chances of residency after 3 attempt in step 1

[reetu]

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Hello everyone!
I am an img, migrated 4 years back with big American dreams when I got greencard in lottery . I passed ck and cs last year but failed step 1 three times. I was practicing obgyn in my country, now at 41 I am lost. I know everyone is tense at this hour waiting for match day, but can anyone advise me whether I should stop usmle and try something else or can I still try to pass step one one more time.
I was overconfident. that is the reason of failing. I just rush to give exam without preparing properly.
Is there any hope for me? I am ready to move to any state. Should I attempt step one? or give up?
Thanks everyone for reading this!
reetu

 

[thesauce]

It sounds like you know why you failed. Correct it and pass that thing. Take a Kaplan course if you need to.

 

[WhoisJohnGalt]

Hello everyone!
I am an img, migrated 4 years back with big American dreams when I got greencard in lottery . I passed ck and cs last year but failed step 1 three times. I was practicing obgyn in my country, now at 41 I am lost. I know everyone is tense at this hour waiting for match day, but can anyone advise me whether I should stop usmle and try something else or can I still try to pass step one one more time.
I was overconfident. that is the reason of failing. I just rush to give exam without preparing properly.
Is there any hope for me? I am ready to move to any state. Should I attempt step one? or give up?
Thanks everyone for reading this!
reetu

This is from my state's medical licensing board:

(g) The following applies to all applicants regarding examination failures unless otherwise prohibited by applicable law:
(1) Any applicant who fails any part of a licensing examination three times will not be eligible for a license.

I don't know of any states where that's different, I've always heard it as a standard thing. If I'm wrong someone please correct me on this. Unfortunately, if you can't obtain a medical license, I believe a US residency is out of the question. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I wanted to give you an honest answer. 🙁

 

[hellonewman]

This is from my state's medical licensing board:

(g) The following applies to all applicants regarding examination failures unless otherwise prohibited by applicable law:
(1) Any applicant who fails any part of a licensing examination three times will not be eligible for a license.

I don't know of any states where that's different, I've always heard it as a standard thing. If I'm wrong someone please correct me on this. Unfortunately, if you can't obtain a medical license, I believe a US residency is out of the question. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I wanted to give you an honest answer. 🙁

true for some states but not most, this has been discussed in the past see link http://www.fsmb.org/usmle_eliinitial.html

I say if you know what is wrong and can pass it then do it. If you can't secure a residency later then that may stop you but there is nothing you can do about that, if you quit then you will never know. 🙂

 

[gutonc]

This is from my state's medical licensing board:

(g) The following applies to all applicants regarding examination failures unless otherwise prohibited by applicable law:
(1) Any applicant who fails any part of a licensing examination three times will not be eligible for a license.

I don't know of any states where that's different, I've always heard it as a standard thing. If I'm wrong someone please correct me on this. Unfortunately, if you can't obtain a medical license, I believe a US residency is out of the question. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I wanted to give you an honest answer. 🙁

You're wrong, that's just your state. It is not at all standardized. Some states limit it to 2 failures, others have no limits and some only care how many times it took you to pass Step 3. A quick look here will tell you that. I counted 15 states where this would be an issue (although some of them have waivers available including Texas).

A bigger question to the OP is, if you know your problem was just rushing in and taking Step 1 without really studying, how did you F it up the other 2 times?

 

[Caerus]

I am sorry to hear about your difficulties. In my experience, a review course makes a lot of difference for Step 1. Kaplan or Falcon review courses seem to work well for people. When you study on your own and think that you can pass the next time if you just study harder, before you know it a lot of tries have elapsed. Courses are a lot of money but it may be time to invest in some help.

You have gotten far enough that it may be prudent to give it one more try. Still, you do need to consider your chances of getting a residency as an FMG with so many attempts. It's so competitive out there that your chances are not very good.

This link http://www.fsmb.org/usmle_eliinitial.html gives you some information on the attempts requirements by various states. There are still a dozen or so states where you can practice.

Good luck.

 

[reetu]

First time I did UW online i got 70% in about 60% of q, so thought i am prepared, so gave and got 69 without NBME, second time thought i didnot complete uw all so I completed all UW and went to give within 4 weeks of result again without nbme and got 72%. and third time i did all the q that is availble, all offline including nbme and was confident i will nail it. but looks like all the time rather than grasping concept i was trying to memorize it. I did not read or try to understand what is in kaplan books or first aid. just did q. And I rush during exam, I finished every block almost 15-20 min earlier. and did not even try to revise answer. may be i did not even read whole q. This is my biggest mistake.
@whoisjonhgalt- I know about state licensing rule about attempt. and yes there are many state as u said.

@gutonc thanks for answer
@caerus- Thanks!It is really draining all my energy yet I am hesitating to give up. I feel I can get through it.
my q is what after passing if no PD wants me ?
Will i be wasting my time?

 

[md2010sgu]

First time I did UW online i got 70% in about 60% of q, so thought i am prepared, so gave and got 69 without NBME, second time thought i didnot complete uw all so I completed all UW and went to give within 4 weeks of result again without nbme and got 72%. and third time i did all the q that is availble, all offline including nbme and was confident i will nail it. but looks like all the time rather than grasping concept i was trying to memorize it. I did not read or try to understand what is in kaplan books or first aid. just did q. And I rush during exam, I finished every block almost 15-20 min earlier. and did not even try to revise answer. may be i did not even read whole q. This is my biggest mistake.

Hmm...that is what I got, and I spanked Step1... out of curiosity did you have a panic attack or something during the exam??? You seem like you would have no prob passing this test at the very least based on your UW results. I don't know...... I still think it is worth a shot for you to take Step 1, but really make sure you are prepped for it by getting into the Step 1 MINDSET which is very different than the practice of clinical medicine. I'm kind of wondering if this was the issue... since you were a practicing physician you obviously could pass Step 2s without a hitch. However Step 1 is a whole different animal. Its a lot of test taking strategy integrated with BASIC BASIC BASIC knowledge (as I'm sure your aware of after taking it so many times).

Oh and the whole "not reading the question" is probably not a good idea. Slow down, and make sure you take your time, b/c people tend to answer what they THINK the question is asking, and they don't even answer what the question is REALLY asking.
This was a hard thing to grasp in the first week, I studied, but realized that this was the key to aceing Step 1.

I'm rooting for you !!! 👍👍👍👍

 

[MattD]

First time I did UW online i got 70% in about 60% of q, so thought i am prepared, so gave and got 69 without NBME, second time thought i didnot complete uw all so I completed all UW and went to give within 4 weeks of result again without nbme and got 72%. and third time i did all the q that is availble, all offline including nbme and was confident i will nail it. but looks like all the time rather than grasping concept i was trying to memorize it.

I'm assuming that you mean you got a 72 as your two digit score. I thought that the two digit score was standardized so that a 70 was equivalent to the passing three digit score. That would mean that the 72 was in fact a passing score. What am I missing here?

It's not possible to score a 072 for the three digit score is it? IS it?

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

I'm assuming that you mean you got a 72 as your two digit score. I thought that the two digit score was standardized so that a 70 was equivalent to the passing three digit score. That would mean that the 72 was in fact a passing score. What am I missing here?

It's not possible to score a 072 for the three digit score is it? IS it?

Passing is a 2 digit score of 75:

http://www.usmle.org/General_Information/FAQs/FAQs-Scores.html

 

[Taurus]

Even if you pass step 1 on the 4th time, you will have a very, very hard time getting into a residency. Ob/Gyn probably is out of the question. FM, IM, psych are more realistic.

 

[MattD]

Passing is a 2 digit score of 75:

http://www.usmle.org/General_Information/FAQs/FAQs-Scores.html

Ah, my bad. I was going off memory 🙂

 

[reetu]

Thanks everyone! I am following matching forums, that is why bit hesitating to try again, I know it would be difficult to get in obgyn but was thinking of Fm . I am worried i might not even get FM even if I passed.
After everyone's response, I am trying again. unless I try I won't know I will get or not. Whatever is in my fate!
Good luck for tomorrow everyone!

 

[LisesPieces]

I would take Step 1 again. WHEN you pass it this time, go right on to Step 3 and pass it right away. It will help to pass it before September for the ERAS applications. Most programs that I talked to didn't put much faith in Step 1, but are worried about you being able to pass Step 3 to obtain a license; if you have Step 3 done, they won't worry so much and you should get a few more interviews that way.

 

[reetu]

I would take Step 1 again. WHEN you pass it this time, go right on to Step 3 and pass it right away. It will help to pass it before September for the ERAS applications. Most programs that I talked to didn't put much faith in Step 1, but are worried about you being able to pass Step 3 to obtain a license; if you have Step 3 done, they won't worry so much and you should get a few more interviews that way.

Thanks Lisespieces! you are right most PD's will think I might not pass step 3. Will give step 1 again early June and and if I pass step 3 in August.
Thanks everyone for great support!

 

[Red Beard]

Hey Reetu,

Another tip, pay for and take one of the NBME practice tests after your next study block, before you take the real thing again. Really focus on it, no short cuts or messing around. This will do a few things for you:

1) Give you a chance to practice your test taking strategy a little more without adding another failure to your record,

2) Give you a sense of whether or not you are in passing range for the real thing, which if you are this will give you a lot of confidence.

3) Give you a chance to calibrate your studying accordingly (there are a handful of topics that ALWAYS get tested, and you can pick these up from the NBME practice exams....for example, I did 2 NBME exams and the real thing, and they all had that graph of HR and blood pressure and asked which drug creates what effect.)

People always seem to want blow off this advice because it costs a little money, takes a half a day to do, you don't get to review your answers, etc. But they are missing the point, the NBME practice exams don't fill the same role as UW: they are for learning the process, not content. And process is worth several points on these big tests.

Good luck!