Just took the final part of the USMLE saga today. Have to agree with what everyone said on this thread but thought I would add a few tips.
1) Whoever made up the 2 months, 2 weeks, #2 pencil mantra is lying. If you want to guarantee a pass, plan on doing
UWorld once + all UWorld CCS cases.
2) Do not waste time reading MTB3. It really didn't help me much and in fact confuses you with all the esoteric drugs and information contradicting UWorld. If you were planning on reading this book, just do your
UWorld incorrects.
3) There are
random questions that no matter how much prep you put in, you can't/won't know.
4) CCS is not bad at all (I think, my score is still pending though). If you do the
52 cases in UWorld, you should be more than prepared. I may not have done great, but any additional prep would have been overkill.
5) If you went to a US medical school, take this thing early.
Register through Connecticut. I just can't imagine going back and learning all this material 4-5 years into a radiology or ortho residency. I had so much OBGYN that even medicine residents (whom this test supposedly caters to) would have difficulty with.
6)
Timing matters. Tutor mode doesn't prepare you for how your brain is going to think on the fly since there is no pressure and you have unlimited time to analyze all the labs. I did Tutor mode for half the Qbank and I think it hurt me overall.
7) Do the
drug ad questions at the end. They are really long and can eat up time for something that could be potentially low yield. Get through the actual medical questions first.
Good luck everyone, supposedly 90-95% pass rate on this exam so we should all be fine