Uworld concerns for medicine

[zeppelinpage4]

I'm about the get the Step 2 Uworld questions for my medicine rotation.

But I had some questions about it.
1) For step 1 Uworld, it took me close to 3 hours just to finish a block of questions. Are the medicine Uworld questions just as time consuming?

2) How did you guys do the Uworld questions during 3rd year? Do you read every explanation? Or just the main objective? I was very inefficient with Uworld MS2 and I paid the price for that for step 1. I want to use it properly and be able to get through it in 6 weeks.

3) Are there concise resources I can use to give me a foundation for knowledge other than Uworld? I actually didn't find Step 1 Uworld helpful. I did most of it throughout MS2, and did a bunch during the start of my step 1 studying and I struggled on my NBMEs the entire time. I realize I don't learn from doing questions. The explanations were great, but I didn't have the proper foundation of knowledge to gain anything from it. Only when I started using a good review resource like Pathoma or First Aid to give me a foundation did Uworld start to help.

So, I'm honestly worried if I just do Uworld, I'll not learn very much for the shelf. Is there a good resource I can use to give me a proper foundation of knowledge before I do any questions? Or in place of doing questions all together? (I'm gonna be honest, I had a horrible time using Uworld as a primary learning tool, it was better as supplement for me).

I'm looking at getting Step Up to Medicine, but I heard it's long and dense. And so, I doubt I'd be able to get through a book like that and do Uworld questions. Are there more concise book?

Sorry for the long post. This might all be in vain, as I have no idea if I passed step 1 yet. But I made a lot of mistakes studying during MS2, and using resources in a way that didn't work for me. So I just want to try and start off on the right foot for 3rd year. Thank you.

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[Cytarabine]

I'm about the get the Step 2 Uworld questions for my medicine rotation.

But I had some questions about it.
1) For step 1 Uworld, it took me close to 3 hours just to finish a block of questions. Are the medicine Uworld questions just as time consuming?

I make slow progress with UW. I'm very diligent about reading explanations for every question. This held true for step 1 and step 2. In general, step 2 was maybe slightly faster out of necessity, but it certainly isn't inherently quicker than UW for step 1.

2) How did you guys do the Uworld questions during 3rd year? Do you read every explanation? Or just the main objective? I was very inefficient with Uworld MS2 and I paid the price for that for step 1. I want to use it properly and be able to get through it in 6 weeks.

Get through the whole qbank or just the internal medicine section for medicine? I'm assuming the latter. Like said, I'm diligent with questions and explanations. Everyone has their own system. During the year i read everything. For dedicated I'll be more efficient.

3) Are there concise resources I can use to give me a foundation for knowledge other than Uworld? I actually didn't find Step 1 Uworld helpful. I did most of it throughout MS2, and did a bunch during the start of my step 1 studying and I struggled on my NBMEs the entire time. I realize I don't learn from doing questions. The explanations were great, but I didn't have the proper foundation of knowledge to gain anything from it. Only when I started using a good review resource like Pathoma or First Aid to give me a foundation did Uworld start to help.

So, I'm honestly worried if I just do Uworld, I'll not learn very much for the shelf. Is there a good resource I can use to give me a proper foundation of knowledge before I do any questions? Or in place of doing questions all together? (I'm gonna be honest, I had a horrible time using Uworld as a primary learning tool, it was better as supplement for me).

I'm looking at getting Step Up to Medicine, but I heard it's long and dense. And so, I doubt I'd be able to get through a book like that and do Uworld questions. Are there more concise book?

Unfortunately I don't think there's a good concise resource for internal medicine content. Nature of the beast, it's a broad field. MKSAP essentials is a quicker read than SUTM. You do learn a lot from UW though

Sorry for the long post. This might all be in vain, as I have no idea if I passed step 1 yet. But I made a lot of mistakes studying during MS2, and using resources in a way that didn't work for me. So I just want to try and start off on the right foot for 3rd year. Thank you.

Per above

 

[zeppelinpage4]

Per above

Thanks Cytarabine!

 

[bulldogmed]

There's over 1100 something questions on medicine on UWorld. It's enough for the medicine shelf. I did 25 questions a night plus some outside reading that was assigned. Worked out pretty good for me.

 

[zeppelinpage4]

Thanks bulldogmed. How many weeks did you have to complete Uworld?

Also, I'm around 40 questions in and I'm going to be honest, I'm not liking Uworld.
The explanations are pretty good, but it takes me an 1.5 hours to get through 10 questions. Is it okay if I just read the main objective and move on?
And, I personally don't feel like I'm retaining anything by doing these questions.

It was the same problem I had when studying for step 1. Uworld is helpful as a review, once I've read a book or covered everything. But, I don't have a primary reading source I can use day to day. I can't use Uworld as my primary learning tool.
Is MKSAP for students any better? A resident recommended it to me today.
Could anyone suggest an alternative to Uworld if I don't learn well using questions?

 

[Kaustikos]

Thanks bulldogmed. How many weeks did you have to complete Uworld?

Also, I'm around 40 questions in and I'm going to be honest, I'm not liking Uworld.
The explanations are pretty good, but it takes me an 1.5 hours to get through 10 questions. Is it okay if I just read the main objective and move on?
And, I personally don't feel like I'm retaining anything by doing these questions.

It was the same problem I had when studying for step 1. Uworld is helpful as a review, once I've read a book or covered everything. But, I don't have a primary reading source I can use day to day. I can't use Uworld as my primary learning tool.
Is MKSAP for students any better? A resident recommended it to me today.
Could anyone suggest an alternative to Uworld if I don't learn well using questions?

It shouldn't take you 1.5 hours to do 10 questions. Do 44 or 40 and see where you falter. The alternate idea is do it systems based first and go from there.
You're spending too much time on your blocks. Your exams are 100 questions in 3 hours

 

[zeppelinpage4]

It shouldn't take you 1.5 hours to do 10 questions. Do 44 or 40 and see where you falter. The alternate idea is do it systems based first and go from there.
You're spending too much time on your blocks. Your exams are 100 questions in 3 hours

Thanks Kaustikos. I think it is taking so long because it takes me a lot of time to read through all the explanations and make sense of them. Should answering AND reviewing 40 questions in an hour be a reasonable goal then?
If I stop reading every explanation, and just read main objectives and review incorrects, I could go much faster I think.

And when you say, see where I falter. You mean, see which subject I get incorrect most often, and try to read up on just those topics later?

Systems based might work well. I can review cardio, then do cardio questions in Uworld.
If I do it systems based, are there good review books I can read before doing Uworld for each system? Say if I wanted to get a good overview of cardio before doing the cardio questions.
I got Step Up, but it's too dense for me.

During Step 1 study, what worked best for me was, watch Pathoma (to get a good overview), read FA to fill in some details, then Uworld to fill in more details. I like to get a scaffold or broad knowledge base before doing Uworld. So, a short/quick read resource before I do questions might make a difference for me. But I don't know of any such resources atm.

 

[Kaustikos]

Thanks Kaustikos. I think it is taking so long because it takes me a lot of time to read through all the explanations and make sense of them. Should answering AND reviewing 40 questions in an hour be a reasonable goal then?
If I stop reading every explanation, and just read main objectives and review incorrects, I could go much faster I think.

And when you say, see where I falter. You mean, see which subject I get incorrect most often, and try to read up on just those topics later?

Systems based might work well. I can review cardio, then do cardio questions in Uworld.
If I do it systems based, are there good review books I can read before doing Uworld for each system? Say if I wanted to get a good overview of cardio before doing the cardio questions.
I got Step Up, but it's too dense for me.

During Step 1 study, what worked best for me was, watch Pathoma (to get a good overview), read FA to fill in some details, then Uworld to fill in more details. I like to get a scaffold or broad knowledge base before doing Uworld. So, a short/quick read resource before I do questions might make a difference for me. But I don't know of any such resources atm.

Yeah,
I'm only saying this to help you. If you miss one question on derm vs 5 on cards, then I'd spend time reviewing cards. Don't focus on every question you get wrong on all systems. Learn where you suck the most at and focus on that.
Reviewing systems helps make you focus better on your weak points.
Example on my behalf: I was horrible at ob/gyn and pulmonary. I stopped, took notes on those questions reviewed those topics. Then I would do some more practice questions on that and improved. Then I'd move on and do more questions and see where else I was weak on. Don't be discouraged because you miss so many questions but focus on what you're missing the most. If you do uworld on all systems and review them entirely, you'll be spending too much time. Instead, work on your weak points and then focus on the minute details.
You're going to get questions wrong. But spending hours on each question is a waste of time. If you do questions and realize you suck at a certain topic: review and study that topic to death so that you won't even have any hesitations answering those questions.
If you do review, don't study. But make annotations in your book and use those later. It's way more helpful. Because you'll ultimately confuse yourself or drain yourself focusing on just those topics. Ive learned it's way better to just focus on the weak points because you'll be more comfortable with the questions to come.

 

[pd1112]

In IM right now as well. Pretty quickly found out that it's just dense, no matter the resource; no way around it. Try the online meded videos.

 

[seminoma]

In IM right now as well. Pretty quickly found out that it's just dense, no matter the resource; no way around it. Try the online meded videos.

Hey dude how have the meded videos been for you? I haven't watched any of them and I'm 2 weeks in.

 

[pd1112]

Hey dude how have the meded videos been for you? I haven't watched any of them and I'm 2 weeks in.

I like them a lot, but I've only made it through cardio. They seem fairly bare-bones & maybe others who have taken the shelf can chime in about how useful they actually are, but I like that they're short & to the point. It's also nice to have a different type of resource other than books/articles. I bought the one month subscription which allows you to download audios & pdf summary notes of all of the videos, so I could have something similar to Goljan audio & use the pdfs as a quick review later in the year before step 2 if I don't have time to watch/listen.

I've barely opened IM Essentials & SUTM, but planning on hitting those hard starting today. Plan right now is to give both a try & then stick to the one that suits me better or get through both if possible. I haven't touched UW yet; the wounds from step 1 are still too fresh. The IME questions came free with the text. If I end up choosing IME over SUTM, I might give those questions a try.

 

[seminoma]

I like them a lot, but I've only made it through cardio. They seem fairly bare-bones & maybe others who have taken the shelf can chime in about how useful they actually are, but I like that they're short & to the point. It's also nice to have a different type of resource other than books/articles. I bought the one month subscription which allows you to download audios & pdf summary notes of all of the videos, so I could have something similar to Goljan audio & use the pdfs as a quick review later in the year before step 2 if I don't have time to watch/listen.

I've barely opened IM Essentials & SUTM, but planning on hitting those hard starting today. Plan right now is to give both a try & then stick to the one that suits me better or get through both if possible. I haven't touched UW yet; the wounds from step 1 are still too fresh. The IME questions came free with the text. If I end up choosing IME over SUTM, I might give those questions a try.

Cool, I went through the neuro ones earlier and they seem pretty useful as a review and also for some diagnosis/treatment algorithms. I'm going to keep doing MKSAP5 today.. can't look at UW either right now.