Page 1 of 1: HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB-3

fragile_x · Credits: 14502 My Scrapbook My Reading List 12 Books

Hello friends, Im back with the familiar tag line(familiar for those who read my rants and cacophony!).

This is the last of my exam experience contributions (hopefully) which started from AMC part1 exam in May,2005 and subsequently followed by USMLE step1, Step2 CK and CS.

This is my exam experience for USMLE step 3 exam

The Time Period:

The time period is highly variable and depends upon whether ur taking the exam as a resident or an aspiring resident, the type of visa u desire and ur physical presence in US.
I took the exam during my 6 month stay in US during which I took my CS, appeared for interviews and finally appeared for the Step3 exam.

I had a time preiod of 1.5 months(6 weeks) to prepare for Step3 which is good enough if u have recently taken step2CK and remember quite a lot of the theory. Mind you, this exam is designed for practicing US residents and consequently not easy for someone who has no first hand experience of the American Healthcare setup. Dont take this exam easily AT ALL. I have seen more than a few IMGs failing in this exam.

Any time period between 1 to 3 months is common.

The Study Resources:

I had taken the heavy bundle of Kap. step3 notes with me from India, but when I started reaing from them, they were all worthless, or didnt suit me at least. So, I started studying from Step2CK notes and I would advise the same to everybody else.

The materials I used were: Kap. step3 notes+ UW subscription of MCQs and CCS(combined $125) + Crush Step3.

How I did was....1st reading from Kap. CK notes then random mixed timed blocks from UW. Then, second revision of CK notes. Then, practice the CD sent by ecfmg(more on that later) in the last 3-4 days. And read a notebook of UW explaimations that I had written for CK and step3 and one reading of Crush step3 a couple of days before the exam.

Alternate approaches:

Some people who have just taken their CK recently and remember quite a lot of it and have less time to take step3 just read Crush and start doing UW MCQs. If u dont have much time, U can try that.

Other materials:

Other materials that are good and get my nod are....USMLE steps123, this is also an online course. Valuable for CCS. This is the only course where u can practice CCS cases in the pattern of the actual exam. UW doesnt have that software yet. Though its cases r really good too. So, if u can afford it, try it out. Should be bang for the buck since a lot of ppl have difficulty in CCS cases. I too am not too sure if I did mine all correctly.

First Aid, isnt even close to Crush, for Step3, but if u can get a xeroxed one, u can read CCS cases from it,nothing more.

The ECFMG CD:

Cant stress it enough, really really important. Plz plz do the CD and esp. the CCS cases in it. The CCS cases arent available anywhere else and you gotta know the software, else you'll have no idea how to go about it on the exma day and it might spoil the whole exam for you.

Advise and Exam experience in the next post.

ameer · Credits: 24770 My Scrapbook My Reading List 6 Books

thanks Fragile X for sharing your experience. Goodluck

raghavender · Credits: 244 My Scrapbook

thanks you fragile X , your information has been very help ful,
i was searching all the site for information about step 3 , well nothing was as well organised as yours

fragile_x · Credits: 14502 My Scrapbook My Reading List 12 Books

sorry havent found the time to write the second part of the post. Intend to do that very soon.

fragile_x · Credits: 14502 My Scrapbook My Reading List 12 Books

Exam Day Experience

Its a 2 day exam, and thus you gotta be on your game for not one,but 2 consecutive days......and hope that the computer doesnt break down or there is any system failure,cuz that can happen in a few cases and doesnt help one's cause at all.

Anyhow, coming back to our main topic, locate your test center on G o o g le map a day before and figure out the best way to reach there 30 min before time.

The best advice I can give is R E D - B U L L!
Yea baby, it works.

Read the pattern of exam given in beggining of kap. Q- book for step3. It states how many blocks of out patient care, in patient care and emergency care are there on each day...I didnt know all that until exam day.

For me....the subjects to be stressed most would be....Medicine> Peds > OBGYN > Surgery > Psy and Epid. in that order.

Just practice CCS cases 2-3 times each from the USMLE CD or join USMLE STEPS 123 for CCS practice.

Good Luck!

Regards

fragile_x · Credits: 14502 My Scrapbook My Reading List 12 Books

Correction in Post 1 :

The materials I used were: Kap. step2 CK notes+ UW subscription of MCQs and CCS(combined $125) + Crush Step3.

Whiterose · Credits: 1896 My Scrapbook My Reading List 8 Books

THANX FRAGILE X...
UR POSTS R REALLY INFORMATIVE.

ALL THE BEST IN UR VENTURES.

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