Just out of Curiosity

[infectiousdisease101]

I'm not in medical school, but I was wondering. Since Step 3 is taken in residency, assuming you start as soon as you finish medical school, does it really affect you much as long as you pass? I know you not only need to pass Step 1, but need a competitive score as well for residency. Possibly the same for Step 2. But if you start residency right away, can Step 3 affect you adversely if you simply pass it, which places you at the 2nd percentile?

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[cambodiapark]

From what I've heard, a pass is a pass is a pass when it comes to Step 3. No one places any emphasis on it, because for Program Directors, it's just a nuisance that you have to get through. What they want is for their residents to focus on studying for the specialty boards (e.g. ABIM, ABFM... etc.) because the pass rates on those exams are the stats that residencies use to tell everyone how good/ bad they are. If you pass Step 3, whether it's with a 198 or a 258, in the eyes of the Program Director/ residency, there's one less problem to worry about. It's only when someone fails Step 3 that the program has its alarm bells go off, because now it'll look like you don't know how to handle these standardized tests (whether that's true or not), and that you're going to be spending more of your time studying for Step 3, while everyone else is studying for the specialty certification boards.

 

[infectiousdisease101]

Appreciate it!