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pvabc15

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  1. Medical Student
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Hard to say what you should do. It does seem like you've plateaued, and if you take in <2 weeks then it is unlikely that you'll get the 260 that you were aiming for. That said, you may never hit that level, and it's hard to imagine that you'll jump 20-30 points when you're on an elective.

Honest truth is that everyone wants to hit a 260+, but not everyone will. I would probably hunker down and do your best, get your score, and then figure out if you really are competitive for the specialty you were aiming for.
 
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Hard to say what you should do. It does seem like you've plateaued, and if you take in <2 weeks then it is unlikely that you'll get the 260 that you were aiming for. That said, you may never hit that level, and it's hard to imagine that you'll jump 20-30 points when you're on an elective.

Honest truth is that everyone wants to hit a 260+, but not everyone will. I would probably hunker down and do your best, get your score, and then figure out if you really are competitive for the specialty you were aiming for.
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At this point I know the content, I see the questions I got wrong and I realize what a dumb mistakes I made.
Is there a pattern to your mistakes?

If the issue is test taking rather than content, aside from more practice questions, the best approach is to relax the day before the exam, get a good night sleep, go in appropriately fed and caffeinated, and then just keep your wits about you.
 
My kid felt the same way, but the last couple of weeks of dedicated study with repetition made a huge difference and they scored over 260.
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Is there a pattern to your mistakes?

If the issue is test taking rather than content, aside from more practice questions, the best approach is to relax the day before the exam, get a good night sleep, go in appropriately fed and caffeinated, and then just keep your wits about you.
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Have you taken UWSA2? If not, take that as soon as you can. It's been with my experience and the experience of my friends that it is more accurate for score than pretty much any of the NBMEs. I consistently scored low 220s on NBMEs, ended up with 250s on the real deal. My UWSA2 score was 4 points from my actual score.
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I read too fast.

I end up "skimming" the question, read one point and then I anchor to a answer in my head. In my uworld blocks where I read word for word (literally pointing at the screen), end up averaging high 80s, low 90s...I think just the timing gets me flustered?

This last NBME, went over incorrects - I probably knew the answer to at least 60% of them. I just read a word wrong / didn't read a particular sentence properly.
Do this:

1) Ignore the prompt--read the last sentence (question stem) first. Not infrequently, the details in the prompt are just red herrings.
2) Read the answer choices and eliminate any answers that you know for sure are distractors
3) Read the prompt quickly
4) Eliminate more wrong answers. If you still have multiple options that you can't narrow down either one, decide which one you feel best about and don't change unless you have a good reason.
5) Move on. Sitting and staring at a question usually is not going to make knowledge pop into your head.
 
Do this:

1) Ignore the prompt--read the last sentence (question stem) first. Not infrequently, the details in the prompt are just red herrings.
2) Read the answer choices and eliminate any answers that you know for sure are distractors
3) Read the prompt quickly
4) Eliminate more wrong answers. If you still have multiple options that you can't narrow down either one, decide which one you feel best about and don't change unless you have a good reason.
5) Move on. Sitting and staring at a question usually is not going to make knowledge pop into your head.
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