Did you guys benefit from MKSAP as well after doing UWORLD and ARCHER ??
Hello I just took Step 3 and I wanted to post somewhere on the internet my experiences. I know that this website helped me when I was studying for Step 3 so I feel like its important to give some advice back.
Residency: Family medicine
Study time: 6 months
Step 1: 201
Step 2 CK: 203
Step 2 CS: pass
Step 3: 200
Study materials: UW, UW Biostats, UW CCS software (only not the paper), and Master the Boards
I studied for 6 months
I bought the UW QBank software and took notes on all the material. This took me approx 4 months slow and steady to finish. I did the UW QBank again and review my notes prior to doing the questions. In the last 2 months I read master the boards. This was a really good book because it gave you just enough material for the basic science information. I finished this book and wrote notes on each section. I also did the CCS UW software which looks exactly like the test.
Test Days:
Day 1: Very very hard. The stems were long and on each block I had to guess on the last 5-8 Qs. The first day had biostat questions as well as basic science questions. 8-3pm was day 1.
Day 2: Still very hard but not as hard. I took day 1 on Tues. then Day 2 on Thurs. I liked having the day in between to take a break and review CCS as well as review more information. Day 2 Qs had shorter stems, but I still had to guess on last 5-8 Q's in each block. The questions were more clinically based. 75% of the day was Q's then the second part 25% was CCS. CCS cases given on UW was very similiar to the test.
Things I would have done differently:
I would have done CCS paper UW. I would have worked more on my speed so that I could have finished the blocks.
Things to keep in mind:
I am a family medicine resident I have seen a lot of these cases in my training. If you are in a different specialty that does not see pediatric, OB patient then this may need to be reviewed more. I also struggled with my first step exams so I knew I needed to take this exam seriously and study hard so if you feel the same way to then I would do the same. It is a hard exam.
Result release
I received my results on the 3rd Wednesday after the exam at 11pm. I did not receive an email until 8:30 am so check the website at 11pm/12am.
Good luck and I hope this helps
