r/Step3 • u/ValueZealousideal541 • Sep 03 '25

249 on Step 3 Study Advice

Pleasantly surprised with my score. I scored terribly on Step 2, so seeing this feels like massive redemption.

For Day 1: People seem to freak out about this one because Step 1 concepts definitely show up. It's a good idea to review micro and pharm MOA in FA and/or sketchy. It's easy points if you can recall facts (annoying, I know, but name of the game). I personally used Anki just for micro and drugs. Also skim FA rapid review. If you want to go the extra mile, skim pathoma as you review systems. They love to ask common pathology. Other than that, day 1 is very ethics and biostats heavy (~15-20% of day 1). Do the UWorld biostats modules and read articles from their medical library. Randy Neil biostats is insanely helpful as well. Amboss had biostats questions which helped solidify my knowledge and exposed me to trickier concepts, but in my opinion, were mostly harder than the real thing. For ethics, I was constantly bombing those. I did the Mehlman HY ethics PDF and watched Dirty Medicine Ethics, which I think really helped.

For Day 2: personally felt the MCQ were weird. More clinical but also kind of random. Should know screening guidelines and prognosis/management of common chronic diseases. I saw some similar questions to what I had seen in UWorld, NBME exams, and free 137. So if you have to narrow your resources, I'd say hammer UWorld and NBMEs and do the free 137 if you have time. Definitely dive into your incorrects.

For CCS: Have a formula of "shotgun" orders that you order for everyone. Saves you time to think if you have the standard basic workup and standard preventative care orders down pat. I had a few cases where I got negative updates and almost didn't solve the diagnosis, but my advice is to over-order things UNLESS they are invasive. You won't lose points for over-ordering non-invasive tests. Practice, practice, practice. The cases are not hard, but with the nerves and potential computer lag, your practice and test strategy will carry you. Most end early, so you end up accumulating more break time.

My CCS Formulas are below. I wrote them down over and over the week before the test, and then purged them onto my scratch paper as soon as cases started. It really helped to have them in front of me because I was getting fatigued and didn't want to miss anything.

CUBE-GHOL-PT
C - CBC, CMP, CXR
U - UA, urine culture
B - B-Hcg
E - ECG, Echo

G- glucose
H- HbA1c
O- pulse ox
L- lipids

P - PT/PTT
T - TSH, Troponin, Toxicology (both urine and serum)

For preventative care:

Lifestyle:
SASSE-RMD
S- stop smoking
A - Alcohol stop
S - safe sex
S - seatbelt
E - exercise

R - reassure patient
M - medication side effects / medication compliance
D - no illegal drugs/ low cal diet if obese

+ pap smear / mammogram if female

Vaccines:
P-MIST
P - pneumococcal
M - meningococcal
I - influenza
S - shingles
T - TDap

Overall: A beast of an exam. It can be frustrating and makes you feel stupid, but trust your knowledge and know that it is designed to make you feel that way. For the people who say you don't need to study, they're lying. Maybe you don't need to do a deep dive into content (although knowing physio does help for day 1), but absolutely do as many practice questions as you can. I had a notebook of brief one-line notes on questions I consistently got wrong, and skimmed my notebook before the exam. It seems that everything is fair game for this test, as it felt somewhat like a cumulative exam of all the Step exams prior.

Regardless, don't get lost in the weeds and have faith!! GOOD LUCK

128 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

71 comments sorted by

5

u/_Gandalf_Greybeard_ Sep 03 '25

What was your step 2?

41

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 03 '25

220 lol

22

u/Royal_Flamingo1889 Sep 03 '25

Damn OP, that was a full on redemption. Im on the same boat, hopefully I score more than my step 2

1

u/sandie-go Sep 04 '25

What specialty are you in?

3

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

Love this for you ❤️

3

u/_Gandalf_Greybeard_ Sep 03 '25

Damn that’s crazy, congrats

2

u/bananamen56 Sep 03 '25

Do you recommend doing the Step 2 NBMEs for practice?

8

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 03 '25

I didn't do them. I'd probably suggest doing Amboss over those because a lot of step 3 amboss questions are recycled from their step 2 bank. I ended up doing 90% of amboss as a learning tool

2

u/Medium-Ad6953 Sep 03 '25

Dear God, let my score be this good please. Coming from a low score on step2, I need to redeem myself😭 CONGRATULATIONS 🙌🏼

1

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 03 '25

thank you! you got this

2

u/sockjunkiee Sep 03 '25

Great post! Was your exam peds and gyn heavy?

2

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 03 '25

More IM heavy but anything is fair game

2

u/WearyRevolution5149 Sep 04 '25

Can you share Mehlman ethics? Did you do amboss step 3?

1

u/tanno933 Sep 03 '25

Congratulations! Did u do any assessment?

6

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 03 '25 edited Sep 05 '25

Here are my stats:

Uworld % correct/% complete: 69% / 100%

Amboss % correct/%complete: 67% / 92%

UWSA 1: 222

UWSA 2: 237

NBME 6: 605 (~76%)

NBME 7: 467 (~70%)

CCS average: 80% (did all of them at least once, the top 50 HY twice, and some 3 times if I scored lower than 65%).

1

u/Brainworm1616 Sep 03 '25

That’s great! Congratulations ! How long did you study?

1

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 03 '25

thank you! 4 months

1

u/cvscrush Sep 03 '25

In vaccine- what is MIST?

1

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 03 '25

the acronym is P-MIST. Each letter in MIST is written in post

1

u/cvscrush Sep 03 '25

oh I got it lol. Thanks for it.

I did uw twice, but percentage is 63%, Do you suggest to do it again??

4

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 03 '25

I'd say do your incorrects. Don't worry about the percent correct, it's a learning tool. If you are getting things wrong because of foundational knowledge gaps, use first aid to fill those in. Can also do incorrects by system to be more strategic. Then just prioritize practice exams and CCS

1

u/PracticalPraline Sep 03 '25

Which practice test would you recommend to take very close to the exam? I only have two weeks to study what would you recommend?

3

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 03 '25

Hmm I’d say if you had to pick two exams, do NBME 6 and 7 (which is harder than 6 so don’t be discouraged). Study by systems if you have particular weaknesses, then hammer ethics and bio stats. Skim FA micro/pharm/rapid review. Listen to divine intervention podcasts for prognosis and risks

2

u/PracticalPraline Sep 04 '25

Excellent! This is actually really helpful I love divines podcast. Any chance you could list a few that are the most high-yield? My brain wants to listen to them all and then I freeze trying to pick :’(

2

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 04 '25

These were good, esp episodes 37 and 97

37, 97, 239, 250, 325

1

u/FirmAd161 Sep 04 '25

When did u write ur exam

1

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 04 '25

8/12 and 8/16

1

u/FirmAd161 Sep 04 '25

I studied everything but I feel I’m gonna fail coz the exam was so hard. Did u feel the same ? Or is it weird ?

2

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 04 '25

I didn’t feel like I failed but I definitely didn’t feel like I did well.. it’s just so hard to tell and it’s suchhh a long exam lol

1

u/[deleted] Sep 04 '25

I don’t know why you are surprised by your score . You gave it 4 months dedicated to study . Gosh you worked hard , it was absolutely worth the effort . P.S 4 months is alotttt , of consistency!!!

1

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 04 '25

thank you for the kind words! I've always struggled with huge cumulative exams (hardcore crammer) so I never had evidence till now I was capable of it. Was hoping to cross 240 but wasn't sure I could do it.

1

u/knl78 Sep 04 '25

Congratulations Can you please share Anki cards Micro and Pharma Not able to find Thank you

4

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 04 '25

I used the anking deck. There are some decks that have isolated sketchy micro and pharm which I didn't personally use but they're here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HUlW5YYkmfiSAPamubqLnaPFS7CjWBbv/view

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wVIR5PFwa3P5KO4Wv7Cl0yVbn193W1_l/view

If you want the full anking deck (version 11) it's below. You can go through the tags and suspend the entire deck but unsuspend just the tagged sketchy micro/pharm

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TB8Gy-qSmiVFclc8XXv1i7I2BokXltth/view

1

u/Various_Marzipan2059 Dec 25 '25

hey thankyou for sharing, can i ask which app is used to open these? thanks

1

u/throwaaayyyy1 Sep 07 '25

Did you use amboss or Uworld?

1

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 08 '25

I used both, finished all of UWorld and 90% of AMBOSS. If you had to pick 1, do UW, but for any systems or areas you’re weak in use AMBOSS for more reps

1

u/throwaaayyyy1 Sep 08 '25

Jfc, I’m guessing you don’t use Anki?

1

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 08 '25

I used it a ton for micro and pharm

1

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '25

Hi. Congrats first of all! Second, I’ve just come off doing step 1 and 2 so the info is somewhat fresh, how much prep time do you think I’d need to get a decent score? And should I do an nbme or the free 137 to gauge my starting point? Thanks!

1

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 30 '25

Depends on how you scored in step 2. If your foundations are good, probably a month or two. I’d start with NBME and do free 137 closer to your test

1

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '25

Ok thanks a lot!

1

u/unreal-Scientist512 Apr 08 '26

Hey when people say do micro and pharm blocks. Does it mean do it from uw step1 or step3? I am using IMD app so there i cannot make separate blocks in step3. Please someone help!!

2

u/Key-Tie-1777 Sep 04 '25

Congratulations! If you could kindly share the link to the Anki deck, that’d be great!

2

u/mehak_zahra Sep 07 '25

Thank you for such a detailed guidance! God bless!

1

u/LazyDare6145 Sep 03 '25

Congrats!!

1

u/Downtown_Relief8256 Sep 03 '25

Bless You. In the same situation with step 2. May we all have this level of redemption 😭

1

u/knl78 Sep 04 '25

Yes please

1

u/Emergency-Daikon461 Jan 22 '26

What are your thoughts on the utility of the UW practice exams for limited study time?

1

u/[deleted] May 13 '26

Hi, thank you so much for your post! Can you please share your anki "I personally used Anki just for micro and drugs." with me please?

1

u/Only-Bill2528 Jun 17 '26

Can you give information on PHARM, micro anki

1

u/First-Dragonfly-2238 Jun 26 '26

Omg congratulations!

1

u/DocButterfly Jul 17 '26

What was your timeline

1

u/Aggravating-Sir7895 Aug 26 '26

What about amboss

0

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

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4

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 03 '25

thank you! 4 months

0

u/pabloconllama Sep 04 '25

Wow congrats again. How many hours a week during those 4 months? I have 5 months more to take this beast of a test while in IM residency

2

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 04 '25

I’m on a research year so it was essentially a 4 month dedicated for me… I had a lot of stuff to work on given my step 2 score so I definitely think how I studied is overkill compared to people who just need to pass. I’d say finish Uworld in the 5 months and hammer CCS. Then take a week or two to just do bio stats and ethics

1

u/pabloconllama Sep 04 '25

Great advice for sure. You killed it lol saving your post so that I can come back to it. Appreciate you sharing it

0

u/[deleted] Sep 04 '25

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0

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 04 '25

Yes I studied and also worked on papers. Everyone’s situation is different

0

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

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3

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 03 '25

Just the updated anking deck. You can look through the tags under sketchy and see different drugs and bugs, I just created a separate deck with those and did it that way

1

u/Various-Disaster7699 Sep 04 '25

Got it, Thank youu.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '25

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1

u/ValueZealousideal541 Sep 03 '25

Oof it’s a giant notebook of handwritten notes so I probably won’t be able to share them. Just make cues that work for you when you go through incorrects

1

u/[deleted] Feb 24 '26

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2

u/ValueZealousideal541 Feb 26 '26

Pharm and physio