A little nervous here. I've been studying during down time at work for the last month (I was on a rotation where I was treated like a med student so plenty opportunity). I got a 56% on my first pass of UWorld and I'm reading Crush. I've done about half the CCS cases and I'm trying to hammer the rest out now... so boring... I've heard the test is basically a speed reading competition. Any last minute advice, I'm getting nervous from people saying it's harder than they thought. 🙁
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step 3 next week
Started by saintsfan180
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should check out the step 3 forum. how hard it is is almost certainly subjective. UW should be enough prep for most people. it's going to vary by whether someone's internship involved a lot of clinical sort of FM and IM stuff, or how good test taker they are.
from what i remember, % correct in UW vs Step score is something like 55-60% = average 3 digit step score, like 115-125ish? the vingettes are all long because they're mostly clinical scenarios. you have to practice filtering out less important info, like reading the question first or something. pacing is important, just like the first 2 steps. don't get hung up on 1 question, keep moving.
for cases, the UW cases were pretty close to the actual test. they're very straight forward, unlike IRL when patients have a million problems. getting used to the testing format in the cases essential. many people finished the cases i think 1-2 hours ahead of time
make sure to get adequate amounts of sleep in the week before the test, because it is long and boring sitting in that cubicle. eat a good breakfast and bring your own food if there's no cafeteria at the test site, but not one that will make you sleepy afterwards. take breaks if you need to, to walk around and stretch or splash water on your face. don't wear too much or too little clothing, bring layers that you can leave in your locker. some sites have the A/C blasting or have no A/C etc. also i made the mistake of wearing cargo pants so i hadto open all my pockets and it took up an extra minute for my breaks when you have to show them they're empty.
from what i remember, % correct in UW vs Step score is something like 55-60% = average 3 digit step score, like 115-125ish? the vingettes are all long because they're mostly clinical scenarios. you have to practice filtering out less important info, like reading the question first or something. pacing is important, just like the first 2 steps. don't get hung up on 1 question, keep moving.
for cases, the UW cases were pretty close to the actual test. they're very straight forward, unlike IRL when patients have a million problems. getting used to the testing format in the cases essential. many people finished the cases i think 1-2 hours ahead of time
make sure to get adequate amounts of sleep in the week before the test, because it is long and boring sitting in that cubicle. eat a good breakfast and bring your own food if there's no cafeteria at the test site, but not one that will make you sleepy afterwards. take breaks if you need to, to walk around and stretch or splash water on your face. don't wear too much or too little clothing, bring layers that you can leave in your locker. some sites have the A/C blasting or have no A/C etc. also i made the mistake of wearing cargo pants so i hadto open all my pockets and it took up an extra minute for my breaks when you have to show them they're empty.
No, its really not that hard. If you're getting about 60-70% of USMLE World questions correct, you'll most likely pass. Don't forget to do the CCS cases though. They'll constitute a significant portion of the second day of USMLE Step 3. But even they aren't that hard. Remember, this is stuff you've been doing from the start of your intern year, so you should be comfortable with the cases, especially if your residency is something like FM.
I thought step 3 was easiest and I'm in psych - doesn't help much at all for it. I finished early both days. Day 2 I was done by lunch.
Yeah, I was done before noon the second day too. Right after the test, I went over to Dallas BBQ, celebrated the end of the test with a round of barbecued ribs and cornbread, then went home and enjoyed the rest of my day off.
