How long do you REALLY need to study for Step 3?

Started by auburnO5
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My friend accidentally took the step 3 practice test while studying for step 2. She got about the same score as she got on step 2.

So I'd say if you had an average or above average score on step 2 you probably don't need to study at all. Although you should review how to do the navigate through the cases software regardless.
 
I studied for 2 months while working as an intern, mainly because I literally forgot ALL of medicine, and felt I've learned nothing in medical school. I read the entire Kaplan book and did all UWorld questions, somehow passed haha.
 
It's a relatively easy test if you study for it. However I think a lot of people are pretty flip about it and so there's always someone smart who tanks it because they buy into the whole "all I need is a number two pencil" mantra. My suggestion: take it seriously and do overkill. Better to put in too much time now than to have to sit for it again.
 
I took it three months into my transitional year. The only studying I did was review about 100-200 questions in Uworld in my spare time, and I passed by a very comfortable margin (230s, I can't actually remember the exact score). The only thing I think was really worthwhile about Uworld was their practice cases. It helped to become a bit more comfortable with the case format and program.
 
I knew that I would be applying to residency after my Step 3 scores were out...so I actually studied. I did it during my internship, so I had to fit it in here and there. But I believe that I got started about a month prior. I made it an objective to get through every Case Files case, and review Savarese OMT. I didn't bother with IM because I was in an IM internship which had excellent didactics. It was about my tenth time through both books, so it didn't take a ton of time. I improved my Step 3 score over 50 for my Step 3 COMLEX (about 10 percentile points). Will it be a factor into why I match this year? Maybe not...but it couldn't hurt.

I believe that two weeks of crushing case files is probably good enough...especially if you don't have an internship that is broad. If you do a FP internship, you probably could cut that time in half.
 
I studied for 3 weeks part time while doing rotations. At the very least, you *need* to practice the CCS cases. The interface is so screwy that if you go in cold you'll spend half the time your first few cases figuring out how to order anything, and you'll miss a bunch of easy points regardless.
 
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