Step 3 Help

[wrasse2017]

Hi All,

Current intern in IM. Anyone else struggling with studying for Step 3? I've done about 500 questions so far and am averaging ~50-55%. I don't seem to be improving either, if anything, I started off around ~60% and have been trending down.

Anyone having similar struggles studying for Step 3? 50-55% is not passing for the real deal is it?

Thanks

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[BoardingDoc]

Hi All,

Current intern in IM. Anyone else struggling with studying for Step 3? I've done about 500 questions so far and am averaging ~50-55%. I don't seem to be improving either, if anything, I started off around ~60% and have been trending down.

Anyone having similar struggles studying for Step 3? 50-55% is not passing for the real deal is it?

Thanks

Are you required to take it during intern year at your program? If not, you can always take it during second or third year. The benefit of doing so is that you will have lots of on the job training by then and should (hopefully) have a higher baseline score by then.

 

[npappasan]

The step exams should follow the Rule of 2's when it comes to prep.

Step 1: 2 months
Step 2: 2 weeks
Step 3: #2 pencil

In all seriousness, when I took Step 3, it seemed like it was very obgyn heavy. I think this helped as I had a good grasp of the basic medicine concepts but a medicine resident may not have a good grasp of obgyn concepts.

 

[the argus]

The best prep you can possibly do for step 3 is an IM intern year. The majority of the test is IM based questions. You're only halfway through your intern year, just continue to read and follow guidelines when treating your patients and you'll learn a lot of what you need to know. Also do all of the UWord questions, especially for the topics you won't cover at work (peds, OBGYN, stats, etc).

There's really no other way to do it, just keep chugging along.

 

[AdmiralChz]

Remember the stakes are much lower for this exam - the score is virtually meaningless, you just need to pass. So no need to bust yourself to get 90% right.

Fellowships are much, much more interested in in training scores (if at all).