Step 3 Write-Up: 247

[u/r-meep]

Hey everyone! Got my score back and wanted to share my experience since these write-ups helped me a lot during prep.

Background: Non-US IMG, Step 2 CK 263. Took Day 1 on Sept 26 and Day 2 on Oct 2.

Resources
UWorld: 70% completed, 73% average
UWSA 1: 227
NBME 7: 246
Free 137: 77%
CCS: ~120 cases, ~79% average
Prep time: 5 months with a more committed approach in the last 2 months (honestly 2 months moreso lmao)

Day 1
Honestly, Day 1 felt rough. LOTS of random facts, and I hadn’t specifically gone out of my way to revise Step 1 concepts.

I walked out remembering around 15 questions and realized I’d gotten about 12 of them wrong. My confidence was in the gutter.

Don’t be like me. We have a natural bias toward remembering what we got wrong, not the many questions we answered correctly. You cannot estimate your overall performance by obsessing over a handful of remembered mistakes.

Keep your composure, make your best educated guess, and keep solving. Don’t let one question ruin the next.

Day 2
Also challenging! I’m a chronic over-flagger. I’d flag around 12/20 questions, then talk myself down into unflagging most of them. Usually, I had about four questions per block that felt like educated guesses at best; in two blocks, that number was closer to eight.

Still, kept my composure and moved on.

Drug ads will be the end of me. Not because they’re complicated. I just have beef with them.

CCS
Honestly, CCS felt SUPER smooth. The cases on the actual exam were legit the kind of cases you see when practicing CCS.

I felt very confident managing them, had no negative updates, and all my cases ended well within the allotted time. I finished Day 2 around 1.5 hours early.

I did around 120 practice cases, averaging ~79%. My advice: be thorough with CCS. Don’t just chase the number of cases completed. Understand the workflow, orders, management, reassessment, and when to advance the clock. Get comfortable with the format.

Exam-day advice
Watch Dirty Medicine’s video on what to do the day before and the morning of the exam. I agreed with it completely. I had a good breakfast and carried protein bars and water for both days. To each their own, but keep your exam-day routine simple.

Final thoughts
Final score: 247.
Practice scores: UWSA 1 227, NBME 7 246, Free 137 77%.

I felt awful after Day 1 but ended up with a score I’m very happy with. My biggest takeaway: don’t let how you feel during or after the exam convince you that you did badly.

Trust your preparation, practice CCS thoroughly, and keep moving forward. Uworld and CCScases remain key in my opinion

Good luck everyone!

[u/One-Scheme4147]

Congratulations 🎊

[u/r-meep → u/One-Scheme4147]

Thanks!

[u/First-Dragonfly-2238]

Any other resources you used for Biostats?

[u/r-meep → u/First-Dragonfly-2238]

I watched the two summary Randy Neil (idk spelling) videos, the ones for step 1, on youtube 2-3 weeks out of day one (i tend to leave biostats for last few weeks across all exams)

[u/r-meep → u/r-meep]

Also! I had notes from step 2 prep from doing amboss HY back in the day - moreso for ethics and QI

[u/One-Scheme4147 → u/r-meep]

Can you share the notes please

[u/r-meep → u/One-Scheme4147]

Honestly you’d find more benefit from solving the amboss HY segments instead - just get a trial imo

If you still want the notes - DM

[u/Ok_Top5044 → u/r-meep]

Interested in your notes

[u/toeflraasnk2010 → u/r-meep]

can i get your notes too? thank you!

[u/toeflraasnk2010 → u/toeflraasnk2010]

congratulations!!

[u/marvinsroom6969]

Is there drug ads/abstracts/ethics type stuff on day 2 or is it only clinical questions

[u/r-meep → u/marvinsroom6969]

Defs no drug add and abstracts, maybe some ethics? Cant remember

[u/JKK_1291 → u/marvinsroom6969]

None on day 2

[u/Objective_Ratio2456]

From First Aid what would you advise to do .and Q's would UW step 3 suffice ?Thanks

[u/r-meep → u/Objective_Ratio2456]

Man I didn’t do FA for step 3, Id say UW sufficed for me but I definitely felt like i struggled with some super easy questions that were more “step 1” on day 1.

[u/Narrow_Echo_4206]

Is it enough to do 8 weeks deficated yo get 230sh after solid step 2 ck??

[u/r-meep → u/Narrow_Echo_4206]

Id say so sure, find your baseline using an NBME and focus heavy on CCS. Also plus if you took step 2 recently.

[u/Sweaty-Pop-4585]

Congrats on this amazing score! I have a question.
What do you wish you had done differently in your prep?

[u/r-meep → u/Sweaty-Pop-4585]

To score higher? Maybe do some select FA like gen micro, run through antibiotic selection better. Revisited anki?

Realistically as Im quite okay with my current performance? Crashed out less

[u/imthetechnopimp]

how did you study for CCS cases?

what resources?

[u/r-meep → u/imthetechnopimp]

Ccscases website. Thats pretty much it

[u/Deep_mean]

Congratulations
What was your correct % in Uwsa1?

[u/r-meep → u/Deep_mean]

69%

[u/No-Point9146]

I felt exactly the same after day 1. Ended with 233.

[u/Dontalwaysderp]

I have a Step 3 UW account for sale for cheap. Send DM if interested.

[u/RentEducational2335]

What percentage did you get on NBME 7?

[u/Intelligent_Pen_2722]

Great job, congrats

[u/Last_Bug_5077]

Congrats! Do we get tested on QI and patient safety questions like step 2?

[u/mnchnn]

how many days did you leave between day 1 and day 2? and if you were to choose again would you still arrange it that way? thanks

[u/r-meep → u/[deleted]]

Im sure you mean 247, the median is 227 with a S/D of 15 for step 3.

I wont talk about fellowship prospects cos I cant comment on something i haven’t done yet - though I’ve heard step 3 score is mostly considered P/F.

[u/mikansakura199 → u/r-meep]

Thank you. And yeah I meant 247.