How to prep for Step 3?

Started by medstudent87
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medstudent87

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10+ Year Member
I'm a medicine prelim, starting CA-1 next July. I plan on taking my Step 3 sometime this year, but I'm not sure how to study for it. Tried searching the forums and there doesn't seem to be a lot of threads on the matter.

I'm a US grad, did fine on Step 2CK (241), and basically just used UWorld for that exam.

Is UWorld alone (both the MCQ's and the CCS's) enough for Step 3?
 
Yes. Honestly as a medicine prelim you'll be fine. I personally just did UWorld questions in areas of weakness. Basically definitely do OB and Peds, there's a ton of that on step 3. Then do whatever other areas you are weakest in. It's not that big a deal.
 
Does Step 3 matter for fellowship? I've seen applications where they ask for all three step numeric scores so just wondering. I take it that the ITE probably means more to them anyway?
 
Also, how long do most people typically study for it? I've heard some people only study a few days, while others do months.

I was planning on studying a bit each day during a 2-week elective and then a little more dedicated studying during my 2-week vacation. 4 weeks total. Overkill???
 
secants said:
Does Step 3 matter for fellowship? I've seen applications where they ask for all three step numeric scores so just wondering. I take it that the ITE probably means more to them anyway?
Click to expand...

Fellowships will ask for your score, what they do with them I couldn't tell you. They are most likely just acquired to make sure you'll be licensable. Unfortunately programs do ask for ITE scores which is likely used like every other standardized test, as a weed out.

2 weeks is probably plenty of studying. I think the most important thing is to get comfortable with the case scenarios, you can try out the software on their website. They aren't hard but the interface would probably be really confusing if you used it for the first time on the real thing.
 
While I wasn't planning on blowing it off completely will fellowships care about an ABSITE score (I'm a Surg prelim)?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.
 
Dwindlin said:
While I wasn't planning on blowing it off completely will fellowships care about an ABSITE score (I'm a Surg prelim)?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.
Click to expand...

Don't bother picking up a book for that. I took it as a surg prelim. Why would anyone care about your aptitude to function as a surgeon? Even your CA-0 ITE is somewhat useless. You've have no anesthesia training.
 
Just started CA-1, did a medicine pre-lim last year. I would def recommend getting it out of the way before you start anesthesia. I studied a bit everyday because my electives just weren't spaced right, but most of my friends who took it said that a 2 week elective block or a 1 week vacation block was more than adequate if you got through most of uworld. I knew people who took it fall of intern year and said it was harder than the people who took it spring of intern year. You intrinsically will find it easier because of osmosis on the job.
Resources I used:
uworld questions - did most of them recommend aiming above 65% for a decent score
Master the boards - quick read - particularly the peds/ob-gyn chapters
I also bought lange usmle step III app for iphone to do on the DL on interminable medicine rounds (so glad that's over).

Hope that helps. Good luck!
 
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