Post by Admin on Apr 29, 2014 21:50:33 GMT -5
Hi guys, I just took step 3 yesterday (Aug/2-3/2011) and I thought it would be a good idea to share my experience.
First I would lie to start with a brief note about myself to help put my experience in context. I am a graduate of 2008, finished internship in Egypt. I took Step 2 CK seven months ago with a high score hamdellah. I am currently a research fellow working 9-11 hours a day.
I prepared for step 3 in 8 weeks studying 2-3 hours a day - every day. I started with Master the Boards by Konrad Fischer. The book is very brief, to the point and goes over all the high yield information. I only reviewed topics I felt I was weak at. A topic like ID is only 30 pages and would take 4-5 hours to go over. How much time you will spend on this book will depend and how fresh is you the information in your head. I don’t recommend spending more than 10 days.
After reviewing the book I started UW, I would do blocks of 20-30 questions untimed, testing 3-5 divisions at a time. My % of correct question ranged from 52-62, mostly in the 50s. This strategy worked very well for me in Step 2 as it kept me focused but at the save time simulates the exam which will test many topics at the time of course. I used this strategy until I was 60 % done with the questions. The remaining 40 % were mixed timed, of course my % was still low but it creped up as I approached the last 20 %. The last 4-5 blocks my scores were 62-68 % ( 5-7 % above the average).
After I was done with 80% of UW I took UWSA and I received a score of 224 which I as far as I know correlates to a score in the high 90s.
I studied CCS for only 5 days, which was a BIG big mistake, I believe you should dedicate at least 10 days especially if you have a limited clinical experience.
Now to the exam . . . Day 1 is all MCQs, 7 blocks, each 48 questions. Questions are loooong! Much longer than UW and step 2. Make sure you are well trained on time management. Looking retrospectively I believe one should be train well enough to be able to finish UW blocks 1-2 minutes in advance in order to be capable to finish on time on the day of the exam.
I useful strategy is reading the first line on the question stem then the last line to know what to be looking for in the rest of the stem.
Day 2 is divided in to two halfs, the first had 4 MCQ blocks each with 36 questions. I found these blocks much easier than the previous day. The questions were much shorter as well. I am not sure if that was a coincidence or not. I had many questions on vaginal infections, HIV, interpreting study results, sex after MI, EKG, spondyloarthritis, motor vehicle accidents. In derma they tend to use pictures so try to review pictures during studying the topic. I used google images for that.
The second half of day 2 will have 9 CCS cases, although the cases were all familiar to me (except for one) I tended to forget changing the location and ordering some important labs. My BIGEST mistake was not reading the physical thoroughly. It contained many clues that I only noticed on a second read. When the 5 minutes screen pops up and after you entered your final orders you should NOT click exit block you should click the button just beside it to enter you final diagnosis. This may be different from UW software (not sure) but make sure not to leave the case before typing the final diagnosis.
A friend who got 99 in step 3 advised me to approach all CCS is cases in a systematic manner. Deferential ---> Emergency orders --> investigations ---> Treatment ---> counseling and screening . I laid out the scheme on a piece of paper before starting the CCS cases, this was very helpful and I strongly recommend it.
(Last but not least, I am expecting my score in 3 weeks, da3atkom ba2a!!)
8/25/2011: Score is out, Hamdellah I achieved my target score. Now you can take these advice for granted
Best of luck!
First I would lie to start with a brief note about myself to help put my experience in context. I am a graduate of 2008, finished internship in Egypt. I took Step 2 CK seven months ago with a high score hamdellah. I am currently a research fellow working 9-11 hours a day.
I prepared for step 3 in 8 weeks studying 2-3 hours a day - every day. I started with Master the Boards by Konrad Fischer. The book is very brief, to the point and goes over all the high yield information. I only reviewed topics I felt I was weak at. A topic like ID is only 30 pages and would take 4-5 hours to go over. How much time you will spend on this book will depend and how fresh is you the information in your head. I don’t recommend spending more than 10 days.
After reviewing the book I started UW, I would do blocks of 20-30 questions untimed, testing 3-5 divisions at a time. My % of correct question ranged from 52-62, mostly in the 50s. This strategy worked very well for me in Step 2 as it kept me focused but at the save time simulates the exam which will test many topics at the time of course. I used this strategy until I was 60 % done with the questions. The remaining 40 % were mixed timed, of course my % was still low but it creped up as I approached the last 20 %. The last 4-5 blocks my scores were 62-68 % ( 5-7 % above the average).
After I was done with 80% of UW I took UWSA and I received a score of 224 which I as far as I know correlates to a score in the high 90s.
I studied CCS for only 5 days, which was a BIG big mistake, I believe you should dedicate at least 10 days especially if you have a limited clinical experience.
Now to the exam . . . Day 1 is all MCQs, 7 blocks, each 48 questions. Questions are loooong! Much longer than UW and step 2. Make sure you are well trained on time management. Looking retrospectively I believe one should be train well enough to be able to finish UW blocks 1-2 minutes in advance in order to be capable to finish on time on the day of the exam.
I useful strategy is reading the first line on the question stem then the last line to know what to be looking for in the rest of the stem.
Day 2 is divided in to two halfs, the first had 4 MCQ blocks each with 36 questions. I found these blocks much easier than the previous day. The questions were much shorter as well. I am not sure if that was a coincidence or not. I had many questions on vaginal infections, HIV, interpreting study results, sex after MI, EKG, spondyloarthritis, motor vehicle accidents. In derma they tend to use pictures so try to review pictures during studying the topic. I used google images for that.
The second half of day 2 will have 9 CCS cases, although the cases were all familiar to me (except for one) I tended to forget changing the location and ordering some important labs. My BIGEST mistake was not reading the physical thoroughly. It contained many clues that I only noticed on a second read. When the 5 minutes screen pops up and after you entered your final orders you should NOT click exit block you should click the button just beside it to enter you final diagnosis. This may be different from UW software (not sure) but make sure not to leave the case before typing the final diagnosis.
A friend who got 99 in step 3 advised me to approach all CCS is cases in a systematic manner. Deferential ---> Emergency orders --> investigations ---> Treatment ---> counseling and screening . I laid out the scheme on a piece of paper before starting the CCS cases, this was very helpful and I strongly recommend it.
(Last but not least, I am expecting my score in 3 weeks, da3atkom ba2a!!)
8/25/2011: Score is out, Hamdellah I achieved my target score. Now you can take these advice for granted
Best of luck!