disappointed --> UWSA 196

[runrun123]

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please advise exam in 3 weeks... finished UW last week and took the assessment this morning and got only 196....

any advice thx

 

[MetroPath]

Most ppl score low on the UWSA. Some have scored in the 190s like you and got 220 on the real deal.

 

[MetroPath]

Just make sure you do well on the CCS

 

[nata723]

I don't have my Step 3 score back yet, but I have no link to reapply on FSMB. So, you can take this advice with a grain of salt, but I'd recommend going twice through the all of the UWorld CCS cases, as well as going through all of the cases twice in Crush Step 3 CCS. I also got a subscription and watched the ********** videos, which were great but not as essential as UWorld CCS cases and Crush Step 3 CCS materials.

If you dedicate only a week or so to doing REALLY well on the CCS part, you will have a really great chance of passing. It seems to me that people that did UWorld CCS X2 and Crush Step 3 CCS x2 get super-high marks on the CCS, like with asterisks all on the right side of the graph (I did the CCS cases 1.25 times over and didn't have a chance to finish Crush Step 3 CCS even once, but if I did pass Step 3, I think it is thanks to my preparation for the CCS part, as I spent over 10 hours also watching the ********** videos).

The CCS is 25% of the total score, according to the Archer Review Course. So, it is the easiest way to increase your score quickly. It is also why scores on the actual exam do not correlate so well with the self-assessments, because such a big part (that being CCS) goes untested on the self-assessments. As the above poster wrote, people can improve from the 190's on practice exams to 220's on the actual, I would think due to performance on CCS.

Finally, biostats is really big on the actual exam. I felt like I had so many questions on biostats, which was fortunate because I did ok on biostats practice questions. Learn the few formulas and principles well (from UWorld QBank, for example) and that will also get you many "easy" points on the exam. I've heard UWorld Biostats subscription is really helpful, though I didn't use it myself.

I wish I had known and listened to all of this before I took my exam... it would have saved me much trouble in the weeks following the exam! I wish I had studied the highest-yield material (CCS and biostats) earlier on, as I ran out of time for studying for at least CCS.

(Also, my scores were below yours on my practice self-assessments for Step 3, which is again why I say that if I passed this exam, it is thanks to CCS and biostats.)

Fingers crossed for all of us!! Trying to pass it forward and hope this helps.

 

[Ismet]

I got a 198 on UWSA a week before the test and I scored in the 230s. Shift your focus more to CCS at this point, make sure you know all the basic biostats principles backwards and forwards.

 

[runrun123]

thanks

 

[Mountaineer12]

I feel you. I got a 198 about 3 weeks out and was devastated. I obsessively researched it and like a few people have said, UWSA vastly underestimates your score. You can add at least 20 points to get your predicted score (there's a formula I found somewhere, but I can't find it now). Anyway, I just got my score today: 223. Put more stock in your UWorld percentage and put some time into biostats and CCS and you'll be fine. Good luck!

 

[DisorderedDoc417]

Most ppl score low on the UWSA. Some have scored in the 190s like you and got 220 on the real deal.

I scored 180s and achieved >235 a few days later. Don’t believe that garbage.

 

[redcharger2904]

I got 196 4 weeks before exam. Ended with 218 w/ CCS the lowest. My UW avg 62%
Make sure do well on ccs

 

[runrun123]

thank you all... you guys are awesome

 

[runrun123]

exam next week.. working on CCS & biostat now. I am off on Monday should I have UWSA form 2. I only took form 1 and got 196 (almost 4 weeks ago).

 

[DisorderedDoc417]

exam next week.. working on CCS & biostat now. I am off on Monday should I have UWSA form 2. I only took form 1 and got 196 (almost 4 weeks ago).

I would argue against it because there isn’t enough time to do anything meaningful with the result. It also reads quite low compared to your actual score — thus lowering confidence.

 

[copper7]

What is your goal? If you are in residency already, study as much as you have time and take the actual exam. If you will need to get a spot, I would think twice. I would not hurry.

 

[runrun123]

I am in residency (not IM or FM)... but i don't want to re-take the exam again and i want to do decent.
1st day is this week and 2nd day in 10 days.
i think my preparation was good but my UWSA form 1 was low/concerning..
will see🙂

 

[DisorderedDoc417]

I am in residency (not IM or FM)... but i don't want to re-take the exam again and i want to do decent.
1st day is this week and 2nd day in 10 days.
i think my preparation was good but my UWSA form 1 was low/concerning..
will see🙂

Just an N=1 but I was very concerned when I took the UWSA because it scored me in the 180s, I then took the test a couple days later and ended up >235. I had an unnecessary burden sitting on me through the whole test. That’s where I am coming from. Agree with copper above.

 

[runrun123]

done with exam but i feel horrible
day 1 was tough looooooooooong questions only 2 stat questions and maybe 10-15 basic science. didn't have enough time to read the abstracts just picked answers that made sense 🙁 abstract with 2-3 questions per block
day 2 questions very tricky but very short (but very very tricky prognosis and risk factor type of questions...)
CCS only 3-4 cases ended earlier the rest keep going on and on and on couple of the cases were very wired with 2-3 diagnosis. i pissed off a mom and a young pt....

overall i don't feel good about this exam.. actually i was not able to sleep for couple of days....

 

[runrun123]

I want to thank you all for the support and kindness... got my score back today and i passed.. I didn't do very good but i passed.

thank you all very, very, very, very, very, very much and good day... bye-bye-bye USMLE.... peace and love my friends 🙂

 

[Violetta80]

I want to thank you all for the support and kindness... got my score back today and i passed.. I didn't do very good but i passed.

thank you all very, very, very, very, very, very much and good day... bye-bye-bye USMLE.... peace and love my friends 🙂

Congrats! My test is coming up monday...may I ask if you ended up doing form 2? I am not very confident either and not even in residency yet (but going into path, I dont' feel residency would help me at all) Thanks and happy for you!

 

[runrun123]

yes i ended up taking form 2... and i did worse in form 2 (dropped couple of points) . so my advice will be don't take it. (i should have listened🙁

good luck

 

[Violetta80]

yes i ended up taking form 2... and i did worse in form 2 (dropped couple of points) . so my advice will be don't take it. (i should have listened🙁

good luck

I took it...and did better in it. So I'll go for it I guess...I barely get to study more than I did so far...

 

[bigserve99]

Just wanted to say that I didn't do all that well on the UWorld practice test.... similar to what was above, and did much better on the actual test (30+ points better). Got my results back just last week.

 

[affa89-cs]

I want to thank you all for the support and kindness... got my score back today and i passed.. I didn't do very good but i passed.

thank you all very, very, very, very, very, very much and good day... bye-bye-bye USMLE.... peace and love my friends 🙂

congratulations that you passed.. i am hell scared waiting for my results that might come next week.. my cases were crazy and anxiety killed me.. 3 cases went really bad. . others were ok.. i just want to pass and get over with usmle. . i scored 210 and 217 on uwsa.. but i always score lower than my uwsas ..
need some motivatio and hope ..
i am an img.. applying this year.

 

[survivormd2014]

please advise exam in 3 weeks... finished UW last week and took the assessment this morning and got only 196....

any advice thx

Only used Uworld for everything

uworld qbank 53% @ 13 percentile
uwsa1 = 195 (2 wks b4 the exam)
At this point, I stopped doing questions, and only focused on the flashcards I made.
uwsa2 = 199 (1 wk b4 the exam)
Flashcards review continued, but I also did 10 ccs cases a day from this point on

Real step3 = 209

Biostat from uword
bioEthics from master the boards
In real exam, I did biostat question at the end of the block after leaving 3-5mins for it. And, 99% of the time, I guessed them completely.

Exam Experience: 1st day of the exam went horrible because I had so many questions from Step 1 (bugs & drugs' MOAs) and I guessed almost all of the bioStat questions. On day 2, I really felt that I screwed up badly in 9 out of 13 ccs cases as I had no idea how to manage any of those patients. Everything just went horrible and I was so nervous all throughout the exam. I really have no idea how I passed it.

 

[steveme]

Only used Uworld for everything

uworld qbank 53% @ 13 percentile
uwsa1 = 195 (2 wks b4 the exam)
At this point, I stopped doing questions, and only focused on the flashcards I made.
uwsa2 = 199 (1 wk b4 the exam)
Flashcards review continued, but I also did 10 ccs cases a day from this point on

Real step3 = 209

Biostat from uword
bioEthics from master the boards
In real exam, I did biostat question at the end of the block after leaving 3-5mins for it. And, 99% of the time, I guessed them completely.

Exam Experience: 1st day of the exam went horrible because I had so many questions from Step 1 (bugs & drugs' MOAs) and I guessed almost all of the bioStat questions. On day 2, I really felt that I screwed up badly in 9 out of 13 ccs cases as I had no idea how to manage any of those patients. Everything just went horrible and I was so nervous all throughout the exam. I really have no idea how I passed it.

I would like you to refer to this excellent post by nata723

I don't have my Step 3 score back yet, but I have no link to reapply on FSMB. So, you can take this advice with a grain of salt, but I'd recommend going twice through the all of the UWorld CCS cases, as well as going through all of the cases twice in Crush Step 3 CCS. I also got a subscription and watched the ********** videos, which were great but not as essential as UWorld CCS cases and Crush Step 3 CCS materials.

If you dedicate only a week or so to doing REALLY well on the CCS part, you will have a really great chance of passing. It seems to me that people that did UWorld CCS X2 and Crush Step 3 CCS x2 get super-high marks on the CCS, like with asterisks all on the right side of the graph (I did the CCS cases 1.25 times over and didn't have a chance to finish Crush Step 3 CCS even once, but if I did pass Step 3, I think it is thanks to my preparation for the CCS part, as I spent over 10 hours also watching the ********** videos).

The CCS is 25% of the total score, according to the Archer Review Course. So, it is the easiest way to increase your score quickly. It is also why scores on the actual exam do not correlate so well with the self-assessments, because such a big part (that being CCS) goes untested on the self-assessments. As the above poster wrote, people can improve from the 190's on practice exams to 220's on the actual, I would think due to performance on CCS.

Finally, biostats is really big on the actual exam. I felt like I had so many questions on biostats, which was fortunate because I did ok on biostats practice questions. Learn the few formulas and principles well (from UWorld QBank, for example) and that will also get you many "easy" points on the exam. I've heard UWorld Biostats subscription is really helpful, though I didn't use it myself.

I wish I had known and listened to all of this before I took my exam... it would have saved me much trouble in the weeks following the exam! I wish I had studied the highest-yield material (CCS and biostats) earlier on, as I ran out of time for studying for at least CCS.

(Also, my scores were below yours on my practice self-assessments for Step 3, which is again why I say that if I passed this exam, it is thanks to CCS and biostats.)

Fingers crossed for all of us!! Trying to pass it forward and hope this helps.

CCS is crucial for Step 3. UWSA is grossly wrong in interpreting your passing chances without give any credit to CCS. Lack of any statistical logic makes UWSA a trick rather than real..it works for them to make money and for you to get anxious. It helps you a little bit to know where you stand with regard to MCQs but you will need to know that you can improve your chances a lot by performing really well on the CCS.
Even on Step 3 website, it is indicated that score contribution from CCS may equal to the amount of time allotted to it...i.e'
it may be 25%!!
This 25% goes a long way in removing a lot of burden on MCQs.
Check this analysis out : What predicts USMLE Step 3 performance?

Know your CCS really well especially, the strategies to score highest, practice with USMLE FRED software. All the best

 

[CGB1078]

Only used Uworld for everything

uworld qbank 53% @ 13 percentile
uwsa1 = 195 (2 wks b4 the exam)
At this point, I stopped doing questions, and only focused on the flashcards I made.
uwsa2 = 199 (1 wk b4 the exam)
Flashcards review continued, but I also did 10 ccs cases a day from this point on

Real step3 = 209

Biostat from uword
bioEthics from master the boards
In real exam, I did biostat question at the end of the block after leaving 3-5mins for it. And, 99% of the time, I guessed them completely.

Exam Experience: 1st day of the exam went horrible because I had so many questions from Step 1 (bugs & drugs' MOAs) and I guessed almost all of the bioStat questions. On day 2, I really felt that I screwed up badly in 9 out of 13 ccs cases as I had no idea how to manage any of those patients. Everything just went horrible and I was so nervous all throughout the exam. I really have no idea how I passed it.

did you complete all of UWorld Qbank? or did you do 53% of it and were at 13th percentile?

 

[survivormd2014]

did you complete all of UWorld Qbank? or did you do 53% of it and were at 13th percentile?

I completed almost 95% of the Uworld qbank. Got 53% at the end and ended up at 13th percentile. Wanted to finish 100% but uwsa1 score of 195 just 2 wks before the exam got me very worried. I realized that I must be weak on core concepts, and I really need to focus on going over those 1800 flashcards that I end up making in 2 months. I went over my flashcards at least 3 times.

I went over Uworld CCS twice.... but I made the mistake by ignoring "Practice 41 cases", that are only for reading via PDF files. I only did "Interactive cases" twice. I believe at least 4 cases came from "Practice" section of CCS Uworld.