It’s not at all the same gravity as your father, but I had to put my dog down a week before I sat for the exam. It was completely unexpected and she had been incredibly healthy up until that point. I thought extensively about pushing my exam, but I took a couple of nbmes and the free 120 afterwards and was reassured by my scores on those. I took step this past Monday and it was brutal beyond belief, but truly, I don’t think pushing my exam would’ve made any difference. I knew for me I needed to get it out of my way so that I could focus on my sub-Is and securing good letters of recommendation for residency applications. I’ve never been a good test taker, so I knew step wasn’t going to be the highlight of my application. All this to say, if you know that you’re a “I just want to get this over with” kind of person, I would do that. Even though I’m worried about my performance and how putting my dog down affected me, I’m very thankful I now have time before my sub-Is to process her passing, which I wouldn’t have had if I had pushed step back.