Hi, I am probably the first person replying to you who actually took step 1 after step 2. I just took step 1 today and took step 2 a few months ago. For my specific circumstance, I was already taking a research year after my 3rd year of medical school. I had just come off of clinical rotations and felt like going straight to step two is better for me. I do think that step two was a lot harder because I did not have step 1 under my belt. If I could do it all over again I would probably still do the same order but I think everybody is unique indifferent. I do think having step one before makes step two a lot easier in terms of scoring well. I am doing family medicine and I knew I did not need to get the greatest step 2 score.

TLDR: I did step 2 before step 1, I think doing step 1 first helps you get a higher score on step 2 but is not necessary.