strong foundation, and with less pressure to do well on step 1 people aren't going to learn as much. Medicalschool is Hell the first 2 years, but it's that way for a reason. This really feels like more of a blow to DO students than anything else because now we have less measures to set ourselves apart from MD students.

Ultimately students will adapt and conquer in their own way. I don’t think making Step 1 Pass/fail solves most of the problems that most students were worried about. If you aren’t stressed for Step 1, you’ll probably be more stressed for Step 2 now. Something always has to give The new change does place more emphasis on step 2 however, which is more clinical so i like that outcome.

Very well said. I am currently an IMG, step one is stressed for us, however, I have always been told by past IMG's as important as step 1 has been, step 2 for residencies are more indicative of the kind of doctor you are going to be. Sadly, step 1 just filtered out what individuals personally applied for.

thank god, your video came....

Make the MCAT pass fail as well 😂

now, we're seeing that students aren't taking med school serious since they know they can pass step 1 with minimum score

Before this the success limit was about 193 that mean 71% ... Now In pass fail score what the success limit ?? Is it change ??

Please post your stretch routine I have been waiting for it since your new years resolution video.

Always an inspiration and appreciate hearing your thoughts! Thanks for making these great videos.

The number one factor will now be where you went to medical school. Almost anybody can get a favorable letter of recommendation. The rich get richer.

The statistics of the match shows that so far the match rates for Do's and IMG's are pretty similar to the years before. However I'm still concerned that the pass/fail for step 1 could potentially hurt in particular IMG's in the future. You talked about the shift of step scores to other factors in your application. But this shift is in particular not favorable for IMG's. And I am one, so I know well what I'm talking about. It is really hard to obtain strong letters of recommendation, since the author is much more important than the content. A letter of recommendation written by a person from your home country is pretty useless, regardless who this person is. Besides that foreigners usually don't even know how to write a good letter. That was a big problem I ran into when I applied for residency. In addition: there are numerous countries, which don't issue a deans letter, simply because it is not common everywhere. In fact my medical school did not know what a deans letter even is. Bottom line: I had over average Step 1 and step 2CK scores and did not even get an interview in Family Medicine or Internal Medicine. I finally matched into a program just due to personal connections.

I hope this will not have to much of an impact on students attending offshore schools

As an IMG form China and not so good at English, I may never publish that many thesis through my life...not even my professors in China

Great overview, I just did a post over on Instagram talking about the same thing. I think Step 1 Pass Fail will help rather than hurt, especially since it puts the emphasis onto step 2 which is more clinically relevant. Its funny to hear you talk about the SLOE which was my first reaction to this change too. I wouldn't be shocked if we see other specialties adapting this over the next year or two

I'm a second year med student. My only question is If I give step 1 in September 2021 and step 2 after graduation i.e in 2023, will my step 1 marks be in a 3 digit score or pass/fail in my CV?

5:41 subtle flex

This is a really relevant and interesting insight. What advice would you share with medical students who are prepping for USMLE Step 1? Have you created content relevant to traveling medical professionals you'd suggest sharing?

Haha, I love it. Thanks for sharing. Out of curiosity, when did you start accumulating your publications?

Step 1 score is overrated. It is neither the sole indicator nor the only measure that residency and fellowship training program directors take into account. Many of us have often argued that it was a huge distraction and put the US graduates at disadvantage since unlike their foreign counterparts they cannot take time off to cram questions and answers from multiple sources and regurgitate answers. I have found poor correlation between USMLE scores and clinical performance. How often does a dermatologist use hard core biochemistry knowledge to diagnose and treat skin disorders - hardly ever. To do away with numerical score is right decision. This course correction was long overdue. Yes students need strong grounding in basic sciences to understand intricacies of diseases, and medical schools must ensure that happens. It can be a calibrated process that can extend throughout the years of medical school. Romesh Khardori, MD., PhD

thanks for the informative video! as an IMG, my focus needs to shift a lot to research/volunteer/LOR. Anyone has any tips about how to go about this for it to be highly recognized by usmle? eg. which doctors to try to network with or which communities to get involved with that's internationally recognized etc?

Shoutout to fartbutt had me dying

the whole USMLE system seems like a confusing mess. I think the USA should adopt an Australian style system, with intermediary "residency" years before applying for specialty trainee positions.

Good video ! Thanks 🙏

I think every step should be a pass/fail. The true purpose of these exams is to determine if you have a minimum amount of knowledge to practice medicine or not. Regardless if you pass with a minimum score or a 260+, that means you can practice medicine in the US... so why do need to compete with scores

Quick question: At what ranking of medical school does your med school count as a “lower-rank medical school”? Like what’s the cutoff number before a school is classified a “low ranked school”

Comment about research as game more so thag advancing health outcomes and care rings so true! I think we almost forget what the point of research is

Very interesting! I wonder if this will change for other board exams like it

Great video as always. I really feel your platform would be elevated if you were still in residency and pursuing practice. I understand why you choose not, but I have to say it.

how will this impact DO students?

I am a first year Med student IMG looking to do research. How did u get published???

This will make it harder for IMGs to match.

I too got sucked into the immediate fear but reason cleared my head a little. The one topic I haven't seen covered is how this will affect getting away rotations during fourth year. As I understand it, Step 1 scoring used to be a big part of securing auditions. And Step 2 CK usually is not complete until after those applications are submitted. How do you think this part of the process will adapt?

I dont get it. What difference does it make? Now basically your step 2 score will probably determine where you end up. That stuff is actual clinical stuff. Step 1 is basically just sciences not whats actually practical in real life. If anything this is better.

I am 25 years old, should i just go for step 1 now while its not pass/fail yet or should i wait for 2022?

What does it mean for an IMG , plus if i appear for Step 1 this year , then will the residency programme rate me as pass / fail or will they consider my score ?

How did you get all those publications?! Please help :) need to get involved ASAP

In the 2023 match, there could be a mixture of applicants - those with numerical scores and those with merely a PASS rating. What are your thoughts on this? Is the applicant with the numerical score still at an advantage?

So I was starting medical school in the Caribbean because I don’t want to take on a lot of extra debt trying to get into a US school and this step 1 change made me question the decision. I looked at the first two practice questions of step 2 ck and surprisingly got them right, so I feel competent to do well on that exam, having not learned that material yet. That information makes more sense to me than the information on step 1, so maybe it’s a good thing for me. Clinical stuff is far more appealing, to me at least...

Thank you for this. Tangential question: how in the world did you get 65 publications?