Our years of experience have given us tremendous insight into USMLE Step3 students’ weak areas. Many Step3 students, despite practicing on commercially available CCS software, were deficient in executing crucial steps using the simulated software. Practicing on 3rd party CCS software without understanding the strategy did not yield the best result. More importantly, the above commercial software does not precisely match the CCS software that students take their actual exams on. Students missed out on the importance of sequencing orders, monitoring the patients, avoiding invasive orders, 2-min screen input, follow-up monitoring using the calendar option, and real-time and simulated time logistics. This is precisely why a guidance from an expert teaching physician can help with the most effective strategy to work on the official USMLE Step 3 CCS software about diagnosis, location, monitoring, timing, and sequencing of orders.
We have explained the strategies at Archer CCS by simulating various high-yield case scenarios on the official exam CCS software. This led to an improved understanding of how the cases work on the software compared to real-life scenarios and how crucial it is not to indulge in invasive measures on a patient. These time-tested Archer CCS strategies, as well as high-yield case demonstrations, have worked out wonders for our prior students and should certainly work for you too!
To address the needs of busy medical students and physicians, Archer has introduced several options to master the CCS strategy: Rapid CCS Prep, and Live CCS Workshops (Live Webinars).
Rapid CCS Prep is one of the most preferred options by Step 3 students. You get online access immediately after purchase, and can review at your own convenient time 24/7 from your account. These streaming videos include the exact live webinar content where several cases are demonstrated on the actual Step 3 CCS software, PowerPoint presentation, and the instructor’s audio. This is a video package of Archer CCS strategies, four full-length live CCS workshops, including the videos of the most recent live CCS session showing the strategy on the latest Step3 exam software. Includes 2hrs45min of Archer CCs strategies clip, a 5hr most recent CCS Workshop file, and several other high-yield CCS. We have provided 35 hours of files, so users have the choice to watch more high-yield cases if they wish to. If you are constrained for time, it is certainly not necessary to complete all the 35-hour files – we recommend that you complete at least the Archer CCS strategies file along with 5 hours most recent CCS Workshop file to master the most essential content (total of 8 hours). These reviews are automatically updated whenever there are changes to Step 3.
Live CCS Workshop (Webinar) to be announced.
Have you missed out the recent live online lecture? No worries, you can access them here! Get access to our CCS workshop sessions and rapid reviews. Archer’s Pay-Per-View now makes it possible for you to access our streaming live videos at your most convenient time.
Step 3 CCS – Why excelling on it so important?
Archer Step 3 CCS strategies have substantially improved the passing chances for step 3 students despite prior failed attempts. We noticed a consistent improvement in the CCS performance of our students and a significant boost in the 3-digit score (when compared to the score on their prior attempts) as long as they followed and applied the strategies as demonstrated.
80% score reports showed very high performance on the CCS with only an average performance on the MCQs. 19% showed average performance both on CCS and MCQs. Those with below average/ poor performance on CCS got a failed score despite above average performance on the MCQs
For the students who had failed past attempts but now passed, the performance graphs revealed a big boost in the CCS section while not so much in MCQs compared to their prior score reports. Still, all of them passed. For those who previously failed with 3-digit scores of 170 and above, it is important that they analyze their score report to see if there is a scope for improvement in CCS performance. If there is, this is where you can get the best results with the least effort. The new score reports since 2018 will not tell the exact performance, it just shows whether the performance in CCS/MCQs is higher or lower than your overall Step 3 score. For those who failed with 3-digit scores of 170 or above with higher performance on CCS, we still insist that you excel on Step 3 CCS to reduce the burden on the MCQs. If your score was less than 170, it is important that you focus significantly on both CCS and MCQs because you need a boost in both the sections to reach the passing score on your next attempt.
Please realize that losing 2 to 3 CCS cases completely may significantly increase the burden on the MCQ sections. It is possible that each CCS case may contribute approximately 2% to your total 3-digit score. Since most students find it hard to answer more than 55% to 65% MCQs correctly, losing a CCS case will put additional burden on you to correctly answer additional 3 questions per block. For a student who consistently scored 65% on practice question banks, failing 3 CCS cases may require them to get 70% correct on the MCQs to reach the passing score. This is one reason why some students fail despite reviewing MCQs thoroughly and despite scoring 70% on some practice Qbanks. At Archer, we apply time-tested strategic approaches to help students taking standardized tests. Our goal is to focus on what matters most in the exam and spend more time preparing you extensively in those focused areas.
– Please do not neglect CCS. Getting a high score on CCS is easily achievable and rewarding to the overall score.
– Below-average performance on CCS will require you to score very high on MCQs to succeed in Step 3.
Eleven years after the launch, Archer or Dr.Red CCS Workshops and Theory lecture courses continue to benefits many medical students and physicians every year with these evidence based strategic approaches to pass USMLE exams.
