I feel defeated, dejected and just crap. So any insight will be help. Thanks!!

[RedSoxSuck]

Hey guys,

Test date: August 29th
Goal: Anything above a 220
Current score range: 198-210

Thats what i have done so far:

FA 3-4x. When i say read fa i mean i understand it. I tried to integrate it while reading it. Meaning i reminded myself how it can be asked or how can they link two different concepts together.

Pathoma (watched it once and then re-watched some of the lectures). Read pathoma 3-4x. I can even visualized certain things such as where they are located in pathoma (right side of the page, bottom left etc).

DIT: Done properly (meaning watched, did quizes, did uworld blocks) and annotated it in FA with a different color pen to make it stand out.

Uworld: Started doing during MS2.
1st pass: 58%. (mostly tutor mode, system wise and some timed random mode (not a legit representation because big chunk was done before reading fa)

2nd pass: 67%. (timed, random). REMEMBERED PROBABLY AROUND 1Q PER BLOCK

3rd pass: started after july 18 (see below). Have done 35%. Done in timed, random mode. Scoring 84% but remembering quite a bit.

Uworld is also fairly heavily annotated into FA.

Took nbme 7 on july 18 and scored a 210. took nbme 12 and 11 before that score around the same range. So after july 18th (after nbme 7) i added up all the incorrect answers and identified wk subjects. I picked my wkest subject and read pathoma and then FA and then moved on to the next subject. I also kept doing uworld (random timed mode around 70qs a day and sometimes even more but not less. so thats why i have done 35% in 2 weeks). Sections that i DID NOT review/read etc were: GI, Cardio, Resp, Renal, heme and micro because my previous nbme showed that i missed on average 4q in GI, cardio, resp and heme so i ignored them and wanted to spend more time doing questions.

Took nbme 6 yesterday (august 7th) and scored pretty much the same. It seems like i have not been doing anything rather than sitting on my ass for 12 hrs a day!

Now i am lost, dejected and feel utterly defeated. After sulking yesterday in a fetal position for many hours and after self loathing and feeling like a failure while eating a gallon of ice cream, wings, pizza, i am still lost. Right now i absolutely have no confidence.

I am not sure what to do next. I know FA and pathoma fairly well. But have i forgotten some detail? Sure. For example on nbme there was a question regarding treatment of erythoblastosis fetalis. I missed because i forgot that it is tx is rhogam. Nbme did not mention rhogam but mentioned active immunization to remove rh antigen or passive immunization. But i chose active immunization to produce IgG which is clearly wrong because well IgG are the ones that cause the disease. anyway its just one example.

What have i learned from NBMEs: Still making quite a few boneheaded mistakes such as miss reading the questions, over thinking, FAULTY RECALL etc. I would say around 15q's easy. Most of the missed questions are from faulty recall, careless mistakes, better diagnosis, better answer, may be not going for the better answer because of lack of clearity which would have made me lean towards one answer

So my test is on august 29. 3 weeks left. I am lost and really confused. So not sure how to approach next few weeks:

options:

1: Start with thorough review of the wkest area via FA only. Have pathoma open but mainly focusing on FA and do Uworld in a system mode. Review FA and then qs from the appropriate system. Goal is to finish review in 10 days and then take another nbme (probably number 5 and then go from there)

It is hard to define an area as wk because particular information might be found in MSK section of FA but nbme tested it as a neuro concept or micro concept. Thoughts?

2. Rewatch pathoma lectures (kind of seem pointless because i have annotated quite a bit from previous viewings) and then do FA and keep doing questions.

I have kaplan qbank screen shots. May be incorporate them into questions especially on the wk areas.

I have attached sceen shot of performance profile from NBME 6.

Conclusion: I do know FA pretty well but can it be revised to help with better understanding/elimination of wrong answers? Sure!

Thanks for your help or even taking a time to read it even if u don't post something. Thank you all!

Attempt at being a SDN gunner: FAIL!!!

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[RedSoxSuck]

I forgot to attach the profile for nbme 6

 

[Dallas]

hey man, I know the feeling , I did 3 nbmes all 1 week apart in the 3 weeks before the real deal. First one went ok, second one went stellar, third one i crashed

It sucks because you think you have actually peaked and have passed your optimal performance.

But dont despair, dont worry, plenty of people have improved more than 20 points on their real exam in the LAST WEEK before the real exam from an NBME.

You seem to have done alot of good grinding groundwork, if I were you I would focus almost completely on uworld these last 3 weeks.

Week 1-2: go through first aid and write down all the little details you dont have clear in memory or you think might be important. 50p/day for 10 days. Do atleast 4 blocks of uworld a day,

From this point on you only open FA for referencing things.
Last week reread your notes everyday, highlight most important points of your notes. Dont spend more than 4-6hrs a day doing this.

Spend 10 hrs a day doing uworld until nauseated.

1 day before exam, memorize what you are gonna write on your laminated paper and RELAX, dont do anything (if you have done all exactly as I told you, if you have been cheating you probably have to do uworld today also).

Real exam is going to feel scarily similar to uworld, doing more uworld at this point is crucial.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

hey man, I know the feeling , I did 3 nbmes all 1 week apart in the 3 weeks before the real deal. First one went ok, second one went stellar, third one i crashed

It sucks because you think you have actually peaked and have passed your optimal performance.

But dont despair, dont worry, plenty of people have improved more than 20 points on their real exam in the LAST WEEK before the real exam from an NBME.

You seem to have done alot of good grinding groundwork, if I were you I would focus almost completely on uworld these last 3 weeks.

Week 1-2: go through first aid and write down all the little details you dont have clear in memory or you think might be important. 50p/day for 10 days. Do atleast 4 blocks of uworld a day,

From this point on you only open FA for referencing things.
Last week reread your notes everyday, highlight most important points of your notes. Dont spend more than 4-6hrs a day doing this.

Spend 10 hrs a day doing uworld until nauseated.

1 day before exam, memorize what you are gonna write on your laminated paper and RELAX, dont do anything (if you have done all exactly as I told you, if you have been cheating you probably have to do uworld today also).

Real exam is going to feel scarily similar to uworld, doing more uworld at this point is crucial.

Thanks for the response. And I am thinking about trying to review fa in 5 days. It's possible because I did it in 5 days before school
Offered CBSE. So it will be done. But as far as uworld goes, I not sure what else can come out of it since I am on my 3rd pass.

 

[Dallas]

Thanks for the response. And I am thinking about trying to review fa in 5 days. It's possible because I did it in 5 days before school
Offered CBSE. So it will be done. But as far as uworld goes, I not sure what else can come out of it since I am on my 3rd pass.

Do as many passes through uworld as you need to reach +94%

if u reach 94% on uworld consistently then you in no ways will get below average on the real deal.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

Do as many passes through uworld as you need to reach +94%

if u reach 94% on uworld consistently then you in no ways will get below average on the real deal.

When is your test?

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

Thanks for the response. And I am thinking about trying to review fa in 5 days. It's possible because I did it in 5 days before school
Offered CBSE. So it will be done. But as far as uworld goes, I not sure what else can come out of it since I am on my 3rd pass.

I honestly don't think a review of FA will help you improve. My guess is that your missing some connection in your interpretation of the FA bullet point facts. Good news is that 8/29 is a looong time away. I would definitely buy brs behavioral and do the questions/ read the explanations. Those are the giveaway points on the exam. There really is no excuse being below boarderline for that area. You just gotta keep hammering away at your weaknesses. I also doubt that you need a 3rd pass of uworld. If anything I would take more nbmes, review weak areas / analyze why a certain question tricked me.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

I honestly don't think a review of FA will help you improve. My guess is that your missing some connection in your interpretation of the FA bullet point facts. Good news is that 8/29 is a looong time away. I would definitely buy brs behavioral and do the questions/ read the explanations. Those are the giveaway points on the exam. There really is no excuse being below boarderline for that area. You just gotta keep hammering away at your weaknesses. I also doubt that you need a 3rd pass of uworld. If anything I would take more nbmes, review weak areas / analyze why a certain question tricked me.

Thanks for your reply. What do you mean by analyze "why a certain question tricked me?" I do put them in a categories such: I missed the following question because of: 1) i did not know. 2) faulty recall/ need to review 3) stupid mistake/overthinking. 4) Guessed. 5) random guess because of time. Is that what you mean?

 

[Dallas]

When is your test?

It was on monday. Done and done.

Could have done things differently but I worked my ass off so no regrets.

 

[Belleza156]

Hey guys,

Test date: August 29th
Goal: Anything above a 220
Current score range: 198-210

Thats what i have done so far:

FA 3-4x. When i say read fa i mean i understand it. I tried to integrate it while reading it. Meaning i reminded myself how it can be asked or how can they link two different concepts together.

Pathoma (watched it once and then re-watched some of the lectures). Read pathoma 3-4x. I can even visualized certain things such as where they are located in pathoma (right side of the page, bottom left etc).

DIT: Done properly (meaning watched, did quizes, did uworld blocks) and annotated it in FA with a different color pen to make it stand out.

Uworld: Started doing during MS2.
1st pass: 58%. (mostly tutor mode, system wise and some timed random mode (not a legit representation because big chunk was done before reading fa)

2nd pass: 67%. (timed, random). REMEMBERED PROBABLY AROUND 1Q PER BLOCK

3rd pass: started after july 18 (see below). Have done 35%. Done in timed, random mode. Scoring 84% but remembering quite a bit.

Uworld is also fairly heavily annotated into FA.

Took nbme 7 on july 18 and scored a 210. took nbme 12 and 11 before that score around the same range. So after july 18th (after nbme 7) i added up all the incorrect answers and identified wk subjects. I picked my wkest subject and read pathoma and then FA and then moved on to the next subject. I also kept doing uworld (random timed mode around 70qs a day and sometimes even more but not less. so thats why i have done 35% in 2 weeks). Sections that i DID NOT review/read etc were: GI, Cardio, Resp, Renal, heme and micro because my previous nbme showed that i missed on average 4q in GI, cardio, resp and heme so i ignored them and wanted to spend more time doing questions.

Took nbme 6 yesterday (august 7th) and scored pretty much the same. It seems like i have not been doing anything rather than sitting on my ass for 12 hrs a day!

Now i am lost, dejected and feel utterly defeated. After sulking yesterday in a fetal position for many hours and after self loathing and feeling like a failure while eating a gallon of ice cream, wings, pizza, i am still lost. Right now i absolutely have no confidence.

I am not sure what to do next. I know FA and pathoma fairly well. But have i forgotten some detail? Sure. For example on nbme there was a question regarding treatment of erythoblastosis fetalis. I missed because i forgot that it is tx is rhogam. Nbme did not mention rhogam but mentioned active immunization to remove rh antigen or passive immunization. But i chose active immunization to produce IgG which is clearly wrong because well IgG are the ones that cause the disease. anyway its just one example.

What have i learned from NBMEs: Still making quite a few boneheaded mistakes such as miss reading the questions, over thinking, FAULTY RECALL etc. I would say around 15q's easy. Most of the missed questions are from faulty recall, careless mistakes, better diagnosis, better answer, may be not going for the better answer because of lack of clearity which would have made me lean towards one answer

So my test is on august 29. 3 weeks left. I am lost and really confused. So not sure how to approach next few weeks:

options:

1: Start with thorough review of the wkest area via FA only. Have pathoma open but mainly focusing on FA and do Uworld in a system mode. Review FA and then qs from the appropriate system. Goal is to finish review in 10 days and then take another nbme (probably number 5 and then go from there)

It is hard to define an area as wk because particular information might be found in MSK section of FA but nbme tested it as a neuro concept or micro concept. Thoughts?

2. Rewatch pathoma lectures (kind of seem pointless because i have annotated quite a bit from previous viewings) and then do FA and keep doing questions.

I have kaplan qbank screen shots. May be incorporate them into questions especially on the wk areas.

I have attached sceen shot of performance profile from NBME 6.

Conclusion: I do know FA pretty well but can it be revised to help with better understanding/elimination of wrong answers? Sure!

Thanks for your help or even taking a time to read it even if u don't post something. Thank you all!

Attempt at being a SDN gunner: FAIL!!!

I think your problem has to do with how you are using UWorld. If you only remember 1 question per block the 2nd time around then you didn't us it as a primary study source.

If I was you I would go through UWorld AGAIN doing random blocks in timed tutor mode. And for every question read EVERY answer not just the answer to the question. Look up in FA every single point made in the answer choices...all answer choices not just the correct answer. If you use UWorld the way I'm saying then UWorld becomes your primary study tool and everything else is supplementary. This is a very tedious and time consuming process, and you can easily spend 4 hours on one block. But it will get faster after a while. And you still have a ton of time.

FA is not a book to learn from, it's a book to annotate in while doing Qbanks so that you can remember the key points learned in the question blocks. You will end up going back to some of the same sections over and over again and rereading your notes, other sections you may not look again during your pass of UWorld.

I can pretty much gaurantee you will see your score go up at least 20 points in the next few weeks if you use UWorld the way I outlined........and stop using DIT. DIT is only for people who have a pretty good grasp of ALL the material and just need a way to put it all together in a "short" period of time. You aren't one of those people...no big deal. Not redoing DIT won't make any impact on your score. Focus on UWorld, UWorld, UWorld. If your subscription is ending...renew!

 

[RedSoxSuck]

I think your problem has to do with how you are using UWorld. If you only remember 1 question per block the 2nd time around then you didn't us it as a primary study source.

Yea, you are right. I did not.

If I was you I would go through UWorld AGAIN doing random blocks in timed tutor mode. And for every question read EVERY answer not just the answer to the question. Look up in FA every single point made in the answer choices...all answer choices not just the correct answer. If you use UWorld the way I'm saying then UWorld becomes your primary study tool and everything else is supplementary. This is a very tedious and time consuming process, and you can easily spend 4 hours on one block. But it will get faster after a while. And you still have a ton of time.

Sometimes i struggle with timing so thats why i had been doing uworld in a timed mode. But, it has gotten alot better. But why not just use timed mode and following everything else that you have mentioned.

Also, when (i.e) uworld talks about formation of pancreas and ventral pancreatic bud, should i have that section of fa open (to annotate if needed obviously). I might be a little confuse on this.

may be you can share your usage like how exactly you proceed through a qbank. That might clearify stuff for my liquaefied brain.

I usually spend around 2 hrs per block to make sure that all the relevant information from uworld has been annotated into my FA and nothing is missing. I think i might be missing something according to your suggestions?

Focus on UWorld, UWorld, UWorld. If your subscription is ending...renew!

Yea, it ends on august 26th. 3 days before the test. I am also screen shooting the important questions/pictures/scans etc.

 

[link2swim06]

Try learning all the material in First Aid before adding a bunch to it.

If you really remember ALL of first aid, including every diagram, fact, word, etc..you would be scoring at least a 230-240. I took step 1 in June and you would get 70% of the questions right with first aid alone. Yes they are "multi-step questions" but so was the MCAT...you have proven you have the aptitude to figure them out...I am guessing you knowledge base is deficient.

Try reading a first aid section and then doing a set of any question bank specific to that chapter. This is let you know how carefully you are reading. Repeat this process till you are getting ~80% correct for each section.

Imo at this time you shouldn't be wasting time writing stuff into first aid....will you really have time to ever review that? Instead convince yourself why the correct answer is right and review what you know about the wrong choices.

 

[Belleza156]

Don't do timed mode right now, its more efficient time wise to do it timed tutor. Saves you at least an hour per block.

You don't need to learn everything in FA, obviously you didn't by reading it, because its just meaningless bullet points until you come across a question that forces you to use those bullet points and make a concept out of them.

You do the question then look up where it is in FA...having the FA2012 PDF makes this easier by just doing control +find. Then read everything in the question and answer. Then read it in FA and annotate whatever isn't already in FA that seems useful and necessary to understand the concept of the question. 90% of everything is already in FA, you shouldn't be annotating too much, no need for redundancy.

FA is your study outline and Uworld is what you use to fill in the blanks. You are using uworld as a subscription right? Don't do pdfs of screenshots. You need to be able to detect trends in ur score and u do that with the graphs. If you had kaplan you would be able to see the average amount of time spent per question, per question that you scored correctly and also incorrectly. For me this was invaluable. I also had issues with time, I was just running out w less than 1 min to spare. But I noticed on kaplan interface that I averaged 30 seconds on questions I scored correctly, and 3+ min on questions I scored incorrectly. Using that along with how many I changed the answer from incorrect to incorrect, or correct to incorrect I realized there was no point in breaking my head with any question because chances are I was going to get it wrong anyways and take 3 min away from answering questions I did know. For now don't do timed exam mode, stick to timed tutor mode and train yourself to read and answred in under 1 min. If you have no clue then you have no clue, just put your favorite letter of the day and mark it.

It's going to take you 3 weeks to do uworld this way so get cracking! And take an nbme every week to make sure ur progressing. You should see an upward slope, nothing crazy prob just going up by 5-10% the first and second week. By the 3rd, 4th week (I know u only have 3), you will see a spike in the score averages. This is about the time that most people take the exam,within a week. Because you want to take it when you peak, not before not after because for many an extra two weeks of studying literally changes their score by +/- 1 point.

Sent from my PC36100 using SDN Mobile

 

[NightFury]

Hey, I agree to focus more on reading all of the explanations in UWorld, but I think you could do this just as well by doing a 1 hr timed block of 46 questions followed by 3-4 hours of careful reviewing and annotating into FA as needed. I'm not sure that this will get you through Uworld again before your test, but it's my personal opinion that you don't need to get through all of Uworld even one time to do well on the test, as long as you use Uworld wisely by reading and understanding all of the explanations. At first it took me a long time to get through a question block, but towards the end I was still taking about 3 hours to review 46 questions. Be thorough and think about what in the question led you to the wrong answer and what you missed that was important to getting the right answer. Read the explanations for correct answers as well! They will still teach you a lot. If you start missing mostly strict memorization questions, then hit those areas in
FA. It also helps to download a flash card app like flashcards+ and search for flashcards that people have already made from FA or DIT and do these before bed or any other time between things (when making meals, when you first get up, etc). Good luck!

 

[RedSoxSuck]

Don't do timed mode right now, its more efficient time wise to do it timed tutor. Saves you at least an hour per block.

You don't need to learn everything in FA, obviously you didn't by reading it, because its just meaningless bullet points until you come across a question that forces you to use those bullet points and make a concept out of them.

You do the question then look up where it is in FA...having the FA2012 PDF makes this easier by just doing control +find. Then read everything in the question and answer. Then read it in FA and annotate whatever isn't already in FA that seems useful and necessary to understand the concept of the question. 90% of everything is already in FA, you shouldn't be annotating too much, no need for redundancy.

FA is your study outline and Uworld is what you use to fill in the blanks. You are using uworld as a subscription right? Don't do pdfs of screenshots. You need to be able to detect trends in ur score and u do that with the graphs. If you had kaplan you would be able to see the average amount of time spent per question, per question that you scored correctly and also incorrectly. For me this was invaluable. I also had issues with time, I was just running out w less than 1 min to spare. But I noticed on kaplan interface that I averaged 30 seconds on questions I scored correctly, and 3+ min on questions I scored incorrectly. Using that along with how many I changed the answer from incorrect to incorrect, or correct to incorrect I realized there was no point in breaking my head with any question because chances are I was going to get it wrong anyways and take 3 min away from answering questions I did know. For now don't do timed exam mode, stick to timed tutor mode and train yourself to read and answred in under 1 min. If you have no clue then you have no clue, just put your favorite letter of the day and mark it.

It's going to take you 3 weeks to do uworld this way so get cracking! And take an nbme every week to make sure ur progressing. You should see an upward slope, nothing crazy prob just going up by 5-10% the first and second week. By the 3rd, 4th week (I know u only have 3), you will see a spike in the score averages. This is about the time that most people take the exam,within a week. Because you want to take it when you peak, not before not after because for many an extra two weeks of studying literally changes their score by +/- 1 point.

Sent from my PC36100 using SDN Mobile

Thanks for taking the time to spell it out. Yes, i am using uworld as a subscription.

Much appreciated!

 

[RedSoxSuck]

Hey, I agree to focus more on reading all of the explanations in UWorld, but I think you could do this just as well by doing a 1 hr timed block of 46 questions followed by 3-4 hours of careful reviewing and annotating into FA as needed. I'm not sure that this will get you through Uworld again before your test, but it's my personal opinion that you don't need to get through all of Uworld even one time to do well on the test, as long as you use Uworld wisely by reading and understanding all of the explanations. At first it took me a long time to get through a question block, but towards the end I was still taking about 3 hours to review 46 questions. Be thorough and think about what in the question led you to the wrong answer and what you missed that was important to getting the right answer. Read the explanations for correct answers as well! They will still teach you a lot. If you start missing mostly strict memorization questions, then hit those areas in
FA. It also helps to download a flash card app like flashcards+ and search for flashcards that people have already made from FA or DIT and do these before bed or any other time between things (when making meals, when you first get up, etc). Good luck!

Just download flashcard + app and its awesome. Thank you!

 

[RedSoxSuck]

I love pathoma. Watched most lectures 2x and annotated
It into fa. Read it 2-3x. I would like to keep using pathoma until the test day. Any suggestions on how to incorporate it into my schedule.

8-2pm: first aid system review
2-11pm: uworld in a timed Tutor mode (system based. Questions on what was reveiwed earlier in the day).

Where and how should I try to fit in pathoma. Thank you!

 

[Phloston]

I would actually blast through USMLE Rx, if possible.

I believe one read of FA + that QBank are collectively responsible for having gotten me across the 235-240 barrier when I first touched USMLE material back in February-April. I hadn't known at the time where I stood score-wise, but based on having done lots of questions since then, and the fact that I'm 2/3 through Kaplan QBank at this point, I can judge that USMLE Rx is heavily under-estimated in terms of its value. It is a fantastic QBank, and you will experience score augmentation if you get through it. Trust me.

Do USMLE Rx, if possible. I believe that would help you learn FA during these final couple weeks better than reading the book itself (but DO read the book too).

 

[Belleza156]

I love pathoma. Watched most lectures 2x and annotated
It into fa. Read it 2-3x. I would like to keep using pathoma until the test day. Any suggestions on how to incorporate it into my schedule.

8-2pm: first aid system review
2-11pm: uworld in a timed Tutor mode (system based. Questions on what was reveiwed earlier in the day).

Where and how should I try to fit in pathoma. Thank you!

I think you should switch your schedule around. You need to start with what requires the most brain power since your energy winds down as the goes goes along. Do your question bank 1-2blocks and whenever u run into a path subject that is difficult for u to grasp with whas in uworld turn on that specific video in pathoma, videos are only 17-30 min long so if u watch a few videos and do 1-2 blocks it should take you 6-8 hours. And then take a break and look of FA for an hour and then stop studying.

Your studying a lot of hours. Maybe too many, it may make you more tired in the end. In my school they always told us to study like you are running a marathon......you need to pace yourself and keep up the stamina all the way till the end. Don't studying like your sprinting because you will burn out after a week.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

I think you should switch your schedule around. You need to start with what requires the most brain power since your energy winds down as the goes goes along. Do your question bank 1-2blocks and whenever u run into a path subject that is difficult for u to grasp with whas in uworld turn on that specific video in pathoma, videos are only 17-30 min long so if u watch a few videos and do 1-2 blocks it should take you 6-8 hours. And then take a break and look of FA for an hour and then stop studying.

Your studying a lot of hours. Maybe too many, it may make you more tired in the end. In my school they always told us to study like you are running a marathon......you need to pace yourself and keep up the stamina all the way till the end. Don't studying like your sprinting because you will burn out after a week.

Good suggestions. Thanks!

 

[glory7pr]

Do you have Pass Program or Kaplan videos? Pass videos are great for Gastro (I watched them and they helped a lot!). Some friends say that Kaplan videos are great for Behavioral. Don't know what to recommend for Anato and Musculoskeletal...they are my weak areas.

I also used DIT, Pathoma, FA and Uworld and found them extremely helpful. But the most helpful one will be to understand Uworld as most of people are recommending.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

Do you have Pass Program or Kaplan videos? Pass videos are great for Gastro (I watched them and they helped a lot!). Some friends say that Kaplan videos are great for Behavioral. Don't know what to recommend for Anato and Musculoskeletal...they are my weak areas.

I also used DIT, Pathoma, FA and Uworld and found them extremely helpful. But the most helpful one will be to understand Uworld as most of people are recommending.

Good reminder regarding behavioral kaplan video's. I had forgotten about those. Thanks

 

[beeitchness]

If you're truly aiming for only above 220, then stop for a second, and listen to my advice: go and read/memorize/understand FA. This may take you 5 days.

Then go ahead and do it again.

And again.

And again.

Know FA cold.

Don't waste your time with other resources until this is done. You said you did FA 3-4x and tried to "integrate"? Please spare me this nonsense. You integrate AND memorize FA to the point where you can read all 540 pages, cover to cover in 2 days or less.

And by read, I mean actually read, word for word, everything. Do not skim your eyes through any page because you naively believe you know what you're reading, because you DON'T. When you're reading each page you should be actively thinking. For example, if you see "acute intermittent porphyria" you should have come up with "porphobilinogen deaminase - painful belly, red wine urine, psych, drug, neuropathy" almost instantly in your mind, and then confirm to yourself that you did not miss any detail by reading every word on that page.

I did this BEFORE doing any of UWorld, and ended up scoring 88% average in my first and only pass.

Keep your studying this simple and I guarantee you will score much, much higher than 220.

 

[Cozenboy]

thanks for the advice/comment, I think you are absolutely right in the last part (i don't think that you can read the whole book in less than 2 days, though, even in the end ;-)) but most people don't read FA thoroughly enough...

 

[RedSoxSuck]

Here is an update: I had 64% of uworld left on august 7/12.

Today 8/20/12: Remaining Uworld 16%

I did questions timed tutor mode. I reviewed a particular section from First aid and then i did 2 blocks of questions from the same system in the same day.

I read the ENTIRE explanation, right and wrong answers, educational objective and then opened FA to the appropriate section and read the appropriate topic from FA. Annotated if anything important was missing. Took me around 3 hrs per block.

I did EVERY SYSTEM from USMLEworld however, there were few systems (cardio, GI, heme and reproduction) which i only reviewed using uworld (meaning, i did not review these section from FA prior to doing cardio, GI, heme and repro questions). Reason? Because i had to take NBME 5 today since my test is on the 29th and i wanted to finish as much of Usmleworld as i could so i can devote last week just to first aid review.

So on NBME 5, i improved by 7 points but still short of my goal of 220+. So i am not sure what to do. I have only NBME 13 left to take. Took 5, 6, 7, 11 and 12. I just changed my test date to the september 14th. Seemed like a reasonable thing to do. It will allow me to finish uworld (16% left) and then just focus on FA. Not sure.

I found NBME 5 block 1 to be weird because i was sluggish and my brain felt asleep. However, 2nd block on, i was awake. 3rd and 4th block all seemed pharm and biochem.

I must say that i am disappointed because i thought i did alot better and since there is NO feeback. Its hard to tell.

Thoughts?


I have attached NBME 5 (take today) and nbme 6 take on 8/7/12.

Thanks guys!

 

[RedSoxSuck]

Bump and anyone?

 

[Myxedema]

I'm not in my final phase of study, so caveat emptor.

The subjects that you comparatively did poorly changed from NBME 6 to NBME 5. If I were you, I'd compare those subjects with UWorld % for individual subjects and systems and focus on my weaknesses.

Good luck.

 

[ijn]

I think to hit 220+ the best thing for you to do is go back to the fundamentals in First Aid. USMLEWorld might not be the best use of your time since it's sort of a scatter shot of medicine. Although I don't know what the best way for you to memorize First Aid is at this point. I prefer flashcards. Other people read and recite pages to themselves. Others meticulously rewrite everything in notebooks. But do something to actively challenge your memory of First Aid.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

I think to hit 220+ the best thing for you to do is go back to the fundamentals in First Aid. USMLEWorld might not be the best use of your time since it's sort of a scatter shot of medicine. Although I don't know what the best way for you to memorize First Aid is at this point. I prefer flashcards. Other people read and recite pages to themselves. Others meticulously rewrite everything in notebooks. But do something to actively challenge your memory of First Aid.

Is lacking fundamentals is the biggest problem do you see right now? Where in first aid? General pathology section? Also i changed my test date to september 14th. Thanks

Also, for what its worth, sometimes i do struggle answering general questions compare to more specific questions. For example

Uworld questions:

A 68 yo white male presents to your office complaining of fatigue and difficulty carrying out his normal daily activities. He has a history of HTN, DM 2, osteoarthritis. He has smoked one pack of cigarettes per day for past 40 years. Which of the following would most likely indicate Left side heart failure?
A. Wheezing on moderate exertion
B. Chest tightness on moderate exertion
C. Supine dyspnea that is relieved by sitting up.
D. Symmetric lower extremity edema
E. Fullness and tenderness over right subcostal area
F. Paraxoymal cough relieved by sputum production

This is a fairly general question. I was not able to answer it in a timely manner and more often than not i struggle with these type of general questions. Also, i do quite well uworld. May be because uworld is more content driven, NBME seem more vaguely written and synthetic.

 

[Boardz]

Is lacking fundamentals is the biggest problem do you see right now? Where in first aid? General pathology section? Also i changed my test date to september 14th. Thanks

Also, for what its worth, sometimes i do struggle answering general questions compare to more specific questions. For example

Uworld questions:

A 68 yo white male presents to your office complaining of fatigue and difficulty carrying out his normal daily activities. He has a history of HTN, DM 2, osteoarthritis. He has smoked one pack of cigarettes per day for past 40 years. Which of the following would most likely indicate Left side heart failure?
A. Wheezing on moderate exertion
B. Chest tightness on moderate exertion
C. Supine dyspnea that is relieved by sitting up.
D. Symmetric lower extremity edema
E. Fullness and tenderness over right subcostal area
F. Paraxoymal cough relieved by sputum production

This is a fairly general question. I was not able to answer it in a timely manner and more often than not i struggle with these type of general questions. Also, i do quite well uworld. May be because uworld is more content driven, NBME seem more vaguely written and synthetic.

Knowing this concept is absolutely essential as far as cardio questions go on step 1 and probably step 2. Essential. Critical. Necessary. Not knowing that supine dyspnea relieved from sitting up is actually quite specific for left heart failure can cost you a lot come test day. Every single one of these answer choices are actually high yield as well. This might just show that you're very weak with respiratory and cardio. Drop everything you're doing and just dissect the crap out of this question. It's the highest yield thing you can possibly do right now. More so than randomly going through first aid or even doing uworld questions, or anything else.

edit: i was absolute rubbish in cardio for a VERY long time (was drinking quite heavily and enjoying myself during this system) and I paid DEARLY come prep time. But I spent over a week doing cardio physio and anatomy and everything else (they're all interrelated it's hard to master cardio physio without knowing what the heart looks like...) and it was absolutely NECESSARY for me to do this. I'm still just whatever in cardio but the bread and butter stuff you NEED TO UNDERSTAND AND KNOW COLD. Start.... NOW. get off sdn.

 

[panicattackmode]

Know First aid. All of it. Pathoma helps explain what's in FA and once you have that understanding, knowledge fund wise, First Aid is all I did. After this, you do Uworld. DOn't **** around with any other resources as they are overkill and you will feel overwhelmed.

Do Uworld, then do all the questions you got wrong. I was scoring 80-90% on questions I had previously gotten wrong and I'd say over 95% of them, I couldn't remember having seen the question before. Then review carefully WHY you got the other questions wrong. Dont just gloss over WHAT you got wrong, think about WHY you got it wrong.

I would even go as far as saying don't bother with any NBMEs. They suck up a lot of time and you're learning absolutely nothing.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

Know First aid. All of it. Pathoma helps explain what's in FA and once you have that understanding, knowledge fund wise, First Aid is all I did. After this, you do Uworld. DOn't **** around with any other resources as they are overkill and you will feel overwhelmed.

Do Uworld, then do all the questions you got wrong. I was scoring 80-90% on questions I had previously gotten wrong and I'd say over 95% of them, I couldn't remember having seen the question before. Then review carefully WHY you got the other questions wrong. Dont just gloss over WHAT you got wrong, think about WHY you got it wrong.

I would even go as far as saying don't bother with any NBMEs. They suck up a lot of time and you're learning absolutely nothing.

I am doing uworld in a timed tutor mode. It takes me around 3 hours a block. I read the entire thing (explanation, right and wrong answers and then the educational objective) then i read the appropriate section in FA to make sure if there is anything missing or need to be annotated. Then next question.


What did you do in last few days before the test? Just review FA?

 

[panicattackmode]

The last week before the test is when I re-read FA and did my second pass on UWorld questions I had gotten wrong. I finished my second pass of UWorld two days before the test. The day before the test, I did about 4hours of studying and reviewed pharm and and flipped through the different tables in FA. I was clocking in about 13-14 hours of study time per day in that last week.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

The last week before the test is when I re-read FA and did my second pass on UWorld questions I had gotten wrong. I finished my second pass of UWorld two days before the test. The day before the test, I did about 4hours of studying and reviewed pharm and and flipped through the different tables in FA. I was clocking in about 13-14 hours of study time per day in that last week.

Oh ok. Did you find questions to be similar to nbme that you took or more like uworld? Similar in terms of language.

 

[panicattackmode]

I did one nbme and I absolutely hated it during and after the thing.

the real deal was almost fun in a way...trust me. Study study study and go for it. The kind of focus you have during the real thing is unattainable on a practice nbme. Unless you are really disciplined which I'm not

 

[barkatthemoon]

Yea, you are right. I did not.



Sometimes i struggle with timing so thats why i had been doing uworld in a timed mode. But, it has gotten alot better. But why not just use timed mode and following everything else that you have mentioned.

Also, when (i.e) uworld talks about formation of pancreas and ventral pancreatic bud, should i have that section of fa open (to annotate if needed obviously). I might be a little confuse on this.

may be you can share your usage like how exactly you proceed through a qbank. That might clearify stuff for my liquaefied brain.

I usually spend around 2 hrs per block to make sure that all the relevant information from uworld has been annotated into my FA and nothing is missing. I think i might be missing something according to your suggestions?

Yea, it ends on august 26th. 3 days before the test. I am also screen shooting the important questions/pictures/scans etc.

Hey man,

Sorry to see that your scores aren't higher given all the work you have done. I didn't really worry to much about annotating first aid, but I did really read and take notes on every question and answer in uworld. I didn't even really read it all but looked at most of it at some pint, its a nice summary of things and can be useful. I probably spent like 3 hrs a block going though UW. I think getting too caught up in a system, like you have to do XYZ or each question isn't the best approach, if you've gotten good at some questions/subject they go quick and don't do too much, but if you need to slow down and take 20 mins for a question and write out a table or draw a picture or something to help you remember then do it. Good luck.

Also on the real thing be careful with time. I also struggle with that and it screwed me over on the MCAT so for this I made sure to be 1/2 done the first block with < 1/2 the time used. I would be this too especially for the first block, just check to see where you are after every 10 questions or so.

 

[CDI]

Hey man,

Sorry to see that your scores aren't higher given all the work you have done. I didn't really worry to much about annotating first aid, but I did really read and take notes on every question and answer in uworld. I didn't even really read it all but looked at most of it at some pint, its a nice summary of things and can be useful. I probably spent like 3 hrs a block going though UW. I think getting too caught up in a system, like you have to do XYZ or each question isn't the best approach, if you've gotten good at some questions/subject they go quick and don't do too much, but if you need to slow down and take 20 mins for a question and write out a table or draw a picture or something to help you remember then do it. Good luck.

Also on the real thing be careful with time. I also struggle with that and it screwed me over on the MCAT so for this I made sure to be 1/2 done the first block with < 1/2 the time used. I would be this too especially for the first block, just check to see where you are after every 10 questions or so.

OP already took it and got a 230...

 

[docnotsopc]

OP already took it and got a 230...

Well OP is boss than