Step 3 preparation by Puneet Baweja

Hi all the following post is by Puneet in regards to preparation for Step 3.

Preparation Materials: Master The Boards Step 3, Step 2 CK UWorld notes, Uworld qbank and CCS. 

Preparation: Go through MTB properly once before starting qbank. I added in ccs portion about halfway through the qbank. I had about nine days between the two parts, therefore, the week before each exam I concentrated only on the relevant material. 

Day 1 - Foundations of Independent Practice (FIP): This is basically CK along with basic science correlations. Concentrate on your uworld CK notes and all the basic science in MTB. As for Biostats, go over all the cases in uworld once a couple of days before and create your cheat sheet for the equations. In the real exam, Biostats use up a lot of time therefore if it seems like it could take a while just click something and move on… come back to it if you get time at the end of the block. 

Day 2 - Advanced Clinical Medicine (ACM): This is all about managing comorbidities, risk and prognostic factors. Go over your step 3 uworld notes for this. So make sure you know which risk factor matters more in each patient and know where to pick treatment over investigations. Don’t even bother looking at biostats or basics anymore. Your notes for CCS will help here as well since it’s all management, therefore, don’t wait too long to start CCS. 

CCS: This again requires work if you’re not a resident. Familiarize yourself with the software, it’s all about practice. Approach this like CS- Have a plan of what to do and which differential diagnosis to suspect depending on patient history. Know how to order each investigation in the most convenient way, as in type in oxy to select oxygen therapy as well as pulse ox at the same time. Also, the week before day 2, as I went through MTB, go over all the diseases a general physician should be able to treat in CCS manner. This way you won’t forget the specific investigation and treatment in the real exam. Also, don’t forget to go over the ccs software on USMLE's website since it’s a bit different than uworld.

Best of luck!

Puneet
drpbaweja@gmail.com