USMLE studying as a resident

[zizoupanda]

Hello

I made the now clearly bad decision not to do my USMLEs as a med student. At least on the good side the Step 2CS was dropped in the mean time.

I'm a PGY-4 in Canada. Job prospects in my speciality aren't great and at the very least I may have to go to the US for fellowship training +/- work there at least temporarily. I want to keep my options open.

The problem is I haven't done my USMLEs yet...

In how much time reasonably (accounting that I'll need to split my time studying for my own speciality, RC thankfully not for another year) can I complete all three steps? I'd ideally like to have all three steps done quickly before the start of 2023 (so over the next 6-7 months) but not sure how realistic this is (I'll need to start studying for my RC after in early 2023 so would like to be done before then)? I obviously just need to pass; they're pass/fail now anyways.

Thanks for any help.

(And if you're a med student or junior resident in a smaller field; just do them in case. You lose nothing but a 2-3000$ which is a drop in the bucket considering what we spend for med school, LMCC, RC, ...)

[JohnGrisham]

49 minutes ago, zizoupanda said:

Hello

I made the now clearly bad decision not to do my USMLEs as a med student. At least on the good side the Step 2CS was dropped in the mean time.

I'm a PGY-4 in Canada. Job prospects in my speciality aren't great and at the very least I may have to go to the US for fellowship training +/- work there at least temporarily. I want to keep my options open.

The problem is I haven't done my USMLEs yet...

In how much time reasonably (accounting that I'll need to split my time studying for my own speciality, RC thankfully not for another year) can I complete all three steps? I'd ideally like to have all three steps done quickly before the start of 2023 (so over the next 6-7 months) but not sure how realistic this is (I'll need to start studying for my RC after in early 2023 so would like to be done before then)? I obviously just need to pass; they're pass/fail now anyways.

Thanks for any help.

(And if you're a med student or junior resident in a smaller field; just do them in case. You lose nothing but a 2-3000$ which is a drop in the bucket considering what we spend for med school, LMCC, RC, ...)

Get UWORLD, do it twice, and you'll probably get more than a comfortable pass if thats all you did - assuming you were at least an average medical student in the past.

[McMasterMD]

Man to be honest, it will take you some time. Good news, as you mentioned, Step 1 is pass/fail now and Step 2 CS was dropped. Also, for a fellowship, or for work you really don't need super high scores. 

Step 1: UFAP: UWorld x1 +- wrongs, First Aid x1, and Pathoma x1. I'd personally throw in sketchy micro and sketchy pharm in there, as I enjoyed them and found them very useful for both step 1 & 2. Best estimate 2-3 months.

Step 2: UWorld x1 +- wrongs. Best estimate 2-3 months. 

Step 3: Didn't do it yet. I hear UWorldx1 +- wrongs + CCS cases. Best estimate 1-2 months. 

[JohnGrisham]

3 hours ago, McMasterMD said:

Step 1: UFAP: UWorld x1 +- wrongs, First Aid x1, and Pathoma x1. I'd personally throw in sketchy micro and sketchy pharm in there, as I enjoyed them and found them very useful for both step 1 & 2. Best estimate 2-3 months.

Step 2: UWorld x1 +- wrongs. Best estimate 2-3 months. 

if you're just going fgr the pass, the timing is a bit much. 

OP would have done LMCC part 1 and part 2, so thats a good enough foundation for clinical components, to build on with abdriged UFAP, and just UWORLD for step 2 CK. Total of 6 months for both of step 1 and 2ck is not necessary for a comfortable passing score.

[McMasterMD]

10 minutes ago, JohnGrisham said:

if you're just going fgr the pass, the timing is a bit much. 

OP would have done LMCC part 1 and part 2, so thats a good enough foundation for clinical components, to build on with abdriged UFAP, and just UWORLD for step 2 CK. Total of 6 months for both of step 1 and 2ck is not necessary for a comfortable passing score.

Nah man. Times have changed. OP is a full-time resident + said that he/she needs to study for their own specialty, so 2-3 months of studying in the evenings for each of the exams is realistic. To catch you up to speed, UWorld for Step 1 now has 3600+ questions, and for Step 2 it's 4000+ questions. Try cramming that in two months, along with UFAP, full time work, academic and personal commitments. If you did it, obviously kudos, but it is not realistic for the non-superhuman folks. 

Important point: passing steps is not that easy, do not underestimate them. If Step 2 is like a 10/10 on the scale of difficulty, LMCC 1 is barely a 2/10. 

[zizoupanda]

Thanks for the advice!

Is the content on the step 2 that much different than step 1 that I would need an additional 3 months to study for it? Or is the overlap sufficient that I could do uworld x 1 quickly in between and do it 4-6 weeks later?

[McMasterMD]

4 hours ago, zizoupanda said:

Thanks for the advice!

Is the content on the step 2 that much different than step 1 that I would need an additional 3 months to study for it? Or is the overlap sufficient that I could do uworld x 1 quickly in between and do it 4-6 weeks later?

I'd say get UWorld, and start going through the questions & explanations. The explanations are long. See what's realistic for you and how many questions you can go through every evening. Make a schedule that works for you. Perhaps JohnGrisham's accelerated timeline will work for you. Personally, I think that 4 weeks of part-time studying will be very tight, whereas, 2 months+ is a lot more realistic. Obviously, whatever works for you, your schedule, and your well-being. 

What guided my studying was that I wanted to not only pass, but get a good score, since fellowships in the US are competitive and they still look at your step scores. Not as much as for residency, but they still do.

Step 2 and LMCC 1 are quite different. Content overlaps - sure, but not as much as people think. Step 2 requires a lot more knowledge and advanced synthesis of the presented information. 

Anyways, I think I said all I wanted to say. If you need any step advice, feel free to message me.

Good luck!

[shikimate]

Isn't step 1 pass/fail now? That should make it MASSIVELY easier for you especially if you are in a specialty that gets some basic physiology like IM, peds, pathology etc. Maybe 3 months of studying on UWorld + first aid.

Step 2 again depends on what specialty you are? FM or IM/peds great, surgery meh, derm/rad/path/genetics reasonable, psych/public health kinda iffy. Maybe 3-4 months with UWorld + first aid?

Step 3 really depends on your specialty. FM/IM should be piece of cake, just your basic primary care/ER stuff.

[JohnGrisham]

12 hours ago, McMasterMD said:

Nah man. Times have changed. OP is a full-time resident + said that he/she needs to study for their own specialty, so 2-3 months of studying in the evenings for each of the exams is realistic. To catch you up to speed, UWorld for Step 1 now has 3600+ questions, and for Step 2 it's 4000+ questions. Try cramming that in two months, along with UFAP, full time work, academic and personal commitments. If you did it, obviously kudos, but it is not realistic for the non-superhuman folks. 

Important point: passing steps is not that easy, do not underestimate them. If Step 2 is like a 10/10 on the scale of difficulty, LMCC 1 is barely a 2/10. 

I found STEP 2 CK to be "easier" than LMCC, only because you can more clearly prepare for STEP 2 CK, and its a well-written exam. LMCC exams are poorly written.  UWORLD all the way. I'll stick to my guns that even if you get a partial first pass on UWORLD's 3600+ and 4000+, most average Canadian medical students will pass the exam. Again, getting a pass is very different than even getting an average score, and certainly very different then a strong score....   But most don't aim to "just pass".

You are right though, if they are studying for their own RC exam at the same time then your timeline is more accurate - i must have misread that they weren't overlapping.

[UWOFTW]

The old saying was 2 months, 2 weeks, 2 days for study time for STEP 1, STEP 2, and STEP 3, respectively. Now with STEP 1 being P/F and with increased importance on the STEP 2 score, maybe it should be 2 weeks, 2 months, and 2 days?

[zizoupanda]

Thanks for everyone's advice. It's +++ appreciated.

I finished IM and did the IM RC last year so yeah I'm not far away from general medicine knowledge but will have to brush up on some peds, psych, ob/gyne. I'm much more worried about the step 1 (cause the pathophys) than the step 2 but maybe I'm wrong. 

I'll look into scheduling it; I'll try w/2-3mo of slowly studying for steps 1 and 2 each so I don't burn myself out and give myself time to do other things. I'll try doing just UWORLD +\- first aid for extra reading around topics if ever I have the time. Again my goal is literally a pass to have it in my back pocket worse case scenario. I've used UWORLD for other exams and found it perfect so I'll trust it. Hopefully it works. I'll report back when I'm done.

 

[McMasterMD]

Hello folks. Do Canadian residencies cover examination fees? e.g. Step 3? 

[ChemPetE]

No

[Edict]

On 5/2/2022 at 4:31 AM, zizoupanda said:

Thanks for the advice!

Is the content on the step 2 that much different than step 1 that I would need an additional 3 months to study for it? Or is the overlap sufficient that I could do uworld x 1 quickly in between and do it 4-6 weeks later?

I've written all 4 exams. My experience is that the Step 1, 2 and 3 are all on the same spectrum. Step 1 and 2 are pretty similar with the main difference being that Step 1 focuses on more esoteric microbio/biochem/path/genetic topics that you probably have not learned. Step 2 you should be able to pass without even studying very much, you just need broad based knowledge. Step 3, you need to study a bit to get a handle on the CCS section and become familiar. 

I think you can definitely finish them all in 6-7 months, start by studying for Step 1 (2-3 months) and you should be able to write Step 2 shortly after. Then take some time and study for Step 3. My advice is to try to take a week of vacation before each exam to study on top of studying during your off time. 

I'm confident you'll pass. 

[Edict]

On 5/3/2022 at 8:11 PM, McMasterMD said:

Hello folks. Do Canadian residencies cover examination fees? e.g. Step 3? 

Even American residencies don't cover exam fees haha. We don't even cover LMCC fees, which are astronomical considering what they actually offer.. 

[Edict]

On 5/2/2022 at 2:15 PM, UWOFTW said:

The old saying was 2 months, 2 weeks, 2 days for study time for STEP 1, STEP 2, and STEP 3, respectively. Now with STEP 1 being P/F and with increased importance on the STEP 2 score, maybe it should be 2 weeks, 2 months, and 2 days?

That only applies if you are in the US and Step 2 score matters. If you are a resident, Step 1 will be a lot of material you either never learned in medical school or glossed over briefly, some questions might even be undergrad knowledge if you did life sciences.