USMLE step 3 advice needed

[DocSpy332]

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First of all congratulations to everyone passed their last USMLE examination and good luck to those of us taking the exam soon.

I need your opinion regarding your USMLE study schedule. Did you do UWorld questions first and then went through the UW CCS? Did you first do the CCS and then UW questions or did you some days do the questions, then some CCS cases and then questions again?

I have decided to do only UW along with a quick review of my step 2 CK notes as preparation for my USMLE step 3 examination. What is your opinion on that?

Thank you very much!

p.s. I have not started residency yet. IMG with step1- 254, step2- 254

 

[Boomer2310]

I studied over a 4 week period on a lighter clinical rotation (PGY-1 emergency medicine). I did around 80% of UW, untimed, tutor, intermixed with CCS cases throughout. No particular order. Passed easily. I'm not sure it really matters what order you study UW. Only my opinion though, everyone will do something different, whatever works for them.

 

[Patho_logical]

I’d say you could stick to just Uworld if you want. The supplemental material is fine if you have time. I also studied for about 4 weeks. Completed most of the Uworld q’s on untimed tutor mode (read the entire explanation for each answer choice - you can pick up knowledge to answer several different questions from one explanation). I think I had maybe 300+ questions left that I didn’t get through. And I did maybe 10-15 ccs cases the day before day 2 of my exam. So basically just enough to become familiar with the interface. If you’re somewhat doing clinical stuff in your day to day life then ccs shouldn’t be too difficult for you.

Using Uworld ONLY and doing ccs the night before, I passed slightly above the mean on the bell curve. My Uworld percentages were like 50-80% varied a good bit between question blocks depending on how much I was focusing. I did a lot of my studying on my phone in down time at work.

 

[DocSpy332]

Hey there thank you both for your answers!
I have already done some blocks of UW, gone through my CK notes once and taken UWSA1 (got 204- devastating even though I was expecting a low score here), gone through the first 20 interactive cases and the first 20 practice cases of UW CCS.
Now I keep doing UW (2 blocks per day).

Unfortunately I am not doing clinical stuff at the present time so CCS is a little bit more difficult for me.

Thank you again!!

 

[Patho_logical]

204 is a pass. Lol. You’re on track. Keep at it.

 

[mavsfanMD]

I would not save CCS cases for the night before. Start them at least a few weeks before. They're a good supplement for UWorld questions too.
Also, know all biostats stuff cold. Those are easy points.

 

[DocSpy332]

I would not save CCS cases for the night before. Start them at least a few weeks before. They're a good supplement for UWorld questions too.
Also, know all biostats stuff cold. Those are easy points.

Thank you very much for your reply!
I have already started doing CCS, which I found a little bit difficult BUT I think that with more practice I will become comfortable with that part of step 3

 

[mavsfanMD]

Oh yeah, it takes getting used to. It's awkward. There's a better program I used called ccscases dot com that gives good feedback. And it's only a one time fee with over 100 cases if you wanna check it out

 

[DocSpy332]

Thank you that's a really helpful info!
I think that I should stick with UW for the moment and if I am still feeling uncomfortable I will definitely buy this one too!

 

[AG MD]

Hey guys. I need some advice kind of pertaining to the same thing. I have actually been going thru just uworld questions and I took an nbme and got a 320. Also, I took a uwsa and ended up with a 182. I'm so upset! Now I'm going thru mtbs because I realized that I was forgetting a lot of stuff that I previously knew for ck (which I took in 2017). I'm not in residency yet so I have some time to study. Do you guys suggest I go thru my ck notes too or should I get the qbank for ck again... or any other suggestions? I just want to get a passing score but for me, uworld alone isn't helping me pass these practice exams.

 

[DocSpy332]

I would say that you MUST go through your CK notes. Some people have also proposed that going through UW step 2 qbank is also helpful (However that needs a lot of time.. I didnt do that..)
As long as mtbs is concerned I have no suggestion bc I have not seen that. I have heard though that it is good.

Anyway, I would suggest the following strategy: Stop UW step 3, review your CK notes & do some UW step 2 if you ve got the time/money, restart UW step 3 (eg do some blocks), take another NBME and determine your progress!

*do not neglect CCS which seems to be a major determinant of people's score.
**Use your assessments wisely bc you ve got only 2 left
***Take my words with a grain of salt, bc I have not yet taken the exam- actually I ll take it in 1-2 days..

 

[AG MD]

Thank you so much for your input. And good luck on your exam. I hope you do great 🙂

 

[mavsfanMD]

There's a ton of overlap between Step 3 and CK. I don't think you need to do the CK bank. Just stick with Step 3 bank and really try to understand why you missed questions that >50 percent got right. I would review weaker subjects with something like online meded videos and know biostats cold. And practice CCS cases of course.

 

[AG MD]

my weakest subject was ethics and patient safety on my nbme... any idea how to brush up on ethics? I feel like I do fine on the uworld questions but not the practice exam...

 

[mavsfanMD]

Honestly that one is hardest to really study for. They throw out some really odd scenarios. Just run through the Uworld qs a bit and try and pick up some general principles . There will be really weird questions on that on the real thing. it felt like I guessed on a good amount of those questions

my weakest subject was ethics and patient safety on my nbme... any idea how to brush up on ethics? I feel like I do fine on the uworld questions but not the practice exam...

 

[AG MD]

Thank you so much guys for your help!

 

[DocSpy332]

So guys I finally took the exam. Just some post-experience feelings just to avoid forgetting important things (I ll post my whole experience when I get my score back)
DAY 1: many biostats, drug ads, article- interpretation, ethics and some step 1 facts. The rest were step 2 like questions. I found day 1 to be neither easy, not super-difficult. Guessed a lot of questions. Time management was difficult, did not have time to review my answers..

DAY 2: Had some difficult blocks but I would say that the questions do not refer to really difficult concepts. What is difficult is that you ve got a ton of questions where multiple answers seem to be correct, so again guessing (a lot..). Time management was a lot easier here.
CCS was more than ok, I am happy with my performance (Hope this is not just the wrong feeling to have.. :/ ). All my cases ended early- with the exception of one 20-min case which I know I messed up bc I had no clue what the diagnosis was and some 10-min cases just bc time wasnt enough. Other than that, I did some silly mistakes in CCS which I corrected though immediately after realising.. No lags or problems during CCS part. I had a better post-test feeling after Day 2 rather than after day 1.

 

[DocSpy332]

my weakest subject was ethics and patient safety on my nbme... any idea how to brush up on ethics? I feel like I do fine on the uworld questions but not the practice exam...

If you ve got your step 1, step 2 notes, go through the ethics part.
Definitely review the FA step 1.
Review any step 3 questions you did wrong over this area.
I think that by doing that PLUS practicing UW questions you will be fine 🙂