Path resident that must pass! Help!

[ScubaV]

So I'm a PGY-2 pathology resident with admittedly crappy clinical knowledge/skills who is taking the exam in two weeks. Unfortunately, our GME office requires people to pass step 3 by the middle of their second year (January) so the delayed score reporting screws me over in case I have to retake the test in November or later.

I've done about 75% of UWorld MCQ's and my cumulative performance is 55% correct which puts me in the 27th percentile. I haven't yet started on the CCS cases, but plan to finish all of them. I'm feeling really nervous about this test. Do you guys think 27th percentile would be enough to pass? I don't care about the score. What else could I do in two weeks to help prepare?

I'm naturally a good test taker, so I feel okay about the MCQ portion, but the CCS scares me as I'm worried about having to remember specific orders to type in rather than just recognizing a correct answer choice. Would completing the UWorld CCS cases be good enough?

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[link2swim06]

So I'm a PGY-2 pathology resident with admittedly crappy clinical knowledge/skills who is taking the exam in two weeks. Unfortunately, our GME office requires people to pass step 3 by the middle of their second year (January) so the delayed score reporting screws me over in case I have to retake the test in November or later.

I've done about 75% of UWorld MCQ's and my cumulative performance is 55% correct which puts me in the 27th percentile. I haven't yet started on the CCS cases, but plan to finish all of them. I'm feeling really nervous about this test. Do you guys think 27th percentile would be enough to pass? I don't care about the score. What else could I do in two weeks to help prepare?

I'm naturally a good test taker, so I feel okay about the MCQ portion, but the CCS scares me as I'm worried about having to remember specific orders to type in rather than just recognizing a correct answer choice. Would completing the UWorld CCS cases be good enough?

I think knowing the uworld CCS cases is a great start. I think upwards of 6/12 cases were nearly identical or very similar. I felt like the other cases were pretty straightforward if you know the normal disease presentations, diagnostic test, and treatments.

As a path resident I'd suggest you really focus on vital signs and location of treatment for each patient. The rest is stuff you should know from studying the multiple choice type questions. These are things which are very important that you are probably not exposed to your residency.

For example: If a patient comes in with a respiratory rate of 30 I'm putting them on oxygen, and pulse ox before I do any physical exam. Also if a patient comes to an office visit and has a blood pressure of 79/45 and heart rate of 140 then they need to go immediately to the ER (aka you need to change the location). It's stuff like that which will probably screw you up the most.

Finally I suggest you go over common order sets. For example for chest pain I routinely get an EKG, CXR, BMP, CBC, troponins, and +/- d-dimer +/-aspirin +/-fentanyl and zofran. I have a different one for headache, abd pain, etc. If you have this memorized and order this you will likely get your diagnosis from one of those tests.

 

[ScubaV]

Thanks for your advice!