Online Forums and the "step 1 Climate": Perspectives from a Medical Student Reddit User

Abstract

Reddit is a popular content aggregator and discussion website that plays an important role in shaping medical student culture and study habits. The forum r/medicalschool, in particular, provides a distilled view into contemporary U.S. medical students' attitudes and deteriorating relationship to their home institutions' educators and curricula. As a national discussion on United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 reform emerges, the role of forums like r/medicalschool in shaping a "Step 1 climate"via the design and dissemination of prescriptive Step 1 study regimens based on commercially available resources and crowdsourced flash card decks goes largely unseen and undiscussed by medical educators. This Invited Commentary aims to introduce medical educators to these forums, highlight the common attitudes borne out of them, and contextualize one popular proposal for Step 1 reform - shifting to a pass/fail exam - within the author's experience as an online forum insider.