Passed, USMLEworld correlation

[Ophtho24]

Took the test 4 weeks ago score reported to my old med school today. I finished USMLEworld with an average of 60.5% did about 900 questions. I am in my first year of internship (IM), did one month ICU, one month medicine wards, and was on Endo elective (gave me time to study.) I studied in my spare time in clinic maybe 1-2 hours per day for 3 weeks. The CCS cases are very easy, I couldn't figure out what a kid had but otherwise the diagnoses are pretty obvious you just have to remember the management featured in First Aid. I also read all of first aid. I had to have this thing done by the end of my prelim year, but otherwise I think it is wise to wait till you finish first year just because you will have more experience managing conditions. The test is mostly management which makes it different than step 2 which seems to focus more on diagnosis. Time was not much of an issue. The question stems aren't that long. I finished most blocks with about 15 minutes to spare. I had tons of extra time on the CCS cases because they end when you do enough stuff. Anyhow I passed and got a 245 don't know the 2 digit but I guess that it is between 97-99. To all those studying, good luck, it really isn't too rough. Nothing is as rough as step 1.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[shane_doc]

Thanks for the info, Ophtho. I hope others using usmleworld or kaplan will write in giving their opinions after taking Step 3. I will do the same when I get my score back.

 

[docrv]

any update on this topic?

 

[ramonaquimby]

again, thanks for the info, ophtho. so far i'm using usmleworld and crush. i too promise to update everyone here when I get my score back.

 

[Multifidus]

I used USMLE World (I did about 900 q's), read through Crush once, and did about 15-20 CCS on usmlesteps123.com. I believe my average on World was around 58-60%. Also I did the official USMLE practice test from 2007 the day prior to the exam.

I felt like I failed the exam, but felt like that with the first 2 steps as well and always ended up with a good score. Anyway I passed with a score of 224.

I tried to study for 2 weeks during an elective, but realistically only probably studied for about 10 days or so. I'm in a transitional internship and had about 4 months of inpatient IM, one month of ED, and some electives under my belt. Good luck.

 

[wanderingmedics]

first of all, i am a surgery intern, spent about 1 week to prep for this exam, i did half of the questions from usmleworld, averaged about 55%, read half of the ccs cases from usmleworld(these were very useful but pricey, i actually went back and read them all after the test, it's like case files for step 3), read crush once, took the $40 NBME test 1 day before with score of 510, Step 3 score of 230/95....no more usmle...priceless!

 

[fatman41]

I would never use a USMLE world product again. For step 1 and 2 I used kaplan, and did great. For step 3, some guys in my intern class told me how great USMLE world was so I bought it. I'm interested in a fellowship, so I actually did all the questions. Somehow I dropped all the way to a 208. I was so pissed! Especially after all the time I had invested (in addition to using first aid). USMLE world robbed me! Of course, I matched into one of the easiest intern years in texas, so playing golf 2 times a week, and drinking beer probably did not help the situation. Of course, there will likely be consequences once my fellowship application is reviewed. My advice: use kaplan, and don't get robbed.

 

[ramonaquimby]

score 50-55% on usmleworld and i PASSED!
i used usmleoworld + crush

 

[goodluck888]

score 50-55% on usmleworld and i PASSED!
i used usmleoworld + crush

Congratulations!

May I ask your score so that I can have some sense of correlation with USMLE World performance? Thanks,

 

[Surfer]

I averaged 54% on USMLEworld (21st percentile) and got a 214 on the exam. Good enough for me!!

I studied First Aid, UW, and my notes from Step II. This exam is VERY heavy on the clinical management. The best way to study is to have done a bunch of rotations in this stuff.

 

[castaway]

Got 54-55% on timed UW questions (500) and about 56% overall on 1000 questions (timed plus untimed). Came out of the test feeling miserable and doubting that I'd passed. Actual score: 212/87. My advice: make sure you know how to do the CCS cases. Besides doing UW I sporadically studied from Crash. Anyway, I am so relieved to be done with the traumatic Steps for life. Take care.

 

[50-50]

60% USMLEWORLD; Crush = 219. Studied for 3 weeks.

 

[dadr]

I think I was roughly 60% on USMLEWorld plus or minus a couple percent. Actual Step 3 was 234.

Problem with correlating UW is that it is very non-standardized due to variation in study methods. Some people take focused question blocks right after studying a topic, some take untimed or tutored blocks, some do the majority of questions toward the end of their study period, all of which can affect performance on UW.

 

[turquoiseblue]

I'm averaging 65% overall for UW so far (in endocrine, gi, pulm, gu (49%--which brought me down)) on timed tests, with some interruptions where I stop and start. I'm studying UW ccs w/ a study partner.
How well do you think I may do?

 

[buckley]

I don't think there's any correlation at all. I mean, look at the posts. Step 3 is an exam which test yous on clinical stuff, none of the weird biochem/hard core cell bio stuff. It's very much slanted towards IM in my opinion with lots of ob gyne, some peds and surgery thrown in.

The best study guide would be the CD that they issue. Practice all your orders. Have a system. It's ok to flub in one or two cases.

For the mulitple choice, the questions are uber looong. Just do them one at a time, make the best guess and MOVE ON!

Good luck

 

[Chizwheel]

I'm not sure if there really is a correlation at all between USMLEWorld and Step III. Anyways, for those that die for statistics,

Gen Surg intern,
I did:

1100 questions from UW (60-65%)
Studied for 2.5 weeks
Read through First Aid once
Did the USMLE CD

Score came back: 246/99

Thought I had failed for sure...

Who knows?

 

[carrigallen]

i'm a medicine intern. I looked through first aid and wrote things in the margins (just like with Step 1). Did all of usmleworld and got ~57%. Took test and got 240/99. I spent 14 days doing questions about 2-3 hours per night.

I would say the questions jog your memory but are not especially time effective. They are good if you have trouble sitting down and studying though.Looking back, a fair number of the usmleworld questions were low-yield and >2/3 of the actual test material was covered by First aid. Sure there are low-yield topics on the actual exam; but the probability/percentage of those random q's improving your performance are low. Test review consists of building on what you already know.

 

[conure]

I just got my score report, 4 weeks after examining. I passed with a 223. I did approx 500 USMLE world questions, the NBME practice test and practice cases. All 5-6 days before the test. That is all, well, besides intern year. I did not open a book or spend anytime reading anything for this test. I am not exagerating. I am no super star when it comes to academics, if anything I'm slightly above average. I am an american grad, native english speaker if that makes any dif.

Best of luck

 

[regulator2000]

are most people getting the score report after 4 weeks? and how did you score on your nbme exam, if u don't mind me asking.

 

[conure]

are most people getting the score report after 4 weeks? and how did you score on your nbme exam, if u don't mind me asking.

Most people i know who tested on my day got their scores this past wednesday. I got 70-80% on the NBME practice tests, they were not as hard as USMLE world.

 

[Chizwheel]

I think there's a greater correlation with prior USMLE step scores and step III than there is with USMLEWORLD and step III

 

[lark]

Just to give some people hope--I thought I had failed the exam. Left feeling very unsatisfied. . .moreover, I am a terrible standardized test taker and not an Internal Medicine/primary care resident. And after leaving the exam, I was kicking myself for all the questions that I knew the answer to but had marked incorrectly. I was also worried about my performance on the cases. On USMLEWorld I averaged 49% (with range from 30%-65%) after finishing about 1000 questions. Overall, Step 3 was by far my worst Step exam experience.

But today I found out that I passed!!! So, don't despair if you're not doing so great on USMLEWorld. . .learn from the questions--they're good and do help for the real test. Also, during the actual exam, just try to stay calm, keep going, and think positive thoughts.

Best of luck to you!

 

[RebelWarriorUK]

Here was my step 3 experience:
Background: IM resident finished with PGY-1
Prep: 3 weeks of studying, Boards and Wards, Crush, skimmed my old First Aid for step 2. Used Blueprints for CCS and also did about half of UW CCS cases.
Questions: UW finished all questions with 56% overall (towards the end was getting 58-72%). Many of the questions are overly nit-picky (since the step really is a test for a general practitioner) but they do get you in the frame of mind to pick the right "step 3" answer, which is not necessarily what you would do in real life.
NBME practice CD/download: 69%. Questions are easier and shorter than on the real thing, but had at least one question on the actual test that was from the CD.
Test: Questions are longer than on UW and definitely longer than on the NBME CD. This meant that time management was definitely an issue on the day. First day seemed to have a lot of questions about health maintenance for older women. Second day was more of the same except question blocks were 45 minutes long in the morning. Afternoon had 9 CCS cases, most of the time the diagnosis was straight-forward (except for one really weird OB-GYN case). The CCS proved to be more challenging than I was expecting, since it can be easy to forget some details when the clock is ticking. Also the program tries to simulate an actual patient encounter, so sometimes it gives you more info (i.e. the patient states she is in pain), and makes you wonder whether you need to change your management or whether your intervention just hasn't had an effect yet. Definitely take time to study for the CCS since this section of the test can be tricky and the program itself has its own quirks. Using the practiuce NBME CD was helpful. Apparently this part of the test counts for 25% of the final score, so don't blow it off.
Result: I was looking just to pass and got a 205. Not an amazing score but comfortably above the 187 needed to pass. I think you can pass this test with a couple of weeks of prep and your intern clinical experience (I also found that having done an ER month and an outpatient ambulatory month prior to taking the test was very helpful). I hope this helps you in your prep and am glad to be finished with these crazy step tests. All the best.

 

[mdclaros]

Did anyone here ended early on the second day of testing???
I finished 2 hours early.....

 

[ramonaquimby]

yup - i finsihed waaaaay early on the second day (and yes, passed without issue). it ws great to finish so early.

 

[secretwave101]

Just to give some people hope--I thought I had failed the exam. Left feeling very unsatisfied. . .moreover, I am a terrible standardized test taker and not an Internal Medicine/primary care resident. And after leaving the exam, I was kicking myself for all the questions that I knew the answer to but had marked incorrectly. I was also worried about my performance on the cases. On USMLEWorld I averaged 49% (with range from 30%-65%) after finishing about 1000 questions. Overall, Step 3 was by far my worst Step exam experience.

But today I found out that I passed!!! So, don't despair if you're not doing so great on USMLEWorld. . .learn from the questions--they're good and do help for the real test. Also, during the actual exam, just try to stay calm, keep going, and think positive thoughts.

Best of luck to you!

Just wanted to add to this that my experience was the same. I would have bet money that I failed. For some reason, it just felt THAT bad. I annoyed myself with the drama of the whole thing because I passed near the mean.

BTW - this post from Lark was a big support for me as I chewed my nails down the DIP's during my 3 week wait. Thanks for posting!

 

[ZekeMD]

So I just finished the exam and here's my take:

Day 1: Holy ObGyn! I approximate that 30-40% of the questions were ObGyn related. Many questions were relatively straight forward. If I wasn't sure, I could usually at least narrow it down to two choices. There were very few if any that I had absolutely no idea. There were some that were VERY poorly written questions. Overall, it was a tiring day, but very similar to the other exams.

Day 2: The blocks of questions are shorter and I felt more pressured by the time. Many of the passages are extremely long, which makes it difficult. As for the cases; I knew the diagnosis in all but one case very early on. There was one case where it wasn't clear until the end. Looking back, I know I flubbed on a couple of the cases and didn't treat it entirely appropriately, but hopefully that won't hurt me too much. The platform is exactly the same as the practice materials. You NEED to practice with that. It helped greatly. Overall, I know I got all the diagnoses right, and only really dropped the ball on one case.

 

[secretwave101]

Incidentally, I heard that dx on the cases is totally unrelated to the score. They only use it if there is some question of cheating - i.e. you get EVERYTHING perfect and then put in a totally unrelated dx.