Finished! Hopefully will never take a USMLE test again for the rest of my life.
Overall I think the content is similar to Step II, and there are more easy questions testing really basic concepts. There is less "what is the diagnosis" and more "what is the treatment." There seems to be an emphasis on recognizing things you don't need to treat.
The only subject I found tougher this time around was OB/Gyn - questions on second-line treatments and work-up for more obscure things than I saw on Step 2. Perhaps it only seems harder because I haven't been near that field in two years.
Outside of OB/Gyn, I think the answers for almost everything were in Crush. Taking a few minutes to look up color pictures of every dermatologic condition in Crush is probably worthwhile.
Lots of buzzwords. When people had congenital conditions, they would usually list every manifestation of that condition and make it really obvious. Sometimes they would even have a family history of it given. 🙄
I also found the blocks less time-consuming than the previous steps. I spent 55 min/block on Step I and about 50 on Step II. This time I spent 40 min on the outpatient clinic blocks and 45 on the ER/inpatient blocks, which tended to have longer questions.
Much less biostats than Step 2, and I didn't do a single calculation.
The CCS cases were very bread-and-butter. 3/9 of my cases were peds. Only one of my cases required much more than making an easy diagnosis and starting the appropriate treatment. Two of my cases were surprisingly similar.
I noted that CCS gives you the option to order your patient a lobotomy. I dare you.
Overall I think the content is similar to Step II, and there are more easy questions testing really basic concepts. There is less "what is the diagnosis" and more "what is the treatment." There seems to be an emphasis on recognizing things you don't need to treat.
The only subject I found tougher this time around was OB/Gyn - questions on second-line treatments and work-up for more obscure things than I saw on Step 2. Perhaps it only seems harder because I haven't been near that field in two years.
Outside of OB/Gyn, I think the answers for almost everything were in Crush. Taking a few minutes to look up color pictures of every dermatologic condition in Crush is probably worthwhile.
Lots of buzzwords. When people had congenital conditions, they would usually list every manifestation of that condition and make it really obvious. Sometimes they would even have a family history of it given. 🙄
I also found the blocks less time-consuming than the previous steps. I spent 55 min/block on Step I and about 50 on Step II. This time I spent 40 min on the outpatient clinic blocks and 45 on the ER/inpatient blocks, which tended to have longer questions.
Much less biostats than Step 2, and I didn't do a single calculation.
The CCS cases were very bread-and-butter. 3/9 of my cases were peds. Only one of my cases required much more than making an easy diagnosis and starting the appropriate treatment. Two of my cases were surprisingly similar.
I noted that CCS gives you the option to order your patient a lobotomy. I dare you.
