Took both days this week.
Study strategy:
-I'm a PGY2, was initially planning on taking step 3 last summer but due to COVID put it off until now. So kind of had a long, drawn out, sporadic study process.
-Worth noting I'm in FM - so I am doing a little bit of everything on a daily basis including inpatient and outpatient grown ups, kids, and pregnant ladies, and am using some FM boards study material along with all of this. So putting off the exam til later was probably to my benefit due to having more clinical experience under my belt. Obviously this would probably not be the case if you're in something like derm or ortho where you're more focused in on one specific area of medicine.
-Did UWorld blocks on days off on heavy rotations, most days on lighter rotations. Finished it all a month or two ago, got 62% correct.
-Made Anki cards from UWorld incorrects, was pretty consistent with those at first but then kinda slowed down and stopped
-Over the last month: all UWorld CCS cases (I really struggled with getting the hang of the software), UWorld stats review, and redid incorrects from qbank.
Old test scores:
-UWSA1: 207. Actually took it almost a year ago - at the time I thought I would be taking step 3 within the next few months.
-UWSA2: 229. 1-2 weeks before exam.
-Step 1: 20X
-Step 2: 23X
Test experience:
-Day 1: Pretty tough. Felt very much like step 1. Mostly second and third order questions on things like drug mechanisms and pathophys. Some biostats most of which was fairly basic. Some WEIRD ethics stuff. 1-2 drug ads or abstracts in each block.
-Day 2 MCQs: Much more reasonable imo. More step 2-esque. What's the next step, what test or treatment do you want, etc. Lots of preventive care as well which is certainly my jam. No drug ads or abstracts.
-Day 2 CCS: Mostly pretty straightforward, bread and butter type stuff with the exception of one case that was more of a zebra. Cases seemed to end pretty quickly, even sometimes when I was still waiting for some key lab results that weren't supposed to come back until day 2 or 3...not sure if that's because I made the right choices for empiric tx or because I was just that far off base lol. I wrote out kind of an algorithm/flowsheet on my scratch paper at the beginning of the cases to help keep me organized (e.g. if they're unstable, order iv access, tele, oximetry, morphine if severe pain, etc. before anything else, if you admit don't forget to order dvt ppx, diet and activity orders, routine labs, etc.), which was really helpful in keeping me from getting ahead of myself and keeping things systematic.
Step 3 score: TBD! Will post when I get it.