How Soon Can You Take Step 3?

[Llenroc]

I'm a 4th year medical student at a U.S. MD school, and I just took Step 2 CK a few weeks ago.

I feel strangely motivated to study for and take Step 3. Not that I was studying 10 hours a day or anything. I studied maybe 4-5 hours a day for a few weeks. It's *really hard* for me to get into that studying routine. I have no remaining clerkship exams for the rest of my 4th year.

I find myself for the first time actually wanting to take one of these exams, and ASAP (usually I take them last minute). I'd actually like to take Step 3 in June maybe, right before the start of my residency. Is this allowed?

I've looked through some Step 3 books, and it seems like 80% of what you need to know for that is things you would have learned already while studying for Step 2. Right now, I know all about CHF, HTN, cancers, ,and even rare kidney disorders. Step 2 focuses on immediate management, while Step 3 is more chronic management from what I hear. It's going to be real painful after I forget this stuff, to have to learn it all over again for Step 3.

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[JudyAtKaplanMed]

I'm a 4th year medical student at a U.S. MD school, and I just took Step 2 CK a few weeks ago.

I feel strangely motivated to study for and take Step 3. Not that I was studying 10 hours a day or anything. I studied maybe 4-5 hours a day for a few weeks. It's *really hard* for me to get into that studying routine. I have no remaining clerkship exams for the rest of my 4th year.

I find myself for the first time actually wanting to take one of these exams, and ASAP (usually I take them last minute). I'd actually like to take Step 3 in June maybe, right before the start of my residency. Is this allowed?

I've looked through some Step 3 books, and it seems like 80% of what you need to know for that is things you would have learned already while studying for Step 2. Right now, I know all about CHF, HTN, cancers, ,and even rare kidney disorders. Step 2 focuses on immediate management, while Step 3 is more chronic management from what I hear. It's going to be real painful after I forget this stuff, to have to learn it all over again for Step 3.

When you are allowed to take Step 3 depends on where you will be doing your residency, because state medical licensing boards govern when you may take it, so it varies by state. You can go to the federation of state medical licensing boards to find a link to your residency state's website and check there to see what the policy is. If they allow you to register for it before actually being in your residency, then you would be able to take it just after you graduate instead of in the spring of the first year of training, when most residents take it. Hope this helps! 😍

 

[Rogue_Leader]

A somewhat tangential question is how much do fellowship programs look at Step 3 scores? I have also considered that getting Step 3 out of the way right now may be easier, but I don't want to shoot myself in the foot by just barely passing the exam rather than scoring better if I took at after intern year. From what I can gauge, fellowships don't look at step 3 in the way residencies look at step 1, but aside from that I don't have a good feel for how important it is.

 

[devildoc2]

I'm a 4th year medical student at a U.S. MD school, and I just took Step 2 CK a few weeks ago.

I feel strangely motivated to study for and take Step 3. Not that I was studying 10 hours a day or anything. I studied maybe 4-5 hours a day for a few weeks. It's *really hard* for me to get into that studying routine. I have no remaining clerkship exams for the rest of my 4th year.

I find myself for the first time actually wanting to take one of these exams, and ASAP (usually I take them last minute). I'd actually like to take Step 3 in June maybe, right before the start of my residency. Is this allowed?

I've looked through some Step 3 books, and it seems like 80% of what you need to know for that is things you would have learned already while studying for Step 2. Right now, I know all about CHF, HTN, cancers, ,and even rare kidney disorders. Step 2 focuses on immediate management, while Step 3 is more chronic management from what I hear. It's going to be real painful after I forget this stuff, to have to learn it all over again for Step 3.

Taking Step 3 in June is going to be next to impossible, because they wont even let you register for the test until AFTER you graduate from med school. So if you graduate in May then you could apply the day after. However, I seriously doubt they will process your registration in time to get a testing date in June.

My guess is that you would have to wait until at least August before you could take it.

This applies only if you have not graduated med school yet. If you're already out, then by all means apply right now and you should be able to squeeze it in.