COMLEX III Help

[NappyVegChik]

Hello out there. This is my first post on SDN. I am a second year psychiatri resident. I just found out I failed Step 3 by 11 questions, or 1 raw point. 11 questions. All of the categories were pretty much in the same range except one. What is Health Care Delivery Systems? The others were pretty high which makes it so much more painful. I realize I am now out of a job until I pass. There's always bartending. I signed up for Kaplan CenterPrep because the next LivePrep near me isn't until December.
I have the following references to do it all again:
-Savarese and this new OMM book by a guy at NYCOM (his name escapes me)
-Kaplan Step 2 CK notes
-Crush Step 3
-High Yield OB/GYN
-Access to COMBANK for 2 months.
I plan to retake it July 30th. I want this nightmare to be over.
Any suggestions or advice (no negativity please) would be greatly appreciated. I already cried and drank a few shots of Scotch. I'll be OK. Just looking for some friendly suggestions.

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[DOindahouse]

from someone who is well expereinced in this stupid test,
i thnk you should cancel the kaplan, it will be useless,
books i liked the best was strong medicine and the premier course i went to, specifically their notes whchi they basically read to us in the course

but they were very good
combank i s good but a little too easy

i have stuff cheap for sale, let me know

 

[NoOneKnows]

I found Crush for Step III pretty helpful. Also ComBank was great - there were several questions that were almost word for word.

 

[NappyVegChik]

I went to the center and watched one tape!
JUNK!!!thumbdown
I got rid of damn Kaplan!!
I have premier review, high yield ob/gyn, I'll be getting an NMS book, and I'll try COMBANK, Savarese, and an exercise regimen.
I plan to take that test prepared, and about 10 pounds lighter....
Thank you Doindahouse and NOoneknows for writing to me. It was so frustating to get no responses...

 

[novado]

You have to realize that some people on this forum are trying to sell you things that you may not need. I think that many of the step 3 books lack the things that you need to know. First of all, you are probably over-analyzing these questions. The more you learn, the more it hurts you on the COMLEX. Stop thinking about what you should/reallly would do in real life, and think about what the best answer for the test question would be. I personally used Kaplan Step 2 notes with Kaplan step 3 q-bank. I read up on anything I missed in the qbank. The step 3 books out there for some reason are thinner and have less information than the step 2 books. This is true for the first aid series, crush, and kaplan. You need to get back to the basics with step 2, and then take a step 3 question bank of your choice. Read up on what you missed or did not understand in your step 2 book. Remember that the COMLEX is light years behind current knowledge on topics. I did very well on step 3, and that is all I needed to do. Oh, I also forgot to add that you should read your green Savarese book front to back the day before. It is well worth it.

 

[natureboy503]

"Stop thinking about what you should/reallly would do in real life, and think about what the best answer for the test question would be."

This is the best advice I have seen on the topic of Step III. You have been out of med. school for 2 years and have actually been practicing medicine. We all know, for those of us in residency, that what we do in "real life" is not always the book answer. You have to try to forget what you may do in real life and pick the answer you think that they are looking for. Good Luck.

 

[BACMEDIC]

What do you all think about using an older version of review material, i.e., Using a 2005 copy for USMLE Step 3? Has anyone tried this? Have things changed enough to warrant getting a newer version or it it all the same stuff?

Also, what do you think about using Step 2 review material but concentrating on the treatment section and what you would do next?

 

[princesamariposa]

Does anyone know correlation scores between Comlex III and Kaplan Qbank? What Qbank percentage is needed approximately to pass?
Thx

 

[bellamae]

Hi,

Do you guys know if there are "CCS" style Qs on COMLEX also, or is this just a USMLE phenomenon?

Thanks.

 

[novado]

There are no CCS style questions. Just poorly worded questions and questions where there reallly is no good answer. I do not think that 2005 information would be that far behind. There were questions I got where you need to pick the best antibiotic. Having just finished a month of ID with doctors well known around the country, none of the answer choices were correct. There was one answer choice that would have been correct 5-6 years ago, so I picked that one on multiple occasions. It would be better to review Step 2 books. For some reason, every series of step 3 books has less material in it than the step 2 books. I do not understand why they reduce the size of the books with each step.