advise needed

[USMLE0423]

Hi everyone,

For those who have taken the exam recently, i've read on this forum (and some others) that on Day 1, each block has upto 42 questions, but usmle.org says 38-40 ques/60 block x 7 blocks on day 1. I know its only a matter of a couple of questions but I have timing issues and hence the anxiety.

Secondly, is UW biostats (extra $25 subscription) enough for biostats for step 3? I mean I understand SN, SP, NPV, PPV, p value, CI, but thats about it. I couldn't grasp some of the biostats from the UW qbank itself. Figured I need a dedicated resource that I can do within a day to boost my score and knowledge.

Lastly, I have 12d until the test and will be working until mid next week with 4 days off before the test to grind it out and I am feeling the burn out so badly already, partially because of things going on in personal life at the worst possible time, but thats a separate issue. Any words of advise regarding prep for last 12d would be highly helpful. (PS, can't postpone the test).

For reference: I'm a PGY-3 (about to be PGY-4) in radiology so no medicine for the past few years). I've done 90% of UW with a cumulative average of 65%. Gone through about 1/2 of the 51CCS cases. I took UWSA about a month ago and made a 200 (even though I was overall 2% above average)- freaked out and postponed the test to next weekend. Granted I had only gone through about 1/2 of UW at the time as my sole resource of studying. However, I've done no studying over the last 10days due to the above mentioned personal misfortunes.

Thank you to anyone that responds. I would greatly appreciate some words of encouragement!

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[KeratinPearls]

Hi everyone,

For those who have taken the exam recently, i've read on this forum (and some others) that on Day 1, each block has upto 42 questions, but usmle.org says 38-40 ques/60 block x 7 blocks on day 1. I know its only a matter of a couple of questions but I have timing issues and hence the anxiety.

Secondly, is UW biostats (extra $25 subscription) enough for biostats for step 3? I mean I understand SN, SP, NPV, PPV, p value, CI, but thats about it. I couldn't grasp some of the biostats from the UW qbank itself. Figured I need a dedicated resource that I can do within a day to boost my score and knowledge.

Lastly, I have 12d until the test and will be working until mid next week with 4 days off before the test to grind it out and I am feeling the burn out so badly already, partially because of things going on in personal life at the worst possible time, but thats a separate issue. Any words of advise regarding prep for last 12d would be highly helpful. (PS, can't postpone the test).

For reference: I'm a PGY-3 (about to be PGY-4) in radiology so no medicine for the past few years). I've done 90% of UW with a cumulative average of 65%. Gone through about 1/2 of the 51CCS cases. I took UWSA about a month ago and made a 200 (even though I was overall 2% above average)- freaked out and postponed the test to next weekend. Granted I had only gone through about 1/2 of UW at the time as my sole resource of studying. However, I've done no studying over the last 10days due to the above mentioned personal misfortunes.

Thank you to anyone that responds. I would greatly appreciate some words of encouragement!

Make sure you do as well on CCS with the time you have left as it can boost your scores by a lot if you do well on it.

Biostats-do all the UW QBanks for biostats if you can get a hold of it. Study the explanations and go through them as many times as you can focusing on topics you feel you don't know as well.

You can watch some YouTube videos of biostats if you want to refresh your knowledge. You have to have a firm grasp of what everything means because they will ask for your interpretation of data. I watched Step 3 Steven Daugherty lectures on YouTube.

MCQs are hard to study for because there's so much but you can do very well on biostats, ethics, and most importantly CCS if you put in the time and practice.

Aim to get higher performance on CCS if you can.

Good luck!

 

[USMLE0423]

Thank you!

 

[dp101]

So I recently took the exam and might be able to give a few pointers. Learn biostats!!! Coming from a person who hated it throughout all the steps, i think every other, or at least every 2nd to 3rd question was a biostats question. Every block (avg 38 per block) had a drug ad, and although what u mentioned is important, I had questions on #needed to treat/harm, bias, and recognizing different kinds of studies. First day sucks, and i thought i bombed it. Second day is easier and if u do the practice uworld ccs and actually understand what they want, the ccs part of the test saves u and brings your score up. Lastly, dont get too bummed with UWSA score. I scored a 204 on it, and did much better on the real deal. Relax, take a deep breath, dont burn yourself out, and best of luck.

 

[USMLE0423]

So I recently took the exam and might be able to give a few pointers. Learn biostats!!! Coming from a person who hated it throughout all the steps, i think every other, or at least every 2nd to 3rd question was a biostats question. Every block (avg 38 per block) had a drug ad, and although what u mentioned is important, I had questions on #needed to treat/harm, bias, and recognizing different kinds of studies. First day sucks, and i thought i bombed it. Second day is easier and if u do the practice uworld ccs and actually understand what they want, the ccs part of the test saves u and brings your score up. Lastly, dont get too bummed with UWSA score. I scored a 204 on it, and did much better on the real deal. Relax, take a deep breath, dont burn yourself out, and best of luck.

Thank you so much!! That helps a lot!