Step 3 prior to residency

[Psychferlyfe3000]

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Hi all,

I'm about to start psych residency and am finding myself with a lot of spare time due to Corona. I was wondering what people's opinions were on taking step 3 prior to residency. Does 2 months of IM really make a big difference or is it just good old-fashioned book learnin' still?

Please send some wisdom my way. Thank you 🙂

 

[FatherPsychiatry]

Its been a few years for me but I don't think you can even register for the exam until you start intern year. And once you do register, the first exam dates are usually several months ahead. I didn't have most my medicine rotations until later in the year, so I don't feel like the actual experience helped much in terms of the actual exam. Just like Step 2CK, its mostly book learning. In fact, less books and probably just UWorld, and making sure you do those clinical case examples which is the only new thing about Step 3 that you haven't experienced before.

With that being said, I know you're antsy about not doing anything right now, with COVID-19 keeping you indoors especially with MS4 year being so chill especially this part of the year. Most of Step 3, like the other Steps, is test specific and the knowledge probably doesn't carry over much to actual clinical practice. thus, if you were to study now and you can't take the exam until say like September at the earliest, you're just going to have to study again. Maybe the hardest thing for a med student to accept, especially with you grinding so hard non-stop for years, is to learn how to relax for a few months 🙂

 

[Celexa]

The material on step 3 is functionally similar to step 2, and intern year experience isn't necessary. You don't need to have started intern year to take it, but logistically your medical school needs to confirm your graduation--this was the logistical hurdle that prevented one of my friends who wanted to do this.

Overall taking it early as a psych resident is a good thing. You're never in a better place to remember the material than m4 or intern year. I think everyone in my class who put off doing it until pgy2 regretted it.

 

[hebel]

The material on step 3 is functionally similar to step 2, and intern year experience isn't necessary. You don't need to have started intern year to take it, but logistically your medical school needs to confirm your graduation--this was the logistical hurdle that prevented one of my friends who wanted to do this.

Overall taking it early as a psych resident is a good thing. You're never in a better place to remember the material than m4 or intern year. I think everyone in my class who put off doing it until pgy2 regretted it.

I agree. I think my score would have been WAY better if I took step 3 the day after step 2.

 

[Doctorows]

Will echo the comments above that medicine wards experience is not necessary (and probably not all that helpful) for Step 3. You still gotta study. I'd recommend taking it as early as you realistically can.

 

[NickNaylor]

I would suggest doing step 3 earlier than later. Clinical experience isn't necessary. The longer you wait to take the exam, the more of your medical school knowledge that you lose, and step 3 really doesn't require any more knowledge than what is tested on step 2. The primary difference is the weird simulation that is used as well as more content about professionalism and the practice of medicine, both of which are pretty straightforward.