STEP 3 Score VS USMLE WORLD AVERAGE

[FirstMANdown]

There is a great thread for Step 2ck VS UW%. I though it might be helpful if anyone out there can give us there input with there Step 3 VS UW%...etc as well. Anyways Thanks for the contribution.

I'm do to take Step 3 in the next month. Will update this thread as well. For better or for worse.

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[jodin9]

hi , i'm first time usmle world, need to do the exam and pass in 8 weeks , my initial score in usmleworld is 52%, 66% completed, but my percentile in usmleworld is 15th!!! is this normal, in addition, do u think all i have a chance to pass the exam is i did usmle world twice? i wont do books, i just read them with usmleworld

 

[myhandsarecold]

Hey jodin9, I'd like to offer you a friendly advice coming from a non-native English speaker myself. I think your English needs some work. If you improve your English proficiency, you might do better in American exams and probably improve your chance at landing interviews if you apply for training programs here in the USA, Canada.

Oh, you need to read books. I suspect that you did not train here in America. I'm not questioning the quality of education in your country at all but if you wish to practice here, you need to read American books, lots of them, you're 15th percentile for a reason. I would suggest reading, at the very least, Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics for medicine and First Aid for Step 3 for the other sections including Ethics, Peds, Ob/Gyn, and this is assuming you have a reasonably good foundation to start with. Otherwise, considering more detailed board review materials. Here are some books residents at our school have used to study for Step 3 since many of them have forgotten information that are not covered in their subspecialties, books such as MKSAP, Med Study, Blueprints for Ob/Gyn, Blueprints Psychiatry, First Aid Pediatrics, High Yield Surgery

CCS will test your ability to manage patients including ordering the appropriate tests, administering treatments at the right sequence, at the right time.

Step 3 is not the easiest USMLE, most residents tend to have the lowest score on this exam. 🙄

Complete the USMLEWorld self assessment exam.

 

[jodin9]

Myhandsarecold, Thanks a lot for your reply, i know and admit that my english needs a lot of improvement, i'm doing master the boards with usmleworld, i was just asking if such a score in usmleworld is considered to pass, i will do usmleworld again and try to read Master the boards, is this enough? Thanks again for your reply.

 

[2thguy82]

Took Step 3 last week. The MCQ were pretty straight forward, nothing you couldn't see coming, although of course a lot of questions I could get down to 2 answers and then wasn't so sure....

My question is about the CCS. I got 11/12 with reasonable certainty. In the 12th case I got the diagnosis after must rooting around, but couldn't remember for the life of me how to treat it. Not wanting to render poor care (like suggesting surgery when it's not indicated, etc.) I played around a little, but the case finally ended without the patinet being treated. I did get the diagnosis (I think) but she definitely wasn't treated well. I froze a little, and it was weird too!!

Does totally botching one of the cases kill you? I think the rest went reasonably well, but I'm worried this one case will be an automatic failure kind of thing

Can you screw a case up royally and still be ok if the rest went alright?? Any thoughts??

 

[VQuick]

I'm sure you're fine if you felt good about 11/12 on the CCS. There were a couple I was unsure about the diagnosis or the complete management, just did the best I could. Hated how they sometimes end abruptly and you have no idea if you did everything or did not do the right thing!

Took Step 3 last week. The MCQ were pretty straight forward, nothing you couldn't see coming, although of course a lot of questions I could get down to 2 answers and then wasn't so sure....

My question is about the CCS. I got 11/12 with reasonable certainty. In the 12th case I got the diagnosis after must rooting around, but couldn't remember for the life of me how to treat it. Not wanting to render poor care (like suggesting surgery when it's not indicated, etc.) I played around a little, but the case finally ended without the patinet being treated. I did get the diagnosis (I think) but she definitely wasn't treated well. I froze a little, and it was weird too!!

Does totally botching one of the cases kill you? I think the rest went reasonably well, but I'm worried this one case will be an automatic failure kind of thing

Can you screw a case up royally and still be ok if the rest went alright?? Any thoughts??

 

[Instatewaiter]

Medicine resident. Studied 6 days
somewhere around 72% on USMLE world.
real thing ~250

 

[FreakofMeds]

Just finished step 3. I hope it's for good. Did about 70% of usmle world with 68% cumulative average. Finished all the ccs 52 cases. Worked on it for about a week. I have to say it was one heck of a test. The first day was tough. I NEVER had problems with time before, not even on my internal medicine intraining exams, which i generally score high on with no study. This test had me scrambling for time. I almost always finished exactly a minute or two from the finish line. many vague questions and vague choices. Usmle world felt easier, especially the first day. The only glimmer of hope i hade was the satisfaction that all my sequential questions showed that i have answered the previous question correctly....

The second day mcqs were relatively easier, time was better, as the questions had smaller stems and more straight forward.

Then comes the ccs. I think i did ok on 10 cases , i forgot to get a pulse oxygen reading on a patient in the office with chronic shortness of breath doh!, and i had one pediatric case that i think i completely mismanaged. Cases did end more abruptly and less predictably than on usmle world.

I just wanna pass this freakin thing.
Step 1 229
Step 2: 247
Step 3:tbd

3rd year im

 

[Instatewaiter]

Just finished step 3. I hope it's for good. Did about 70% of usmle world with 68% cumulative average. Finished all the ccs 52 cases. Worked on it for about a week. I have to say it was one heck of a test. The first day was tough. I NEVER had problems with time before, not even on my internal medicine intraining exams, which i generally score high on with no study. This test had me scrambling for time. I almost always finished exactly a minute or two from the finish line. many vague questions and vague choices. Usmle world felt easier, especially the first day. The only glimmer of hope i hade was the satisfaction that all my sequential questions showed that i have answered the previous question correctly....

The second day mcqs were relatively easier, time was better, as the questions had smaller stems and more straight forward.

Then comes the ccs. I think i did ok on 10 cases , i forgot to get a pulse oxygen reading on a patient in the office with chronic shortness of breath doh!, and i had one pediatric case that i think i completely mismanaged. Cases did end more abruptly and less predictably than on usmle world.

I just wanna pass this freakin thing.
Step 1 229
Step 2: 247
Step 3:tbd

3rd year im

For all those reading this, unless the patient was circling the drain, ending early means you proved what you needed to. I ended up finishing the second day just after 1 because all but 1 of my cases ended pretty quickly ( of course there was a pediatric lead case that I totally f-Ed up).

 

[myhandsarecold]

I passed!

Step 1: 249
Step 2: 252
Step 2 CS: high pass?
Step 3: 240, asterisks to the right and a slightly borderline CCS (wtf, I forgot to put diagnosis on one, and I dunno what the hell is up on the other, who cares now). Step 3 ave 221. Std dev 17

UW ave 69-70% studied off and on for 6~ wks during a consult month, 1 wk vacation. UWSA 250~ NBME practice 620. Read UW + Practice case + read up on pts

😀

 

[clw1334]

Just got my results today. Took the test in late February (honestly I had forgotten I even took the test until I saw that a classmate on Facebook had received her score today. I didn't even get an email).

Me: TY going into radiology

My prep: Did USMLE world questions over 3 weeks on a light month. Really only studied during/after work and mostly took the weekends off. I did tutor mode and usually did blocks of 5-10 questions so I wouldnt get bored and would actually read all of the information after the question. Got through all of the questions and a few of the incorrect ones. I think my average after the first time through was 68%, though I'm not 100 percent sure as it was so long ago. It was somewhere in that ballpark. As for the cases, I did a few of them and got very bored so I ended up just reading through the correct steps on most of them.

Step 1: 246
Step 2: 253
Step 3: 240 (My cases score had the most left 4 X's inside the borderline area)

The first day of the test was a beast. I was someone who always had plenty of time on previous steps. However on the first day I was barely beating the clock. The question stems were so long. The abstract questions were the worst, i learned quickly to skip those until the end, I would advise doing the same. When I left the test center I felt completely dazed. Almost felt unsafe to drive. Honestly felt like I failed. Second day was a lot better. MCQ didnt seem as bad and the cases all ended very early. I was out around 1:30 if I remember right. Glad to be done, keep your head up if you felt like you failed, and good luck!

 

[taco bell]

step 1: low 240's
step 2: low 240s
step 3: 230

I actually studied pretty hard, for ~ 2 months several hours a day and longer on days off
doing prelim year in medicine, going into ophtho

For what its worth, my practice test on uworld predicted score of 230 as well --

the actual test was actually very difficult in my opinion - stems were long - I came out feeling bad, questioning if I passed

Did most of my u world question on tutur un-timed mode -- timing was not an issue but the new abstract/advertisement questions are actually harder -- total percentage correct was 65%

I want to echo that the abstract questions should be skipped and done at the end - it really messes up your concentration and they are so low yield

don't feel down if you come out of it feeling dumb -- everyone does well, and I have a feeling the curve is rather generous

Good luck all!! hurray for being done with usmle, screw you for stealing > 3K dollars total during the 4 usmle exams!!

 

[hawk126]

Got my score back today too, glad to be done with the USMLE exams forever. My prep work:

1. A couple of months of World, random sets of 48 on test mode. Did it once through, then all of my misses: 70% correct on first pass. Finished about 2 weeks prior to the exam.
2. Started World simulated cases about 3 weeks prior to the exam (was on a very light rotation), finished those right before test.
3. Read First Aid over the week-and-a-half leading up to when I sat for the real deal and finished with the first aid cases at the back, thought these were actually pretty helpful.

I'm a medicine prelim into going into Derm, my stats:
Step 1: high 250s
Step 2: high 260s
Step 3: 252

Best of luck to all reading this thread and taking this test in the future. I have a ton of appreciation for all those who posted previously and allayed some of my concerns regarding this exam. Thanks again!

 

[MSmith7344]

Since I used this thread to prepare, I'll post my results.

Step 1: 240
Step 2: 241
Step 3: 237 (got results today)

UWorld one complete pass through untimed tutor--I think my average was 64%, but I might have bumped up to 65% right at the end. I repeated a few missed questions, but probably less than a hundred. I also went through the UWorld cases. No other real prep--I had First Aid and read bits of it here and there. UWorld self-assessment test predicted 234 about 1 week out from the test, so it seems pretty good.

 

[fijianpuppy]

hi, on the nbme website there is a score report date listed as yesterday but no link - how do i access it

 

[FreakofMeds]

Just finished step 3. I hope it's for good. Did about 70% of usmle world with 68% cumulative average. Finished all the ccs 52 cases. Worked on it for about a week. I have to say it was one heck of a test. The first day was tough. I NEVER had problems with time before, not even on my internal medicine intraining exams, which i generally score high on with no study. This test had me scrambling for time. I almost always finished exactly a minute or two from the finish line. many vague questions and vague choices. Usmle world felt easier, especially the first day. The only glimmer of hope i hade was the satisfaction that all my sequential questions showed that i have answered the previous question correctly....

The second day mcqs were relatively easier, time was better, as the questions had smaller stems and more straight forward.

Then comes the ccs. I think i did ok on 10 cases , i forgot to get a pulse oxygen reading on a patient in the office with chronic shortness of breath doh!, and i had one pediatric case that i think i completely mismanaged. Cases did end more abruptly and less predictably than on usmle world.

I just wanna pass this freakin thing.
Step 1 229
Step 2: 247
Step 3:tbd

3rd year im

Scores back a week early!!! Step 3: 235. SD is 17 and Mean is 221. Happy to be done with USMLE forever!

 

[b-real]

hi, on the nbme website there is a score report date listed as yesterday but no link - how do i access it

If you are an American med school grad, you have to access it through FSMB's website: https://apps.nbme.org/fsmbexamstatus/prod/jsp/login.jsp

 

[FreakofMeds]

If you are an American med school grad, you have to access it through FSMB's website: https://apps.nbme.org/fsmbexamstatus/prod/jsp/login.jsp

That worked for me and I am an IMG.

 

[TzanckSmear]

Created a new account just to post this...thought I would give back to the community.

I'm a resident that has never had the patience to be a good test taker. Luckily, despite my low scores, I'm good in other ways and managed to secure a spot at a good program in a highly competitive specialty despite my scores. Anyways, here's my background:

Step I: 196 (studied a week)
Step II: 185 (studied 3 days)

Studied hard for Step III -- was stressed since Step 2 was only 185 and people tend to do worse on step 3 than step 2, and passing for step 3 was 190.

So...at the start of a 3 month period during my PGY-2 year while on call on weekends (we take home call) and during evenings I skimmed over Kaplan's Master the Boards. It was low yield for me, because I didn't remember everything -- my eyes would glaze over while reading. About 1 month in, I started panicking because I wasn't retaining anything...chucked the MTB since I wasn't getting anything out of it and did ALL of Kaplan Qbank: final percentage was: 50% (467 correct, 456 incorrect, 3 omitted (not sure how I accid. skipped them) -- all timed, random, first time. Didn't have time to repeat.

I also then did UW Qbank in about the last 6 weeks or so; by the end I was doing 6-8 x48 question blocks per day on the weekends to catch up and finish the whole bank. Final percentage was 55% (all random, new, untimed, 48 question blocks: 743 (55%) correct, 615 (45%) incorrect, 2 (0%) omitted) -- I did ALL the questions, finishing about 2 days before the actual exam. About 3 weeks before the exam, I also paid for the CCS on UW, because I started getting stressed (reading all the posts from FMGs and how they fail on CCS (google "usmle ccs experiences" and you'll get all the FMG postings...) was stressing me out, even though I am an AMG and went to a top 10 medical school). So, I also did all the cases (both simulated and the printed out cases) once, finishing them over a 1 week period, finishing 2 weeks before the exam.

So...onto the actual exam...first day I had 2 hard blocks; felt uneasy about them, but didn't think about it anymore, as I knew what was done was done. I spent the evening reviewing ALL the CCS simulated cases on UW quickly over a 4 hour period. Was stressed because I had forgotten all the little things all over again. Went to bed at 1 am and woke up at 6 am the next morning. Day 2 was easier. Felt like I did pretty well on the blocks. There were a lot of specialty-relevant questions too, so that helped.

CCS actually felt easy to me. 11/12 cases were from UW, and the 1 that wasn't was pretty easy to manage (it was an orthopedics case and pretty basic). Most cases, however, ended up ending just 1-2 minutes before the max time (i.e. the "endscreen" popped up at around 16-17 minutes of exam time...I think 18 minutes was the max). So, I was worried that maybe I was taking too long, as most people (if you go by those people that get 260s on this forum and know internal medicine well) were saying that that their cases ended 7-8 minutes after starting. Still, I couldn't think of anything majorly bad that I had done (well I screwed up one part and sent the guy accidentally to the ER from the office as he was getting better, but I quickly recovered and sent him back to the office -- I hit the wrong button in all my nervousness....).

When I came out, I felt that I had "probably passed" but was worried that I might not have passed. Based on my UW score going into the test, I was expecting a score of around 205. I never did do the simulated test since I didn't wanna be stressed out if I didn't do well on it.

Also, I took Step 3 one week after my inservice, so I did spend a bit of time studying for my inservice during the last 2 months or so.

Final score: 194 - was kinda bummed I didn't break 200...(so I didn't do as well as I expected but I guess I had enough of a buffer to bomb the questions section of the test...see below for how I think I actually passed). So, I think that posting in this thread that says a 55% on UW is the "bare minumum" to ensure a pass is pretty dead on:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=13720244&postcount=444

I had scores that overlapped w/ borderline in all areas except for the the areas relevant to my specialty -- for those areas, I was well above the borderline. Surprisingly, however, I did the best on the part that I thought I would have the most trouble w/...the CCS (again, reading all those "USMLE STEP 3 experiences" threads on ValueMD and Prep4USMLE by people that failed and are trying to pass the exam for the third or fourth time, etc can really stress you out...). In reality, I don't think you need to know the amount of minutiae on the CCS portion as you do on the discrete questions portion of the exam. For me, everything was really bread and butter and similar to what I saw on UW. There were a few curves...i.e. a person might have breast cancer as well as an infection; so, you needed to know how to work up both things.

I think I would have failed if not for CCS, actually. I totally rocked CCS and had an asterisk on the right side. Anyway, that's just my humble story. I was really stressed since I was worried that if I had not passed, I would not have been promoted to PGY-3 in my program (since successful completion of USMLE step III is required by the GME office here in order to be promoted, and there have been residents that have been asked to leave because they didn't pass step III). Was also stressed since I only had one attempt to pass it (because I had procrastinated and put off the exam) before June 30 -- had I failed it, there wouldn't have been enough time to take and pass the exam before June 30.

Anyway, GLAD THAT IS BEHIND ME! Still kinda bummed I didn't break 200 on any of my USMLEs, but, hey, whatever...have to now worry about my specialty boards! LOL. 😍

 

[Elach]

LoL!

That's hilarious...

 

[551151]

Hello. I am an IMG, whose applying this come match cycle. I am looking to take my step 3 to boost my application.

Would anyone recommend completing the step 2 CK qbank prior to starting the step 3 qbank (uworld for both)? I am looking to take step 3 in august.

 

[CDI]

Created a new account just to post this...thought I would give back to the community.

I'm a resident that has never had the patience to be a good test taker. Luckily, despite my low scores, I'm good in other ways and managed to secure a spot at a good program in a highly competitive specialty despite my scores. Anyways, here's my background:

Step I: 196 (studied a week)
Step II: 185 (studied 3 days)

Studied hard for Step III -- was stressed since Step 2 was only 185 and people tend to do worse on step 3 than step 2, and passing for step 3 was 190.

So...at the start of a 3 month period during my PGY-2 year while on call on weekends (we take home call) and during evenings I skimmed over Kaplan's Master the Boards. It was low yield for me, because I didn't remember everything -- my eyes would glaze over while reading. About 1 month in, I started panicking because I wasn't retaining anything...chucked the MTB since I wasn't getting anything out of it and did ALL of Kaplan Qbank: final percentage was: 50% (467 correct, 456 incorrect, 3 omitted (not sure how I accid. skipped them) -- all timed, random, first time. Didn't have time to repeat.

I also then did UW Qbank in about the last 6 weeks or so; by the end I was doing 6-8 x48 question blocks per day on the weekends to catch up and finish the whole bank. Final percentage was 55% (all random, new, untimed, 48 question blocks: 743 (55%) correct, 615 (45%) incorrect, 2 (0%) omitted) -- I did ALL the questions, finishing about 2 days before the actual exam. About 3 weeks before the exam, I also paid for the CCS on UW, because I started getting stressed (reading all the posts from FMGs and how they fail on CCS (google "usmle ccs experiences" and you'll get all the FMG postings...) was stressing me out, even though I am an AMG and went to a top 10 medical school). So, I also did all the cases (both simulated and the printed out cases) once, finishing them over a 1 week period, finishing 2 weeks before the exam.

So...onto the actual exam...first day I had 2 hard blocks; felt uneasy about them, but didn't think about it anymore, as I knew what was done was done. I spent the evening reviewing ALL the CCS simulated cases on UW quickly over a 4 hour period. Was stressed because I had forgotten all the little things all over again. Went to bed at 1 am and woke up at 6 am the next morning. Day 2 was easier. Felt like I did pretty well on the blocks. There were a lot of specialty-relevant questions too, so that helped.

CCS actually felt easy to me. 11/12 cases were from UW, and the 1 that wasn't was pretty easy to manage (it was an orthopedics case and pretty basic). Most cases, however, ended up ending just 1-2 minutes before the max time (i.e. the "endscreen" popped up at around 16-17 minutes of exam time...I think 18 minutes was the max). So, I was worried that maybe I was taking too long, as most people (if you go by those people that get 260s on this forum and know internal medicine well) were saying that that their cases ended 7-8 minutes after starting. Still, I couldn't think of anything majorly bad that I had done (well I screwed up one part and sent the guy accidentally to the ER from the office as he was getting better, but I quickly recovered and sent him back to the office -- I hit the wrong button in all my nervousness....).

When I came out, I felt that I had "probably passed" but was worried that I might not have passed. Based on my UW score going into the test, I was expecting a score of around 205. I never did do the simulated test since I didn't wanna be stressed out if I didn't do well on it.

Also, I took Step 3 one week after my inservice, so I did spend a bit of time studying for my inservice during the last 2 months or so.

Final score: 194 - was kinda bummed I didn't break 200...(so I didn't do as well as I expected but I guess I had enough of a buffer to bomb the questions section of the test...see below for how I think I actually passed). So, I think that posting in this thread that says a 55% on UW is the "bare minumum" to ensure a pass is pretty dead on:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=13720244&postcount=444

I had scores that overlapped w/ borderline in all areas except for the the areas relevant to my specialty -- for those areas, I was well above the borderline. Surprisingly, however, I did the best on the part that I thought I would have the most trouble w/...the CCS (again, reading all those "USMLE STEP 3 experiences" threads on ValueMD and Prep4USMLE by people that failed and are trying to pass the exam for the third or fourth time, etc can really stress you out...). In reality, I don't think you need to know the amount of minutiae on the CCS portion as you do on the discrete questions portion of the exam. For me, everything was really bread and butter and similar to what I saw on UW. There were a few curves...i.e. a person might have breast cancer as well as an infection; so, you needed to know how to work up both things.

I think I would have failed if not for CCS, actually. I totally rocked CCS and had an asterisk on the right side. Anyway, that's just my humble story. I was really stressed since I was worried that if I had not passed, I would not have been promoted to PGY-3 in my program (since successful completion of USMLE step III is required by the GME office here in order to be promoted, and there have been residents that have been asked to leave because they didn't pass step III). Was also stressed since I only had one attempt to pass it (because I had procrastinated and put off the exam) before June 30 -- had I failed it, there wouldn't have been enough time to take and pass the exam before June 30.

Anyway, GLAD THAT IS BEHIND ME! Still kinda bummed I didn't break 200 on any of my USMLEs, but, hey, whatever...have to now worry about my specialty boards! LOL. 😍

Congrats on being done! Must be the ultimate relief putting USMLEs behind you for good!

Amazing that scores hardly seem to be a factor in your career as you clearly know what you are doing outside of the prometric center 😉. You must have a disease or bacteria named afer you by now...

 

[Cali2]

Took Step 3 last week. The MCQ were pretty straight forward, nothing you couldn't see coming, although of course a lot of questions I could get down to 2 answers and then wasn't so sure....

My question is about the CCS. I got 11/12 with reasonable certainty. In the 12th case I got the diagnosis after must rooting around, but couldn't remember for the life of me how to treat it. Not wanting to render poor care (like suggesting surgery when it's not indicated, etc.) I played around a little, but the case finally ended without the patinet being treated. I did get the diagnosis (I think) but she definitely wasn't treated well. I froze a little, and it was weird too!!

Does totally botching one of the cases kill you? I think the rest went reasonably well, but I'm worried this one case will be an automatic failure kind of thing

Can you screw a case up royally and still be ok if the rest went alright?? Any thoughts??

Based on my personal experience, you can definitely botch one case w/ suspect management of another two and still pass with a good margin. I felt very confident about the remaining cases, so that probably did help.

 

[camping12]

Never post, time to pay it forward.

Step 1: 220s
Step 2: 230s
Step 3: 200

Studied for about about 5 months inconsistently due to the rigors of residency. Spurts of studying many hours a day followed by up to a couple weeks of no studying due to hectic work schedule. Did UW once through, average 50%, all 48q/random/timed. Went through all the explanations and highlighted the key points as I was going through the bank the first time.

Then I made exams with all the incorrect questions until they all pretty much became correct. I did these in tutor mode so I would see the answer immediately. However, if they were really esoteric questions and I missed it the second time, or something I should have known and made a dumb mistake, I changed these to correct so they would not appear the next time I made a 48q/tutor mode exam with incorrect questions. Did this until all questions were correct. Took a long ass time. As I went through it this second time (also as I reviewed the highlights of the tests I made the first time through with random unused questions) I made notes of facts I didn't know or remember on a separate word file.

Every so often I would read through the Word file I was making. I took a NBME (forget which one) and scored awful like 340 which they don't even give a score translator for. Did this about 2 months before the actual test date.

The last month also went through the 52 online CCS cases and went through the 41 written cases. Made notes for myself.

Skimmed through First Aid in a VERY cursory manner. Like probably a few hours total.

Test days were awful. Thought I jacked it up. 1st day harder then second. Drug Ads leave till end they are impossible as you need to click back and forth between the ad and the question/answer choices which is hard to do. CCS was not bad though I thought I did decent, CCS is good preparation. Turns out it was good enough, happy to be done. I was pretty much borderline in all subjects including CCS. To everyone out there, this is not an easy test, especially for someone who did a surgical prelim year and is in a specialty that is not well represented at all on the exam. IM and Fam Med and ER definitely have a leg up on this exam by virtue of their residency.

Best of luck guys and no matter how hard the test is just fight through it's all a curve.

Seacrest out.

 

[usmle84]

deleted

 

[UVAgrad]

I

 

[UVAgrad]

60% on UWorld, 5-10 UWorld cases and all the free nbme cases (I think 6) , scored 228 (no 2-digit score anymore). The average for US/Canada grads is 221 w a standard deviation of 17. I finished the qbank, but I only read the summary part of the answers for most of the questions. The UWorld Questions are a little shorter than the real thing. I would always barely finish 48-question blocks in UWorld, but on the real exam, I usually had 3-5 questions I had to guess on bc I ran out of time in the 46-question blocks. Ran out of time on all of the cases...I think I checked VS too often (prob shouldn't have done it more than q2-4 hours). I did relatively worse on the cases w the error bar extending into the left edge of the "borderline performance" grey zone but not into the "lower performance" zone. Totally left both days feeling like I failed. Studied 6-8 weeks part time during rotations.

Step 1 237 (99) - studied for a solid month full time

Moral of the story - you can pass step 3 with only UWorld, even if you are in child psychiatry (pgy2) and did zero adult medicine in residency. But you should def study.

 

[mcdoc11]

Looked at this thread when I was studying, so will contribute.

Background: IM R2, AMG, >250 Step 1/2

UWorld: 74% average. 100% complete, did all the CCS cases. Total study time <1 month in evenings on a lighter rotation.

Step 3: 249

Didn't use any other study tools, flipped through my annotated step 2 book for peds/OB. Overall though the test was pretty hard, ran out of time on a couple sections. CCS seemed like it went well all cases ended early, but "borderline" performance on score report. Good to be done, best luck to all.

 

[lsmith55uf]

Also used this thread when I was studying, so I will add my 2 cents

Currently finishing my IM prelim year, going into radiology.

Step 1: 258
Step 2: 264

UWorld: 63% average overall, only used untimed tutor mode amd read the answers. One time completed, then did a few random marked and incorrect. I did all the CCS cases once. Studied for a little less than a month during an outpatient rotation. Mostly studied at night for an hour or so. Used no books, as with steps 1/2, just questions. UWSA 4 days prior: 243

Step 3: 253

I came out not sure whether I had passed or failed. I actually felt like it could have gone either way. I though the test was pretty hard, very similar to step 2 but with more vague stems. The easy questions, I thought were extremely easy, But then there were a few that I have absolutely no idea what they were even talking about. The abstracts were absolutely terrible, but I did not think the drug ads were very bad. I thought the questions on day one were harder than on day two. I think day 2 went much better. Time was never an issue, I was finished each block with about 10 minutes to spare.

CCS seemed like it went fine, all cases ended early. Almost all pediatrics or OB/GYN for me. My software also locked up during one of the cases, so that added a little bit of stress and time to the day. The test is definitely doable, even with minimal studying. USMLEWorld is definitely enough.

Awesome to be done with USMLE, almost done with intern year, and now only have to study Radiology!

 

[jodin9]

Hi, Thanks for all your experiences, i'll got to test in two weeks, my nbme form 3 two weeks ago was 380, there's no correlation with actual step 3 score, i'm freaking out!! after this nbme i did mtb once. So my final prep would be , uworld twice ( 52% first time, 73% second time ) , mtb once, archer lectures for CCS heard once. Do u think i need more prep.? i'll do another nbme in the next 3 days.... plz reply, i need your advice, thanks

 

[Savannah]

Step 1: 250s
Step 2: 260s
Step 3: 244

I did about a month of Uworld questions and CCS cases, as well as reviewing the tutorial and practice CCS on the USMLE site. I probably finished about half of the questions and scored in the low 60s. I read through most of the CCS or at least the answer key.

The test day was about what I expected. Most of the CCS cases finished in about half of he allotted time.

So, I'd say if you have strong test taking skills, you will be safe studying Uworld for a couple weeks. Don't leave CCS review until the last minute...I think it's not very intuitive so you need the figure out what they want.

 

[RapidReview]

Whew, glad that test is over.

Me: gen surg intern, categorical urology
StepI: 233
Step2: 254
Step3: 221

Prep: UWorld x1 on combination of tutor and timed tutor. I did blocks of 10-20 questions whenever I had time and eventually did full blocks the last week or so of my studies. Didn't read anything besides UW. Studied for about 2 months. Ended up with around mid 60s avg on UW (last few blocks I did full 44 question blocks and I was getting low 70s). I did not do a sim exam, but they have been historically good on guessing my scores.

The questions were... well, lots of OB and Peds (at least that's what it felt like to me, but maybe that's a bias as those are my weakest areas). The sim cases were so easy and I got done around 1 PM the 2nd day... but looking at the score report, I did not really do that well on that portion. So maybe it's supposed to be harder, but I have no idea where I could squeeze those extra points on the sim cases from. Anyways, I'm just super excited to be done. Thanks for all the help SDN on all my Steps. I can officially remove this as a bookmark from my computer 🙂

-RR

 

[Aggie MD]

First time poster, but have used SDN for all 3 Steps and would like to now offer my experience.

Prep:
Bought 1 month usmleworld subscription. Used it exclusively for prep. 2 weeks of questions done sporadically on untimed tutor, reading all answers/explanations. Then, 10 days of focused studying on timed nontutor to get my timing down. Also mixed in all the CCS cases over the last week before my exam. Finished all the questions once, read the answers to probably 95% of them. Left myself 7 full 48 question blocks and did a "test run" about 4 days out from the real deal. Intended to review the questions I missed the first time through World, but did not have time. Finished with 61% correct overall.

Real Exam:
No section had a full 48 questions. Most were 47, a few 46 depending on the number of EBM/drug ad type questions in the block. Overall, questions seemed comparable to Qbank, and I would estimate 70-80% of material had been covered by working through the Qbank. The rest were a mix of more obscure diseases, questions that forced you to draw on clinical experiences, oddly worded questions, or questions involving RCT's or drug ads. Overall, I felt it was a fair exam, but it was a true test of stamina. I noticed that as the day progressed, I had increasingly more difficulty finishing each block, though I was able to successfully do so. After the first block, I started skipping the drug ads/trial questions and saving them for last. Those sets of questions can really bog you down if you let them. There were 10 or more questions on each block that I had to make an informed guess on, but I just marked my best guess and moved on. I think that for this exam especially, if you work the entire Qbank for prep, and then if you can finish each block in time, avoid getting bogged down with the EBM questions/questions that you don't know the answer to, you should be able to pass comfortably. For CCS, knew 10 of 12 cases for certain, the other 2 I was pretty sure I arrived at the dx (though it says that getting the dx correct/incorrect does not affect your score). Most cases ended at 10-12 minutes. A few went to 14-15 minutes. One went the entire 18 minutes. Didn't worry too much about "style points," and really aimed at nailing the important orders and treatments for each case. I interpreted the case ending early as a sign that I had done the things necessary to prove competency.

My Step results:
Step 1: 245 (5 weeks focused studying)
Step 2: 246 (3 weeks focused studying)
Step 3: 227 (3 1/2 weeks studying as above)
CCS result showed a wide range with no stars, but entirely above the borderline passing mark.

Very happy to be finished with this part of training. Just seemed harder to stay motivated with each Step exam. Thankful for SDN as it has always helped guide my exam prep and calm my nerves before my exams. Glad to offer my experience now and hope this is helpful. Best of luck to everyone!

 

[jodin9]

congrats everyone, does anyone have an experience with nbme form 2?

 

[Torquer]

Wow, SDN never fails to disappoint with the scores. On a side note, can anyone please tell me how long the UW CCS cases last once I activate them? Ive heard the standard expiry is 2 weeks. Cant seem to find the info anywhere else :-/ google failed me.

Cheers

 

[Road rash]

This forum has been of enormous help during my USMLE odyssey, and it's time to give back. I had good step 1 and step 2 scores and very strong research credentials that landed me a great residency position in a non-primary care area in a top tier med-school/hospital. I took step 3 without proper prep before beginning my residency. I did it just to get rid of it since I am a green card holder and do not require Step 3 for visa. However, I am an old grad and the prolonged absence from active clinical work eventually caught up with me and I flunked the test! It was very embarrassing for me since I had never failed at any exam in my life and I don't think anyone from my program had ever failed it either. It was a humbling experience. Anyways, my biggest mistake was that I did not retake the exam right away. Instead, I kicked the can down the road, till the end of the road (a.k.a 7 year limit). Then I panicked, crammed as much as possible, and took it again. I felt I did much worse the second time and was sure to have failed again. Surprisingly, I passed with 210. The last time it was in mid 180s (two digit of 72). Here's my prep and exam experience:

Prep: 6 mths on and off, about 1-2 hrs/day. MTB and archers lectures as primary review. Consulted uptodate.com and CMDT to address occasional gaps in concepts. UW questions. 1X. untimed tutor mode - 59%. Did it in a subject specific manner, read all explanations. Kaplan qbank &#8211; random mixed timed - completed half of it &#8211; 58%. USMLE CCS practice &#8211; helped me a lot since last time I flunked mostly because of the CCS. NBME form 2 &#8211; 380. NBME form 1 &#8211; 360. This scared the crap out of me, but decided to take the test anyways.

Exam: Felt like a complete ***** after the test. I thought I have totally screwed this thing. My favorite were the abstracts and drug ads since they are so easy, but those things take a lot of time and I had to rush through the last 4-5 questions without reading them properly. You should probably skip those till the end. If you do want to tackle them upfront, make sure to read the questions first and the abstract later, since often times the questions will ask for certain concepts that do not require you to read the entire abstract. The second day was much better. Time was not an issue on the second day and the cases were ok. Be careful in the cases, they are deceptively easy but often have multiple morbidities where the management of one is very much influenced by the presence of the other.

 

[Dr. USMLE]

Wow, SDN never fails to disappoint with the scores. On a side note, can anyone please tell me how long the UW CCS cases last once I activate them? Ive heard the standard expiry is 2 weeks. Cant seem to find the info anywhere else :-/ google failed me.

Cheers

Standard is 6 months.

 

[meister]

UWorld average ~68%, step 3 score 236. Took exactly four weeks to get my score.

 

[Torquer]

UWorld average ~68%, step 3 score 236. Took exactly four weeks to get my score.

Nice! Congratulations! Thats a huge score for step 3. I averaged 63% in my UW but im hoping a thorough review of my wrong questions should help me get a decent score.

Did you do self assessment? How was that for you? And howd you find the test difficulty compared to UW?

@Dumb, thanks! I activated my CCS turns out it lasts as long as the mcq package you purchase.

 

[kaboodle]

Got my scores yesterday and I wanted to post so that it might be able to help others. I preface this by saying I took this test a week and a half before starting my intern year of residency. 😀

Like everyone say's, this exam is a beast. The 1st day was brutal in terms of timing and difficulty of questions. The 2nd day went much better. CCS was not too bad, but I think I killed about 4 patients, one of whom was pregnant. I walked out both days believing that I failed. I continued to study for a retake the day after I sat for the exam....it felt that bad..!!!

To prepare I used Uworld questions and CCS. Also listened to Archer for CCS ($90 thing) which I highly recommend if you are not in residency yet and want to take the exam. I went through world a couple of times and then I made blocks consisting of only questions I got wrong. I went through world CCS about 3 times, and did the readouts a couple of times

UWorld: 63%
nbme form 1: 280 (worthless exam and pointless to do)
UWorld sim: 204
real deal: 190's

Drumroll please.......goodbye USMLE step exams, I'm so glad to have you in my rearview mirror.

 

[pdres2]

My step three experience has been a humbling one. I stayed for approximate&#8203;ly six weeks on and off. It was not great studying. I did complete USMLEWorld and was able to do all the questions that I got wrong again. I sporadical&#8203;ly looked through crush, master the boards and first aid. However my study was not consistent nor focused. I think the step three is a reminder that there is a lot to know in medicine. The test itself was okay. The first day I had seven sections. I would say of those three were relatively on the easy side the rest were medium. In each section I would say it marked approximat&#8203;ely 10-15 questions that I was not too confident about. Time was an issue on one of the sections. The second day I began with a section that was by far the hardest of all my sections. On this I marked at least half the questions as difficult. The other three sections were reasonable probably falling into the easier or moderate category.

All my CSS sections finished early, and the patients generally got better.

It was a challenging exam and I ended up feeling like I marked approximately a quarter of the questions. The most important point is that I truly felt crummy leaving and I was nervous for the subsequent month as to whether I passed.

Received the results exactly a month after taking the exam (5 Wednesdays).

The point I want to emphasize is that even if you feel bad/nervous you likely did ok. I wish you the best of luck all.

Result 229

 

[schmitta1573]

For those interested, I built a prediction model for a sample of n = 104 using simple linear regression. I started with most recent data and worked backwards. Below are the results.

Model
y = 1.98x + 104.97
Note: y variable (i.e., outcome) is Step 3 score and x variable (i.e., predictor) is UW score as a percent.

Effect Size Statistics
r = 0.72 (Correlation)
R² = 0.52 (Variance explained by UW)
Note: These are large effects, meaning UW is a very good predictor variable.

Predicted Step 3 Scores From UW Score
UW Step 3
43 190
44 192
45 194
46 196
47 198
48 200
49 202
50 204
51 206
52 208
53 210
54 212
55 214
56 216
57 218
58 220
59 222
60 224
61 226
62 228
63 230
64 232
65 234
66 236
67 238
68 240
69 241
70 243
71 245
72 247
73 249
74 251
75 253
76 255
77 257
78 259
79 261
80 263

Disclaimer: Any projections output from the model do not constitute a forecast, but illustrate possible results, based on a specific set of underlying assumptions. Any user of the model and its results bear full and exclusive responsibility and liability for the accuracy and appropriateness of the model, and the appropriateness of the input and the use of the output of the model.

 

[myhandsarecold]

For those interested, I built a prediction model for a sample of n = 104 using simple linear regression. I started with most recent data and worked backwards. Below are the results.

Model
y = 1.98x + 104.97
Note: y variable (i.e., outcome) is Step 3 score and x variable (i.e., predictor) is UW score as a percent.

Effect Size Statistics
r = 0.72 (Correlation)
R² = 0.52 (Variance explained by UW)
Note: These are large effects, meaning UW is a very good predictor variable.

Predicted Step 3 Scores From UW Score
UW Step 3
43 190
44 192
45 194
46 196
47 198
48 200
49 202
50 204
51 206
52 208
53 210
54 212
55 214
56 216
57 218
58 220
59 222
60 224
61 226
62 228
63 230
64 232
65 234
66 236
67 238
68 240
69 241
70 243
71 245
72 247
73 249
74 251
75 253
76 255
77 257
78 259
79 261
80 263

Disclaimer: Any projections output from the model do not constitute a forecast, but illustrate possible results, based on a specific set of underlying assumptions. Any user of the model and its results bear full and exclusive responsibility and liability for the accuracy and appropriateness of the model, and the appropriateness of the input and the use of the output of the model.

cool, pretty accurate.

UW 69% correct, actual score 240
UWSA predicted 250~, so yours is better : )

 

[Convalaria]

Hey everyone

Question for those who took exam: did you find UW CCS and CCS on exam similar in terms of difficulty?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Dr. USMLE]

Hey everyone

Question for those who took exam: did you find UW CCS and CCS on exam similar in terms of difficulty?

Thanks in advance!

Yes.

 

[Notanerd]

have used this forum a bunch so wanted to give people a heads up on the test.
my stats;us grad just finished prelim IM year at a very reputable program.studied for about 3.5 weeks, using UWorld and uworld ccs, read alittle MTB here and there. went though uworld first time was 61% then went over all my wrong questions and would do random questions in between to stay fresh on stuff made flash cards of question i got wrong and did the ccs cases 2x and made flash cards for all 52 of them. previous step scores are 226 on step 1 and 257 on step 2ck.
this was by far the hardest of all the usmle's for a few reasons. this thing is just long, I did not have time to really evaluate every question. I thought almost every question on the exam was very very very vague or had two right answers, some of the questions i just couldnt get what they were asking. I missed most of the two step questions which makes me believe i missed the others i guessed on as well. Every question i looked up when i got home was wrong as well, all of the ones with two right answers have both the answers in the book with out further explanation. The questions on this test were just so vague. I know alot of people feel bad about this test when they walk out and still pass so it is giving me some hope but as of now i have a hunch ill have to sit for this exam again. i got a few very obscure questions right but missed a lot of bread and butter stuff, because i just over thought the test. This test is pretty much like a primary care, random this random that. UWorld helped alittle but not too much. After the first day i legit did not want to go back because i had thought it went that bad. I prepped the same way i had for all other steps so i really dont know what else i could have done differently to help prepare. good luck to all taking this test.

 

[Barfalamule]

I tried to study hard but the motivation was lacking. I managed to get through the usmle qbank in about 3 weeks and then took it after my first week of intern year. 55% on the bank and 209 on the real thing. I was aiming for a 210 so I'm happy with the score even though it is quite a bit lower than my other step scores. As said more eloquently by others, you are really only looking for those sweet four letters...PASS. Good luck to all.

 

[austenaddict]

Used SDN throughout my Step exams and wanted to contribute.

Studied for 4 weeks during an outpatient elective with amazing hours. Completed UWorld on timed mode and scored in the low 50th %ile, then went back and did about half of the questions I had missed in tutor mode. Went through the CCS simulations and read through the written cases once each. Scored 210 on the UW self-assessment, which made me a little nervous. Browsed through a quarter of Step Up to Medicine in the days leading up to the exam, though I'm not sure how much I retained.

Day 1 was definitely a test of endurance. I missed questions because I second-guessed myself or narrowed down to two answers, and also because I was rushing through the stems and missed key details. Felt constrained for time, which had not been an issue for Steps I and II. Day 2 was better, questions felt more straightforward, though still made stupid mistakes and had "what??" moments. UWorld was essential for feeling familiar with the CCS program, though I will echo prior posters and say that my cases all ended awkwardly and abruptly. In one of the cases, my patient never really improved but the case still ended early.

Was truly worried that I might have failed the exam, and reading SDN posts did not help my sanity. Got my results back exactly 3 weeks later, and I passed! I actually performed better than the UWSA predicted. Needless to say, I am so happy and so relieved. I empathize for everyone who is anxiously waiting for results -- this is a tough test, no matter what the masses may say. Good luck!

 

[Torquer]

So i got done with step 3 a week or so ago in houston. I was so relieved i took three buses and a train to get back home instead of a cab. It feels like such an achievement, being done with a two day exam!

Thought i'd put in my (hopefuly) last 2-cents about the USMLE.

Prep time - about 6 weeks. Could've been done earlier but I didn't get serious till i was 4 weeks out.

Materials - MTB3, UW x 2 runs, CCS x 2 runs, went over the textual CCS cases on the UW site sparsely, last couple of days decided to go over Step 2 Secrets because i just love that book - was a good idea!

I just went over mtb once, slowly. I was bored reading it. Finally started doing UW, started off with a 60% which eventually went up to high 60s and then i had a (sadly) small stretch of 70s which was a good confidence booster. Came back down to mid 60s eventually and stayed there. That thick blue average line is a b!tch to move once you cross the 20 test mark. UW final avg: 63%, 100% completed
Considering the bank only has 27 blocks and i was averaging three blocks a day, i decided to redo the entire thing - the strategy worked well for me when i was studying for step 2.
UW 2nd Run avg: ~80%

I went UW -> CCS -> UW -> CCS. Cases were fun to do. I made my mnemonics for certain situations as most people do - for pre-op patients, regular orders, emergency orders etc.

The UWSA was TERRIBLE :-/ scored 224. I was still happy with that (and will be happy if i score that! fingers crossed).

The real thing - Day 1:
Went by pretty decently in the beginning. All my blocks had an average of 46-47 questions, never 48, and almost always had an abstract or article (or both in case of the one block where i missed a question)
Question stems were indeed long, and i had to always make quick runs back to the top to see the age, gender and presenting complaint.
I went along the blocks as i did in step 2, marking away on intuition. Never flagged more than 3 questions because i knew i wasnt going to have time to come back anyway, might as well save those precious seconds.
Felt that all the components of the exam were equally tested - maybe leaning a bit more towards IM and ObGyn. Had VERY little paeds, had ONE milestones question and im GLAD i didnt waste a lot of brain-space on memorizing milestones.

Day 2:
Much more irritating that day 1. Smaller stems, lesser clues, hence slightly more difficult. What was most p!ssing-off was the step 1-ish questions :-@ Anatomy, NEURO anatomy! vascular distribution crap etc. those questions were a pain. Felt those four blocks couldve gone better but i dont know what kind of studying would've helped.

CCS: UW is a Godsend. Replicates the software almost EXACTLY. Just that the actual ccs is a teensy bit slow and that can be bothersome when you're running short on time.
I had 18 cases! I wonder if thats how many cases everyone gets?? I was expecting less.
So 17/18 cases finished as soon as i entered the correct orders which can be a bit off-putting. I always felt like there was so much more i wanted to do for the patient.

Also the end of case screen gives two minutes which i felt was very little time. I had to enter a bunch of orders like reassure, compliance, multivitamins etc and by the time i was done, i barely scraped through to the diagnosis screen.

But i've heard the Diagnosis itself and the text you write when asking for a Consult are not marked.

I had one case which persistently kept getting worse and I had actually entered the correct order, just didnt have time to advance the clock enough to get the results of the treatment. Drat:-/

So all in all, i got the same vague, unsure feeling i got after i was done with step 2. But questions answered on intuition can go either way so im hoping for the best, and basically just praying i pass this first.

I believe thats the crux of the test. If there are any other questions feel free to ask!

Cheers,
Q

 

[Y3M]

does UWSA give u explanations for each question? Did anyone find these useful? Is anyone doing kaplan or other qbanks other than UW?

 

[jodin9]

Hi, Yees UWSA give you explanation for questions, and it is very accurate, here is what i did for the test :

Date - July 15th
Preparation period : 2 1/2 months
Uworld : twice first time avg : 52%, second time average : 73%
MTB : twice ( very superficially )
Kaplan Qbank : once , avg score 53%
Listened to ********** lectures : once
Uworld CCS cases : twice ( the ready answered ones did only once, with some confirmation on some common topics such as AF )
UWSA: 510 / 220
NBME form 3 : 380
NBME form 2 : 310!!!!
Real Score : 215

Hope this helps