Step3 advice

[heartdochead]

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Being a Psychiatry resident and preparing for Step 3 is hard. Failing Step 3 after you read First Aid cover to cover and even mounted up a 67% cumulative score (after about 600 questions) on USMLEWorld is even harder.

Well, there is sunshine at the end of this tunnel too, hope you could help me get to it wiser.

I have taken the first step and realized I need a course, to get through this dreading final USMLE exam. But which one? There are so many views regarding Kaplan and Premier Review.

This exam is hardest I think on us (Psychiatrists) as we are not in the realm of day to day practice as IM or FP residents are subjected to day in and day out, preparing them for the Step3.

Any advice from fellow colleagues who have felt what I am going through, please advice. Thank You all.

 

[Faebinder]

Being a Psychiatry resident and preparing for Step 3 is hard. Failing Step 3 after you read First Aid cover to cover and even mounted up a 67% cumulative score (after about 600 questions) on USMLEWorld is even harder.

Well, there is sunshine at the end of this tunnel too, hope you could help me get to it wiser.

I have taken the first step and realized I need a course, to get through this dreading final USMLE exam. But which one? There are so many views regarding Kaplan and Premier Review.

This exam is hardest I think on us (Psychiatrists) as we are not in the realm of day to day practice as IM or FP residents are subjected to day in and day out, preparing them for the Step3.

Any advice from fellow colleagues who have felt what I am going through, please advice. Thank You all.

How did your CCS go and did you do IM rotations yet?

 

[heartdochead]

CCS could have gone better I guess. I am all done with IM rotations.

 

[Faebinder]

One of the major keys of passing step 3 i feel is CCS. If you suck at multiple choice then CCS is the answer you have been seeking. It's sad to admit this but many times the psychiatry programs end up exposing their residents to little medicine because the psychiatry unit ends up not screening the patients or even treating their medical problems... for example.. you end up not ordering a ppd on a homeless alcoholic patient... you miss out on understanding the screening and treatment for TB despite the fact that as psychiatrists we get exposure to the largest population that has TB. Anyhow.. master the CCS... it's how you rise above others. I am not sure how low you scored but if you are near passing then CCS is more than enough to kill.. of course dont forget to redo all the studying you did for the multiple choice questions.

 

[heartdochead]

I think you are exactly right. I did not concentrate enough on the CCS. I will surely master them this time. Thank You.

 

[mgdsh]

I tried looking back through the step 3 forum for my post on re: my experience with Step 3 and I couldn't find it.

Anyhow, I used premier review + Crush and did USMLE World. A good section to browse through for CCS cases (Although I didn't spend too much time doing so) was the back of First Aid Step 3. There's a section back there listing ~80-90 CCS cases and you can test yourself by revealing column by column.

 

[xthine]

Hi Heartdochead.
Sorry to hear about your step 3 result. I could imagine how challenging it must be to review for this exam while doing your residency.
How's your prep coming along?
I'm not a Psychiatry resident yet (IMG applying for Psych this year), but I hope my advice would be of some help.🙂

I took the exam in June after preparing for 3-4 months. I used UW MCQs + CCS, Kaplan (lecture notes, Qbook and Qbank), FA, Crush and USMLESteps 123 MCQs and CCS.
I also took the NBME 2 weeks before my actual exam (420). Got my score report 2 weeks ago and fortunately I passed (what with that prep right? 😀). Yeah some may say this is overkill, but I did not want to underestimate this exam.

I realize you will not be able to review full-time so, overall I think for the MCQs UW and Kaplan would suffice; UW and USMLESteps123 for the CCS. I would not rely solely on FA.

How was your performance profile on the actual exam?

Good luck 🙂

 

[Faebinder]

I second USMLEstep123 for CCS... at least it makes you start thinking correctly.