03-26-2014, 08:17 AM
I want to thank God Almighty for helping me to pass step 3 on my first attempt. I got some helpful tips/strategies on how to approach step 3 from this forum, and I guess it's time to give back.
My prep time ~ 4.5 months while working full/part-time.
Study materials - MTB S3, UW, Archer CCS & UW CCS. I also revised MTB S2, and watched a couple of Kaplan videos (CK & S3 IM).
Exam - question stems really lengthy on both days for me. Really need a lot of mental stamina to keep on going because it gets tiring at a point.
CCS - 9 cases improved and ended in a fair amount of time. Pretty certain about the diagnoses, though may have placed some unnecessary orders in some. One case also got better, but seemed to go on and on and I almost used up all the allotted time. Another case got better initially, but started complaining about the initial problems again and then ended, so not sure. The other case; I started out wrongly and didn't realize till the report of an investigation I had ordered revealed what it was. While in the process of correcting my management along this line, it ended with the patient not improving.
USMLE CCS prep software - it definitely helps getting familiar with navigating this software, practicing and reading the feedback on the free 6 cases available on the usmle website. There are some subtle differences compared to the UW CCS software.
Assessment - NBME 2; 370. revised MTB 3 for ~ 2 weeks then took NBME 3; 430.
Final score - > 200
Thank GOD for bringing me to a successful completion of the exams, and best wishes to us all in our future endeavors.
My prep time ~ 4.5 months while working full/part-time.
Study materials - MTB S3, UW, Archer CCS & UW CCS. I also revised MTB S2, and watched a couple of Kaplan videos (CK & S3 IM).
Exam - question stems really lengthy on both days for me. Really need a lot of mental stamina to keep on going because it gets tiring at a point.
CCS - 9 cases improved and ended in a fair amount of time. Pretty certain about the diagnoses, though may have placed some unnecessary orders in some. One case also got better, but seemed to go on and on and I almost used up all the allotted time. Another case got better initially, but started complaining about the initial problems again and then ended, so not sure. The other case; I started out wrongly and didn't realize till the report of an investigation I had ordered revealed what it was. While in the process of correcting my management along this line, it ended with the patient not improving.
USMLE CCS prep software - it definitely helps getting familiar with navigating this software, practicing and reading the feedback on the free 6 cases available on the usmle website. There are some subtle differences compared to the UW CCS software.
Assessment - NBME 2; 370. revised MTB 3 for ~ 2 weeks then took NBME 3; 430.
Final score - > 200
Thank GOD for bringing me to a successful completion of the exams, and best wishes to us all in our future endeavors.
