learning, cost, gross misuse of student time, and attempt to decrease racial bias, are amongst the many reasons that the USMLE announced it would revert to Pass/Fail reporting of Step 1 beginning 2022. Unintended consequences In a 2017 study, students started studying for Step 1 during their preclinical curriculum and increased the intensity of their study time until it reached 16 hours a day over a period of 4-6 weeks before the exam in a period referred to by medical students as "dedicated". Instead of relying on their medical school curriculum, the students instead focused heavily on third-party study materials. According to Kristen Moon, "While this “parallel curriculum” did lead to an increased Step 1 score, it often did not help them learn the medical school curriculum, because students were skipping lectures and classes." Racial disparity in score outcomes Since 2001, there has been a strong plea to remove the Step 1 score barrier that disproportionately affects select racial and ethnic groups. "Using Step 1 scores to screen residency applications puts students who are underrepresented in medicine at a disadvantage." Black and Latino students receive markedly lower scores on Step 1 than white students. The mean USMLE step 1 score was significantly greater among white applicants (223) as compared to black and Hispanic applicants (216). Depending on the threshold score, an African American was 3-6x less likely to be offered an interview. A 2001 study in internal medicine residency showed that "when Step 1 scores were used to screen applicants for interviews, a significantly greater proportion of Black students were refused interviews." A 2019 study on Orthopedic Surgery residency programs (the specialty with the lowest percentage of underrepresented students) showed that between 2005 and 2014, Black and Latino applicants were accepted into residency programs at a significantly lower rate (61%) than white applicants (71%). Further studies showed a lack of diversity within specialties and that those underrepresented students were more likely to go into specialties that have lower Step 1 cut-offs like Primary Care. The American Academy of Family Physicians and Association of American Medical Colleges supported changing Step 1 to pass or fail to reduce racial bias. The AAFP wrote that changing Step 1 to Pass/Fail creates a "more equitable student evaluation and residency selection process, as it will reduce the impact of racial and other biases on residency selection. Factors that impact student experience with standardized testing (such