I finished the USMLE Step 3 exam today. It was more ungodly than I had imagined. A friend of mine had joked about the progression of these licensing exams: Step 1 – 2 wks of preparation; Step 2 – 2 days of preparation; Step 3 – No. 2 pencil. Well, I didn’t even bring a pencil for the test, since it’s all electronic.

I can now get back to more pressing matters, such as updating this blog! More entries to follow. For those of you who are interested, I’ve made the Anki flashcards for Step 3 available on the downloads page.

medicine usmle

typical Anki screenshot

I finally managed to register for the USMLE Step 3 after going through all the hoops that the NY State Department dishes out for physicians. Now the only thing left is to learn the material for the test. The test itself is a two-day exam with clinical scenarios relating to general medicine. It’s run by the National Board of medical examiners, but is actually administered by the folks at Prometric. (I’ve taken MSCE’s and IBM AIX licensure exams by them in the past, as well as Step 1/2 exams).

I haven’t decided how to prepare for the exam. I haven’t purchased any books yet, nor have I the urge to. The exam itself was $690, and the NY State Dept charged me $735 to make sure I’m not a villian.  What a rip.

However, since I’m not necessarily in the mood to do any group studying, I might try to use some spaced-repetition software to help some of the material sink in my head.  Read more…

computing usmle, work