louise
Forum Newbie
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Posts: 1
| | 09/19/07 - 10:39 AM
2 of 2 forum leaders found this post helpful
| #1 |
I have been a silent observer here as I prepared for step 3. This forum was extremely helpful to me and I promised if I passed that I would share my experience in the hopes that it would be helpful to others.
I did Pass 81/194 .... an amazing relief
It had been many years since taking step 2 and final year in psych residency. I am a single parent of two kids. If I can pass this ...YOU CAN TOO!! The encouragement and stories on this forum helped me when I would become full of fear and uncertain of my ability to pass.
I had been away from the material on Step 3 for a number of years. I did have the advantage of alot of clinical experience. I believe one of my biggest difficulties was confronting my own neurotic fears about this exam.
I do feel the exam tested the clinical way of thinking about treatment.
I preped using Kaplan books, went through once, took notes. Got the Kaplan dvds via ebay watched once and filled in notes. this was helpful for strengthening my basic knowledge BUT not enough information for the exam/
When I first started doing exam questions on Kaplan I did miserably...30's. Felt sick to my stomach. It had been many years since doing these types of exams . I took me a while of going through questions to understand how, what why they were asking things the way they did.
I then used First Aid Step 2 and Step 3. I started on UW questions. I went over my notes from Kaplan on a subject, then started on UW questions in that subject in tutor mode untimed. I would reason out the answer. then look over answers. When I didn't understand something I then looked it up in both first aids (as First aid step three often was not in depth enough...also Strong Medicine often had wrong info so I threw it away). I slogged through a few hundred of Kaplan and 1100 of UW. My scores were average about 60 in Kaplan to average 50 to 55 in UW (range 43-80). I spent no time on info I was very familiar with ...ie scored top of chart on psych.
Going over questions is key to become comfortable with the way questions are asked. UW questions are harder than the exam..too in depth. I made a number of sheets of info on the question UW deemed extremely important for the exam, these came up on the exam and I was thankful for that.
The questions sent on the usmle cd are similar to questions on the exam only I did feel the questions were longer and a little harder. You can get explanations to the usmle cd questions from Kaplan site for free. This can be helpful in understanding what they are looking for.
I did questions up to two days before the exam and them went over materials last two days. In hind site I would have given myself a few more days going over materials. ..my notes and First Aid.
Spend more time studying things you are uncomfortable with, get the basic concepts down..and practice lots of questions, find a reference source that works for you and just keep working through them.
As I was not comfortable with the computer, the CCS portion was initially overwhelming for me. I found the USMLE123 site very helpful!! Although the program is different then the one sent on the USMLE CD and exam, the process was very important in getting me in the habit of how to go through the cases. I then went through the UW cases , read through one time then went through by reading case and writing down what I would do. Get in the habit of seeing a case presented, write down the important points, then write down a list of the things you will do, make a seperate list of things like etoh, smokes, obese ,asthma, etc ... extra things to address in counseling, se of meds etc.
The point I want to make is that I was overwhelmed by this portion of the exam initially and ended up nailing it on the exam.
I also wanted to mention how helpful it had been reading the experiences of people who had passed the exam. The first day is awful. I was frozen with fear, hadn't slept for two days . Question after question kept coming up, I had to push myself for time. I would get close to a general answer, able to think that two of the answers were close then would guess. This went on for 7 hours. Again and again I had to rein in my fears. I was numb the whole day and truthfully have no idea how I got through the day.
The first set of 48 questions I ran out of time and didn't get to answer the last question. I never had time to go back and check any qustions I marked. After the first day I was sure I had failed. And I want to be honest to help those of you in this place. I sobbed for hours that night. This is not my normal exam experience. I am not one to sobb for hours or get this wound up about things, I am a pretty even keiled person . What helped me tremendously for the next day was remembering reading about other people on this forum having similar experience after the first day. (although no one mentioned sobbing) I got no sleep that night.
The secong day was easier with 36 questions in 45 minutes. The decrease in time pressure helped alot. When it came to the ccs things got easier. The usmle123 practice helped alot.
Ultimately I believe that if you have gotten far enough to even be taking the USMLE step 3 you know how you learn. Working with the information by taking questions in UW is key for learning how to work with the material. Jusy reading about probably is not enough unless you are one of those genius types. There is a tremendous amount of reading during the exam. Learn how to pick of the salient points in the UW questions.. this was very helpful during the exam.. a way to cut corners.
After the exam I was more than sure I failed. I had never felt so awful after an exam. And did not know if I could make the state licensing deadline for Step 3 if I had to take it again... I felt completely humbled
In short
materials used ...
Kaplan books, dvds
UW questions and cases
First Aid step 2 and 3
USMLE123
took alot of notes
made charts ..this worked well for me in med school..very helpful for exam .. but then I am a visual learner
USMLEcd questions and cases..become familiar with these
SO if it has been a long time between step two and step three, your life is overwhelming with kids and responsibilities and you are at a time in your life when you seem to be full of more doubts then usual YOU CAN STILL PASS THIS EXAM!!! IF I CAN DO IT>>>SO CAN YOU!!
a prayer of strength and guidance to all and thank you to those who shared their experiences on this forum. I don't know if I could have pulled it together for the second day of the exam if I hadn't known others had felt as bad and had passed.
louise
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| vijay
Forum Senior
Topics: 42
Posts: 140
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@louise
weel done...u have all my praises 4 putting up the fight...
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| egomez2001
Forum Guru
Topics: 51
Posts: 930
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Louise, congratulations!!!, great effort..., very well done..., thanks for sharing and for your words of hope, very encouraging..., all the best!
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| kingsofke
Forum Guru
Topics: 24
Posts: 715
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Congratulations, great effort.
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In Life there are neither rewards nor punishments, just consequences.
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| gd11
Forum Elite
Topics: 36
Posts: 271
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congratulations, Louise, and good luck with your Boards!  PGY-1 Psychiatry resident
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| smal
Forum Guru
Topics: 140
Posts: 727
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thanks for putting down ur experience ,was a real booster for our spirit
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remedy for weakness is not brooding over it ,but thinking of strength.
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| aimfor2007
Forum Junior
Topics: 10
Posts: 93
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Thank you Louise.your account of your prep is so inspiring!
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| silenced, M.D.
Forum Guru
Topics: 73
Posts: 620
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Congrats!
You got 81/194. Weird. I got 195 and my two digit score was 80.
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"Sólo los débiles se enojan. El hombre fuerte, aun al caer, sonríe". ~ José Martí "...it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done". ~ Rocky Balboa
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| alexaE
Forum Elite
Topics: 23
Posts: 334
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congrats
your story is very inspiring
all the luck to you and your children and thank you for sharing
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veni vidi...vincam
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| Dr.D
Forum Senior
Topics: 22
Posts: 191
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Congrats, louise
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| vanshita
Forum Guru
Topics: 21
Posts: 812
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Congratulation
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| arlete
Intern in 2009!!!!!
Topics: 30
Posts: 2,208
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Congrats and thank you for sharing!
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When men make the rules, God decides the exceptions.
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