USMLE STEP 3 Trick Works!!

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The "trick" still works. Here's how it played out for me:

-NBME (apps.nbme.org) permit link disappeared early Sunday AM
-FSMB (usmle.fsmb.org) changed from "active" to "expired" early Monday AM with no link to reapply

Score report was available Wednesday 12:00 am Eastern Time on NBME (https://apps.nbme.org).
 
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Anyone expecting result this week? My exam was on 19 July. My status has not changed. Permit link still available. Did any yours change??
 
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just to share little bit of my story, this was my second attempts. i received 188 in may. i studied 1.5 months and raised my score to 204. I've been always poor usmle test taker with borderline to average score. This test was definitely challenging as i had so little time to study. The key for passing was doing ccscases.com I went thru 90% of cases and did uworld twice. if you have any questions or need any advice, feel free to message me!
 
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madclown23 said:
just to share little bit of my story, this was my second attempts. i received 188 in may. i studied 1.5 months and raised my score to 204. I've been always poor usmle test taker with borderline to average score. This test was definitely challenging as i had so little time to study. The key for passing was doing ccscases.com I went thru 90% of cases and did uworld twice. if you have any questions or need any advice, feel free to message me!
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Congrats!!!!!! So happy for you!

What was your second exam date? Did the trick work for you? What were your practice scores for UWSA the second time, when did you take it? How did you feel coming out of day1 and day 2
 
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Just a little bit of experience to help ppl...got 219 on real deal...uwsa 1 9 days out was 204...they key is to not ignore ccs....did uw and ccscases.com didnt finish all the ccs cases on ccscases.com however the do help with giving proper feedback. Biostats is gold.
 
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NGTY1991 said:
Congrats!!!!!! So happy for you!

What was your second exam date? Did the trick work for you? What were your practice scores for UWSA the second time, when did you take it? How did you feel coming out of day1 and day 2
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my 2nd exam date was on 7/10 and 7/16. Yes, the trick did worked for me. My UWSA 1 was 200 and UWSA2 was 198. I took them like 2 weeks out from my exam date. I thought day1 was HARD and i almost ran out of time on 1 of the block. Day 2 was hard as well but ccs were doable. Some were very tricky tho. Overall, I felt ok because i knew i did well on ccs. I think ccscases.com definitely helped me a lot. I also read over uworld ccs cases 2 days before the exam. My advice is space out day1 and day2. I took them back to back on my 1st attempt and it really destroyed me. I was exhausted and could not think straight. Also, if you have time, try to go over concepts with master the board. it helped me to make educational guess on lot of questions. Good luck everybody!
 
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Taking step3 at the end of October, so I have 2 1/2 months to study... Will start Uworld tomorrow. Is that enough time to get >= 210 in that damn thing?

As an IM resident, I am tired most of the time and don't have the energy to study...
 
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Took my test on 7/29 and 8/2. Did not do practice test. Uworld around 61%, did ccs uworldx2 and fred x2 also dis ccscases.com samples couple of times. First day was hard, couldn’t finish first block on time. Had to do drug ad questions really quick, rest was ok. Second day also mcq are mostly bring it down to 2 options and make an educated guess. My permit link is still there, as expected. Fsmb website shows the status as approved but the gray box with no re-apply link is below. Does that mean anything? Or does it become meaningful after permit link disappears on nbme website?
 
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NGTY1991 said:
SAME! On both counts :/ How did you feel about the exam coming out? And what were your prractice scores
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I was completely banking on ccs coz I knew the mcq part was gonna be vague. But I completely bombed 2 ccs cases and did just ok on 3. mcq day 1 made many mistakes and biostats was horrible. Mcq day 2 were all prognosis. Just made educative guesses. I'm too worried. I hope ccs doesnt drag me down. Praying I pass! Uwsa 1 185 , uwsa2 227. How was urs?
 
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Oh man! This exam is definitely brutal! Did ur cases get better? In that case u shouldn't worry about cases not ending early. I really hope we pass. I dont want to trust this trick.
 
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kykd said:
ok now its expired grey box and no link for registration...last 7/24.
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Good luck! So nervous.... i felt like I missed silly questions because of exhaustion (and I know I missed them because they were those two-parters :/ )
 
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kykd said:
I took my exam 3 weeks ago from this wed (day 2 was two wed ago and will be 3 this wed) and the permit link disappeared sometime in the last three days (I wasn't really checking because step 1 and step 2 ck came out 4 and 5 weeks after I took it).

status still approved. does this mean scores on wed or try to push it out of my mind because it will be next week instead?

grakg, does your status say expired yet?
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Hey expired. No yellow box! Good luck! Hope this means we passed! Pls God pls God pass us! 🙂
 
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madclown23 said:
just to share little bit of my story, this was my second attempts. i received 188 in may. i studied 1.5 months and raised my score to 204. I've been always poor usmle test taker with borderline to average score. This test was definitely challenging as i had so little time to study. The key for passing was doing ccscases.com I went thru 90% of cases and did uworld twice. if you have any questions or need any advice, feel free to message me!
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did you get a yellow box the first time when you didn't pass? seems like the trick isn't working but if you got it the first time and not the second maybe there is hope yet....
 
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kykd said:
did you get a yellow box the first time when you didn't pass? seems like the trick isn't working but if you got it the first time and not the second maybe there is hope yet....
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I personally know someone who dint get the yellow box and still failed. I think there is some connection with the eligibility period too. All this is seriously giving me some bad tachycardia
 
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ahmed6978 said:
Dear friends,

First, congratulation for all who pass. I just got my second attempt result and failed 194 (missing by 2 points only). Am very sad. I don't know what to do. I read Uworld and first aid, I wrote many notes. I did very good in CCS case (I think) cause all of them ended very early and i knew the diagnosis. My 1st day was very bad cause the time was running in each block and i always miss the 4-5 last questions to read (just answered them without reading the question cause The time is done). Some mentioned qbank? whick qbank and what other resources should i use to do better in the MCQs?? how do you manage read these long questions and answer them quickly? please help am very depressed.

Thanks and i appreciate any advise.
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feel free to message me. i passed at my second attempt. probably what you need is little score booster with ccs. definitely buy ccscases.com
 
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Sorry my autocorrect went crazy,
I wanted to know of that is the correct way of doing it. If there is a screenshot that ilustrates it and how its suppose to look that would be great.
 
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The way it is supposed to work is the weekend before your scores come out you go to the FSMB website and see your status go from approved to expired and supposedly if on that page there is no yellow button allowing you to reapply you have passed the test and you get a passing score on Wednesday (tues at midnight). This has since been found to be completely false as many people have a page that looks as though they have passed with no yellow button only to find out they have failed so there is no validated trick any longer to ease the anxiety I’m afraid to say.
 
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where do we access the scores? is it name or fsmb. internet says fsmb but there is no "score report section"?
 
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NGTY1991 said:
IF anyone has any advice on retake please let me know.

I only used Uworld
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I think I would be better replying when I am a little less in this place of coming down from fear and anxiety and I have time to think about how I can best help with advice. But I want to help!
 
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NGTY1991 said:
IF anyone has any advice on retake please let me know.

I only used Uworld
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So I may not be the best person to ask because even though I passed I felt the exam went really badly. I did well on CCS and that may be because I have 2 years of residency under my belt and know how to manage patients. If you have not matched yet I suggest focusing a lot on ccs cases and what to look for and what to order. The part that got me were all the foundations of science stuff I hadn't seen in years and years. If you are far away from medical school I suggest focusing on that. otherwise Uworld is prolly gold stand. I honestly used nothing else. I hope you have an easier go of it next time and best of luck. your story could have been any one of us and I can't wait for you to get to the other end of this. all the best luck in the world!
 
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kykd said:
So I may not be the best person to ask because even though I passed I felt the exam went really badly. I did well on CCS and that may be because I have 2 years of residency under my belt and know how to manage patients. If you have not matched yet I suggest focusing a lot on ccs cases and what to look for and what to order. The part that got me were all the foundations of science stuff I hadn't seen in years and years. If you are far away from medical school I suggest focusing on that. otherwise Uworld is prolly gold stand. I honestly used nothing else. I hope you have an easier go of it next time and best of luck. your story could have been any one of us and I can't wait for you to get to the other end of this. all the best luck in the world!
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Thanks so much for your help! I was surprised I was borderline on CCS (or what I assume "same" means), because I practiced it relaly well with counseling etc and all my patients ended up getting better except maybe two. I was going to add archer rapid CCS and rapid qbank just for extra practice, what do you think?
 
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NGTY1991 said:
Thanks so much for your help! I was surprised I was borderline on CCS (or what I assume "same" means), because I practiced it relaly well with counseling etc and all my patients ended up getting better except maybe two. I was going to add archer rapid CCS and rapid qbank just for extra practice, what do you think?
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Oh my God this is exactly what happened to me. I think I’m gonna fail. Last week.
I really didn’t feel good about mcq’s and in ccs I’m sure I messed up one case(despite it ended early) and the rest ended early with improvement but I feel like I still missed many things.
Well, even if I’m failed I feel like I can pass it if I study a little bit more. The only thing is it’s time and money.
 
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NGTY1991 said:
Thanks so much for your help! I was surprised I was borderline on CCS (or what I assume "same" means), because I practiced it relaly well with counseling etc and all my patients ended up getting better except maybe two. I was going to add archer rapid CCS and rapid qbank just for extra practice, what do you think?
Click to expand...
I only used Uworld so I don't know but exposure to more material probably isn't a bad thing...tho I have heard its good to narrow down your sources...
 
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mine went HORRIBLY. like a nightmare. but I passed while others who felt it went okay didn't. my new theory is if the test feels really really bad the curve is really really generous. if that eases anyone's anxiety.
 
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kykd said:
mine went HORRIBLY. like a nightmare. but I passed while others who felt it went okay didn't. my new theory is if the test feels really really bad the curve is really really generous. if that eases anyone's anxiety.
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Well, I'll test this in 5 days. Mine was not horrible, I mean it was intense I tried to keep my **** together and not freak out. I tried to focus for each question, and at one point I felt like I need to mark 70% of the questions I answered so I actually stopped marking, because I wasn't sure any of those.
I barely had 2-3 min at the end of each block so I went back to the ones I was sure I messed up but tbh, I did not change most of it.


We'll see man, we'll see.... I need to keep calm though. It's not the end of the world. Also I'm not gonna check the trick, it didn't work on some people, so if sensitivity is not 100% , why bother.
 
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