USMLE Step III - Day 2

The USMLE Step III is the third and final test of the three-part United States Medical Licensing Examination that is required in order to receive a license to practice medicine within the United States. This test, unlike the other two steps of the USMLE, takes two days to complete as the exam is actually administered in two separate sessions. The second session of the Step III test consists of 144 multiple-choice questions split into four sections that are related to evaluating patients, applications of clinical skills and clinical science, biostatistics, common diseases and disorders, human development, interpreting medical literature, medical ethics, patient safety, and the management systems, quality control systems, and other systems required in a medical practice to maintain a high level of care. Each section of the test is not separated by topic, but rather contains 36 randomly distributed questions that pertain to the above topics. The second session of the exam also includes nine computerized patient simulations where the individual will have up to 25 minutes to care for each simulated patient.

The second day of the exam takes a total of approximately eight hours to complete, which includes three hours for the multiple-choice portion of the exam, approximately four hours for the patient simulation portion of the exam, a 45 minute break, and a 15 minute tutorial on how to use the computerized patient simulation software. The test is scored based on the number of correct responses from the multiple-choice section of the exam and the individual's performance on the patient simulations. The total score that the individual achieved for Step III of the USMLE is then scaled so that the individual will receive a three-digit and a two-digit score. The three-digit and two-digit scores are based on the number of correct responses and the patient simulation score from the first and second day of the exam. Scores for the three-digit scale usually fall between 140 and 260 with 184 set as the minimum score considered as passing for the exam. The two digit scale is not actually an exact percentage score, but still ranges from 0 - 100 with 75 representing the minimum score necessary to pass the exam. The current registration fee for the exam, which includes both days, is $655, which will be raised to $670 in 2008.