Step 3 , Day 1

This post is intended to be both specific and general. It's a debriefing of my Step 3 experience (which I hopefully won't have to repeat, if I didn't totally suck at it) and it's also meant to comment more generally on test-taking strategy, something which I believe all academics can never review sufficiently.

I walked in and noticed that, as usual, the testing center was running late. I sat down and, after hearing some chatter, I found out that more people were taking the step 3. There was even someone there taking their Family Medicine Board Exam, and there was another who was taking their Step 1. I was the only IMG there though. I walked into the sign-in area and got all my identification in order. They collected my signature, took a photo of my face, I recorded my fingerprints, turned my pockets inside out, raised my pant-legs and got scanned by a metal detector.

I entered the testing area to find it more than half full of busy testees. I skipped the tutorial (probably one of the smarter decisions I've made in the past 4 years, it's crucial to move quickly when possible before the summative amount of time spent on the test starts to wear down on you) and went straight for the questions. The first and second blocks were not amazing, the third block felt well, and the other blocks were an even mix.

There were three different types of questions on this test, as I believe there are on any standardized test. There were the questions that everybody could answer without problems, there were the questions that next to nobody would be able to answer, and then there were a bunch of questions on which most doctors would make somewhat of an "educated guess". These educated guesses, depending on how educated they would be, end up determining whether or not someone actually passes. If a doctor practices enough questions on test banks, he can score free points by having seen some of these "educated guesses" in advance.

That's more or less how it is for any standardized test. You study and study and you break your back, and on the day itself, if you panic or waste time or get stuck on a question and take too long on it, you get eaten alive. There were times in that room when I stalled, but I managed to fast-read other questions and catch up, hopefully while also getting those other questions right. We find out in June. Day 2 tomorrow.