Scheduling Step 3 Debacle

[mariposa1]

I am having a ridiculous time trying to schedule step 3. I have to take it on a Saturday-Sunday as those are my only days off. However, there are no free weekends between now and Christmas within a 70 mile radius of NYC.

Has anyone had any luck calling the centers directly regarding availability or calling the Prometric phone number, as opposed to the Prometric website? Thanks for the help!

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[Gute]

you are pretty much screwed since prometric isn't just going to give you a sweetheart slot if you call them. your best bet is to pony up the fee to the FSMB to extend your eligibilty another 90 days or to just constantly check the prometric site to find a slot that might happen to open up in the interim OR you could figure a way to take it with one or two weekdays and just get your residency to give you an academic day (maybe give up a weekend off to get a weekday off?)

This is a MAJOR problem with the way that we are forced to sign up for Step 3...you are simply given a eligibility period and not allowed to pick and choose which time frame you wish to choose to take it like Step 1/2. The major differnece is that when you were a med student, you could take off any day you would like to take a test. As a resident, you have much much much less flexibility.

The other MAJOR problem is that the eligibility period we are given starts exactly when we are approved to take the test, however this is completely unrealistic. Even if I got approved tomorrow and could take it this week, there is NO WAY that prometric would have a day in the next few weeks with an open slot for a 8 hr long test, much less two consecutive dates. What is the FSMB is smoking???????

 

[KeratinPearls]

I am having a ridiculous time trying to schedule step 3. I have to take it on a Saturday-Sunday as those are my only days off. However, there are no free weekends between now and Christmas within a 70 mile radius of NYC.

Has anyone had any luck calling the centers directly regarding availability or calling the Prometric phone number, as opposed to the Prometric website? Thanks for the help!

What you can do is check the prometric site every day (every hour) if you have to...sometimes ppl cancel and you can reserve a spot if that certain weekend pops up.

Good luck.

 

[mariposa1]

Thanks for the replies! It all worked out. I called the Prometric phone number(800 number on the testing permit) and told them I could basically take the test any available weekend in October or November. They found me a weekend that was not listed as available on the Prometric site. They told me that they can only see what I am seeing, but that is obviously false as I was simultaneously checking these dates online.

So if you're prepared to spend 20 minutes on the phone with Prometric and there are a bunch of testing centers to choose from in your area, you just might be in luck even if the website says otherwise.