need your advice badly guys

[zippoo82]

Hi guys, I've got this email from a hospital in psychiatry residency programs- they assigned me to an exam.This will be a three and one-half hour (3 ½) examination. The examination will consist of 150 multiple-choice questions:


50 in Psychiatry; 50 in Neurology, and 50 in Internal Medicine.
Part of the exam is a written essay on a topic given on the day of the examination. (30-minutes)..REMEMBER, THIS IS NOT AN INTERVIEW.


so what do you think guys how to prepare for such an exam to tackle it(still have 3 weeks)

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[bounds]

The hospitals are Jamaica and/or Brookdale Medical Center. Now,if you are preparing for Step 3 and happen to be in NYC or believe your chances are not so good, then by all means go do the exam. Otherwise its a useless venture as the hospitals have 4 spots each and 3 are already reserved for their externs.

Read the Kaplan Step 2 / Step 3 books for IM, Psych and Neuro and you will be fine. Goodluck.

 

[zippoo82]

I live in NYC and the hospital is brookdale as u said but i'm not yet preparing for step 3 as i'm a green card holder but i'll read what you said (which is better step2 or 3 or both due to the tight time frame )--and if there are any other suggestion,i'll be glad for getting any further guidance--thx a lot bounds.

 

[bounds]

The Kaplan Step 2 books will do. I took the exam myself in 2006 but I was preparing for Step 3 then, basically used it a " trial run " and it was a cake walk. I was called for a subsequent actual interview like a month later at Jamaica Hospital.

Read Kaplan Step 2 books. It is more than enough. The exam is pretty straight forward. Now the essay can be any topic that rocks their boat usually, something along a psychological/philisophical/sociology basis.

I believe ( and i may be completely wrong ) that they use to test your english and abstract thinking skills. But if you wrote essays in High school, you will be fine.

Just don't pin too much hope on that program.

 

[zippoo82]

Thank you so much bounds for your quick reply but i have a silly Q , If i did step 3 vedios in all the 3 branches that are requested as i wanna do it as a preparation for the exam plus a preparation for step 3 exam--is it gonna be enough or need to revise step 2 books after step3 vedios---as i don't have too much time and i'd like to know how do u think about this suggestion??
There is something else relating to the scores as i have passed all exams within 1st attempt and 6 yrs cutoff but my scores were not that high (step 1 = 84/step2 = 79) so is there any relation to the scores as a consideration ? thank you again for your cooperation

 

[firedoor]

I took that exam and think it's a sham. As mentioned above it is merely for the opportunity to interview and allegedly 3 out of 4 positions for each hospital are already reserved for externs. There were hundreds of people taking the exam in a huge banquet-style room...do the math. After taking the exam and not hearing back for a month or longer I contacted them requesting an interview and was declined. The program is in the ghetto and nothing stellar to my knowledge. Waste of time, energy and resources IMHO.

 

[Slubgob]

I remember this when I was applying! I thought it suspicious that I had passed Steps I & II, attended a US med school, and they still wanted me to take the exam. As someone else said, I suspected it was a way to screen for your English proficiency more than anything else. I was also told that the exam was offered on one day and one day only. I had a pretty legit reason I couldn't take it (I think I may have had an end-of-rotation exam or something), and when I asked if I might be able to take it on another date the answer was a resounding "no." I subsequently asked about the program at a few other NYC interviews, and no one had even heard of the program. And I haven't heard of them since, 'til now. Take it for what it's worth, but my take-away was http://edge.studentdoctor.net/images/smilies/laughy.gif