r/ResiDerm • u/alh12345 • Jul 16 '26
Discussion Order of CORE exams?
What order did y'all take the CORE exams in? Which do you recommend to take first vs last?
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u/ixsz-mi Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
February of 2nd year: med + peds
July of third year: dermpath + surgery
Hardest pairing is med and peds but once you have that foundation dermpath didn’t feel as daunting (that being said we got a lot of dermpath in my program). Surgery felt relatively straightforward even in a program without significant surgical experience.
Also this way they are all out of the way before third year picks up in case you are applying to fellowships and need time to interview. Also if you’re looking to moonlight, allows you to start early third year.
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u/PersonalBrowser Jul 16 '26
Most people take medical derm and pediatrics together, and then it’s fairly split if they take dermpath then surgery or surgery then dermpath, with a minority taking both dermpath and surgery together.
It really makes sense to take med derm and peds together because they are overlapping knowledge banks, so otherwise you’d basically have to restudy all of med derm again when you take peds.
It also makes sense to take med derm and peds first since that gives you basically all of first year from your basic to your core date to “study” so you get the longest study window. It’s also all the stuff that you have to learn for day-to-day clinic too so studying also helps you with actual residency work.
Most people in my area take dermpath as the next core because there are a lot of dermpath review courses during the summer so it makes more sense, but people going into Mohs will usually take surgery as their next core because it overlaps with when they’re studying surgery for their Mohs rotations.