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For IMGs giving Step 3 during residency or before the Match, with weeks to prepare, not months.
By Dr. Marish Asudani · Published
I scored 230 on Step 3 in 25 days with 5 resources. My Anki deck for Day 1, starting with biostats. The Step 2 CK NBME Booster Anki to consolidate every system for Day 2. Mehlman Medical: micro and pharm with First Aid open for Day 1, and your weak systems for Day 2. The high-yield PDF as your main Day 2 resource, system by system. And 1 CCS video before your first case, then 80 to 120 cases in 2 passes. Depth beats breadth.
Every resource on this page is free, except 2: the Step 2 CK NBME Booster Anki and the AMBOSS questions in resource 1. Both are marked where they come up.
Read this firstI gave Step 3 during interview season, at 5 to 6 hours a day. Most IMGs prepare for Step 3 as if it's a harder Step 2. It isn't. Step 3 asks whether you can function as an independent physician, and preparing for it like a continuation of Step 2 is the most common mistake on it.
Not 15 resources. These 5, what each one is for, and which day of the exam it serves. Every one of them is also on my resource stack, Step 3 →
Why: biostatistics is the single most tested topic on Day 1, and biostats is a concept problem, not a maths problem. Learn the concept first, and the arithmetic becomes easy.
How: 7 days. The Biostats PDF on days 1 to 3 for the framework, my Biostats Anki deck alongside it for recall, with the Ethics deck next to it, then AMBOSS on days 4 to 7: Study Plans → High Yield Study Plans → High Yield Study Topics, the Biostatistics, Ethics, Quality Improvement and Communication sections, roughly 400 to 450 questions. Then the Drug Advertisements section, which almost everyone skips: every Day 1 block contains at least 1 drug ad question. After that, 1 block of 20 AMBOSS biostats questions every single day until your exam. Never stop that block.
Where: the first week, because Day 1 content always comes first.
HY Biostats PDF on usmlevault.com ↗ · Biostats workbook ↗ · My biostats method →
Open my Biostats Anki deckBiostats, card by card, built off First Aid. The Ethics deck sits next to it in the same library.
Open the deck →Why: Day 2 is Step 2 content reorganised. Your job is not to relearn medicine. It's to fill the gaps that appeared since your Step 2. This deck is built from NBME 9 to 16 and the Free 120, system by system, so it consolidates every system in the way the NBME asks it.
How: 16 systems, with a filter for the 18 question types the NBME asks, like next best step and most likely diagnosis. Run the system you're reviewing that day, next to the PDF in resource 4.
Where: your Day 2 content weeks.
This is the only resource on this page that isn't free. It's a separate Step 2 CK unlock in the Vault: the 3-day free trial opens the Step 1 decks, not this one.
Open the Step 2 CK NBME Booster AnkiNBME 9 to 16 and the Free 120 as cards, 16 systems. Run the system you're reviewing that day.
Open the deck →Day 1, micro (3 to 4 days). Step 3 micro is clinical and antimicrobial-heavy. Watch the Mehlman Microbiology playlist with First Aid open at the same time, not afterwards.
▶Mehlman · MicrobiologyPlaylistDay 1, pharm (5 to 6 days). First Aid's pharmacology, system by system, 2 to 3 systems a day, with the matching Mehlman videos. 11 systems, only 3 to 4 pages each.
▶Mehlman · PharmacologyPlaylistDuring the pharm phase, watch my antimicrobials video. Then watch it again in your final week. It's the 1 resource in the plan that earns 2 passes. How to use it →
▶Antimicrobials in under 90 minutesMy video, UsmleMatch channel. 2 passes.Day 2, your weak systems. Mehlman is the fastest way to close a weak system. Watch 1 system, read the matching section of the PDF in resource 4, then move on to the next.
Endocrine · Hematology · Immuno · Dermatology · Internal medicine
Why: it's your primary Day 2 content. Day 2 is Step 2 content reorganised, and this PDF is where you reorganise it.
How: no more than 2 days per system, across 10 to 11 systems, roughly 3 weeks. Divine's system guides go the night before each system. Dr. High Yield handles fast recall in the morning. 1 system, then the next. It's the same pair I lean on for Step 2, and they carry straight over.
Where: your Day 2 content weeks, after Day 1 is done.
↓The high-yield 90-page PDFFree PDF. Your main Day 2 resource, 1 system at a time. ▶Dr. High Yield · Internal MedicinePlaylist, for the morning pass ▶Divine Intervention · USMLE Step 3Playlist, for the night before each systemHow I use Divine across the Steps: Divine Intervention, the Step 2 CK edition →
Why: CCS is unlike anything else on the exam, and it's where people gain or lose real ground. It's scored on the sequence and appropriateness of your decisions, not the final answer. Don't read about CCS. Do CCS.
How: watch the CCS cases video before your first case. Then 80 to 120 cases in 2 passes.
Where, and the rule most guides get backwards: don't start CCS until your NBME scores are ready. NBME 7 is your go/no-go: above 210, with 5 minutes to spare in each block. Take it offline and timed, like every NBME, so the number is real. Why NBMEs are always offline → Then CCS begins, 4 to 8 weeks out. Not before, and not later.
▶The ULTIMATE GUIDE to CCS Cases (Khalemedic)Free. Watch it once, before your first case.Tap the path that matches the days you have.
25 days, at 5 to 6 hours a day, during interview season. 25 assumes you're already residency-fluent, and it leaves no room for a bad fortnight. Day 1 content first (resources 1 and 3), then Day 2 content (2 and 4), then CCS (5) once NBME 7 is ready.
45 days is the number I give most students. Same order, with room to breathe: Day 1 content first (resources 1 and 3), then Day 2 content (2 and 4), then CCS (5) once NBME 7 is ready. The final stretch: Divine for the gaps, 1 clean review pass, then stop. Where Step 3's 45 days fit in a 12-month plan →
The resource stack, Step 3 — the same 5 jobs, next to Step 1 and Step 2.
All 3 Steps in under 12 months — where Step 3's 45 days fit.
Biostats — the concept-first method.
Step 2 CK: the 6 resources — the Step 2 version of this page.
10 habits that helped me match in IM — the habits behind my Match.