NEW Step 3 Exam - Experiences

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futuredoctor10

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anyone take the new Step 3 yet? Thoughts/experiences particularly how well UWorld qbank prepares you (and) how much basic science on the exam?
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PsyYaYaYaYai said:
Like many, I'm sweating the CCS I did this week. Definitely mismanaged one patient. For another, the case shut down early accidentally because I hit "continue" out of habit, when the message basically said "FYI, patient crumping fast." oops

fingers crossed I guess?
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I mismanaged around a third to a half of patients and didn't even get in the borderline area on CCS. Don't be like me and sulk, just assume you passed and enjoy life.
 
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Took day 2 yesterday after grinding CCS all weekend post day 1 on Friday. I'm just gonna assume I'm retaking it.

CCS was a disaster and so were the MCQs.


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For those who studied using MTB 3. Is it worth doing Peds/ob-gyn/surgery from the book or is uworld more than enough for those subjects? please advise. Thanks!
 
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I thought I had maximized my gains from Uworld and MTB (which I mostly just referenced while going thru questions). These two sources are plenty for medical content.

Many questions on the exam though were targeted at identifying strong risk factors and prognostic factors, that aren't covered by many sources I know of. Lots of tough ethics questions as well.

You can use MTB and Uworld to cover your bases, but don't expect to walk out feeling comfortable due to the large aforementioned category of questions. Many times it comes down to just clinical judgment


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I know reading this helped me when I was stressed during my ~3-4 weeks of waiting for scores, so here goes:

PGY1 psychiatry resident, AMG
Did not have any internal medicine months prior
Studied off and on for about 2 weeks
Used about 500 UWorld questions, random blocks: 55% average
Reviewed maybe 50% of the UWorld CCS
Passed with a health margin.

You can do this!
 
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Thought I would share my experience with Step 3.
I'm an AMG currently doing a Transitional Year internship. Took my test in November. I was able to do dedicated study for about 4 weeks during a very light rotation.
-Completed UWorld with an average around 63-64%.
-Watched as many OnlineMedEd videos as a I could (particularly peds and OB since these are my weak areas)
-Did UWorld Biostats the weekend before my first day.

Test Day 1: Decent amount of stats, pretty similar to Uworld overall. On two sections I essentially ran out of time and had to guess on about 2 questions from the drug ads (did these last because they take more time).

- I had one week between Day 1 and 2. But I also started a somewhat busy rotation during this time. I completed all of the UWorld CCS cases (both the simulated and non-simulated). I also did the Fred Software CCS cases as well (there were like 6 of them). Tried to go through all of my wrong questions in the UWorld qbank but probably got through less than 1/2 of them.

Test Day 2: MCQ sections pretty well overall and largely straightforward. No surprises there and had adequate time to finish every section without having to guess this time. CCS cases: 11 of the 13 cases ended quite early and I felt like I nailed them. 1 case the patient did get better but I wasn't sure what was going on. Also one case ran out of time before I could put in a diagnosis. And I had one case where I probably killed the patient. I knew the diagnosis but couldn't remember the appropriate treatment. Pt got much worse after the treatment I chose and the case ended early.

UWSA 1 week before Day 1: 207 - this freaked me out a bit, but it looks like UWSA tends to underestimate the real score from what I've seen on this board.

Real Deal: High 230s. Strongest section was CCS (yes you can kill one of your virtual pts and still pass!). I was pleasantly surprised by the large score increase from my UWSA. Glad to be over with the USMLEs! Good luck everyone!
 
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Day 2: I got raped. random guesses on 70% of MCQ. No idea wtf was going on with 5 ccs cases. FML. I'll be scheduling a retake right now.
 
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So I ended up passing and the margin was much greater than I anticipated (211 - UWSA was 204 one week before test day 1, and only did CCS for 3 days that I had between day 1 and 2; I was expecting a borderline score if I were to pass) given how I had pretty much assumed I was gonna retake the exam. It appears the curve is overwhelmingly favorable and it takes a lot to fail that exam. I'm a psych resident in my first year and just started my first inpatient medicine month AFTER taking the exam, so it is very much possible to pass step 3 with minimal clinical experience. Uworld, CCS, and really a genuine curiosity and drive to understand clinical medicine will carry you to the end. And although it may feel like you were absolutely defeated after walking out on test day, recognize that only 2% of US MD graduates fail it on their first attempt. Good luck to everyone, and may the force be with you!
 
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D3sidud3 said:
So I ended up passing and the margin was much greater than I anticipated (211 - UWSA was 204 one week before test day 1, and only did CCS for 3 days that I had between day 1 and 2; I was expecting a borderline score if I were to pass) given how I had pretty much assumed I was gonna retake the exam. It appears the curve is overwhelmingly favorable and it takes a lot to fail that exam. I'm a psych resident in my first year and just started my first inpatient medicine month AFTER taking the exam, so it is very much possible to pass step 3 with minimal clinical experience. Uworld, CCS, and really a genuine curiosity and drive to understand clinical medicine will carry you to the end. And although it may feel like you were absolutely defeated after walking out on test day, recognize that only 2% of US MD graduates fail it on their first attempt. Good luck to everyone, and may the force be with you!
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Thanks! Reassured by this. Taking mine this coming Tues/Thurs and the last part of my prep has been shotty at best. I finished UWorld x1 since the first week of November, going through the wrongs now. I've been doing ~5 CCS cases a day for the past 10 days. Also UWorld Biostat review has been immensely helpful. Want to pass with a healthy margin, but moreover, just want it to be over. Any thoughts?
 
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Yea I think you'll be fine. Focus on your weaknesses and don't forget the biostats - I had 4-8 questions per block the first day.


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Took step 3 on 11/28 and 11/29. Will I get my score back this Wednesday (12/21)?
Will post my experience once I find out how I did.
Thanks
 
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GqBaller said:
Exam in two days...is it worth doing uwsa still? Just want to pass. Did uworld x 3, mtb x 2.
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Just got back from day 1. DEFINITELY worth doing UWSA and reading explanations at least once over. Real thing is very comparable. Know your biostats definitions and equations as best you can. If you did UWorld thoroughly, studied biostat, and have a good working knowledge of general IM, and how to not hurt people, you'll do fine. Don't underestimate the power of peds/OB. They will come with a vengeance. Basic sciences are a real thing - lots of mechanism of action of drugs. Rudimental vascular/neuroanatomy of conditions you would usually see in an ED or trauma setting - correlate with radiology. I did the NBME yesterday and there were questions on the real test that were reminiscent of that as well. I will say that the online NBME felt way easier though. It's inevitable that there will be a percentage of "............WUT??!" questions, so don't sweat it. Everyone keeps saying the curve is generous, so we'll see in a few weeks.
 
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ShenMeYiSi said:
Just got back from day 1. DEFINITELY worth doing UWSA and reading explanations at least once over. Real thing is very comparable. Know your biostats definitions and equations as best you can. If you did UWorld thoroughly, studied biostat, and have a good working knowledge of general IM, and how to not hurt people, you'll do fine. Don't underestimate the power of peds/OB. They will come with a vengeance. Basic sciences are a real thing - lots of mechanism of action of drugs. Rudimental vascular/neuroanatomy of conditions you would usually see in an ED or trauma setting - correlate with radiology. I did the NBME yesterday and there were questions on the real test that were reminiscent of that as well. I will say that the online NBME felt way easier though. It's inevitable that there will be a percentage of "............WUT??!" questions, so don't sweat it. Everyone keeps saying the curve is generous, so we'll see in a few weeks.
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Updating after Day 2 - Feel like I got run over by a truck. The first half of the day was distinctly harder than Day 1, not because the content was harder, but because the questions were so much more ambiguous. Even though the blocks are only 30q each, I just feel way more burned out than I did after day 1. Yes, there are a few gimme questions in each block. No biostat/drug ads at all. Look at derm pics and ophtho/fundoscopic images. Not even sure how I would tell someone to study for some of the stuff were asking. Someone in this thread mentioned questions about best prognostic indicators for many things....SO much of that.
CCS - could have gone either way. I used the Crush Step 3 book as light reading and played around with the online practice materials software/6 practice cases several times, and that helped immensely. Most of my cases were straight forward, and similar to what I had seen in the book. ALL my cases ended early, I think 11/13 I had to write in a diagnosis. If the pt was unstable or in any kind of moderate distress on initial presentation to the office, I immediately moved them from office to ED and worked them up there, if they improved and screen was still permitting, I moved them home and scheduled periodic follow ups. At least 3 cases felt exactly like this: "Pt in ED after some incident -> super obvious what's wrong -> order a lab/imaging -> dx confirmed -> call consultant, follow recs -> order said recs -> re eval pt -> much improved -> counsel -> and 2 min warning screen appears"
That made me kind of nervous. I didn't cancel many orders in the end screen, if a dx box popped up, i typed what I felt.....the end, on to the next case. In total, all 13 cases took me about 90-100 minutes.

Good luck to everyone taking it next!
 
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Took day 1 yesterday. Felt awful aftwrwards. Biostat 15-20%. Peds heavy. I did end up doing two uwsa blocks my avg 60% and 65%. I felt medicine qs were doable, but some of the biostat and random stuff I didn't even have time for. Day 2 is in less than a week...Is this normal feeling...guessing on 10 qs per block at least????
 
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ShenMeYiSi said:
Updating after Day 2 - Feel like I got run over by a truck. The first half of the day was distinctly harder than Day 1, not because the content was harder, but because the questions were so much more ambiguous. Even though the blocks are only 30q each, I just feel way more burned out than I did after day 1. Yes, there are a few gimme questions in each block. No biostat/drug ads at all. Look at derm pics and ophtho/fundoscopic images. Not even sure how I would tell someone to study for some of the stuff were asking. Someone in this thread mentioned questions about best prognostic indicators for many things....SO much of that.
CCS - could have gone either way. I used the Crush Step 3 book as light reading and played around with the online practice materials software/6 practice cases several times, and that helped immensely. Most of my cases were straight forward, and similar to what I had seen in the book. ALL my cases ended early, I think 11/13 I had to write in a diagnosis. If the pt was unstable or in any kind of moderate distress on initial presentation to the office, I immediately moved them from office to ED and worked them up there, if they improved and screen was still permitting, I moved them home and scheduled periodic follow ups. At least 3 cases felt exactly like this: "Pt in ED after some incident -> super obvious what's wrong -> order a lab/imaging -> dx confirmed -> call consultant, follow recs -> order said recs -> re eval pt -> much improved -> counsel -> and 2 min warning screen appears"
That made me kind of nervous. I didn't cancel many orders in the end screen, if a dx box popped up, i typed what I felt.....the end, on to the next case. In total, all 13 cases took me about 90-100 minutes.

Good luck to everyone taking it next!
Click to expand...


Any suggestion on where I can quickly look up mechanisms of action for commonly tested drugs? I am taking my exam on Tuesday.
Also, I did uworld biostats once. I got a fair number wrong but I am hoping I have improved with it. Anything else I should do?
 
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Hey guys, anyone took the exam december 6th, 7th. And is expecting results tomorrow????
I tried the supposed trick and my permit is still present, does anyone know if there will be a delay because of christmass week?
 
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Zareh.md said:
Hey guys, anyone took the exam december 6th, 7th. And is expecting results tomorrow????
I tried the supposed trick and my permit is still present, does anyone know if there will be a delay because of christmass week?
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what trick are you talking about?
 
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FUSTEP3 said:
what trick are you talking about?
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Well supposedly if you scheduling permit dissapears on sunday from the page it means your results are coming out that week.
But anyways i checked the USMLE page and apparently no results are given the week next to christmas
 
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Took it in December, halfway through intern year. I used First Aid for Step 3 and Uworld. The month before I was on a light rotation which allowed me to get through all of Uworld. Read FA one solid time and honestly didn't find it to be particularly useful, but it was a decent refresher. If you just want to pass FA plus Uworld is more than enough. If you want to really excel I'd go for some other resource. I also skimmed high yield biostats before Day 1 of the exam. I did not go balls to the wall studying like I did for step 1 or step 2. I put in a couple of hours max per day for about a month. My final Uworld percentile was 52nd percentile (about average) and that was almost exactly predictive of my score on the real deal. Got my score back on the 5th wed after my exam. In retrospect- this exam is largely a test of reasoning rather than rote memorization. In hindsight I probably would have passed without having done a thing to prepare. Day 1- about 25% was biostats/epidemiology/drug ads. The questions are abstract, convoluted, and if you're like me about a third of the time you'll be educationally guessing. To prepare for the first day the most important thing you can do is know the Uworld biostats questions and explanations cold. Day 2- no biostats. The MCQs were a bit easier IMHO. Ccs cases are really not bad, probably the easiest part of the exam if you prepared. Do expect however, to not know wtf is going on with 1 or 2 of the patients. To prepare for ccs go through all of the Uworld cases once, and if you have time twice, mainly to familiarize yourself with the software and type of thinking you need to do. The exam felt terrible. It was the most convoluted out of the three, and it sucked the life out of me. I was seriously wondering if I had even done well enough to pass. But low and behold, I passed, and with minimal preparation, you will too.


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An intern here and taking step 3 in a week. I know biostats/epidemiology is big on day 1. How can I study for it? I have gone through all UW questions so far and I have reviewed online med ed videos. Any other resources out there?
 
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pedstar09 said:
An intern here and taking step 3 in a week. I know biostats/epidemiology is big on day 1. How can I study for it? I have gone through all UW questions so far and I have reviewed online med ed videos. Any other resources out there?
Click to expand...

Have you done the UWorld Biostats review?
 
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pedstar09 said:
An intern here and taking step 3 in a week. I know biostats/epidemiology is big on day 1. How can I study for it? I have gone through all UW questions so far and I have reviewed online med ed videos. Any other resources out there?
Click to expand...

The uworld question explanations are SOLID for biostats. Also, I used high yield biostats. It was a quick read and very helpful with really understanding core biostats concepts. Its only like 100 short pages long and is comprehensive for all 3 steps.
 
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Uworld doesn't have practice questions to prepare you for the "what is the greatest risk factor" and "prognostic factor" questions?
 
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exudate said:
Uworld 1st pass average is 54%. no time to do it again. exam in a week. any suggestions??
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Is that 54th percentile? or 54% correct? If its 54th percentile then you're right around average and you're pretty sure to pass.
 
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I would base my decision on the percentile rank rather than % correct. it just depends how much of a risk you're willing to take on passing the real thing.
 
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TeslaCoil said:
I would base my decision on the percentile rank rather than % correct. it just depends how much of a risk you're willing to take on passing the real thing.
Click to expand...

So if I want to excel on the exam, what other resources would you recommend?
 
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I don't think I could give you a great answer here. The problem is you're competing with people who have been in internal medicine residency for anywhere from 1-3 years... even if you are a knowledgeable intern, its going to be pretty hard to score above average. My cousin said she doesn't even have to take it until 3rd year of residency. To me that's crazy talk. I would just take it and get it out of the way.
 
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RealHLA11 said:
Thanks!

Can you take the exams in any order, or do you have to do one part before the other (e.g., take FIP before ACM or take ACM before FIP)?
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i'm pretty sure day one is always FIP and day two is always ACM. I don't think you choose which order you do it, especially based on the way it is described in the usmle website this is the impression i get
 
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