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Old 05-23-2012, 04:54 PM   #1
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Just finished my 1st pass through Uworld, averaging 75ish on unused questions. Monday marks the start of my 5-week dedicated study period.

Here's what I have for a schedule:

8:00am-->12:00pm: DIT Lecture I
12:00pm-->1:00pm: RR Path Review/Personal Notes
1:00pm-->4:00pm: DIT Lecture II
4:00pm-->5:00pm Qbank 50 Questions
5:00pm-->8:00pm: DIT Lecture III
8:00pm-->9:00pm: RR Phys/Personal Notes
9:00pm-->10:00pm: Qbank 50 Questions
10:00pm-->11:00pm Relax w/ Xbox & Goljan Audio

Seem feasible?

Also, is there anything to be gained from signing up for the Kaplan Qbank in addition to Uworld? It seems that when I don't select "Unused" I'm remembering quite a few of the answers in Uworld, sort of afraid it's not really testing my knowledge base that well any more...
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Old 05-24-2012, 08:20 AM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by amakhosidlo View Post
Just finished my 1st pass through Uworld, averaging 75ish on unused questions. Monday marks the start of my 5-week dedicated study period.

Here's what I have for a schedule:

8:00am-->12:00pm: DIT Lecture I
12:00pm-->1:00pm: RR Path Review/Personal Notes
1:00pm-->4:00pm: DIT Lecture II
4:00pm-->5:00pm Qbank 50 Questions
5:00pm-->8:00pm: DIT Lecture III
8:00pm-->9:00pm: RR Phys/Personal Notes
9:00pm-->10:00pm: Qbank 50 Questions
10:00pm-->11:00pm Relax w/ Xbox & Goljan Audio

Seem feasible?

Also, is there anything to be gained from signing up for the Kaplan Qbank in addition to Uworld? It seems that when I don't select "Unused" I'm remembering quite a few of the answers in Uworld, sort of afraid it's not really testing my knowledge base that well any more...
If you are scoring a 75 on uworld then you might as well take your test right now. Stop teasing us common folks who barely break a 70. Just saying.
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Old 05-24-2012, 08:39 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by amakhosidlo View Post
Just finished my 1st pass through Uworld, averaging 75ish on unused questions. Monday marks the start of my 5-week dedicated study period.

Here's what I have for a schedule:

8:00am-->12:00pm: DIT Lecture I
12:00pm-->1:00pm: RR Path Review/Personal Notes
1:00pm-->4:00pm: DIT Lecture II
4:00pm-->5:00pm Qbank 50 Questions
5:00pm-->8:00pm: DIT Lecture III
8:00pm-->9:00pm: RR Phys/Personal Notes
9:00pm-->10:00pm: Qbank 50 Questions
10:00pm-->11:00pm Relax w/ Xbox & Goljan Audio

Seem feasible?

Also, is there anything to be gained from signing up for the Kaplan Qbank in addition to Uworld? It seems that when I don't select "Unused" I'm remembering quite a few of the answers in Uworld, sort of afraid it's not really testing my knowledge base that well any more...
You're not giving yourself any time for Qbank answer review. You will get the most of your qbanks if you treat them as a method of learning and integrating instead of simply assessing your knowledge base.

You're also not giving yourself any break time. There is no way you will be able to sustain 14 hour days for 5 weeks.
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Old 05-24-2012, 11:06 AM   #4
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If you're getting 75% on UW on your first pass DIT is a waste of your time. Use that time to do Kaplan QBank and see more questions.
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Old 05-24-2012, 11:12 AM   #5
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You're not giving yourself any time for Qbank answer review. You will get the most of your qbanks if you treat them as a method of learning and integrating instead of simply assessing your knowledge base.

You're also not giving yourself any break time. There is no way you will be able to sustain 14 hour days for 5 weeks.
Ok, I'm going to hijack this topic as my exam comes closer with each passing day - how exactly is one supposed to use question banks? I know UW is supposed to be timed, random, but how do you review the answers if they all come from a bunch of different topics?
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Old 05-24-2012, 03:09 PM   #6
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Ok, I'm going to hijack this topic as my exam comes closer with each passing day - how exactly is one supposed to use question banks? I know UW is supposed to be timed, random, but how do you review the answers if they all come from a bunch of different topics?
Reading every answer explanation, every answer choice explanation, every correct and incorrect question you did. That's how. I found it works a lot better once you've gone through FA once, though. Unfortunately, you probably (and I don't either) have time to do all your content review once before doing UWorld. I started UWorld as I started doing FA for the first time. UWorld owned me pretty good and it took a long time to review each section since I had not reviewed everything once yet in review book, but now that I just finished FA it's a lot better and UWorld really reinforces it.

I repeat, read every answer choice explanation for every single question, regardless if you got it correct. It takes a long time but you learn a ****load.
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Old 05-24-2012, 06:30 PM   #7
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When do you eat and work out????
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Old 05-24-2012, 06:38 PM   #8
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When do you eat and work out????
I forgot to mention: This is a 6-day schedule. Saturdays I'm doing half-days (to allow time for things like buying groceries, working out, etc.

Also, I'm trying to find the correction on here for UW's self-assessments. I know they grossly exaggerate your score, wondering if there's an accurate numerical conversion somewhere. Just finished the first one: 247, sort of worried this actually translates into like a 210 or something.
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Old 05-24-2012, 07:23 PM   #9
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I forgot to mention: This is a 6-day schedule. Saturdays I'm doing half-days (to allow time for things like buying groceries, working out, etc.

Also, I'm trying to find the correction on here for UW's self-assessments. I know they grossly exaggerate your score, wondering if there's an accurate numerical conversion somewhere. Just finished the first one: 247, sort of worried this actually translates into like a 210 or something.
I honestly think your schedule is insane and this is coming from someone who has tried hour to hour schedule. Atleast for me, it was way too strict. What if you are doing DIT and it runs longer than your schedule? Then what?

100 question a day means you need around 3 hours minimum to review 100 questions. If you are not going to review them then you might as well not do them. There is no point.
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Old 05-24-2012, 08:09 PM   #10
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I hear ya, my problem is I often get way too wrapped up in whatever I'm doing and it ends up eating too much time. I'm also a lazy sh*t that doesn't do things when he can think of something better to do or when there's no structure Setting a rigid schedule saying "At 1:00 you start X no matter what" is the only way I can think of that might keep that from happening. The last thing I want to do is get behind on DIT lectures because I wanted to finish a chapter in whatever book, or worse yet, burn out because I'm watching them back-to-back.
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Old 05-25-2012, 04:15 PM   #11
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I definitely understand the need for structure, but I would cut yourself a little slack in terms of the rigidity of your schedule. I started out with a schedule similar to yours, but would start to fall a little behind in the reading for one day, and then feel like I had to catch up the next day. If I didn't catch up the next day, I would feel even worse and get anxious that I wasn't keeping with my study schedule. In the end, I ditched the schedule and set more relaxed goals for each day. It helped me maintain my sanity and in the end everything got done. I'm not saying that this will happen to you, it just might be something to be aware of.
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Old 05-25-2012, 04:17 PM   #12
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Reading every answer explanation, every answer choice explanation, every correct and incorrect question you did. That's how. I found it works a lot better once you've gone through FA once, though. Unfortunately, you probably (and I don't either) have time to do all your content review once before doing UWorld. I started UWorld as I started doing FA for the first time. UWorld owned me pretty good and it took a long time to review each section since I had not reviewed everything once yet in review book, but now that I just finished FA it's a lot better and UWorld really reinforces it.

I repeat, read every answer choice explanation for every single question, regardless if you got it correct. It takes a long time but you learn a ****load.
Hey, thanks a LOT man! One last question, is tutor-timed mode recommended?
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Old 05-26-2012, 12:27 AM   #13
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Hey, thanks a LOT man! One last question, is tutor-timed mode recommended?
I'm someone who always has trouble with timing, so I do mine timed, non-tutor mode. That way it's like taking a real Step 1 section. Unfortunately, it takes a long time to do this because you have to reread a lot of the questions and think about the answers again as you are reviewing it after. Tutor mode would be more efficient with your time because then you see the answer explanations after each question before moving onto the next question. You don't really need to reread the entire question+answers again since it's still very fresh in your head.

My friend never has trouble with finishing tests, so he's doing all of his UWorld on tutor mode since timing isn't an issue for him. For me timing is an issue, so the timed practice is worth the extra time for me, especially considering since I hear the real Step 1 has longer passages than UWorld (although some argue the opposite so IDK).
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Old 05-26-2012, 11:37 AM   #14
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I'm someone who always has trouble with timing, so I do mine timed, non-tutor mode. That way it's like taking a real Step 1 section. Unfortunately, it takes a long time to do this because you have to reread a lot of the questions and think about the answers again as you are reviewing it after. Tutor mode would be more efficient with your time because then you see the answer explanations after each question before moving onto the next question. You don't really need to reread the entire question+answers again since it's still very fresh in your head.

My friend never has trouble with finishing tests, so he's doing all of his UWorld on tutor mode since timing isn't an issue for him. For me timing is an issue, so the timed practice is worth the extra time for me, especially considering since I hear the real Step 1 has longer passages than UWorld (although some argue the opposite so IDK).
Yeah, the impression I was under was 1x through on tutor mode was the way to go initially, then 4-5 weeks out switch it to timed just so you get used to the pressure...
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