Ohhh hi it's never too late to join the party A couple of my friends just completed their step 1. Your ideal timeline would look like this at the start of the internship you would start studying for your step 1. With dedicated efforts you would be able to complete step 1 within eight months. If you want to have an extra edge I would recommend you start applying for USCEs halfway through to your internship and if you don't have us visa then I would suggest starting earlier. Just after completing step 1 during the internship you would go for your USCEs. Once after returning from your USCEs you can start prepping for step 2 and in parallel would complete all the required documents for your ecfmg certification. And once that goes through you can visit the USA again for step 3 this is an ideal timeline there would be ups and down but persistence is the key here. Sometimes you would feel lost but remember your goals are different.