12 days to go.. questions til I drop, or FA?

[Ookluh]

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I read most of Rapid Review during my last block of classes, and took NBME6 about four weeks ago and got a 219.. about a week ago, I took UWSA1 and got a 224.. needless to say, I was pretty disappointed to only go up about 5 points after three extra weeks of studying FA+RR..

So, now that I've read FA + RR (or BRS Path in certain subjects, like HemeOnc which I couldn't bring myself to read in RR) once each, I was planning on trying to do 150 questions per day + 1-2 systems per day of reading in FA+RR (more or less along Taus' final two-week plan)... but I find that I'm both a) really slow at reviewing questions, taking probably 2.5-3hours minimum to answer and review 48, and b) a relatively slow reader as well (which I've known all along), probably needing 4-6 hours per system (or at least, judging by how long Micro has been taking me thus far - and I just find myself getting frustrated because I end up just reading the stuff I already know and brushing off the SS/DS +/- enveloped/nonenveloped type details).

Do you guys think it would be best to still split my work from here on out, 50% of the day on questions and 50% on First Aid? I'm almost tempted to just do 75% questions and then 25% skimming random facts in First Aid, but I'm not sure if that's too risky..

So far I've done about 1200 from Kaplan, 600 from World (did mostly Kaplan before the UWSA, then have probably done about 250-350 of the World questions post-UWSA), and a few hundred from Review of Path and WebPath (those were mostly while reading RR). I was planning on doing World from here on out, but doubt I'll finish it unless I start doing questions for most of the day. Overall average in Kaplan is only 67%, and World I've been scoring between 66-72% on random 48s (my cumulative score is a little lower because I did a few blocks of topic specific questions a few months ago when I was studying for classes).

Any advice? Is doing almost only questions too risky? Is a 50/50 split still best? I tried searching the forums a little, but everyone's situation is different so I couldn't really come up with a decent answer. My goal is a 240, but I'm getting scared that it won't be coming my way.. at this point, would be even happy to hit 235.

 

[HTxFrog]

I would speed up the questions and stick to reading FA/RR. My first half of UWorld it would take me about 6 hours to complete and review 96q and so I was staying up until midnight every night trying to finish the stuff in the taus plan. Then I just decided to not read it so carefully and not read the wrong answers unless I missed it and I got it up to where I was doing 48 in about 1.5 hrs. At that point it was more realistic. I don't think it would be a good idea to just skim the sections in RR/FA. You get a lot out of UWorld, but its not the same as reading FA/RR b/c it jumps from section to section. Reading really helps you understand the whole system better. Thats just my opinion, so take it for what its worth

 

[Ookluh]

I thought about doing that, but I always find myself reading more and more. Maybe I should stop annotating, with only 12 days left? It's hard for me to just skip the ones I got right, because I often find info in the explanation that I didn't know (and thus could've gotten it wrong if they had asked a question targeting that piece of info), so I just keep reading every single one.. =\ Is it that bad of an idea to read the ones I got right?

 

[PokerDoc]

What i started doing is marking every question I didnt have 100% confidence on.

I know I should be reading every explanation in UW but I just can't budget the time for that at this point like you.

So when the question block is over... I only go over questions that are wrong or that I marked. IF I got them correct and didnt mark them I dont even look at them.. I know I might miss an important piece of info but I am using that extra time (and its significant) to listen to Goljan audio 2 lectures a night now (at 2x speed of course haha) and you can use that extra time to read more in addition to doing questions.

Both are so important though that I dont think it should be a one or the other thing here.

P.S. my scores and goals are similar to yours, and I know its discouraging since everyone on this board seems to be a cut above the rest.. but don't lose sight of that goal.. I don't know if I'm capable of that kind of score, but all I know is.. that when I walk out of that testing center, if I didn't reach my goal, it sure as hell won't be because I didnt try my absolute best. So just work your best and push through to the finish line.. dont say you'll be happy with a 235.. say that in 6 weeks, not now.. dont settle for less.. KEEP GOING!

 

[HTxFrog]

I still read at least the learning objective on all of them. If I am confident about the topic I read the learning objective only. If I'm a little less confident but still got it right I read the explanation at the top and the learning objective. If I get it wrong I read all the above stuff plus why the answer I chose was wrong. Also another thing that helped speed it up for me was just going fast and not worrying so much about missing questions. I thought my percentages would be lower, but it turns out that in my case sitting there thinking about the answers wasn't helping anyways b/c my averages didn't really change.

 

[PokerDoc]

I thought about doing that, but I always find myself reading more and more. Maybe I should stop annotating, with only 12 days left? It's hard for me to just skip the ones I got right, because I often find info in the explanation that I didn't know (and thus could've gotten it wrong if they had asked a question targeting that piece of info), so I just keep reading every single one.. =\ Is it that bad of an idea to read the ones I got right?

ya stop annotating, i made that decision too. In 12 days, youre just as likely to remember it from simply reading it than you are writing it down.

 

[badasshairday]

Do both. Read FA and keep doing questions.

 

[Ookluh]

Thanks for the input guys.. I guess I'll try to resist the temptation to read everything in World, no matter how much I might be getting out of it.. I suppose I'd learn more by doing more questions and reading wrong answers than doing fewer and reading right answers..

And I won't abandon FA, thanks for talking me out of my craziness! I'm hoping Micro is just particularly bad since it's largely rote detail/memorization oriented.

 

[badasshairday]

I personally think you should read it all, unless it is something you absolutely know, then just read the objective. But if the other answer choices are topics you want to refresh on, read those as well.

I found myself doing this, especially for micro/biochem/pharm/psychiatry because it keeps pounding in what those other enzymes/personality disorders/drugs/bugs are. I took 2.5-over 3 hours to read them. I think it was a better use of time than reading FA/RR thus far. Sometimes I would just read the objective, and skip the explanation but look at the other answer choices as well. You have to be sort of selective, but what they wrote in that system is very good.

Do FA, read it, and do UWORLD. Rapid Review is good. Read it all if you can/have time. If not, read your weak chapters and for the rest focus on blue margins/tables/photos.

 

[PokerDoc]

I think you should listen to those other guys instead of me.. read those objectives for sure.. i should have clarified.. the ones I tend to skip over period are questions that are so easy that are like

"The patient says you are the best doctor shes ever had and your nurse is a bitch"

what defense mechanism is this?




like ones that I know in 10 seconds.. those are the ones I dont even bother looking at at all.

 

[Ookluh]

I'll try to find a happy medium - figure out the ones that I can just read the objective (which would be the minimum) and which ones I should read every single word... I have a feeling at least half will still be the latter, but if I can cut the other half out then maybe I can get each 48Q block down to 2 hours, which would be a pretty big accomplishment.. thanks!

 

[badasshairday]

I'll try to find a happy medium - figure out the ones that I can just read the objective (which would be the minimum) and which ones I should read every single word... I have a feeling at least half will still be the latter, but if I can cut the other half out then maybe I can get each 48Q block down to 2 hours, which would be a pretty big accomplishment.. thanks!

Sounds good. The power of UWORLD is that it gives you context to all those random facts that are thrown all over the place in FA. It makes the info really stick. You learn it in WORLD, then see it again in FA or vice versa. It is really powerful. Good luck to you!

 

[Ookluh]

Thanks, same to you!! Now here's to hoping that the 219 was on the high side of my knowledge (meaning that it overestimated what I knew at the time), the 224 on the low side later on (so that I didn't just get 5 points out of 3 weeks...), and that I can still somehow squeeze in 11-16 points in the three weeks between my last diagnostic and test day!

 

[DocInProgress]

50 pages of FA and 100 Q's everyday.. GO!