Passed Step 3! Feel free to message me if you need advice

[dragonmaster89]

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to share my experiences with Step 3. First of all, this test was by far the toughest of the three Step exams. I was told by a friend to study a lot of basic sciences and biostats cause the test format had changed, and I was thankful for his advice and I followed it carefully. I'll divide my post into 4 sections.

1. Information and stats about me:
Graduated from medical school in Texas, currently an intern
Step 1 score- 232
Step 2 score- 235 and passed CK on first try
Step 3 score- 229!!! So happy!!

2. What I did to study for it: rather than waiting till the end of intern year to take this test, I studied three months total for it and took it a week before intern year began. I used MTB 3, read all of it and took extensive notes on it, then found online biostats questions and did over 400 questions, then re-read parts of First Aid Step 1 (focused on the drug mechanisms and bugs section of it), and did all of QBank, both multiple choice and CCS cases.

3. Test day 1: this is said to be the tougher day for most students taking Step 3, but I felt pretty well prepared for it. The test is about 30-40% biostats and close to 20% basic sciences for day 1, so all my hard work on biostats and reviewing basic sciences really paid off, and I scored very high on both basic sciences and biostats.

Test day 2: this is said to be the easier day for most interns, but because I took it before intern year, it was probably tougher for me.

I was guessing a ton on the multiple choice questions, be careful here: a ton of questions focus on the prognosis and risk factors of certain diseases, so study hard for these 2 things. Honestly, there were a ton of questions that I was stuck between 2 answers

The CCS portion was a lot tougher than I thought, definitely harder than the 51 cases I did on Qbank. 11 out of 13 cases I think I did well, but 2 I was totally lost. No matter what I did for the patient, he wouldn't get better and I ran out of time

4. How to study for Step 3: I honestly do NOT believe that with the new changes to the test, that intern year will help much for step 3. I HIGHLY recommend taking it before intern year so that you can get it out of the way and not worry about it during intern year, cause I don't know how you can study for 3 months for this test (and I studied 7-8 hours a day for 6 days/week) during your intern year.

Day 1 (Foundations of Independent Practice): Study, read, and do tons of biostats questions, find biostats and epidemiology books that go way above and beyond the Qbank. Since biostats is 30-40% of day 1 questions, it is very important you study hard for this portion of the test. The questions are WAY tougher than simple biostats with calculating sensitivity/specificity/etc.
Also re-read portions of First Aid Step 1, focusing on mechanism of action of drugs and bugs too and their pathomechanisms since basic sciences is now 15-20% of day one questions

Day 2 (Advanced Clinical Medicine): The 1500 questions in the qbank will help with a lot of the day two multiple choice questions, but I highly recommend you read MTB 3 and take notes on it cause the MTB 3 book will help you a lot too. Also look up on wikipedia the risk factors and prognosis of every major disease you encounter, it will be on the test
For CCS, do all 51 cases and do even more of the Archer cases to fully prepare you for the this test


In my HONEST OPINION, I think it will be very tough to pass Step 3 without doing all of my above advice because of the new changes made to the test. I think studying for it during intern year is impossible and I feel really sorry for any intern that has to study for this test during intern year, there's simply no time to do all the multiple choice questions on Qbank, CCS cases on qbank, tons of biostats questions, and read and take notes on MTB 3 and First Aid Step 1. This test is an absolute beast and requires more effort and time to study than Step 1.


Good luck to everyone out there, and feel free to message me or reply to my thread with any further questions

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[Tapepsi]

In my HONEST OPINION, I think it will be very tough to pass Step 3 without doing all of my above advice because of the new changes made to the test. I think studying for it during intern year is impossible and I feel really sorry for any intern that has to study for this test during intern year, there's simply no time to do all the multiple choice questions on Qbank, CCS cases on qbank, tons of biostats questions, and read and take notes on MTB 3 and First Aid Step 1. This test is an absolute beast and requires more effort and time to study than Step 1.

Meh I don't agree with this. Taking Step 3 as an intern is very doable (I did it and most people do. Pass rate is 95% and majority are residents). I used MTB3 and FA3 in addition to UW QBank and CCS about a month and a half before I took it during one of my lighter rotations. I probably would've just done MTB3 though as FA didn't really help a whole lot.

Medicine residents also breeze through day 2 MCQ (my one friend got a 245 using nothing but UW) so residency does prepare you in a sense. Being a psych intern I did struggle with day 2 however.

I didn't do great on the exam (222) but no one cares about your Step 3 score so long as you pass.

 

[dragonmaster89]

Congrats on your score. I disagree with your comments, but we can agree to disagree. This test is an absolute monster, and since most of my friends are getting destroyed on biostats, I thought I'd post this thread to give people some honest advice and perspective

 

[Supisak]

Well, that is a very impressive study plan, and the whole time I was reading it I was wondering to myself "why is this person doing this"
Then I realized you took it before you even started intern year. There's absolutely no advantage to doing this. I took step 3 in November of my intern year and hardly studied at all. It was the easiest of all of the step exams and did not require much, if any preparation at all. There's no reason that a new med school graduate would ever sit for step 3. You cannot practice in most US states or be granted a license until you pass step 3 and have been a resident for at least one year. The time you spend as an intern serves as all the studying you need. The only thing I would recommend is downloading the tutorial for the CCS cases and playing with that platform to make sure you're comfortable with it. I did that the night before the exam.
While I'm impressed with your enthusiasm to get step 3 out of the way, your study preparation and even desire to take the test before you start residency is completely unfounded in my opinion.
By the way, scored 220 and could have not have cared less about every point over 190!

 

[dragonmaster89]

Lol you're funny Supisak. You took the old version of the test. I took the new version, which is way harder and I doubt you'd pass it unless you take my advice. Intern year means nothing and doesn't help at all for the new version of Step 3 except for the CCS portion in which it helps a lot

 

[dragonmaster89]

Btw passing score is now 196, and please don't write on my thread unless you know what you're talking about, cause I doubt an uninformed person like you knows a lick of how to study for this test lol. Update yourself with the test before opening your big mouth

 

[Supisak]

so, just a thought,
you better check yourself and that attitude or residency will check it for you...

two points -
first - I am well aware of now and knew when I typed my response the updated passing score, so thanks....
second - I sincerely doubt that the exam is all that much different now as opposed to before, considering they are testing physicians in training at the same point in training as the previous exam was testing. Basic science is all fine and good but step 3 is determining if you can manage patients without supervision, and the beta-oxidation of fatty acids is low yield in that scenario. You have an N of 1 and your experience is of the new version only so really consider what you are going to say before you say it.

my opinion is completely valid and you are an uninformed dolt for taking it before starting intern year. I'd love to hear what your PD thinks about taking it before intern year starts, and if he / she would recommend it to all the incoming interns! and, for that matter, what he / she thinks of your attitude...
I would advise you tread carefully in life and choose your words more carefully, at least more so than you do on this board

My original thought still stands, taking it before residency starts is ill-advised, and if it was such a good idea medical schools all over would be recommending it, and ...they aren't
but what do they know or me for that matter....
good luck pal, you are going to need it

 

[Supisak]

and don't think you are fooling anyone, you have six total posts on your ID,
you came on this board and created an ID just to humble brag about your accomplishment because you think you are smarter and better than your fellow new interns,
a little update, you aren't.... so yeah, there's that
again....good luck

 

[Tapepsi]

I don't think there's a right answer here. Some people take Step 3 before residency the majority don't. Like I said pass rate is 95% (percent for the old test and for the new test as well). I actually debated taking it prior to residency but realized that having most of May + June off prior to residency would be the longest vacation I'll have for a long time so I decided I wanted to enjoy that time instead. Now having gone through one year of residency where most months I have a total of 5 days off and am already experiencing some burn out I'm thankful I made that decision.

 

[drake19]

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to share my experiences with Step 3. First of all, this test was by far the toughest of the three Step exams. I was told by a friend to study a lot of basic sciences and biostats cause the test format had changed, and I was thankful for his advice and I followed it carefully. I'll divide my post into 4 sections.

1. Information and stats about me:
Graduated from medical school in Texas, currently an intern
Step 1 score- 232
Step 2 score- 235 and passed CK on first try
Step 3 score- 229!!! So happy!!

2. What I did to study for it: rather than waiting till the end of intern year to take this test, I studied three months total for it and took it a week before intern year began. I used MTB 3, read all of it and took extensive notes on it, then found online biostats questions and did over 400 questions, then re-read parts of First Aid Step 1 (focused on the drug mechanisms and bugs section of it), and did all of QBank, both multiple choice and CCS cases.

3. Test day 1: this is said to be the tougher day for most students taking Step 3, but I felt pretty well prepared for it. The test is about 30-40% biostats and close to 20% basic sciences for day 1, so all my hard work on biostats and reviewing basic sciences really paid off, and I scored very high on both basic sciences and biostats.

Test day 2: this is said to be the easier day for most interns, but because I took it before intern year, it was probably tougher for me.

I was guessing a ton on the multiple choice questions, be careful here: a ton of questions focus on the prognosis and risk factors of certain diseases, so study hard for these 2 things. Honestly, there were a ton of questions that I was stuck between 2 answers

The CCS portion was a lot tougher than I thought, definitely harder than the 51 cases I did on Qbank. 11 out of 13 cases I think I did well, but 2 I was totally lost. No matter what I did for the patient, he wouldn't get better and I ran out of time

4. How to study for Step 3: I honestly do NOT believe that with the new changes to the test, that intern year will help much for step 3. I HIGHLY recommend taking it before intern year so that you can get it out of the way and not worry about it during intern year, cause I don't know how you can study for 3 months for this test (and I studied 7-8 hours a day for 6 days/week) during your intern year.

Day 1 (Foundations of Independent Practice): Study, read, and do tons of biostats questions, find biostats and epidemiology books that go way above and beyond the Qbank. Since biostats is 30-40% of day 1 questions, it is very important you study hard for this portion of the test. The questions are WAY tougher than simple biostats with calculating sensitivity/specificity/etc.
Also re-read portions of First Aid Step 1, focusing on mechanism of action of drugs and bugs too and their pathomechanisms since basic sciences is now 15-20% of day one questions

Day 2 (Advanced Clinical Medicine): The 1500 questions in the qbank will help with a lot of the day two multiple choice questions, but I highly recommend you read MTB 3 and take notes on it cause the MTB 3 book will help you a lot too. Also look up on wikipedia the risk factors and prognosis of every major disease you encounter, it will be on the test
For CCS, do all 51 cases and do even more of the Archer cases to fully prepare you for the this test


In my HONEST OPINION, I think it will be very tough to pass Step 3 without doing all of my above advice because of the new changes made to the test. I think studying for it during intern year is impossible and I feel really sorry for any intern that has to study for this test during intern year, there's simply no time to do all the multiple choice questions on Qbank, CCS cases on qbank, tons of biostats questions, and read and take notes on MTB 3 and First Aid Step 1. This test is an absolute beast and requires more effort and time to study than Step 1.


Good luck to everyone out there, and feel free to message me or reply to my thread with any further questions

There are some things I disagree with as what this poster said will be highly counter-productive / anxiety inducing for most people:

-US AMG pass rate is 94% - so vast majority of people pass this test. Your step 2 CK score is the best predictor of your score. So first of all don't freak out.

-Yes there is some basic sciences - but honestly don't go out of your way to redo step 1 questions / FIrst Aid step 1 - only if you have the time. Honestly the questions can be answered from previous knowledge. PRevious posters from various forums have confirmed this.

-I disagree that you have to wikipedia prognossis/risk factors - yes there are some questions on prognosis and risk factors but wikipediaing them is a fruitless task. You could spend your time doing other stuff. Also there are millions of diseases are you honestly going to sit down and memorize risk factors/prognostic factors??

Officially the exam is no more than <15-20% biostats - it may feel like everyone other question is biostats. So if there are about 200 questions on day one than expect about 40 questions for biostats or so I don't think it is as high as 30% as this poster has stated.

Also biostats is only fro test day #1 - there are no biostats on day #2

-last thing CCS cases are harder - you have to do both the read out and software cases - read out cases are harder than software cases. Software cases are easier than the real exam also once you've done the case the mystery of working up the patient goes away and it can make you over-confident.

-Qbanks are the way to go and should be the most important thing you do.
-make sure you know UWORLD as your gold standard qbank - its not complete but not qbank is
-supplement with a few others qbanks. Do some NBMEs
-make sure you do bot hUWORLD software+read outcases and you will be fine.

-if you want to read a textbook MTB-3 is honestly the best book. Other books are either like a textbook or not a good use of time.

 

[crisamuche]

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to share my experiences with Step 3. First of all, this test was by far the toughest of the three Step exams. I was told by a friend to study a lot of basic sciences and biostats cause the test format had changed, and I was thankful for his advice and I followed it carefully. I'll divide my post into 4 sections.

1. Information and stats about me:
Graduated from medical school in Texas, currently an intern
Step 1 score- 232
Step 2 score- 235 and passed CK on first try
Step 3 score- 229!!! So happy!!

2. What I did to study for it: rather than waiting till the end of intern year to take this test, I studied three months total for it and took it a week before intern year began. I used MTB 3, read all of it and took extensive notes on it, then found online biostats questions and did over 400 questions, then re-read parts of First Aid Step 1 (focused on the drug mechanisms and bugs section of it), and did all of QBank, both multiple choice and CCS cases.

3. Test day 1: this is said to be the tougher day for most students taking Step 3, but I felt pretty well prepared for it. The test is about 30-40% biostats and close to 20% basic sciences for day 1, so all my hard work on biostats and reviewing basic sciences really paid off, and I scored very high on both basic sciences and biostats.

Test day 2: this is said to be the easier day for most interns, but because I took it before intern year, it was probably tougher for me.

I was guessing a ton on the multiple choice questions, be careful here: a ton of questions focus on the prognosis and risk factors of certain diseases, so study hard for these 2 things. Honestly, there were a ton of questions that I was stuck between 2 answers

The CCS portion was a lot tougher than I thought, definitely harder than the 51 cases I did on Qbank. 11 out of 13 cases I think I did well, but 2 I was totally lost. No matter what I did for the patient, he wouldn't get better and I ran out of time

4. How to study for Step 3: I honestly do NOT believe that with the new changes to the test, that intern year will help much for step 3. I HIGHLY recommend taking it before intern year so that you can get it out of the way and not worry about it during intern year, cause I don't know how you can study for 3 months for this test (and I studied 7-8 hours a day for 6 days/week) during your intern year.

Day 1 (Foundations of Independent Practice): Study, read, and do tons of biostats questions, find biostats and epidemiology books that go way above and beyond the Qbank. Since biostats is 30-40% of day 1 questions, it is very important you study hard for this portion of the test. The questions are WAY tougher than simple biostats with calculating sensitivity/specificity/etc.
Also re-read portions of First Aid Step 1, focusing on mechanism of action of drugs and bugs too and their pathomechanisms since basic sciences is now 15-20% of day one questions

Day 2 (Advanced Clinical Medicine): The 1500 questions in the qbank will help with a lot of the day two multiple choice questions, but I highly recommend you read MTB 3 and take notes on it cause the MTB 3 book will help you a lot too. Also look up on wikipedia the risk factors and prognosis of every major disease you encounter, it will be on the test
For CCS, do all 51 cases and do even more of the Archer cases to fully prepare you for the this test


In my HONEST OPINION, I think it will be very tough to pass Step 3 without doing all of my above advice because of the new changes made to the test. I think studying for it during intern year is impossible and I feel really sorry for any intern that has to study for this test during intern year, there's simply no time to do all the multiple choice questions on Qbank, CCS cases on qbank, tons of biostats questions, and read and take notes on MTB 3 and First Aid Step 1. This test is an absolute beast and requires more effort and time to study than Step 1.


Good luck to everyone out there, and feel free to message me or reply to my thread with any further questions

 

[crisamuche]

I am a US IMG. Did med school in the caribbean. And three people including two IMGs currently practicing and the other in residency told me to take the step 3. I am confused on what to do. I want to pass and I want to pass with a hi score. Applying to residency next year and I plan on taking about 4-6 months to study. Thanks for the detailed information about step 3. I am most nervous about biostats and the CCS. Dont know how to approach it. Some people say do ********** videos and UW. WHat is the best resource for biostats?