Development and Evaluation of a Student-Initiated Test Preparation Program for the USMLE Step 1 Examination

Schwartz, Lindsay F.; Lineberry, Matthew; Park, Yoon Soo; Kamin, Carol; Hyderi, Abbas

doi:10.1080/10401334.2017.1386106

Cited by 25 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…UICOM-Chicago's history of collaboration between students and faculty has resulted in improvements to educational outcomes and student experiences [13]. In this tradition, the SCB was established in 2012 and originally focused on pre-clerkship course program evaluation.…”

Section: The Student Curricular Boardmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empowering medical students as agents of curricular change: a value-added approach to student engagement in medical education

Geraghty¹,

Young²,

Berkel³

et al. 2019

Perspect Med Educ

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One area in which medical students can add significant value is medical education, and involving them as key stakeholders in their education can have a profound impact on students and the institutions that serve them. However, detailed descriptions of the structure, implementation and quality of programs facilitating student engagement are lacking. We describe the structure of a novel student engagement program at the University of Illinois College of Medicine-Chicago (UICOM-Chicago) known as the Student Curricular Board (SCB). We surveyed 563 medical students across all levels of training at our institution in order to examine the impact of this program, including its strengths and potential areas of improvement. The SCB serves as a highly structured and collaborative student group that has far-reaching involvement from course-level program evaluation to longitudinal curriculum design. Medical stu-Joseph R. Geraghty and Alexandria N. Young contributed equally to this work. A version of the ideas described herein was presented as a poster and oral presentation at the Association of American Medical Colleges Central Group on Educational Affairs (CGEA) meeting in Chicago, IL, 29-31 March 2017.

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Section: The Student Curricular Boardmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empowering medical students as agents of curricular change: a value-added approach to student engagement in medical education

Geraghty¹,

Young²,

Berkel³

et al. 2019

Perspect Med Educ

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“…These approaches are excellent at covering large amounts of information and preparing medical students for the complex challenges of clinical medicine, but they are not necessarily structured to help students maximize their performance on standardized tests. (Schwartz et al, 2018) In the medical education literature, there are reports of medical student groups that created student-led Step 1 preparation programs. One of those reports involved cohorts of medical students at the University of Michigan Medical School that took Step 1 in 2014 and 2015, which showed that those who participated achieved higher scores, and they attributed their success to the higher number of practice questions they worked on and their increased usage of review books.…”

Section: Usmle Step 1 Exam Preparation: Current Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Founding a USMLE Step 1 student organization: A new approach to promote student engagement and peer support in exam preparation

González¹,

Gonzalez²,

Singh³

et al. 2019

MedEdPublish

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The USMLE Step 1 exam is the principal tool that US residency programs utilize to select applicants for interview. Due to the high stakes nature of the exam, both students and educators need to be informed about the most effective preparation tools and support strategies available to students. The literature has evidence to suggest that the number of board-style questions a student completes has a strong correlation with performance on the exam. Based on this premise, a group of medical students developed a USMLE step 1 preparation program to increase the number of practice questions they completed, and to foster support and comradery among students. The main contribution of this educational initiative is its structure as a registered student organization, which may help to promote the program's continuity and constant improvement as the lessons learned pass from one class of student officers to the next. This article may serve as a how-to guide to describe the steps we took to start a Step 1 registered student organization at our institution, and about how the reader may be able to apply our experiences to create their own step 1 student organization at their institution.

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“…A thorough search of published literature found only two published research initiatives looking at the effects of peer-led sessions on USMLE Step 1 board scores, and those studies used peers from successive classes, not sameclass peers. 33,34 In addition, systematic reviews of peer-led instruction identified epidemiology and biostatistics concepts as ideal for peer-led instruction, but there were very few initiatives in the published literature related to these concepts. 31 From the available literature, current alternatives to EBM instruction lacked viable and resource-free solutions for universal adoption, lacked collaborative approaches to break down difficult concepts, focused too strongly on individualized topics rather than building a basic foundation in EBM, or lacked reinforcement of material through quizzing and assessments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Peer-Developed Modules on Basic Biostatistics and Evidence-Based Medicine Principles for Undergraduate Medical Education

et al. 2020

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Introduction: Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is pivotal in shaping patient care, yet it is challenging to incorporate into undergraduate medical education (UME) due to a lack of dedicated resources within the preclinical curriculum. To address this challenge, we used a peer-led approach to explain difficult concepts through language that students can understand at their shared level of understanding. Methods: Four second-year medical students trained in EBM over 18 months by facilitating monthly journal clubs, ultimately leading to their involvement as peer-instructors. With input from a faculty expert, peer-instructors designed integrative PowerPoint modules and interactive problem sets on basic biostatistics and EBM principles. Assessment included formative quizzes with multiple attempts to achieve at least 80% to demonstrate mastery of core learning objectives. Afterwards, students were invited to provide feedback using a 5-point Likert scale survey. Results: Of second-year students who participated, all 151 demonstrated 80% competency on each quiz. Eighty-seven (58%) students completed the survey on which, 77% agreed/strongly agreed that their level of understanding of EBM improved after the peer-led sessions, 76% agreed/strongly agreed that the sessions were more conducive to learning compared to traditional lectures, and 94% agreed/strongly agreed that the material covered was relevant to the USMLE Step 1. Discussion: This peer-led approach has been rated as effective by learners, improving their ability to critically appraise and apply clinical evidence. To promote integration of EBM into UME, we have prepared modules, problem sets, quizzes, and an outline of the problem-solving sessions for universal adoption.

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Development and Evaluation of a Student-Initiated Test Preparation Program for the USMLE Step 1 Examination

Abstract: This study demonstrates the efficacy of a student-initiated curriculum and provides guidance for development and implementation of examination preparatory efforts at other institutions.

Cited by 25 publications

References 12 publications

Empowering medical students as agents of curricular change: a value-added approach to student engagement in medical education

Empowering medical students as agents of curricular change: a value-added approach to student engagement in medical education

Founding a USMLE Step 1 student organization: A new approach to promote student engagement and peer support in exam preparation

Peer-Developed Modules on Basic Biostatistics and Evidence-Based Medicine Principles for Undergraduate Medical Education

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Development and Evaluation of a Student-Initiated Test Preparation Program for the USMLE Step 1 Examination

Abstract: This study demonstrates the efficacy of a student-initiated curriculum and provides guidance for development and implementation of examination preparatory efforts at other institutions.

Cited by 25 publications

References 12 publications

Empowering medical students as agents of curricular change: a&nbsp;value-added approach to student engagement in medical education

Empowering medical students as agents of curricular change: a&nbsp;value-added approach to student engagement in medical education

Founding a USMLE Step 1 student organization: A new approach to promote student engagement and peer support in exam preparation

Peer-Developed Modules on Basic Biostatistics and Evidence-Based Medicine Principles for Undergraduate Medical Education

Contact Info

Product

Resources

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Empowering medical students as agents of curricular change: a value-added approach to student engagement in medical education

Empowering medical students as agents of curricular change: a value-added approach to student engagement in medical education