Step 3 Question; Please Reply

[STEPonGAS]

I need your help please with the following questions regarding Step III:

When is the best time to take step III? Right after finishing medical school or at the end of the internship year?

What books do you recommend? What books do you NOT recommend?

Are there any videos out there (from Kaplan, etc.) for Step III?

How long do you usually need to prepare for it so that you can pass the exam?

If you have any pearls of wisdom that you can share, I will be very grateful to you. Thank you very much in advance.

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[Purulent DC]

I need your help please with the following questions regarding Step III:

When is the best time to take step III? Right after finishing medical school or at the end of the internship year?

What books do you recommend? What books do you NOT recommend?

Are there any videos out there (from Kaplan, etc.) for Step III?

How long do you usually need to prepare for it so that you can pass the exam?

If you have any pearls of wisdom that you can share, I will be very grateful to you. Thank you very much in advance.

FYI:

I just got my score back today, 30 days after taking the exam. I'm a transitional intern and took it in late February. During that month I was on an easy rotation (neuro) with lots of down town that helped me study. I bought both the NMS book and Crush and highly recommend both. I usually don't like reading study guides, and prefer just doing questions to study, but I felt that Crush was very high yield with lots of tips and sample questions. I have heard about residents walking into this test cold and taking it without studying at all, but I find that hard to believe. It surely would be stressful in any case.

I only did 3 of the 5 tests in the NMS book (each test has 150 questions). I also used my educational stipend to splurge on Step 3 Q Bank, and again only finished about 600 out of 100 questions. I would have liked to have done more but ran out of time. I think my average of correct answers was about 70-75% for Qbank, much less for NMS because they were harder and more nit picky.

The week before the exam, I flew across the country for a med. conference and to check out housing at my next residency locale. This enabled me some extra downtime for concentrated study time in the few days right before the exam. Definitely practice with all of the clinical scenarios with the official USMLE CD. This is crucial. I think they should have provided more practice cases with this, as I felt that I was still learning how to use program during the actual exam. For example, I didn't realize that you had to type in the diagnosis before the end of the 25 minutes, otherwise the screen locks and you won't be able to type it in, so I missed one diagnosis based on this alone.

After two long days, I walked out of the exam pretty insecure of my score. In fact, I thought that I could have failed. It was a pleasant discovery today to find that I passed with an above average score of 233. No more USMLEs every again for this young doctor! Good luck.

 

[docmartin]

I thought you could only take it 6 months after you start internship. Thus, unable to take it right after med school.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

I thought you could only take it 6 months after you start internship. Thus, unable to take it right after med school.

Different states have different requirements as to when you can take Step III. As you mentioned, some states require 6 months of postgraduate training. Some states even require a year of postgraduate training. Then there are states like Connecticut and Maryland that don't require any. The good thing is that you can register with any state but don't have to necessarily sit in for the exam in that state, based on what people more senior to me say. The timing issue is quite crucial for me since I'm going into pathology and hence don't have to do an intern year. If I waited 1-2 years after graduating med school to sit for Step III, I would have forgotten almost anything and would probably fail or come close to failing. Hence, my goal is to take it as soon as possible by registering in let's say Connecticut.

As for study aids, people have recommended to me Crush Step 3 or Strong Medicine for Step 3. Both are probably equally good. Rumor is that Crush Step 3 is very similar to Crush Step 2. Don't know the validity of those claims. I ended up buying Strong Medicine for Step 3 since I own Crush Step 2. As for preparing for the CCS portion, I bought a very easy read book called Blueprints for the CCS. It's only 80 pages long and basically walks you through 15 sample cases. Then for questions, since Kaplan Qbook served me well for step 2, I went ahead and bought Qbook for step 3. I think this should suffice considering that people don't study all that hard for step 3 anyway. I've probably spent too much money as it is already for buying step 3 material

 

[Santiago]

>>When is the best time to take step III? Right after finishing medical school or at the end of the internship year?

Depends on when you want to take it. Diff states have diff eligibility req but you can bypass that by taking from other states. So it all depnds on when do YOU want to take it.

>>What books do you recommend? What books do you NOT recommend?

Just do the Kaplan or Usmleworld Q bank, if at all you want to prepare. Most people just practice CCS and are ready.

>>Are there any videos out there (from Kaplan, etc.) for Step III?

I beleive Kaplan has videos.

>>How long do you usually need to prepare for it so that you can pass the exam?

2 days to 2 weeks. Anything above that is an overkill.

>>If you have any pearls of wisdom that you can share, I will be very grateful to you.

Just take it and get it out of the way as soon as you can.

GL

 

[Foxxy Cleopatra]

I am a surgery resident and took it during my second year of residency. I barely had time to study, was post-call the day before the test, and was very afraid that I failed it when I left. I did well on Step 1 and 2 but also studied very hard and took a few weeks for each to prepare.

I read Crush Step 3 completely, a part of Appleton and Lange's question book and one chapter out of Swanson's FP review book. I really would have liked to have read more but I did not have much time. I did practice the Step 3 CD with the clinical scenarios they sent me in the mail. Glad I did because it took me a few minutes to figure out the system.

Thank god- I passed! Just found out when I picked up the mail today- I actually got over a 200. Yay! I felt it was a very general practitioner sort of test (lots of questions about peds, cholesterol, outpatient mgmt of HTN)- things that I do not do as a surgery resident. I'd also recommend taking it ASAP when you graduate from medical school- croup/epiglottitis/ different rashes do not become any easier to remember as residency ticks on.

good luck

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Thank god- I passed! Just found out when I picked up the mail today- I actually got over a 200. Yay! I felt it was a very general practitioner sort of test (lots of questions about peds, cholesterol, outpatient mgmt of HTN)- things that I do not do as a surgery resident. I'd also recommend taking it ASAP when you graduate from medical school- croup/epiglottitis/ different rashes do not become any easier to remember as residency ticks on.

good luck

Woohoo! Congrats!