bsmooth7
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I took the exam last week, on May 20th and 21st.
Here are my thoughts:
1) The UW questions are not a good representation of the MCQs on the test.
The UW questions were generally too specific.
In addition, 20% of the UW Qs focus on rare topics, while I found that only about 2% of the actual questions were on rare topics.
Furthermore, the UQ questions are also more difficult, i.e. hardly any of the questions on the actual test were "impossible".
However, you do learn a lot from doing the UW Qs so I think they are important as a learning device.
The Kaplan questions, while not getting great press on this board, are far closer to the actual test in terms of degree of difficulty, wording, and specificity.
The biggest mistake I made in preparation for the MCQs was not doing enough of the Kaplan questions.
2)The CCS
I don't have a lot of clinical experience and here are the biggest mistakes I made:
a)I forgot to change environments
b)I did not advance the clock properly, i.e it can take several weeks to get back outpatient lab results, not a few hours or days
c)Because of b), I did not finish several cases.
It seems as if the CCS program "cuts" you off before the time is up after you perform a certain number of lab tests or treatments, even if you do not do anything "wrong" or even if you have not finished working up the case.
I did not study enough for the CCS part.
Read all of the cases in the back of First Aid several times.
I did practice the CD several times but I did not "know enough" to excel in the cases.
My recommendations:
1)Do ALL of the Kaplan Questions
2)Spend 25% of your study time on the CCS, since that is how much it is worth.
Use First Aid for the CCS part if you are short on time.
UW is probably the best prep, but it does require more time than FA.
Good luck to everybody!
Edited by bsmooth7 on 05/30/08 - 04:50 PM. Reason: mistake
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| arlete
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Thank you very much!!!! 
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| drshvetasm
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Thanks a lot
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| bsmooth7
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In case anybody is wondering, I studied 4 weeks, about 6-8 hrs per day.
Started off with 100 Kaplan questions, got 49%
Read FA and Crush, 2 times each
Took 1000 UW questions on tutor mode, avg 53%
Took another 100 Kaplan questions, got 56% and 70% on those 2 blocks (50 ques each)
Did USMLE CD 3 times
Used a little bit of FA, UW, and USMLESteps 1, 2, 3 for CCS but only studied about 3 days for the CCS part
Feel like I got about 65% right on the MCQs on STEP 3
If we round up to 66%, then I got 50 of the available 75 points on the MCQ.
If passing is 57%, then I would need 7 of the available 25 points on the CCS to pass.
If I only got 60% correct on the MCQ questions, then that would give me 45 points on the MCQ and I would need 12 points on the CCS to pass.
That is about 1/2 of the points on the CCS.
I really bombed the CCS:
Only changed locations on 1 of the cases
Totally bombed 1 of the cases (probably got 0 points)
Partially bombed 2-3 additional cases
If I did fail, it is because of my terrible CCS performance.
I think it is important to figure out how you are doing on MCQ vs. CCS...
Here is why:
We know that passing is 187 points.
We know that MCQ is worth 75% and CCS 25%.
We know that 182 is about 55% and 200 is 60%, so every 10 points is worth 3% or so...
54% 180
55% 183
56% 186
57% 190
60% 200
63% 210
66% 220
69% 230
72% 240
75% 250
Let's round up and say passing is 57% = 187
You need 57 points to pass
So, you need to know your approximate score on MCQ and CCS...
50% MCQ = 37.5 out of 75 points
You would need 19.5 points on CCS to get to 57 points (57%)
That is 78% on CCS
60% MCQ = 45 points
50% CCS = 12.5 points
Total = 57.5% = PASS
70% MCQ = 52.5 points
20% CCS = 5 points
Total = 57.5 = PASS
Most people score between 60% and 70% on the MCQ
That means that to pass, most need to score between 20%-50% on CCS to pass
OR
If you can get 80% on CCS, that gets you 20 points!!!
Now you only need 37 points on the MCQ, which is about 50%!!!
The bottom line:
It is easier to get 70%-80% of the points on the CCS then it is to get 70-80% on the MCQ...
The bottom line:
If you can master the CCS, you are almost guaranteed to pass...
My biggest mistake was blowing off the CCS because it was "only" 25% of the test!!!
Do NOT make the same mistake as me.
Comments?
Edited by bsmooth7 on 05/31/08 - 09:53 PM
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| redddd
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good luck bsmooth.. I wish you get a good score.
Seems you have worked hard.
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| bsmooth7
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I was shocked to get my score back so soon -- it only took 2 weeks!
I will post more details in a little bit.
Thanks to everybody for their support!
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| hottie99
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hey bsmooth, i hope u got great news for us!! im starting this step 3 soon and i want to just get it done quick, within a few months, any pointers besides those above now that u know ur status on passing?? thanks!! best for the future!
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| bsmooth7
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I got a 86/207
I wound up doing better on the CCS than I thought...
It looks like I flunked Urgent Care and ER...
It also looks like focusing on my weaknesses paid off!!!
It is always easier to want to study our strengths and want to do MCQs on our strong areas because it makes us feel good.
But what I did was when I realized that I would not have time to go over everything again, I focused on my 4 or 5 weakest areas, according to my scores on the UW MCQ questions.
Those questions turned out to be very accurate in terms of my relative strengths and weaknesses, according to the score report.
One exception was ID, which I was getting about 45% UW and it turned out to be one of my strongest areas on the test!
I still think that doing more Kaplan questions is a good way to go, since they are closer in form, content, and difficulty level to the actual test.
I guess not changing locations and not advancing the clock properly did not hurt me as much as I thought it would on the CCS.
Most of my cases did end early and even though on 2 or 3 of them I had no idea what was going on with the patient, I guess I ordered enough tests to score some points...
In summary, this is my advice:
1)Spend 25% of your study time on CCS because this is how much it is worth and because you can ace it ( get 75%-90%) if you put in the time.
Best prep is UW, First Aid, and USMLE CD for the CCS cases.
I would not use USMLEsteps123 because it can be confusing and is somewhat lower yield than the other choices.
2)I used First Aid and Crush and I think both were quite helpful.
I even think that First Aid might have been a bit better for my particular test because the clinical scenarios were not specific like those in Crush, and the First Aid format turned out to be higher yield.
3)UW is good for 2 reasons:
A)The questions are very difficult and after you get used to them, the actual exam will seem a lot easier.
B)It helps to reinforce what you learned from the readings (you should do questions on the topics you read the very same day!!!) and adds a little to your knowledge base (less important than the reinforcement, IMO)
UW does have flaws, though...
The answer choices are sometimes too close to each other and many of the passages can be on low yield topics which did not show up on my test.
There are no enough easy questions.
This can cause unnecessary anxiety and lead to feelings of ineptness.
4)I only took a few hundred Kaplan questions but wished I had taken more after I finished Step 3.
They will help get your timing down because they are very similar to the actual test in terms of content, difficulty level, length, and answer choice difficulty.
They also help to build your confidence after UW crushes it somewhat.
If you have lots of time, I would do all the UW questions first and then do the Kapln questions second.
If you dont have a lot of time, I would do a 60/40 split in favor of Kaplan.
Thanks again for this message board, it was really nice to be able to read about everybody's experiences.
Oh, and that CCS thread that tells you how to do it is amazing and everybody should follow it!
Take care,
bsmooth7
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| hottie99
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hey congrats, that's awesome!! glad to see what u advise, and will start within next few days, u think like 12 weeks should be good to get thru both the banks rite?? i'm gonna do as u suggest i think,,do uworld first, and then do the kaplan bank during my second review.. thanks so much and best again for ur future!! onto ur specialty boards.. hehee...
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| bsmooth7
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It takes about 1 minute per question and 1 minute to review the answer, so 2 minutes for each item.
UW has 1300 items, so that's 2600 minutes
Kaplan has about 1000 items (not sure on exact #), so thats about 2000 minutes
Total it up and we are talking about a good chunk of time here: 4600 minutes
Almost 80 hours
It could take up to 100 hours if you take 10 seconds longer on each item and 10 seconds longer to review the explained answer.
So 80-100 hours...
Hope this helps,
B
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| bsmooth7
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hottie,
how is your studding going?
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| E2O
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hi bsmooth7, I took my exam on the 3 and 4th what do you think are the chances of getting back the result this week i understand you got yours after 2 weeks
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| hottie99
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it's going... i was soooo sick, and now recovered, and ready to go! those usmleworld questions are very, very picky... ick!! hehehe.. i have to figure out how to practice these ccs cases, how did u start to do those early on in ur studying?? im confused how to 'study' those 
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| bsmooth7
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E20
I don't know why I got my results back so quick but you also took your test on Tues and Wed, like me, so I think your chances are very good...
Good luck!
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| bsmooth7
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hottie
Don't worry, the real test does not ask picky questions...
When you get to Kaplan, you will get a much better idea of what the test feels like...
As for CCS, there are 2 aspects to studying for it:
1)Managing the cases
2)Managing the software
It was really hard for me to get started because I was bad at both.
I would actually go over the software first, just so that you get an idea of how to manage it.
Then, when you read over the cases, you will be already have a mental template of how you will roll...
I think some people go a little overboard with prep for CCS...
LIke I've detailed on this board, I was ill-prepared for the CCS and still managed to do very well on it...
Read first aid for the case management aspect, and if you are confused or want more info, I would use UW as a reference resource.
It will seem impossible at first but with practice, it becomes much easier...
OH, and there are 2 posts that I printed out from this board which helped me with CCS...
http://www.prep4usmle.com/forum/thread/37783/
http://www.prep4usmle.com/forum/thread/59521/
The first link is more important and should be your gold standard for HOW to manage the software and cases.
The second link contains the finer points of CCS...
Take care and good luck,
B
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| bsmooth7
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I don't want to confuse anybody, the CCS is very important and you should spend 25% of your time studying CCS -- unless you master is sooner...
That being said, I only studied CCS for a few days, thought I bombed it, and actually did fairly well on it according to the scoresheet.
So, I would not use 3 or 4 different books or software programs to study for CCS -- that is what I mean by going overboard.
I would use First Aid, UW, and of course the USMLE CCS software.
Anything else is overkill, IMO
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| bsmooth7
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hottie,
how is your studying going?
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| hottie99
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tough man, i havn't committed the time needed for this and i have no excuse, i'm letting my family stuff get in the way (as i did for other exams!) and i have to be more selfish (my exbf used to tell me that,look at that?? hahaa) and just sit down and do this.. i have tis research thing starting next week so i am mad at myself for allowing all of june to be waste, now i will have to just go to research stuff and fit in time for this exam, it's all scheduled and stuff! mid sept is deadline for me! igot caght up in eras and requesting my letters and stuff so that is taking my time as well, not good!!!
i made a schedule so that is good, even better would be to start it rite?? any pointers??
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| bsmooth7
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Forget about the schedule, just start studying now... today.
I want you to do well...
What is your research about?
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| hottie99
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hey smooth(ie)! hehe.. i am studying, finsihed the schedule and have done ID for today and need to do my ques also and add to my FA (im keeping my FA for final review by adding any question's notes into it!).. as for research, will find out next week, but supposed to just be like chart reviews and stuff like that.. u done some research as well? and trust that i want to do very well, im sick of these exams!
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