Guest MDCY Posted March 14, 2004 Report Share Posted March 14, 2004 I'd like to get people's opinion on whether the USMLE or the Canadian equivalent (sorry, I forgot what the name is ) is harder and why? Would studying for the Canadian exam be sufficient to do well on the USMLE and vice versa? I know there are various steps involved but I'd like to get the general opinions on these tests. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted March 14, 2004 Report Share Posted March 14, 2004 The MCCQE has two parts...one in the fourth year of med school and one during the fall of your PGY2 year.... The USMLE has three steps...the first is mostly 'basic science' and is usually done after your 2nd year of meds, the second and third steps are more clinical and are done later. According to the 4th year's at UWO, the USMLE step 2 is roughly equivalent (but easier than) the first part of the MCCQE exam... There really is no Canadian equivalent for the USMLE 1 and I have not heard a comparison between the second part of the MCCQE and USMLE 3... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted March 15, 2004 Report Share Posted March 15, 2004 Ditto. The USMLE Step 1 is the most important step, because it is usually/often the only one available to program directors when deciding who to invite for residency interviews. It's usually written after Med 2, and is heavily focussed on basic sciences. There is no Canadian equivalent to this exam. The Step 2 is usually written sometime in fourth year (could be at the beginning, middle, or end), and is weighted towards clinical diagnoses, and clinical problem-solving. The Canadian equivalent is the MCCQE Part 1, and I found the Canadian exam to be more difficult than the Step 2. The Step 3 is usually written sometime during or after your first year of residency, and again is heavily weighted towards clinical diagnoses and clinical treatments. The Canadian equivalent is the MCCQE Part 2, which (unlike the Step 3) cannot be written until you have completed the first year of residency. I haven't written the MCCQE Part 2, but I have written the Step 3, and it's pretty easy. Still, for the purposes of obtaining a residency, which is really the most important part of the whole equation, the Step 1 is the one you really need to score highly on. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MDCY Posted March 18, 2004 Report Share Posted March 18, 2004 Thanks aneliz and Ian. I plan on taking the mccqe step one in my fourth year rotations and I'd like to get a gauge of how much time I should set aside to study for it. Is the format of the exams similar? What books would you recommend for studying the mccqe? Is the mccqe more clinically based? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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