Step III How is Step 3 easier????

[Tastebuds]

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I just finished medical school and will be starting residency this fall. Everyone says that Step 3 is a lot easier than Step 1 or Step 2 but I don't understand how this can be, especially since Step 3 is spread over 2 days with 8 hours the first day and 8 hours the 2nd day! For the first 2 steps, I was exhausted after an 8 hour day!!!! I couldn't imagine having to wake up the next day and start the day all over again.

Can anyone shed some light on how Step 3 is easier (except for the fact that I should know more since I will be a resident).

 

[winner123]

I just finished medical school and will be starting residency this fall. Everyone says that Step 3 is a lot easier than Step 1 or Step 2 but I don't understand how this can be, especially since Step 3 is spread over 2 days with 8 hours the first day and 8 hours the 2nd day! For the first 2 steps, I was exhausted after an 8 hour day!!!! I couldn't imagine having to wake up the next day and start the day all over again.

Can anyone shed some light on how Step 3 is easier (except for the fact that I should know more since I will be a resident).

I m so surprised to know that some people think Step-3 is easier.
Step-3 is the only exam in the USMLE series which contains vague questions.How can something which is so vague be easier?

 

[titanjones]

barely studied..passed no prob. so happy.

 

[lord_jeebus]

I thought it had the greatest emphasis on bread-and-butter diseases of the 3 steps - things you have actually seen as a med student or intern.

I didn't think there was anything vague about the questions.

 

[NeuroDocDO]

I thought it was definetely harder than Step 1 and Step 2. The fact that it is 2 days long is enough to make it harder.

 

[zinjanthropus]

I just finished medical school and will be starting residency this fall. Everyone says that Step 3 is a lot easier than Step 1 or Step 2 but I don't understand how this can be, especially since Step 3 is spread over 2 days with 8 hours the first day and 8 hours the 2nd day! For the first 2 steps, I was exhausted after an 8 hour day!!!! I couldn't imagine having to wake up the next day and start the day all over again.

Can anyone shed some light on how Step 3 is easier (except for the fact that I should know more since I will be a resident).

Step 3 is easier because the questions are similar to the stuff you do all day at work already. also, less emphasis on primary level factoid questions - more emphasis on broad mgmt plans.

also, most people finish day 1 in 5-6 hours and day 2 in 4-5 hours.

 

[FirstMANdown]

I personally think part of it has to do with "the luck of the draw". Some folks may have more blocks that are bread & butter stuff while some folks get shafted with more vague or choosier answer choices for many of there blocks.....I think it all depends, just a thought. Thats probably one of the reasons why the USMLE/NBME wont release any information on the break down of the exams. I think it would open up a big bag of worms. Who knows, in some sense it may even be some big grand statistical conspiracy to increase revenue and cherry pick. "The world will never know". 🙄 If there has to be strict Government regulation in this country I think it should start with the USMLE/NBME organization. If its got be socialized medicine might as well start from the top on down.

 

[EaglesPA]

I believe the main reason people say it's "easier" is that by the time most people take step III, they only need to "PASS" whereas with Steps 1 and 2 you are aiming for a high score for residency application.
The second reason is that it deals more with commonly-encountered problems/diseases.

 

[jpro]

agreed. Just passing step 3 is easy but if you want to rank the three steps in order of difficulty it would go 1, 3, and 2.

 

[Bladder]

barely studied..passed no prob. so happy.

how long did you study for?
when did you take it... pgy1, pgy2....?