So ... how long do people take to study for this thing?

[UCLAstudent]

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I'm currently a transitional PGY-1 and will be taking Step 3 in March. What is the usual amount of time that people dedicate to studying for Step 3? I'm a little concerned that I won't have completed any internal medicine months before the exam (I'll have done ophtho, derm, radiology, trauma surgery, GI-onc surgery, ER, psych ER, inpatient neuro, and orthopedic surgery). I was planning on using UW/First Aid and studying for 2 weeks, 3-4 hours per day. Is this cutting it too close?

 

[zalato5]

Anyone? I'm interested in knowing that too.

 

[lord_jeebus]

If you've done ER you're golden. I signed up for usmleworld but only did about 200 questions. I spent about 2 hours skimming Crush. I did the practice CCS questions, this is essential to learn the format.

The most useful thing was the ER month. Ward medicine was not particularly relevant.

 

[error404]

I've been studying from USMLEWorld and Crush... my plan is to someday finish both of them. But I've mentioned this to a few co-interns who've taken it already, and I get consistently laughed at for over-preparing.

 

[UCLAstudent]

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll just stick with two weeks. Just want to pass.

 

[N-Surge]

I've been studying from USMLEWorld and Crush... my plan is to someday finish both of them. But I've mentioned this to a few co-interns who've taken it already, and I get consistently laughed at for over-preparing.

Over-preparing is probably the way to go, as to not being prepared at all.

Anyone have any thoughts on:

1. Fischer's book
2. Triage
3. FA

Thanks!

 

[Peds2ER]

I'm currently a transitional PGY-1 and will be taking Step 3 in March. What is the usual amount of time that people dedicate to studying for Step 3? I'm a little concerned that I won't have completed any internal medicine months before the exam (I'll have done ophtho, derm, radiology, trauma surgery, GI-onc surgery, ER, psych ER, inpatient neuro, and orthopedic surgery). I was planning on using UW/First Aid and studying for 2 weeks, 3-4 hours per day. Is this cutting it too close?

I took it midway through my last year of Peds residency. Didn't study at all and did fine. Being a resident practicing clinical medicine day after day was plenty of preparation. I wish I had done some practice tests though. I screwed up the case simulations a bit - treated a woman with PE in entirely in my office without realizing that I was able (and certainly should have) transferred her to the hospital...

 

[globallmedicine]

Any other thoughts on how long to study for step 3?
how many full days would you take?

 

[Law2Doc]

Any other thoughts on how long to study for step 3?
how many full days would you take?

Most people take it after studying on a very part time basis while surviving a very heavy intern year. Probably the majority spend 4-6 weeks squeezing in a few World problems or CCS cases here and there whenever they have downtime each day. If they get through all the World problems and manage to skim MTB or Crush, they are ahead of the pack. I would suggest that nobody in the midst of an intern year (which is the vast majority of the folks taking this test) is doing any "full days". Honestly, most are happy squeezing 20-30 problems in daily, once things get quiet on the wards.

The old adage was "2 months for Step 1, two weeks for step 2 and a number two pencil for step 3". While I don't think anyone takes this to this extreme, the truth of the matter is that most people who take this test are doing so during intern year, and to a large extent they get "on the job" training, and aren't having to spend as much dedicated study time for this test as one might for the prior Steps. For this reason, I actually think it's wise for med students to wait until intern year to tackle this, because you won't have to do the same level of preparation when your whole life is a series of step 3-like issues 24/7. A lot of what med students spend many weeks learning becomes a simple knee-jerk response, not requiring any brain power at all, by the end of your intern year. So there are certain advantages to waiting on this. The other obvious advantage is that interns may have funding/book fund that will cover Step 3 expenses and study aids, while med students have to pay this out of pocket.

So FWIW, a lot of people will work their way through the World problems and CCS cases once, doing 20-50 problems a day at most, over however many days that adds up to, and maybe fly through MTB or Crush in their spare time. The majority will have ZERO entire days dedicated to Step 3. And the majority take this test with the feeling that any passing score will be satisfactory. And 95% get such a score.

I do think there's some danger of overpreparing for this test. The test is hard not because the subject matter is in as much detail as Step 2, but because the problems are so so long, with lots of extraneous detail. If you prepare too much you may spend too much time deliberating over possible "red herring" answer choices. Sometimes ignorance is bliss on this test.

 

[45408]

Bump for good thread. My plan is to use First Aid, and UWorld. I've got a (rare) cushy elective month in February, so I'll study in the afternoons for a week and a half or so, and then take the test.

Like L2D said, I'm using my program's money to buy my prep materials out of my book fund.

 

[penguin24]

I'll probably use FA, Crush, and World. That should do it

 

[smq123]

UWorld by itself is sufficient. If you really want to be thorough, you can look through FA, too.

The CCS simulations in UWorld are probably the most important part. The cases in UWorld were actually too simplistic for the real test (at least for me), but learning how to navigate the interface is KEY. The computer interface for the cases is not at all intuitive, and confused the bee-jesus out of me the first few times I practiced.

 

[Law2Doc]

... The cases in UWorld were actually too simplistic for the real test (at least for me), ...

I seem to recall a few cases that were almost identical, actually. I felt World was money for this component of the exam. I agree that learning how to use the system by working through the cases on World as if you were taking the exam is key because half the battle is knowing how the program works and what kinds of things you can order, etc.

In terms of books (which I think are helpful supplementation of World which, although adequate for those with strong IM backgrounds, might not be enough for folks in other specialty internships), I personally think that FA is too dense and that those folks considering using it are better served by picking up Crush or MTB which you are more likely to get substantially through if under tight time constraints. I see no point in focusing on any Step 2 resources as med students in another thread seemed to be doing.

 

[GooseIsland52]

Hello all - first year pathology resident here...finished med school last june. I have about 19 days left until I take this thing, and just want to pass. Step 2= 200. Still have ~70% of World left. Getting anywhere from 40-55% on blocks. Any thoughts on how to utilize questions and review books at this point?
Random timed + crush?
Tutor mode + crush?
Any areas where FA was better than crush?

Thanks all...the posts so far have been very helpful. Much appreciated

 

[Solarium]

Just finished my last elective and 4th year of med school, figured that I got a few months to spare might as well take this thing. If I start studying now how long will I need? Took Step 2 CK about 6 months ago and CS about 4 months ago

 

[Tubed]

Just finished my last elective and 4th year of med school, figured that I got a few months to spare might as well take this thing. If I start studying now how long will I need? Took Step 2 CK about 6 months ago and CS about 4 months ago

You can't take step 3 until after you graduate medical school. I don't have the exact link, but it's stated somewhere on the fsmb.org website. It also takes a while for applications from new graduates to be processed so it's difficult/impossible to plan to take the exam before starting intern year.

I know this isn't the answer to the question you asked. Sorry.

 

[Neuro or Derm]

You can't take step 3 until after you graduate medical school. I don't have the exact link, but it's stated somewhere on the fsmb.org website. It also takes a while for applications from new graduates to be processed so it's difficult/impossible to plan to take the exam before starting intern year.

I know this isn't the answer to the question you asked. Sorry.

I don't think you have to physically participate in the graduation ceremony to take step 3. so if a person finished their rotations and usmle step 1 and 2 now, they could receive their final diploma this month and register for step3 and take it before july.

i'm thinking about taking it too (just got my diploma) but I already have some vacation planned for after match day so i don't know if i will have enough time to study after my vacation while preparing for the graduation ceremony and moving. looks like i'm just gonna have to take it in intern year. lots of people do it like that right? i had >240s on both steps 1 and 2 and i'm scared that i'll go down significantly on step 3. i just knew how much time i needed to study for those other exams but i'm having a hard time getting a handle on how much time i will need. if i really practice the ccs portion, will the mcq portion just be like ck?

 

[Knicks]

I seem to recall a few cases that were almost identical, actually. I felt World was money for this component of the exam. I agree that learning how to use the system by working through the cases on World as if you were taking the exam is key because half the battle is knowing how the program works and what kinds of things you can order, etc.

In terms of books (which I think are helpful supplementation of World which, although adequate for those with strong IM backgrounds, might not be enough for folks in other specialty internships), I personally think that FA is too dense and that those folks considering using it are better served by picking up Crush or MTB which you are more likely to get substantially through if under tight time constraints. I see no point in focusing on any Step 2 resources as med students in another thread seemed to be doing.

Sorry if this might be too personal, but how did you do on Step 3? I also don't want to be using gazillion books to prepare; you mentioned/recommended only 2. So would you say MTB + UW = sufficient to pass Step 3?


Also in another thread you said of UW:

I think they are comparable in terms of difficulty, although not hugely representative in terms of subject matter, but the questions are a lot shorter on UW. Each question on the real think is about twice as long as anything you find on world, so time becomes a very real issue on this test (unlike the first two Steps, which weren't time crunches for a lot of us).

but in the previous quote, you said it was "money".

ALSO, so what IS representative in terms of subject matter, then?

Thanks in advance.


One other question for everyone:
What/how do you recommend one prepares for Step 3 BEFORE starting residency? I don't want to start UW now and "use up"/"waste" valuable UW questions. MTB? etc?

 

[Law2Doc]

Sorry if this might be too personal, but how did you do on Step 3? I also don't want to be using gazillion books to prepare; you mentioned/recommended only 2. So would you say MTB + UW = sufficient to pass Step 3?


Also in another thread you said of UW:
but in the previous quote, you said it was "money".

ALSO, so what IS representative in terms of subject matter, then?

Thanks in advance.


One other question for everyone:
What/how do you recommend one prepares for Step 3 BEFORE starting residency? I don't want to start UW now and "use up"/"waste" valuable UW questions. MTB? etc?

In my experience MTB plus World is sufficient to pass Step 3, with the caveats that (1) not everyone's knowledge base coming out of med school/internship is going to be equal, so I'm assuming a certain minimum baseline of knowledge, and (2) some people "need" a certain score whereas others are on paths where the score will never come up and they just need to pass. If I felt my med school or internship experience was lacking or if I actually needed a top score I probably would advise doing more. I continue to suggest that the big flaw of World is that the questions are way too short, so you go into the test feeling like you have more time than you really do, and end up rushing the last 20 questions of each section more than you'd want. So anything you can do to work on increasing your pace will be helpful. I wouldn't bother trying to study for Step 3 before residency if you are going to be taking the test late in residency -- the value is too low, and yes you will use up the World questions if you already know the answers just from seeing the questio stem -- the real value is going to be seeing the question the first time and learning why the wrong answers are wrong. Often the subject matter is the same, but the answer on the real thing isn't, so knowing that the answer is "b" on World won't help you. I personally wouldn't even recommend taking the test before residency generally, because I feel like intern year helps, and most places aren't going to expect you to have already taken it. Hope that helps.

 

[Knicks]

In my experience MTB plus World is sufficient to pass Step 3, with the caveats that (1) not everyone's knowledge base coming out of med school/internship is going to be equal, so I'm assuming a certain minimum baseline of knowledge, and (2) some people "need" a certain score whereas others are on paths where the score will never come up and they just need to pass. If I felt my med school or internship experience was lacking or if I actually needed a top score I probably would advise doing more. I continue to suggest that the big flaw of World is that the questions are way too short, so you go into the test feeling like you have more time than you really do, and end up rushing the last 20 questions of each section more than you'd want. So anything you can do to work on increasing your pace will be helpful. I wouldn't bother trying to study for Step 3 before residency if you are going to be taking the test late in residency -- the value is too low, and yes you will use up the World questions if you already know the answers just from seeing the questio stem -- the real value is going to be seeing the question the first time and learning why the wrong answers are wrong. Often the subject matter is the same, but the answer on the real thing isn't, so knowing that the answer is "b" on World won't help you. I personally wouldn't even recommend taking the test before residency generally, because I feel like intern year helps, and most places aren't going to expect you to have already taken it. Hope that helps.

1- Thanks for your feedback

2- Re: the bolded text.... You mentioned FA was too dense. So would that be something "more", as you say? As I mentioned, I don't want to overwhelm myself with too many study sources.

Basically, I'm trying to pick the best and most efficient/sufficient sources.

Also, about UW, check out this post from another thread about it:

jok200, that is the exact problem i had with UW. No concept, no explanation on how to check progress in the ccs case, no respect to patient time (simulated time) in the ER scenarios, no guidance and above all, fatal errors. The whole concept is wrong in UW software. Practice the cases on the orientation software at usmle.org

Starting to have 2nd thoughts about using UW.

What else can we use though?