STEP 3 Score VS USMLE WORLD AVERAGE

[FirstMANdown]

There is a great thread for Step 2ck VS UW%. I though it might be helpful if anyone out there can give us there input with there Step 3 VS UW%...etc as well. Anyways Thanks for the contribution.

I'm do to take Step 3 in the next month. Will update this thread as well. For better or for worse.

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[familyguy909]

Hey guys,

I am currently an IM resident, and I am seriously freaking out about my Step 3 score. I definitely feel like I failed, just took it this past week. I did not study that much prior to taking the actual exam. Essentially, I did all of UW untimed with a 60% overall score. I eyeballed all of the CCS cases but did not go through them in a super detailed fashion. The MCQs were okay. Not great but not impossible. I seriously bombed CCS however, at least 3/12 cases went very poorly. One case never ended at all, one case I ordered an intervention that was refused by the patient, and then I did an unnecessary procedure on a neonate. I was not in my best physical state prior to either of my testing days as I did not sleep very well at all. My background FYI: Step 2 high 230s. If anyone has any words of encouragement, they would be much appreciated. I really felt uneasy after finishing the test and am now contemplating when to sign up to take it again. Also, when should I expect to get my score back? Thanks in advance for any words of wisdom!

 

[iliketv01]

I'm in the same boat, I felt like crap coming out of the exam and now I'm freaking out. I had a similar UWorld average as you. I got a correlated UWSA score of 223. But I don't know. I mean I felt the same way after the practice exam and scored decently. I'm really hoping I scored similarly on the actual exam. Just have to wait until next week for my score. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

 

[Infexious]

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[iliketv01]

Just wanted to update you guys. Got my score today. I woke up around 1 AM and logged into the website. My score was 225. I was so relieved by the score. It's kind of crazy how close my UWSA score was to the actual score. I hope if you feel bad coming out of the exam just know it's a pretty common feeling. My recommendation is don't skip on the pediatric stuff, that was my lowest scoring section, and as expected I did well on the IM stuff. So happy to be done with the exams. I wish everyone the best!

 

[Infexious]

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[iliketv01]

I took the exam on April 21st and 22nd and got my scores yesterday May 14th. So it was 3 weeks later.

 

[Infexious]

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[neulite30]

UWSA: 247

Actual Step 3: 242

Glad to be done.

 

[fahimaz7]

US allo student. Did 400 questions in the week leading up to the test with an average of 73%. No practice tests.
Score = 250's.

 

[medcrazytrain]

Yes.

I am very concerned that I am only doing USMLE world to study for both the multiple choice and CCS for step 3.

This question goes out to everyone and anyone: Are UW questions on par with the real step 3 questions? I'm finding UW questions very reasonable - and that's what scares me. I don't want to have a false sense of security.

I found UW questions for step 2 to be a little less difficult than the real thing but I passed using only UW. Step 2 was horrible. I took it after they changed it to uber beat down exam.

 

[Iaka]

Just Finished PGY1 Year.

Study time: 2.5 weeks
Did 75% Uworld with 60-65% avg. Did 14 CCS Uworld Cases. No book studying.
Practice Uworld score 228
Actual Step 3 score 236.

 

[DocKSV]

Study time: 2 weeks
Did 70% of Uworld. Pretty much just focused on ob/gyn, peds, surgery as i'm a IM resident. Had approx 65-70% on my first pass through. Did all of my marked and incorrect questions over again.
Actual Step 3: 240

I honestly thought I bombed it after Day 1. I kept thinking about all of the dumb, easy things I missed (mostly Ob/gyn questions). Day 2 felt much better.

Don't kill yourself over this exam.

 

[NRAI2001]

Hey guys... I just started studying for the Step 3 but just a general question... is there biostats and all that related stuff on the Step 3? I started reading MTB for step3 and there isnt a chapter for biostats?

Thanks

 

[radgirl18]

Just got my score last night after a month of anxious waiting.

I completed about 85% of uworld with an average of 67-73% or so and then decided to also get a month of kaplan and did about half with 65-67%. I also flipped through first aid an the kaplan step 3 books for OBGYN, Peds, and psych. Studied VERY slowly over the course of 4 months as a busy surgical intern. Never did any CCS cases but browsed some explanations one day. A very bad idea in case you were curious.

Went into day one feeling moderately prepared but was exhausted by the end. I left day one thinking I did enough to pass but definitely had a hard time with long questions stems and difficulty narrowing it down to one answer. Day two I figured I would get up early and do a few CCS cases to get semi familiar with the software. My computer crashed so I was forced to into the test without any exposure to the clunky hardware. The MCQs were shorter the second day and things were going well untill I got to CCS. First two cases were out of left field. First case got the diagnosis but could not remember how to treat it. Not something I see as a surgical intern. Next case was a rare peds case and got the diagnosis at the very end and changed the tx. Not sure if she responded well or not. Others were okY except for the one patient I believe died because I may have given her an antibiotic she was allergic to or she was sicker than I thought. It kept updating me that she was vomiting but Iwasn't familiar with the CCs hardware so I kept clicking advance to see the labs before it shut me out and I was unable to transfer. An epic failure on my part.

Walked out knowing I failed despite step 1 244 and step 2 256. I was sure my mistakes on CCS were lethal and couldnt stop thinking about my failures and how I was going to break it to my PD. After 4 anxiety filled weeks I received my score at around 10pm last night (weird I know) and the verdict..... 230!!!!!
With CCS just at the edge of crossing over to lower performance. I was stoked beyond belief and was just hoping to pass. This whole process was a nightmare for me. Although I do have to say that i have been hard on myself on prior exams but this takes the cake! In retrospect uworld is probably enough but the CCS cases are a must. I am cheap and didnt want to spend the extra money. But 70$ or so is better than 700$ for a retake. I lucked out on this one but only because I am a fairly good test taker.

Words of advice.... If you have taken it And are stressing out just try to relax. Chances are you passed. Especially if you have good scores on prior steps. Dont spend 4 weeks sulking like I did. Dont let it consume you.

And for everyone else, dont put this test off! Get it over with early. As a radiology resident now, I would be even less prepared than as a surgical prelim who sees patients daily. Power through. Take a practice test if you are that scared. And be sure not to underestimate the test. So glad this is all over. Best of luck to all!

 

[future3323]

Hey Guys,

Ive been reading these posts for some time now and its eased my mind just a bit for the exam which is next week for me.
Just wanted some quick advice based on what ive done to study.

I completed Uworld with 64 percent average and repeated the missed ones
Also did kaplan with 70 % average and repeated missed qs as well
Ive reviewed Master the boards with all notes added about 4-5 times
And for CCS ive done all cases 1.5 times and reviewed first aid 100 cases .

I know that will seem like plenty of prep but just wanted to ask if its any use taking the self assessment or will it just be overkill and possibly hurt my momentum or confidence if its not what i expected?

Thanks everyone I appreciate the help and advice

 

[future3323]

Well,
Thanks anyway, i didnt end up taking that practice exam no point really.

First day of exam is done, Everyone here is dead on, day 1 is horrendous .
First 2-3 blocks were ok and most questions I felt good about , after that it went downhill . SO many questions that you either knew the answer but the choices listed were not what you know to be the answer and then so many questions that you really had no idea and by the time you read the whole question so much time has passed that going back and trying to figure things out is tough on time consumption.

First 3 -4 blocks time was ok, after that fatigue set in and I kept coming up short on time and once or twice had to guess last response blindly.
I know most ppl here have felt the same way but man its brutal!

Really hope the sentiment stays the same for me on day 2 as it has for most others who had a rough first day!

Ill keep everyone posted

 

[future3323]

SO day 2 is done.

As everyone has stated before so accurately , day one sucks day two sucks just a little bit.

Multiple choice qs were better but id say 1 block of the 4 was as tough as day one. otherwise time was not an issue and questions were a bit more straight forward .

AS far as the CCS was concerned, boy what a ride!

S0 like everyone elses here most cases were doable , id say 8 out of 12 were pretty easy cases. 2 were mediocre and 2 were really hard.
I came out of there thinking I killed a guy and as I was walking home I kept thinking to myself no way, it was the right treatment! . basically i gave tpa to someone with bp of 170/90, knowing damn well that thats not high enough to be a contraindication . But what I also did was order neuro checks at the same time so when i confirmed the orders i got a pop up saying Alert , and i thought that this alert was post tpa but in fact it was not post tpa it was a neuro check on the patients baseline before the tpa was given . So essentially I thought i killed the guy by causing a hemorrhage but in reality the tpa wasn't even given yet , what made me think that was that the case ended right after i saw the neuro check alert so i assumed he died which lead me to make the mistake of cancelling the tpa in the final 2 minutes out of panic, i hope that the case ending early enough after i ordered tpa will be enough and they just assume i made a mistake cancelling the tpa :/ ???

anyways , this test is tough , i hope my breakdown helps someone out there. As everyones info helped me a ton.

THanks and ill keep y'all posted on my outcome

 

[trazadone_AE]

Giving back.
UWORLD qbank avg 50%
Reread explanations once.
Did all questions over on tutor mode. Redid all mistakes on tutor mode.
Did all interactive CCS cases x4. Reviewed supplemental cases x3.
It was the roughest test Ive ever taken, totally kicked my butt. CCS I knew I did awesome, cured all the patients. Uworld was my only study material. For 3 weeks I honestly thought I failed, never felt so unconfident. Real thing: 219, buh bye USMLE!!!

 

[skk3]

I legitimately cannot figure out how to use the UW CCS software... It is so clunky and awkward I have no idea what I'm doing. What makes it worse is UW doesn't give you a "score" for your performance. Any advice?

 

[Dr. USMLE]

I legitimately cannot figure out how to use the UW CCS software... It is so clunky and awkward I have no idea what I'm doing. What makes it worse is UW doesn't give you a "score" for your performance. Any advice?

The more you use the software, the more comfortable you will become. The UW software is very similar to the real exam. You can also try the cases directly from the NBME.

Regarding scoring, compare your management decisions (and order) to the UW explanations. This will give you a good idea of your performance.


Radiology Resident
Step 1: 265+
Step 2: 265+
Step 3: 265+

 

[mvenus929]

I'm planning on taking Step 3 about halfway through intern year (I'm a Peds resident), and am trying to figure out what I should plan on getting for studying. Obviously, I'm getting UWorld questions for the MCQ portion of the test, but I feel I'm getting mixed feelings on the CCS portion--a lot of people are telling me to use the NBME Practice questions for the CCS just to get familiar with the software... should I plan on using the UW CCS questions as well?

Thanks

 

[future3323]

I dont know anyone who used NBME for CCS, Uworld is the go to for ccs practice stick with that one

 

[YellowBanana]

Giving back

Uworld: 65% and did all the incorrect again
CCS: read all the supplemental cases but only did 32/52 of the actual ccs
PGY1. prelim medicine (wardX1 and critical care X1) + radiology
Step 1 >250
Step 2>250

Day One: everything is divided either into ER/Inpt or Outpt/Health center. 47X4 and 46X3. At least one drug AD or research article each section. Some of the questions are pretty ridiculous that you cannot prepare for but others not so much. Work on your test stamina because i got really tired during my last two blocks.

Day Two: 36X4. Divided once again into Inpt vs. Outpt. I felt they were more difficult than the first day but who knows.
CCS cases 2X12 minutes 10X22 minutes. Pretty sure i messed on at least 2/12 cases. All of them ended. Uworld CCs should be adequate. I wish i did all of the cases.

Good luck everyone!

 

[Puff-of-Snow Sign]

I agree with much of what has been stated above. I only studied in between clinic patients during my first 1.5 weeks of an outpatient month. My first month of med-ternship was inpatient and I didn't decide until the end of the month that I was gonna go ahead and take Step 3 this soon.

Got through less than 50% of UWorld Qbank (probably closer to 1/4) and did maybe 8 or 9 of the CCS cases. For the Qs, I tried to focus on my weaknesses (OB-GYN, GU, Pulm and ID). For the cases, I went through at least one case from each of the major categories (Med, Surg, Peds, OB-GYN) in each of the settings (Office, ED).

Day 1 was taxing. Of course the things you either knew you missed or felt clueless about are gonna stick out in your mind at the end of the day, but it felt like there were some recurrent themes throughout the day that didn't really seem to be the kind of thing I would consider to be must-know for a medical license. For the first time in any of the Steps, I had to speed through the last few questions to beat the clock on a section. Usually, I'm done with 5-15 min to spare.

Day 2 was almost easy, by comparison. The MCQ blocks were shorter and seemed easier. I only ran up against the clock on one of the 8+2 min cases, but even then felt like I at least met the standard on it. All the other cases I finished well before time was up. For the record, there were 10 of the 18+2 min cases and 2 of the 8+2 min cases on my test.

The minimalist approach I took in studying for this thing was surprisingly hard for me, as I'm used to gunning it up and trying to get through all of the Qs in the Bank at least once and then going back over the ones I missed or marked b/c I got 'em right for the wrong reason. However, I'm tentatively glad I didn't allocate any more time or stress to it than I did. I feel pretty good about the test. Do I think I crushed it? Absolutely not. But I'm pretty confident I cleared the passing bar by a decent margin and that's all that matters, right? (Again, really hard to convince myself of this, at first.)

I whole-heartedly recommend the CCS cases from UWorld. I felt much more confident just having done a few of them. It really helps to have a feel for what they're looking for, since you don't exactly have choices laid out in front of you. It also helps to be a little more familiar with the software, so you're not struggling to figure that out on the fly.

 

[wamcp]

PGY1, allopathic grad, took the test after 2 months into my internal medicine internship. I am categorical internal medicine.
Step 1: 248.
Step 2: 258
Finished all of UWorld once with 65% average timed, random blocks of 48.
UWSA was 220
UWorld CCS: did all of it once two days before exam

Step 3 experience: holy heck the multiple choice questions were so difficult - lots of ob gyn, peds that I did not care about and did not study for. And plenty of questions that just don't make ANY SENSE in clinical practice (asking you what is the next best step when in real life, you would order all of the answer choices at the same time and not leave any out...). I marked like half of every section.
CCS was a breeze. I strongly recommend doing CCS at least once through, practicing what orders to place in each of the 52 case situations. I finished all 12 cases in less than a hour.

Did not use any other sources as commonly mentioned here (like MTB). Hope I get UWSA predicted 220!

 

[future3323]

Back to give my results.

I posted extensively but I will go through what i did once more briefly.
IMG graduated in November been off since then doing research.
Studied 2 months , 1 month hard using MTB and Uworld as well as Kaplan,went through MTB 6-7 times.
Uworld average first time 64 percent, Kaplan 1st time 70 percent.
Didnt do any practice exams
Did All Uworld ccs cases twice

Step 1 232
Step 2 237
Step 3 222

The exam was hard as hell!! I honestly guessed on atleast half the questions minimum. day one was a wreck day two a bit better , ccs cases 10/12 were good the remaining were a bit tougher and took till the last second to get the diagnosis.

I honestly waited 2 hours to click on my score report becuase I was so scared of the result but a word of advice to everyone DONT WORRY, do Uworld and repeat the ones you missed, read through MTB quickly for small details and take this thing.

Good luck to all and I hope yall dont worry as much as I did

 

[skk3]

I am 2 months into my prelim intern year in internal med. Took test about a week ago to 1) get it out of the way and 2) not have to take the new exam.

I did UW in 2 sections. So I did all of "Medicine" in random 48 blocks and "the rest" (obgyn, peds, psych, biostats) in random 48 blocks. In the end, my average was around 68%.

The test itself was difficult. The multiple choice questions asked about things outside the scope of UW. Also, it was difficult concentrating and staying focused throughout the entire exam. As for the CCS, it was so easy and fun to do. UW CCS is plenty. I did each of the cases twice.

I will update in a month with my score.

 

[doctah123]

deleted

 

[Mcomponent]

Took Step 3 past two days, feeling pretty crummy and wouldn't be surprised if I failed.
Just out of med school (but has been over a year since I've seen a patient...). Studied off and on during a light rotation at the beginning of residency, roughly 4-5 weeks worth of part-time studying. Painfully made it through UW timed with 63%, went over marked explanations twice, Did all the CCS cases and made notes on things I had forgotten to do, then went over those notes the night before. Only read MTB for OB--in retrospect, definitely should have looked over at least Psych, but probably should have skimmed over the whole book to refresh my memory. I had the time and could have studied better/harder/more thoroughly than I did for sure, but I just didn't have the motivation and figured I'd be OK to pass without going through the trouble of reading.

The MCQs on the test felt really awful for me. I caught myself missing a lot of "gimme" questions that I could have gotten if I had at least gone over MTB in a cursory fashion--they were basic things that I knew at one point but have just forgotten. Who knows how many of those I missed. I also was just making careless mistakes all over the place--I got some easy sequential questions wrong and it was soul-crushing. My mind just wasn't all there. I always have time problems on my Steps (even with the high scores), but this one was worse than usual. I spent more time on questions than I should have because they were so vague--I know this isn't anything new for USMLEs, but this time it seemed more often than usual that I didn't have command of enough knowledge to figure out what was being asked. There were at least 3 blocks where I answered the last 3-5 questions randomly (not even reading the question). On many others where I did read the question, I found myself just sort of choosing one without reasoning through the choices. It felt like a huge fiasco and if I find out that I passed, it will feel like nothing short of a miracle.

That being said, I also tend to forget about all the questions I didn't have too much difficulty with. And there were enough of those to give me hope. I actually finished each block happier that I was probably that much closer to never having to take one of these again.

CCS went mostly fine for me--UW definitely helped with that.

I left with a hesitant sort of relief--like I want to be happy because I'm most likely done with usmle's foreverrrrrrr but I'm not allowed to be happy yet, not until I know for sure.


In summary:
4-5 weeks of part-time studying
Did UW Qbank (+ review of marked) and 52 UW CCS. Looked over MTB OB.
63% UW (timed, random)
220 UWSA

Step 1 >250
Step 2 >250

I know I just sound whiney and I most likely passed, but this wait is going to be hard. I have horrible test taking skills--my mind wanders constantly and I have to keep redirecting it during tests. In the past I've compensated with a somewhat solid knowledge base---but I went into this test just sort of trying to coast on whatever I knew a year ago because all I wanted to do was pass and it's a nonclinical specialty I'm going into so I was too lazy to pick up MTB. I knew that UW was in no way comprehensive and the majority of the test would be concepts and details not covered at all in UW, but I don't think I was mentally prepared for how uncomfortable it would make me feel. Ugh, I feel sick at the thought of studying for this all over again. 3 weeks from now can't come fast enough.

 

[medstylee]

I haven't posted on this site in ages... but figured I'd chime in. I am in a unique situation (and a crappy one) that I am totally responsible for. I am in my PGY5 year of ENT residency and have been putting this exam off for far too long. No good excuse! It has been years since I've thought about OB, peds, even most of the medicine topics. So, I started off with an uphill battle. Basically I spent about 6 weeks preparing, which was not enough to make me feel confident. I'd spend maybe an hour or so after work and occasionally on light days another 2 or so during the work day studying and obviously more on the weekends. I read through crush the boards which I thought was largely useless. I did about 90% of the USMLE world MCQs. Did all blocks of 48, random and time and finished with a 64%. I went through all of the cases once during the week before my exam. Needless to say, I did not feel very confident going into the exam but had already dug my grave at that point. I easily got > 250 on step 1 and step 2 but I was actually prepared for those exams...

Anyway the exam was very tough, just as everyone else has said. My thoughts on the test were almost identical to the previous poster's. Day 1 was really tough and quite demoralizing. Question stems were super long and filled with details. Like others have said, there were a lot where I could narrow it down but really couldn't pick which was the "best" next step (hate those questions!). I was able to get through the blocks with a few minutes to spare and didn't have to randomly guess but there were two blocks that I finished with basically no time left. The emergency setting blocks seemed the hardest to me. The drug adds weren't bad but the abstract-based questions were tough and weird! Tons of cardiology and OBGYN and derm. I left feeling really deflated and questioning whether I should even return. I think the natural tendency is to harp on all the ones you knew you got wrong or made silly mistakes on - the next thing you know you feel like there are so many of those questions even thought it's probably about 10 that you just keep thinking about over and over. Definitely psyched myself out though and got very little sleep overnight.

Day 2, thankfully, and similar to how others have described it, seemed much much better. The question stems were shorter and the questions seemed more straightforward. I did feel though that these questions were about more esoteric diseases and many were definitely not general medicine (give me a break!). The cases were fairly straightforward and none of the diagnoses were hard to get. I'm sure I forgot orders and counseling here and there but overall the blocks ended early and I seemed to be getting positive responses from patients and consulting services. I left day 2 feeling much better.

In the end, I feel very nervous about this exam. It's comforting to hear that everyone else feels the same way for the most part. While I do think about all the silly mistakes I made and questions I clearly got wrong I do feel comforted that I got almost all the sequential question chains correct. Those are pretty sadistic but it makes you feel really good when you see that you got the previous question correct. Obviously it also feels pretty crummy when you find that you got the prior question wrong.

Overall, this exam was what I expected (difficulty of it) and also not what I expected (content). UWorld is great prep but beware that it doesn't cover all of the exam content and, in my opinion, is easier than the actual exam. Like most others, I feel very crummy about this exam and am worried about my ability to pass. Truth of the matter is that almost everyone passes this exam, so we should all chill out. I know I won't, though, until I get my score back. And, if I do fail, it's my own fault! Best of luck, everyone.

 

[medstylee]

I haven't posted on this site in ages... but figured I'd chime in. I am in a unique situation (and a crappy one) that I am totally responsible for. I am in my PGY5 year of ENT residency and have been putting this exam off for far too long. No good excuse! It has been years since I've thought about OB, peds, even most of the medicine topics. So, I started off with an uphill battle. Basically I spent about 6 weeks preparing, which was not enough to make me feel confident. I'd spend maybe an hour or so after work and occasionally on light days another 2 or so during the work day studying and obviously more on the weekends. I read through crush the boards which I thought was largely useless. I did about 90% of the USMLE world MCQs. Did all blocks of 48, random and time and finished with a 64%. I went through all of the cases once during the week before my exam. Needless to say, I did not feel very confident going into the exam but had already dug my grave at that point. I easily got > 250 on step 1 and step 2 but I was actually prepared for those exams...

Anyway the exam was very tough, just as everyone else has said. My thoughts on the test were almost identical to the previous poster's. Day 1 was really tough and quite demoralizing. Question stems were super long and filled with details. Like others have said, there were a lot where I could narrow it down but really couldn't pick which was the "best" next step (hate those questions!). I was able to get through the blocks with a few minutes to spare and didn't have to randomly guess but there were two blocks that I finished with basically no time left. The emergency setting blocks seemed the hardest to me. The drug adds weren't bad but the abstract-based questions were tough and weird! Tons of cardiology and OBGYN and derm. I left feeling really deflated and questioning whether I should even return. I think the natural tendency is to harp on all the ones you knew you got wrong or made silly mistakes on - the next thing you know you feel like there are so many of those questions even thought it's probably about 10 that you just keep thinking about over and over. Definitely psyched myself out though and got very little sleep overnight.

Day 2, thankfully, and similar to how others have described it, seemed much much better. The question stems were shorter and the questions seemed more straightforward. I did feel though that these questions were about more esoteric diseases and many were definitely not general medicine (give me a break!). The cases were fairly straightforward and none of the diagnoses were hard to get. I'm sure I forgot orders and counseling here and there but overall the blocks ended early and I seemed to be getting positive responses from patients and consulting services. I left day 2 feeling much better.

In the end, I feel very nervous about this exam. It's comforting to hear that everyone else feels the same way for the most part. While I do think about all the silly mistakes I made and questions I clearly got wrong I do feel comforted that I got almost all the sequential question chains correct. Those are pretty sadistic but it makes you feel really good when you see that you got the previous question correct. Obviously it also feels pretty crummy when you find that you got the prior question wrong.

Overall, this exam was what I expected (difficulty of it) and also not what I expected (content). UWorld is great prep but beware that it doesn't cover all of the exam content and, in my opinion, is easier than the actual exam. Like most others, I feel very crummy about this exam and am worried about my ability to pass. Truth of the matter is that almost everyone passes this exam, so we should all chill out. I know I won't, though, until I get my score back. And, if I do fail, it's my own fault! Best of luck, everyone.

Forgot to mention - my UWSA score was 231. I know, I know, why am I whining? It's nice to see that a lot of people score fairly closely to their UWSA scores. I did feel, though, that the actual step 3 exam content was a lot more difficult than the UWSA content. Did others feel that way?

 

[KeratinPearls]

Hello,

I am the Step 3 in three weeks. I am planning on studying all of UW QBank. Do you guys think that the questions/content on the real exam was similar to what was tested in the QBank. Any responses will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any help!!!!

 

[KeratinPearls]

Forgot to mention - my UWSA score was 231. I know, I know, why am I whining? It's nice to see that a lot of people score fairly closely to their UWSA scores. I did feel, though, that the actual step 3 exam content was a lot more difficult than the UWSA content. Did others feel that way?

I think its fairly difficult to fail Step 3 with 250 on Step 2.

 

[Mcomponent]

Forgot to mention - my UWSA score was 231. I know, I know, why am I whining? It's nice to see that a lot of people score fairly closely to their UWSA scores. I did feel, though, that the actual step 3 exam content was a lot more difficult than the UWSA content. Did others feel that way?

I think you have pretty much no reason to worry (even though we still will). From obsessively combing through SDN and seeing how people's scores compared to UWSA, I saw that most people score pretty closely, and biggest drop I saw from UWSA was still less than 25 points----so I would say there's a 99.999% chance you passed! Totally made up statistic but I believe it. Btw I also thought the drug ads/abstract were very vague and weird and I had to just guess at the answer sometimes, even after having read the abstract. I don't remember having that problem with those on Step 2 a year ago, and biostats/EBM is usually a strong area for me. It's just a very difficult test with a (hopefully) generous curve.

 

[docaus]

I am wondering what the usual score report time is at the moment. I took my exam on August 25,26.
Does that mean I will receive scores 3 weeks later on wednesday meaning on the 17th of september? Or the 10th?
Thanks for your help!

 

[YellowBanana]

WOOT WOOT.... passed >220. three weeks from your test day.

Uworld 65%

 

[thehundredthone]

Studied for about 2 months, using MTB and UWorld, with a little bit of FA3.
UWorld: 71% first pass, timed random.
UWSA ~2 weeks out: 248

Exam was seemingly easier than UWorld. Not too many overly long questions. A lot of topics were repeated across blocks. At least 1-2 biostats questions per block (on day 1). CCS was straightforward, my longest case took about 4 minutes.

Step 3: 251

Step 2: 264
Step 1: 259

All the best to those of you still waiting for the score.

 

[garlis]

Hello everyone, I have been reading this post since I started studying for step 3.

I have finished UW qbank with 61% (1st pass, timed) and currently doing incorrect questions. I did Kaplan qbank (59%) before doing UW.
I took UWSA a couple of days ago and got 207, made stupid mistakes, but still makes me insecure about taking the exam soon.

I am scheduled to take the exam in about 2.5 weeks. Any recommendations as to what I should do? Or should I just keep studying and stay calm?

Thanks!

 

[fatpigeon2010]

Just did uworld qbank and ccs cases once, did not look over incorrects or anything. No books. Spent 3.5-4 weeks doing all this during less busy rotation. Usmle first time 76% correct. Finished qbank once.

I would definitely recommend doing the 52 UWorld CCS cases. Don't bother with the other 42 readout cases that UWorld offers because they are all on esoteric stuff like G6PD deficiency and other minutiae, whereas my real test was all straight forward stuff similar to the 52 UWorld CCS cases that you do through the software.

Step 1 269
Step 2 ck 273
Step 3 262

 

[physicsnerd42]

Just got my score back this week. I'm a peds intern and just took it at the end of my second block (a pretty chill outpatient rotation with a couple of weekends of night float). I basically just studied after work for about 3-4 weeks. I did all the USMLE World questions on tutor mode (and read through all the answers) and got 73%. I then ran through all the cases once. That's it (and I even think that was too much). The first day I thought was fine. On the second day I finished in something like 4 hours (all of my cases ended early).

My score: 248.

This is not a hard test and people shouldn't freak out about it. I actually think taking it as close to the beginning of intern year as possible is the best idea. Forget reading books, just do UWorld Qbank and the CCS cases. If you're a medicine resident you probably don't even need much of the Qbank.

 

[Darkness]

Hey,
I'm kinda a noob here. I was just wondering if I should take this beast or postpone it.
I took the NBME 3 got a 490 not sure what that correlates to.
I took the USMLE World Self Assessment and got a 235
I'm not the greatest test taker. So far I have my test scheduled on the 24th
Any advice?
Thanks Again

 

[uzzet]

Just did uworld qbank and ccs cases once, did not look over incorrects or anything. No books. Spent 3.5-4 weeks doing all this during less busy rotation. Usmle first time 76% correct. Finished qbank once.

I would definitely recommend doing the 52 UWorld CCS cases. Don't bother with the other 42 readout cases that UWorld offers because they are all on esoteric stuff like G6PD deficiency and other minutiae, whereas my real test was all straight forward stuff similar to the 52 UWorld CCS cases that you do through the software.

Step 1 269
Step 2 ck 273
Step 3 262

How long did it take to go through the 52 Uworld CCS cases? I don't have much time left and am on a crazy busy rotation. Thanks -Z

 

[linkin06]

How long did it take to go through the 52 Uworld CCS cases? I don't have much time left and am on a crazy busy rotation. Thanks -Z

if you're just wanting to read the explanation/thought process, maybe over two days

 

[fatpigeon2010]

How long did it take to go through the 52 Uworld CCS cases? I don't have much time left and am on a crazy busy rotation. Thanks -Z

I went through about 5-8 per day the week before the test. Probably took me about 15-20 mins each - so I could knock out 8 usually in a little over 2 hours. That was me going through each one basically like I was simulating the test. If you don't have time for that just go through at least 8-10 like that and then just look at the orders on the other ones. The most helpful part is just learning all the stupid orders like "iv access", "reassurance", "counsel patient- medication adherence" etc. That is, all the orders that typically just happen in real life but you have to order on this test.

 

[medstylee]

Got my score back today - 3 weeks and 1 day after second test day. I fortunately passed and actually got >230 which makes me feel pretty embarrassed about whining and worrying so much. I still hold strong in my advice to not wait too long after medical school to take this - just get it over with. My best performance was in CCS, actually, which blows my mind. I worried a lot bc I saw everyone posting about writing "reassurance" and "counseling" etc for all their cases and I honestly never did that stuff at all. My cases generally finished early and I got positive comments (pt feeling much better, etc) but I know I left out some important med and lab orders on at least 4 cases and there was one case that I know I never really treated correctly and it went on until time expired. I also never canceled any lab orders at the end. I'm obviously not condoning that and I'm sure if anything it helps your score to do those things, but clearly those little details are not critical for your score on that section. Anyway - best of luck to everyone. On to fellowship for me!

 

[Mcomponent]

Took Step 3 past two days, feeling pretty crummy and wouldn't be surprised if I failed.
Just out of med school (but has been over a year since I've seen a patient...). Studied off and on during a light rotation at the beginning of residency, roughly 4-5 weeks worth of part-time studying. Painfully made it through UW timed with 63%, went over marked explanations twice, Did all the CCS cases and made notes on things I had forgotten to do, then went over those notes the night before. Only read MTB for OB--in retrospect, definitely should have looked over at least Psych, but probably should have skimmed over the whole book to refresh my memory. I had the time and could have studied better/harder/more thoroughly than I did for sure, but I just didn't have the motivation and figured I'd be OK to pass without going through the trouble of reading.

The MCQs on the test felt really awful for me. I caught myself missing a lot of "gimme" questions that I could have gotten if I had at least gone over MTB in a cursory fashion--they were basic things that I knew at one point but have just forgotten. Who knows how many of those I missed. I also was just making careless mistakes all over the place--I got some easy sequential questions wrong and it was soul-crushing. My mind just wasn't all there. I always have time problems on my Steps (even with the high scores), but this one was worse than usual. I spent more time on questions than I should have because they were so vague--I know this isn't anything new for USMLEs, but this time it seemed more often than usual that I didn't have command of enough knowledge to figure out what was being asked. There were at least 3 blocks where I answered the last 3-5 questions randomly (not even reading the question). On many others where I did read the question, I found myself just sort of choosing one without reasoning through the choices. It felt like a huge fiasco and if I find out that I passed, it will feel like nothing short of a miracle.

That being said, I also tend to forget about all the questions I didn't have too much difficulty with. And there were enough of those to give me hope. I actually finished each block happier that I was probably that much closer to never having to take one of these again.

CCS went mostly fine for me--UW definitely helped with that.

I left with a hesitant sort of relief--like I want to be happy because I'm most likely done with usmle's foreverrrrrrr but I'm not allowed to be happy yet, not until I know for sure.


In summary:
4-5 weeks of part-time studying
Did UW Qbank (+ review of marked) and 52 UW CCS. Looked over MTB OB.
63% UW (timed, random)
220 UWSA

Step 1 >250
Step 2 >250

I know I just sound whiney and I most likely passed, but this wait is going to be hard. I have horrible test taking skills--my mind wanders constantly and I have to keep redirecting it during tests. In the past I've compensated with a somewhat solid knowledge base---but I went into this test just sort of trying to coast on whatever I knew a year ago because all I wanted to do was pass and it's a nonclinical specialty I'm going into so I was too lazy to pick up MTB. I knew that UW was in no way comprehensive and the majority of the test would be concepts and details not covered at all in UW, but I don't think I was mentally prepared for how uncomfortable it would make me feel. Ugh, I feel sick at the thought of studying for this all over again. 3 weeks from now can't come fast enough.

Passed! 219. Dropped 40 points but I'm still happy given my lack of effort. Don't sweat this test even if you make tons of careless/judgment errors throughout the test, have issues with timing, whatever. There's enough slack in the system to make it all work out if your UW%/past step exams are decent going in.

 

[DarlynVMD]

And... done w/ Step 3 (hopefully).

Briefly, initially scheduled myself to study for a period of 4-wks, however, that turned out to be a total of 2-wks, instead.

Only used UW qbank and CCS; couldn't really amount to reading any books (it looked depressing to stare into the pages of MTB.)
The first of Sept, I took my ITE, which I thought would've prepped me well from an endurance standpoint (I was wrong.)
Nonetheless, completed 74% of UW w/ a cumulative score of 65%; went over the CCS cases x 1.

Day 1 of the exam; mixed feeling... some questions were good, some were easy, and some came out of left field (as in every other Step we've taken).
I felt fatigue set in during my 4th and 5th block, where I found myself having to reread the majority of the cases cause I was so out of it; and this is w/ me already in the habit of ready the actual question first and then the stem. I would run into the 5-minute screen for the majority of every block w/ still the drug-ad q's to complete. This was a little anxiety producing for me, as I've never had an issue w/ time management on any of my previous Step exams... but I was able to complete each block. Like everyone else, walked out w/ mixed feelings about it.. LOL (darn you, you USMLE!)

Day 2 of the exam; much better questions, however, some weird anatomy q's that were completely and utterly inappropriate for the nature and degree of this exam (at least I think... LOL); but for the most part, the questions were much better than they were on Day 1 of the exam. A lot of the "locked-in" question sets pretty much let you know if your initial answer was correct or now as they describe the subsequent management on the part 2 of the each question set, which was nice.

The CCS cases... the software was identical to UW (props to them). The cases were a bit weird at first; the majority of the cases ended w/in 4-5 minutes; and this included me counseling, etc. But for 2 of the cases, I just kept plugging away, not sure what in the world was going on, until in one, it came to me; but I was able to finish those in 8-10 elapsed minute (not sure of the outcome, however).

All in all... I just feel good about being down w/ the USMLE examinations, and hopefully for good (we'll see in 3 weeks).

In retrospect, some of the questions are beyond the scope of what UW presents. I'd say that this applies more so for OB/GYN and Peds q's, which by the way, every other darn question on the exam was "... 28 week's gestation..; ... 36 week's gestation..." .

At any rate, UW does more than enough in preparing you for this exam, especially w/ familiarizing yourself w/ the CCS software. Wish everyone else who is taking the exam (or recently finished it) the best of luck, and hopefully we can all put USMLE behind us for good in 3 weeks. Cheers and enjoy!

P.S. will update w/ score

 

[da8s0859q]

Updated my post with my score later in thread, post #620: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...le-world-average.552217/page-13#post-15786976

 

[McGeorgia]

Only prep was UW. Completed entire bank with ~71% correct on random. Redid missed and marked Q's. Completed about 10 of the 52 CCS cases and read through the majority of the rest. I would definitely recommended at least reading through all of the cases after you are comfortable with the software.

Step 3: 256

 

[swamprat]

EM intern here. Scored a 248. Very relieved.. I thought I did poorly, test was very difficult I thought I messed up a ton of the CCS cases. I did about 80% of u world and half the u world ccs cases. In hindsight I may have been nervous also because I took this test not as seriously as I feel it should be given how difficult the questions were. Curve must be huge. Anyway goodbye USMLE!