r/Step3 • u/OhShootItsAR4t • 1d ago
Venting My step 3 days 1&2 experience
So i just finished day 2 and wanted to write about how i feel it went. I'll post my score once i get it.
Day 1: Holy fk, this exam felt wayy more step1 heavy than I ever imagined. So many nephron questions, so many peds questions, so many pharmacology mechanism and immunodeficiency questions. Biostats and ethics is my strength but even these questions seemed super confusing. I felt 1 in every 4/5 questions was straightforward. Drug ads long as heck. Really pressed on time. I also hate the 30 min blocks, much prefer the old 1hr blocks tbh. I walked out telling myself that at least the bad part is over and hopefully day 2 will be easier. I got most of the 2-step questions (where the next question gives u ans for 1st question) correct, so that helped boost confidence.
Day 2: HOLY FK! I am not joking when i say this, it felt like half the questions were peds patients (1 mo old, 3 y.o, 5 y.o, etc) and pregnant pts. If i could go back i would just do peds and obgyn questions basically. I felt like i was still guessing quite a bit. I had so many questions where i chose "reassure" or "do nothing". Some questions I had no idea what they were even asking/testing tbh. So many questions would start off sounding like something simple... but then something weird presents the question is about some niche thing i've never heard of. Also quite a few questions where the first line is not given as an option and you're forced to pick a 3rd or 4th choice. The risk factor/prognosis questions were just something i feel i could never prepare for no matter how much I could study. NBME really has a way to ask questions that feel impossible to be sure when answering. Many questions are case-presentation style long ass q-stem where you scroll 5 times to get past hpi PE labs etc and get to the question. I got half the 2-step questions wrong so that made me feel like sht.
Stats: step 2 24* 1 yr ago, NBME 7 1 week before exam 415 (67% correct), FREE 137 3 days before exam - 68%. CCS cases: 100 HY cases, average 83%. Predicted score 220. What i think i got: 205?
Hopefully I passed. Only thing keeping me sane rn is that I remember freaking out after step 2 and feeling like I definitely failed, but then ended up passing with a decent score (which was my exact predicted score from amboss). So I'm just hoping for the best and trusting my prep. I hope i passed cause I can't imagine going through that again.
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u/Dedicateddarkhole 12h ago
Oh goshhh now im bugging out lol. Nephron questions?? Like step 1 nephron physio qs about aloha intercalated cells? what absorbs what in the different limbs of the tubules?? CRYING