Crush Step 3: The Ultimate USMLE Step 3 Review

I don't like saying this, because I'm not a hater. But I hate the boards. I hate the people who write these awful questions, the people who justify the existence of these money-grubbing tests, and the self-perpetuating system of medical education, which somehow convinces people that test-taking skills correlate with good patient care. But it is the people who do well on these tests that end up in medicine, and so, naturally, they are all too ready to believe that the tests must reflect real intelligence or knowledge. I'm okay with the concept of testing, but lets not delude ourselves into believing these tests reflect anything more than they do. The MCAT's a good test though. It probable effectively measures who is willing to choose their careers over their families, friends, and mental health. Perhaps Step One of the USMLE measures how much of the basic science people have absorbed, but it is a better instrument for measuring test taking skill. By Step Three, it is really just an endurance test. Each question is a paragraph long, and the test lasts up to eight hours on each of two consecutive days. Success on Step Three has to do with how quickly you can read, or how long you can stay focused, and, of course, how well you do on standardized tests. By the way, what does it say about the earlier screening exams that a certain percentage of test items on Step Three are testing whether or not you can phrase things in a polite way to patients? These are the best questions for those of us who've managed to maintain half a life. When you see five answers with quotation marks around them you can skip the question stem and just eliminate the four choices that only a jerk would actually say to a patient. But these questions keep showing up so somebody must be getting them wrong. It seems surprising, but then again if you've had any experience dealing with doctors from a patient's point of view, it really isn't too shocking. Crush Step Three is the best review book if you are going to study from just one. I used the First Aid for the Boards books for the first two tests, but this time I checked out different books and found the Crush Step 3 book to be the most straightforward and concise, with an emphasis on those trigger words that help you when you have to resort to robot mode. The First Aid book has the benefit of a section at the end that goes through common scenarios that you might see on the second day in the simulated cases, and it is helpful to get a sense of the kinds of orders you can write. But working through the practice cases is really the most important preparation for the simulated cases, and overall Crush does the best job of reviewing the information. This may well be my last review. You see, I've discovered sudoku last Friday. I finally sat down and attempted one and I ended up solving two in three hours. The rush I feel right now is indescribable. I suspect I can crush people's bones to dust just with the mat

Everyone in my program uses this book to study for Step 3 (I'm a third year pediatric resident so I was worried that I was out of touch with bread and butter medicine). You have to know every single word in the book since it is very high yield. But it is perfect for a quick, efficient review of important topics. My only goal was to pass but I actually did pretty well on the exam. The book needs more on ethics and social issues. But, I used the old edition (neon green and black cover) and maybe the new edition covers that -- not sure though (which is why, if I could, I'd give it 4.5 stars). I paired it with Kaplan's Qbook and felt very well prepared for the exam.

This is the best book that someone can find for the step 3 preparations. I just took my step and find this book extremely useful. If you have time go through Kaplan Bank since the combination is unbeatable. for the step 3 I well prepared and read from many sources (Kaplan step 2 and 3 kit, Swanson, ace the board, Kaplan Qbank) and I find this book as some one read all the sources that I used and made an excellent review book for the step 3. In one sentence, this is the best and most useful available source for whom ever wants to take step3.

I can't say enough good things about this book. Concise, high-yield, easy to read and well-organized. Covered all the important topics that were on my exam. In retrospect, the other books I used (Swanson's family practice review, step 3 made ridiculously simple) paled in comparison.