t*******i 发帖数: 60 | 1 Got my step 3 result: 238 (99), very nice surprise.To be honest, my goal is
just to pass, that’s all I need, not even above 90. My UW 1st time is only
around 60%. So many questions in the real exam feel clueless.
I did Step 3 towards the end of my intern year. I’d like to share my
experience with you, hopefully it’ll be helpful for the interns right now.
Background:
Step1: 245 (99) Oct, 2008
Step2: 253 (99) March, 2009
Application for residency: Sep, 2009
Intern June, 2010-June 2011
Step3: 238 (99) June 2011
1. As intern, you really don’t have time to study, especially at the
beginning. Therefore, I arranged it towards the end when you’re more
familiar with the system. I also requested to have an easier rotation that
month.
2. June is the most popular season to schedule step 3, so do it earlier,
plan it wisely.
3. I probably have total of 10 days off prior to the exam to study full
time. That’s it!! I prepared Step 1 for about 1 year, step 2 for 5 month,
now just 10 days for Step 3. So it is really doable, but risky! I’m not
saying you only need 10 days to prepare, you certainly need more than that.
But you just don’t have the luxury of full time study.
4. you need to make time to study, while working. The best way I found is
to subscribe USMLE world early and do 5-10 questions everyday. As there is
too much distraction during your workday, it’s so difficult to find a big
block of time to read long review books. Doing questions is perfect. I
bought UW just for 2 months and managed to finish ¾ questions before my
final 10 days fully committed study.
5. Pay specially attending to CCS. I spent lots of time to understand the
rules and formulate my own protocol. I think I did poorly on MCQs, but
very high performance on CCS made me 99.
6. Where to start preparing CCS, here is my suggestion: do CCS_CD (the
powerpoint one)-step by step explanation, then with Neeraj notes, then try
UW.
7. finally, I don’t think by just review step 2 you’ll do well on Step
3, although this is what I did and I this is also why I felt extremely
insecure before, during and after test. I didn’t realize that step 3
focuses on management until just before taking the test. I didn’t have a
good, systemic review/summary on management. I think this is the biggest
mistake I made while preparing for it.
That’s about it. Good luck everyone! | l********y 发帖数: 2295 | 2 congrats, thanks for sharing! | g*****a 发帖数: 95 | 3 Great score! Thanks for sharing. | m******r 发帖数: 1904 | |
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