How important is Step3 for the programs while preparing ROL ?

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To all experts,

How important is Step3 for the programs while preparing ROL ?

Cos I know most of the psyc programs fear of the residents not being able to cross the second year d/t failure on step 3.

How true is this ?


P.S Pardon me for my ignorance in case I am wrong !

 

[atsai3]

To all experts,

How important is Step3 for the programs while preparing ROL ?

Cos I know most of the psyc programs fear of the residents not being able to cross the second year d/t failure on step 3.

How true is this ?


P.S Pardon me for my ignorance in case I am wrong !

Yes, this is a concern. First of all, no program director wants to hire a resident who is going to fail Step 3. It just looks bad. Second, at some institutions, Step 3 may be an 'earlier' requirement than at other institutions. For example, at UCSF, only residents who have obtained a California license (and therefore have passed Step 3) are allowed to take call at Langley Porter. If you fail Step 3 and your licensure is delayed, then this forces the other residents to take extra calls to make up for your failure to pass. Third, program directors want to hire residents who will pass the psychiatry boards. To the extent that failure on Step 3 is an informative predictor of future failure on the boards, applicants who look like they are going to fail Step 3 are going to be viewed with disfavor.

The preceding discussion assumes there are good predictors of future Step 3 failure. To the extent that performance on Steps 1, 2, and 3 are correlated, then if you have failed Step 1 or Step 2 multiple times, that will be a potential red flag.

-AT.

 

[goingbroke]

I agree with above poster. I know when I was in residency and we started to put together our rankings a candidate who had passed Step 3 was given an edge to an equally competitive candidate who had not yet passed the exam. That being said, my experience has been that it can be difficult to pass the exam without having gone through some actual residency experience. The exam seems designed to test knowledge and skills that one can only obtain through actually working hard clinically. There is little true knowledge for the exam that can be obtained by just reading and studying hard. Also, if a candidate fails Step 3 multiple times before residency it certainly can hurt one's ranking. A major factor also is whether a candidate is an AMG or IMG. I think that AMG's have a much easier time passing the exam that IMG's first time around. There are statistics posted somewhere and I think that it is something like low 90% vs 65%, AMG vs IMG pass rates. I also think that individual tend to score relatively in the same range for all of the Steps. If someone had a marginal Step 1 or Step 2 score I would recommend getting some education and necessary experience before attempting Step 3.

 

[rednucleus]

Do programs really care about the score or just whether you pass?

 

[TheWowEffect]

Do programs really care about the score or just whether you pass?

Just pass!!!!

 

[goingbroke]

Who do IMGs score so differently from AMGs? Usually they have equally good Step 1 and Step 2 scores. They are usually either equally as smart and have the same clinical experiences. Is it just the language issues? i have heard some complain that they feel the exam is culturally biased.