This group really helped me out in my Step 3 prep, and I just wanted to give back to my fellow colleagues.
I gave my exam in the first week of August and received my score on the last week (on the 3rd Wednesday after Day 2). But I was really busy with applications so I could not post my exam experience earlier.
Final Score: 240
No UWSA and NBME done.
Total prep time 4 months. First 2 months were on and off; in the last 2 months, I studied regularly. I was working at the same time so I only studied on average for 4hrs/day on weekdays but did manage to study 8hrs/day on weekends. Took off from work in the last 3 weeks for fully dedicated study.
Day 1 was on the 5th and Day 2 was on the 9th (so I had 3 days in between, just did CCS cases because that is what will determine your score. A good CCS score will lift up your total score dramatically; on the other hand, a poor score will bring it way down, even if you had done relatively well in the other blocks).
Study materials:
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UWORLD for Step 3. This will be your main study material. I did 1 round and just reviewed the incorrect ones on the second round. I did not have time to do 2 full rounds.
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Step 2 CK (Charts and Tables); my own notes which I had made for CK, because a lot of CK type questions are seen on Day 2.
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First Aid (Step 1) Pharma for Mechanism of Action and Side effect questions. If you are good in Medicine, you will easily get all the side-effect questions. But please go through as much MOA as possible from FA Step 1. In my exam, I had 4 antibiotic MOA question!! So please know the mechanism of actions of all antibiotics!!
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First Aid (Step 1) Micro, especially the important charts and tables. However, if you are good in Infectious diseases, you will easily get all the micro questions even if you do not study FA Micro.
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General Patho (either from pathoma or FA)- Just, read the charts and tables. Do not read Systemic Patho! (By General Ptho, I mean the first 4 or 5 chapters)
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Biostats- UW subject review is a must and UW Step 3. You will get at least 5-7 questions from Biostats and Ethics per block, so you need to be really good in them.
For ethics, you can read what you studied for step 1 and 2. Together with UW Step 3, that should be good enough.
- For CCS- Just did 75 out of 100 cases from ccs.com (only did 1 round, did not have time to do two). I did them in between day 1 and day 2 (had 3 days in between). Previously I had watched two of the Archer videos and that helped me get used to the CCS software. UWORLD CCS is just a waste of time, honestly.
Please make sure you really move fast in CCS because there is a 2-3 seconds lag in the exam software. So even if you are finishing on time in ccs.com does not mean that you can finish on time in the real exam. Rather, try to finish the case at least 1minute before when you are practicing.
The last piece of advice, remember that all Usmle scores matter. Of course, Step 1 and CK scores are more important but Step 3 scores matter as well. Try to get something that is par with your Step 1 and CK score. For example, if you got 250+ in step 1 and 2, getting a 210/220 in step 3 reflects poorly on the CV. On the other hand, If you got a 210+ in step 1 and 2, getting a 220+ in step 3 will really help you out. So give the exam only when you are confident. Of course, you do not have to overprepare. Remember the average prep time for Step 3 is 2.5-5 months for IMG. (Some people say 1 month, but they are just trying to look smart!!