When do you study for an take level 3 in IM residency?

[lovePOP]

---

Members don't see this ad.

many of the IM residents ive seen are too busy to spend a lot of time studying for level 3 the same way we studied for level 1 and 2... what is the best approach to studying and taking it during your intern year?

would taking it later intern year would benefit you due to theoretical higher knowledge base and experience as time goes on?

 

[ROBINHO]

what u talking about? step 3? internship will give you some exposure on whats on the test. If possible take it at 2nd year when there is less stress, you better adapted, and have time to study

A lot of imgs already have clinical experience and hence take it before residency. u gotta figure out what works for u

 

[Raryn]

It depends on the person, program, and state.

For example, if you're a US grad in CA, you *must* have it passed by the end of your PGY2 year or you cannot start PGY3... by law. If you're a foreign grad, you must have it passed by the end of your PGY3 year. But some programs (including the one I graduated from) require you to have taken it by the end of your PGY1 year as an internal policy.

OTOH, in some states, there's no requirement at all as long as you remain a trainee (thus on a teaching license), so there's people who graduate residency and start fellowship without passing it. This is generally a poor decision because many fellowship programs require you to have passed it before you apply (just to avoid licensing paperwork issues).

The latest I'd take it if my state didn't require me to is the start of PGY3 year, just to make sure I had a passing score by the time I needed an unrestricted license. And that's probably pushing it.

That said, my advice would be to take USMLE Step 3 (or COMLEX level 3 if you're a DO) sometime in the second half of your intern year. The reason? You should still be close enough to medical school that you can brush up on your peds/ob pretty easily, and you've gotten a lot more comfortable with adult medicine over the course of the year. Adult medicine (including basic psychiatry/mental health and basic surgical diseases, which you should be aware of anyway) makes up the bulk of the test, so you'll have a bit of an advantage there. Buckling down and reviewing the basics again allows you to review any of your own weaknesses.

And for gods sake, don't waste your vacation studying/taking it. The test REALLY doesn't matter and a few weeks of part-time studying while on an elective rotation (you should have at least one sometime in the second half of intern year) is more than enough. On my PGY1 EM rotation, I got through <2/3 of uworld, flipped through my step 2 study book and took the test to pass with plenty of room to spare. And I'm nowhere near a rockstar on the steps.

 

[Pisiform]

Are there any disadvantages to taking COMLEX/USMLE in the first half of your intern year or soon after med school graduation?

 

[Raryn]

Are there any disadvantages to taking COMLEX/USMLE in the first half of your intern year or soon after med school graduation?

Not really. It would be difficult to take it between graduation and residency as you need to have received your diploma to sign up for it, but taking it early in intern year is fine. Might require a bit more IM studying than later on, but if you have a lighter elective in the first half and you get through some uworld, you'd be fine.

I know people that took it as early as late July of their intern year.