CSobsessed
Forum Senior
Topics: 6
Posts: 144
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Hi everybody,
I took my exam on Feb. 11th and 12th and got my result this morning. I passed with 99/240 score. I am PGY-2 and from the bottom of my heart suggest to take Step 3 before starting residency because you will not have time to study really. The internship is not about how much you know. It is about how productive you are in making things to happen, so by the end of the year you will learn that you actually lost a lot of knowledge. Then you have to find somebody to cover for you for two days or take those days from 2 weeks of you vacation... Anyway, what I did, I just went over Kaplan Step 2 notes, did Kaplan Step 3 question book and almost all Kaplan step 3 q bank. I have never used USMLE world and got 99 on Step 1 and Step 2. It took about 1 month of "on and off "studing afternoons really). if somebody tells you that exam is nothing-- do not believe it and study. It was a hard exam. A lot of weird questions. You think that you know the topic , and they ask you something that you have never cared about. The question are mostly on clinical judgement. Risk factors is another abused topic. Screening, prevention. Everything around CAD, HTN, DM which was studied in big trials is there.Somebody meantioned it previously and I have to confirm that on this exam you have to know what is on the picture, or what X-ray or ECG shows to answer: on step 2 you could guess from the stem of the question. A lot of ethics, a lot of derm. Few statistics questions. I f you are good at it-- try, I just picked something and moved on. Time wise it was OK for me to finish all Q in time, but I was marking 1/3 of the questions and never got to check them, and even if I did, I would left it as it was. Experience does help but remember that during residency you do what Attending wants, and it is not always a standard of care. I practiced one day with CCS... and found myself looking at the screen and not knowing how to move stupid clock. So do practice. Do not try to read all the books in universe. Use the ones you used for Step2 but with the emphasis on mgmnt rather then diagnosis because diagnosis is usually given unless they ask about something exotic which was rare. The feeling after exam is horrible. I thought I failed which was very disturbing for me as in my program you do not get advanced into 3d year unless you passed Step 3. Good luck .
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| pinkyal
Forum Newbie
Topics: 3
Posts: 18
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great score congratulations
what were your qbook/qbank scores? if you can remember..
did you take nbme?
thanks for posting your exam exp
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| O-pos
Forum Junior
Topics: 18
Posts: 42
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what kind of book is Shahers? Never heared of it before. Can you give me the link?
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| docnikki
Forum Guru
Topics: 93
Posts: 680
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Congrats! great score!
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| dermdoc57
Forum Junior
Topics: 4
Posts: 79
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Step 3 is tough,weird.unpredictable and designed with the aim of failing maximum people.You are right csobsessedd.During residency you find that it is not actual standard of care that is practiced.So what actually is in step 3, you will not find in real life.
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| silver
Forum Guru
Topics: 21
Posts: 754
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dermdoc57 wrote:
designed with the aim of failing maximum people
your pessimism is unbelievable
congrats csobsessed!!
___________________
Everything turns out ok in the end. If it's not ok, then it's not the end. Expect the worst, and hope for the best.
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| CSobsessed
Forum Senior
Topics: 6
Posts: 144
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"... great score congratulations
what were your qbook/qbank scores? if you can remember..
did you take nbme?... "
Thank you, guys.
My score on Kaplan Q bank was 77. I tried to do it by subject. I reviewed material first and then did questions. I suggest do not do questions without reviewing topics first because without basics the right answers will not stick to your brain. I found Q book to be harder in a way. I had between 70-75% on different tests in Q- book.I did not take NBME. Some of the questions on real exam were lo-oong but most of them were not. Kind of medium length. Sometimes, they describe a long, long complicated story... and then ask an ethics question. So, what I found useful was: I read the question first, and then the stem. In such way you read a story with a question in mind, focusing on pertinent to that question information. It seems like it would take more time but I would rather read the question in the end twice then the whole thing twice. Obviously, everyone must develope personal strategy. Hope it helps.
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