Step 3 question - help

[premed8888]

if cases end early but it doesn't say the patient is getting better but say a patient was scheduled for surgery and the program says that and ends the case, is that a good sign?

If you run out of time on the case before the patient can improve but you put in the correct treatment regimen before your time runs out, is this probably ok?

I just want to hear about others CCS experience and know that not all cases have to end early or with clear cut "the patient feels better" messages. Like uworld has a case of minimal change disease and you being a dehydrated boy in with nephrotic syndrome and you start prednisone and discharge which ends the case...but no note the boy got "better".

Thank you in advance

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[brave18]

Hey man I had the same issue. Overall a few cases ended extremely fast like in 3-4 min (those I am sure I did them right but of course I might forgot a few orders) and some others early like in 7-8 min. I had 7 x 20 min and 6 x 10 min cases. A case that ended early might also mean that you did not manage it well within stimulated time or ordered a harmful treatment.

In general it was a tough exam... Day 1 was a battle with time... i have found already 10 relatively easy qs that I got wrong... in 3 blocks I totally guessed the abstract questions. Only 2 blocks on day 1 ended 1-3 min earlier.

Day 2. Timing was not an issue (except for 1 block where I ran out of time during last question). Rest ended 3-4 min earlier. BUT those prognosis questions were ridiculous. Honestly I guessed many of them. 3-4 I could recall after the exam when checked at home I realized that I did them wrong... missed several easy ones too.

Overall, I was feeling sure about 40- 50% of the questions and 10-20% I was between 2. The remaining 30% was guessing. After 2nd day I was feeling aweful...

My Uworld 1st pass was 70%. UWSA 1 (2 months prior) was 221 and UWSA 2 2 weeks prior was 231.

Took 1st day on 11/26 and 2nd day on 12/04. I am expecting results either 01/02 or 01/09 due to Christmas holidays. How was your experience overall and when did you take the 2nd day???

 

[PhillyMed777]

I found the exam ridiculous overall. Day 1 was legitimately impossible. Feel terrible.
Cant believe we pay money to do that.

Day 2 the stems were shorter so at least I could actually read all the questions. All my ccs cases ended early btw. But for one of them I didnt do the correct thing so it's strange it ended early.

 

[brave18]

Yeah rough exam... hope it has a generous curve...

 

[premed8888]

First Day - I studied statistics superficially and ended up just guessing on the abstracts. The ethics questions were relatively easy. I do feel like I knee the basic science questions that were asked and confirmed after the test that I got a lot of them right. I think that part was luck because I just happened to remember the things they asked. Overall, I feel like I guessed on 30-40% of non-statistic questions. I felt like hell after the first day.

Day 2 - The MCQ part was relatively good for me. I did well on step 2 and I actually had done Uworld a couple times and had 1500 flashcards (that you make in the program on the app...no WAY I would ever write out flashcards like that by hand). I think that ability in uworld is quite useful.

For CCS, I will be more specific and maybe you all can weigh in on how similar your experience was.

Out of the 13 cases, there was 1 case that no matter what I did, I didn't know what the diagnosis was, I sent the patient home initially and he got worse and then I admitted him and pounded him with every test, but just had no idea at all. 8 of my cases ended early and I am not sure if I got all the correct tests and treatments etc. but I did the main treatment and on a fraction of that, the patient said he or she was getting better. On 1 other one, I got a major part of the case correct as I gave the patient a vaccine and IVIG that he needed and admitted him but then I had no idea what else to do to end the case. I got a relevant consult as well. The other 2 I ran out of time but feel that I did the correct tests and ended up putting the correct treatment. My CCS for some reason was harder than expected and I am very concerned I failed because of the CCS. Maybe you all can weigh in more specifically. Thanks for the replies.

 

[premed8888]

Bump