Regardless of what it is it is highly uncommon and not something I would expect in any specialty
It’s also just not needed. I studied for like a day and realized it was just a bunch of recycled step 2 questions was like whatever.
Also true. I did maybe 300 comquest questions over the course of 4 months intern year and then just YOLO'd Level 3 and passed ridiculously easily.
2 months, 2 weeks, and a no. 2 pencil
Yep. I did a single practice clinical scenario just so I'd know how it worked.
There is no point in paying for this expensive test and taking it early when you can wait and have your residency pay for it. Unless you're taking it because you wouldn't be able to match without it.
Not every residency will pay for Step 3. Mine didn’t.
I'm assuming even if they don't pay for it, you probably also have access to other funds in residency.
The problem is that you HAVE to already have your degree to apply for test (after May 20th for example if that’s when your graduation is), snd it can take up to 12 weeks for the organization to verify your educational credentials. And the residency starts aboit 6 weeks after graduation. So you just won’t have enough time
Awesome ! I am hoping to take it between - my residency is pathology and contributes nothing to successful test prep Hahshs . It would be amazing to just focus on residency and know that your test days are behind
Very program dependent. Some will accommodate, while some of the of the more malignant programs won't care at all. However, in residency you're essentially mandated by ACCGME to have 3-4 weeks of vacation per year so some people may just use vacation time. Depending in your specialty Step 3 could be low stakes and can be treated like P/F. But if you plan on going for a competitive fellowship (eg IM from lower tier program going from GI) then would not treat it as P/F.
you know what i meant. i meant NBME boards 1-3 . after step 3 i will only do specialty related stuff. thank god.
I think those 6 weeks are probably less special for me since I have spent a fair amount of time enjoying life. What I really don't want is to come home from a long day at the hospital during intern year and say "wow, I would really like to sit down with my girlfriend and my dog, perhaps have a bee.... oh wait I have to study broad swaths of medicine that aren't specialty related." I think my life would be less stressful without step three looming. Just a thought. If I'm going to fail step three if I take it too early, then sure... but if I am able to pass step three at the end of fourth year I am inclined to take it.
This is exactly what I am thinking . From what I understand- with some prep you can totally take it right after M4
Not right after as you do have to jump through some hoops to schedule the test and some of those require a medical school diploma and a public notary IIRC but you should be able to schedule it prior to your residency start date if it's not too early. Mine was about 2 weeks prior to July 1st, IIRC.
God I hate moving …. My top choice is very far … ahhhh eeeewww .
honestly i know NOTHING about FM boards, - but i genuinely hate regular medicine, so anything with that is a big no for me. I am a type of person (nerdy science introvert) who is MEANT to do pathology. for me M3 year was hell. So i cant wait to put regular medicine behind me and just focus on path.
I would suspect its universally true that specialty boards are more difficult than Step 3. I only know from FM and IM (wife) and both of those were much harder than Step 3.
yeah i am definitely that type of person. Plus i am truly obsessed with pathology. So i am so excited hahahahha
The only requirement when not a resident is a medical school diploma, with some extra steps if it’s outside the US, and an attestation from your school that you’re good to take it (this is a one page template available publicly from NBME/NBOME).
Pathology is the least “narrow” field in medicine (FM is probably #2).
