When to give step 3? What is the ideal time according to your USMLE journey?

I would suggest that you should take your step 3 exam as soon as possible after your step 2 CK, ideally within 3-4 months. The content and topics of the clinical part of the step 3 exam are very similar to step 2, so it will be beneficial for you to prepare for the exam.

Before I talk about anything. I have attached two CCS notes at the end of the article.So if you are running out of time, you can just directly explore those notes.

Let me break down the Step 3 exams into three parts.

  1. Basic science

  2. Clinical science

  3. CCS cases

These are the main pillars of the exam. Following are the resources I have used for each part!

Basic science (Day 1)

  • First aid

    • Biochemistry section (genetic disease, metabolic disease and enzymes, storage diseases, collagen synthesis, muscular dystrophies, vitamin deficiencies, and lipid disorders)

    • Immunology (vaccine types, immunodeficiencies, allergic reactions, graft rejection, types of hypersensitivity, blood transfusion reactions, and pharmacology)

    • Microbiology (It’s heavy on this subject, particularly on day 1—types of bacteria, general clinical microbiology, mechanisms of exotoxins and endotoxins, types of fungus, types of virus and Antimicrobials)

    • General pharmacology (Side effects, sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, antidotes, and Poisons)

    • General pathology (Carcinogen and oncogenes)

    • Biostat—formula and definitions

    • ethical scenarios

    • Pharmacology of the all systems given, starting from cardiology to respiratory system.

  • UWorld QBank:

    • I am a big fan of UWorld, and to be honest, that is the most important part of my medical knowledge journey. It cleared my concepts very well in every step.

    • But UWorld didn’t help me too much for day 1, at least for me. It will only be helpful for microbiology and certain types of pharmacology.

Summary for day 1:

  • Find your old first aid book for step 1, and revise the topics you feel will be asked as clinical questions. (Ex, you dont have to worry about nitrogen bases of DNA, but you should definitely read about enzyme deficiency in Tay-Sachs disease.)

  • Master your concepts for biostat and ethics; do not skip any topics in these two subjects

Clinical science (Day 2):

  • Uworld

    • Again, I didn’t feel that UWorld would be much help for everyday 2. You should do only first pass; basically, it will help you to remember your info of step 2

    • Day 2 will be the same as step 2 except for biostat and ethics. I would advise you to revise the notes of step 2 if you have saved them.

    • Do not focus on the percentage; it varies a lot throughout the preparations. Better is to take them as a learning tool and finish them ASAP.

    • I do not think you will need a second pass. It’s just the same content as step 1 and step 2. The majority of the questions will be a revision for you.

  • Amboss

    • Amboss did a great job for step 2 as well as step 3. If you are getting bored with UWorld and you have done Amboss for Step 2 CK, just solve the random block of Amboss; it will help you to retain those Step 2 concepts.

    • All step 3 content is a repetition of step 2 content in Amboss. So it’s all revision.

    • How to find blocks in Amboss for a particular exam?

      Go to study plan —> Discover all study plans —> Medical licensing exams —> USMLE 3 —> 58 Blocks are in there

      You do not need to create blocks by yourself. Just solve the Biostat, Ethics, and other blocks in which your topics are weak.

    • Other blocks I am recommending are

      Go to study plan —> Discover all study plans —> High Yield Exam Prep

      HY risk factors, HY screening, and vaccination. HY Patient safety and quality improvement, HY Biostatistics and Epidemiology

      At least do these blocks for sure. If you don’t have time to go through those 58 blocks.

CCS cases (Day 2)

  • https://ccscases.com/ —This is the link for the website. which everybody uses.

  • This is one of the main sections of the exam, which can drop or increase your score (there is no official information on how much it affects, but people kept saying on reddits and other platforms)

  • I personally had an experience where CCS cases saved me, as my MCQs did not go very well, but I got positive updates in 12 out of 13 cases and partially positive updates in one. That saved my score drop and still I received a decent score.

  • Please look at my notes for CCS cases and try to make your own notes for yourself. It will help you retain more than if you use my notes passively.

  • Do all cases; do not even skip a single one.

  • Your main goal should be to prepare your own strategy to solve the CCS cases by the end of the last case.

  • Do the cases given in free 137 to familiarize yourself with the interface of the exam.

Summary:

  • Finish all the CCS cases, make your own strategy and notes, and expose yourself to the cases given in Free 137.

These are the PDFs for notes of CCS cases.

https://www.roots2steth.com/s/HY-1-to-20-cases-notes-Roots2Steth.pdf

https://www.roots2steth.com/s/All-CCS-cases-notes-and-strategies-Roots2Steth.pdf

Good luck! I know step 3 preparation can be boring sometimes, but keep your spirit up.

Fell free to ask any question through the one-on-one session link.

Thank you!