USMLE Practice material vs. UW

[pmpkn219]

I have a Mac, and a subscription to UW regular Qbank, and its CCS-style one. To those who have been able to access the free USMLE practice stuff on their site (since I can't), is there any reason for me to hunt down a PC, with admin privileges, to check out the "official" stuff?

I'm a little leery of the "free text" case style... since I've never seen it before. Is using UW's software close enough that I won't get bewildered by something stupid, come test day? UW has this on their site, which makes me wonder:

"We strongly recommend users to practice the sample cases that come with official USMLE CCS software which can be downloaded from www.usmle.org. "

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[CaMD]

Another Mac owner here:
I don't know if it's necessary or not (haven't taken step 3 yet), but for step 1 and 2 I did hunt down a PC to do the training stuff just because then I didn't have to worry that I'd missed something.

 

[HamOnWholeWheat]

If you're going to do USMLEWorld + CCS, then don't bother doing the official CCS cases. There's only 5 cases and they work exactly like the USMLEWorld software, so don't waste your time. USMLEWorld has 88 cases to learn from, which is more than enough.

 

[pmpkn219]

Thanks Ham

I am sorta intimidated by the 88 cases- at least it's much less on the exam!

 

[HamOnWholeWheat]

I hear ya, but you really shouldn't stress out at all about this exam. Its a tough test, but is scored extremely generously. The curve is much wider than Step I or II, because nobody studies for this thing. I think I read that 96% of US grads pass it on their first attempt, just like Step II CS, so there's really no reason to get too worked up over this test.

 

[FirstMANdown]

I have a Mac, and a subscription to UW regular Qbank, and its CCS-style one. To those who have been able to access the free USMLE practice stuff on their site (since I can't), is there any reason for me to hunt down a PC, with admin privileges, to check out the "official" stuff?

I'm a little leery of the "free text" case style... since I've never seen it before. Is using UW's software close enough that I won't get bewildered by something stupid, come test day? UW has this on their site, which makes me wonder:

"We strongly recommend users to practice the sample cases that come with official USMLE CCS software which can be downloaded from www.usmle.org. "

Hey pmpkn219,

Your concerns are very legitimate. I don't agree with the above post to some extent. The USMLE Step 3 is not an easy cake test. Lot of things have changed with both the question format and score determination in the last 2 years. More people are failing it. The good news is that the vast majority of AMG's still pass this exam on first attempt. I would definitely not over estimate this exam with a "2 day review & #2 pencil", those days are long gone. Instead, do UW qbank /UW ccs it will give you the edge you need to pass this exam. I took the UW assessment and it was only 5 points off from my actual score so I think it is just as good if not better than NBME assessment. As far as having a MAC, You are still good because the UW has both a MAC or PC script section to choose from before starting the program. Go for it and you will come out of this doing well. Good Luck!!

 

[pmpkn219]

Yeah, UWorld has worked great for the Qbank and CCS portions. I've completed Qbank (taking test Mon/Tues!) and about halfway done the cases now. I feel good about the MC style, I did really well on Step 2, just a year ago, and the questions seem ~exactly the same!

Although in the cases, it keeps offering me IV acetaminophen... which is making me go The answer segment tells me to give it IV, so I guess I will!

 

[FirstMANdown]

Yeah, UWorld has worked great for the Qbank and CCS portions. I've completed Qbank (taking test Mon/Tues!) and about halfway done the cases now. I feel good about the MC style, I did really well on Step 2, just a year ago, and the questions seem ~exactly the same!

Although in the cases, it keeps offering me IV acetaminophen... which is making me go The answer segment tells me to give it IV, so I guess I will!

Hehe, cool.