Here goes my experience of Step 3 -

Here goes my experience of Step 3 -

  • Score - 241 (Thanks to …)
  • UWSA 1 - 229
  • UWSA 2 - 237
  • FRED Qs - 84% in day 1 topics and 79% (or was it 81?) in day 2 topics
  • Duration - Almost 1.75 months but not very dedicated despite doing nothing else (I guess exam exhaustion or just laziness)
  • Preparation -
  1. I did Uworld like everybody else. I could only do it once on random timed mode, did incorrect and marked questions. I occasionally used to refer to MTB books (which I used during my CK preparation).

  2. For Step 1 stuff, I did certain topics from First Aid Step 1 such as Microbiology (Antimicrobials, gram staining classification, Catalase positive bacteria, general virus classification), Immunology (lymph nodes drainage and diseases in Immunology), Pathology (didn’t do anything but recommend doing genes related to cancer section), Pharmacology (saw MOA of common Autonomic Nervous System drugs), Neuro and Psych pharma (didn’t do but recommend esp. MOA). For biostats, I referred to uworld biostat review, step 1 first aid. For ethics I skimmed 100 cases of ethics by Conrad Fishcer.

  3. For CCS - Did around 60 cases of ccscases.com and around 10 practice questions of uworld and all the interactive cases. I think ccscases.com is good for practice but not very accurate or step-wise, so first do ccscases.com to get the hang of the software and general cases, then do uworld cases to know the steps in detail.

  4. Before exam - I did UWSAs, didn’t do NBMEs, did the FRED Qs. Rested half-day before day 1 and 2.

  5. Exam - Day 1 is mostly step 1 kind of questions (a lot of biostats, 1 Ad Qs per block, diagnosis questions, basic science questions). Took 6 days gap in between. Day 2 was mostly Step 2 CK kind of questions but with plenty of prognoses questions.

  • Tips - Get it done as soon as possible, preferably after step 2 CK. The more gap you take, the harder it becomes (my CK was 6 months ago). Try to take it before December so that you get the result before submitting Rank Order List. It will boost your chances of matching (I learned the hard way).

All the best! Feel free to ask any questions.