What Tests & Credits Are Required In Medicine?

We hear about the MCAT. We hear about the STEP exams. But what else? Looking from the outside, we often don’t know all the courses and credits we need during undergraduate and medical school, until we reach there (as well as exams taken during residency…) Whether it is Biology I or pathology/pharmacology, here are all the courses and credits that are required to finally become a full-fledged physician. 

During the four years in undergraduate school, medical schools have prerequisites for courses you must take and pass. While they do change from medical school-to-medical school, the common prerequisites are one year of biology with lab, one year of general chemistry, one year of organic chemistry with lab, one semester of biochemistry, one year of physics with lab, and one year of English. Now, most of these classes can be finished in the first two years of your undergraduate school (especially if you have college credit through AP and IB classes coming out of high school), so what should you spend the rest of your time on? Well, medical schools also appreciate additional upper-level science courses to show that you can handle the medical school rigor as well as show an affinity to learn about the field. These classes include pathogenic bacteriology and immunology, medicinal chemistry, and genetic/molecular chemistry. Lastly, we need to talk about the exam that over 85,000 students sit for yearly: the dreaded MCAT. Applicants must complete the exam and the higher the score the better your chances are of getting into a school. The test examines medical knowledge and skills that educators, physicians, and students have identified as prerequisites for performing in medical school. 

After all these classes, the true knowledge test begins in medical school. While the curriculum of medical schools varies from school to school, some key structures and concepts are followed by almost all schools. For example, medical schools often have the first two years as “preclinical”, where students can expect to learn all of the information and textbook knowledge needed to practice in a hospital, and the last two years as “clinical”, where students do rotations on different specialties (to which they will apply to residency for). At the end of the second year, students take the first of three STEP exams, the results of which are used to assess if they can apply the topics learned during the first two years of school. After the clinical portion of medical school, students take the second STEP exam which is used for programs to determine where and what specialty they match in. The last STEP exam is usually done after the first year of residency, or intern year. This is the final assessment of whether or not you're prepared to practice general medicine in an unsupervised setting. At the end of the day, all medical schools aim to prepare students to apply to and match into residency. 

It is also important to note that during preclinical years in medical school, students still take tests/exams for each class and need credits to eventually graduate, and during clinical years, students still need to take exams for each rotation, which also are required for the STEP 3 exam and matching into residency. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Four Year Plan for Medical School.” Georgetown College, 5 Oct. 2017, www.georgetowncollege.edu/four-year-plan-medical-school. Accessed 17 Sept. 2022.

‌

“What You Need to Know about the MCAT® Exam.” Students & Residents, 2022, students-residents.aamc.org/choosing-medical-career/what-you-need-know-about-mcat-exam#:~:text=What’s%20the%20MCAT%20exam%3F,students%20sit%20for%20the%20exam.. Accessed 17 Sept. 2022.

‌“What to Expect in Medical School.” Princetonreview.com, 2022, www.princetonreview.com/med-school-advice/what-to-expect-in-medical-school#:~:text=Students%20take%20classes%20in%20basic,disciplines%20at%20the%20same%20time.. Accessed 17 Sept. 2022.

‌“What to Expect in Medical School.” Students & Residents, 2022, students-residents.aamc.org/choosing-medical-career/what-expect-medical-school. Accessed 8 Oct. 2022.

‌“About the USMLE Step 1 Exam | ACP.” Acponline.org, 2021, www.acponline.org/about-acp/about-internal-medicine/career-paths/medical-student-career-path/about-the-usmle-step-1-exam#:~:text=It%20is%20important%20to%20remember,and%20therapeutic%20interventions%20in%20medicine.. Accessed 8 Oct. 2022.

‌

“Everything You Need to Know about the USMLE Board Exam.” Princetonreview.com, 2022, www.princetonreview.com/med-school-advice/usmle#:~:text=Step%201,and%20aging%20are%20also%20covered.. Accessed 8 Oct. 2022.