USMLE Best Way to use UWorld

[doc2be245]

Hey all,

Just wanted some opinions from others who have been through the Step 1.
I'm actively working with first aid in my coursework, but I wanted to know the best way to Utilize UWorld. I'm thinking about doing the questions as my main study source so theoretically by the end of prep i'll know how to answer each question and why the other answers are wrong.

Is this something you would recommend or would you say to spend more time in First Aid memorization compared to UWorld? Do you think that by knowing UWorld in and out you would be prepared to attack mostly anything that step 1 throws at you and obtain a high score?

My thinking is that even though everything in that FA book is necessary information, at the end of the day I am preparing to take the test (Step 1) so the best way to prep would be to know the ins and outs of how they present the questions.

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[blackshirt5]

So here's the deal.

1) With FA and UWorld you should use them simultaneously and annotate in FA what you see in UWorld
2) Don't do questions "in and out", thats a cop out. Leave 30% of the question bank for self-assessment right before you're giving the exam
3) Everyone studies differently, but you should knock micro right outta the water with Sketchy
4) You have 83 seconds to do a question, so time yourself while practicing
5) Use one resource for path, because you will waste time cross referring resources
6) All calculations should be ingrained in your head, from epidemiology to pharmacokinetics/dynamics to line-weaver burke plot. There is no way you can go wrong with math if you practice enough. You will gain time and points, my man

All the best, ask me more if you want. Don't shy away from hard work; train like an athlete.

 

[slowlybutshelly]

I passed Step1 in 2004 and let it expire. I passed CS in 2005; it is still valid. I have not passed Step2ck yet. when studying for Path back then i used webpath. what is PATHOMA?
and what is sketchy? if possible can you provide links.,.

So here's the deal.

1) With FA and UWorld you should use them simultaneously and annotate in FA what you see in UWorld
2) Don't do questions "in and out", thats a cop out. Leave 30% of the question bank for self-assessment right before you're giving the exam
3) Everyone studies differently, but you should knock micro right outta the water with Sketchy
4) You have 83 seconds to do a question, so time yourself while practicing
5) Use one resource for path, because you will waste time cross referring resources
6) All calculations should be ingrained in your head, from epidemiology to pharmacokinetics/dynamics to line-weaver burke plot. There is no way you can go wrong with math if you practice enough. You will gain time and points, my man

All the best, ask me more if you want. Don't shy away from hard work; train like an athlete.

 

[Storph]

I passed Step1 in 2004 and let it expire. I passed CS in 2005; it is still valid. I have not passed Step2ck yet. when studying for Path back then i used webpath. what is PATHOMA?
and what is sketchy? if possible can you provide links.,.

Pathoma is a series of pathology lectures from Dr. Sattar. You can find it on Pathoma.com. He has a way of explaining material in a way that is extremely easy to conceptualize. If you buy the lectures, you also get his book, which I really suggest using because he leaves room in the margins to draw the simple diagrams he puts in his lectures. Once again, I cannot speak highly enough of Pathoma.

Sketchy is a series of videos that uses visual learning hooks to help people remember the ins and outs of micro concepts. There is one video for each bacteria (sometimes several bacts or viruses are included in a single video). I suggest looking at it because I think it has worked well for many students. I used it exclusively to study for my class's micro section.

 

[Shams al Deen]

I want some advice on how I am approaching my study day and Uworld in particular (I'm in dedicated). I'm finding that 80 UWorld questions + review easily consumes my entire day. I have NO time to go thru FA independent of UWorld. My original plan was to get 80 questions out of the way by like 5PM and then spend 5-6 hours reading FA/anki/videos.

For example, I got a question on Western blot correct, but I really didn't much about that lab technique (barely enough to get it correct). So I open up FA and then spend 1hr learning all the lab techniques (PCR, blotting, flow cytometry, etc.). Then a few questions later I get some question wrong about fructose intolerance. I then spend the next hour re-learning fructose/galactose metabolism.

Is this the right way to do it? It consumes the entire day, and I am ending up just randomly going thru FA rather than systematically.

 

[Shams al Deen]

double post

 

[enthusiasticimg]

I want some advice on how I am approaching my study day and Uworld in particular (I'm in dedicated). I'm finding that 80 UWorld questions + review easily consumes my entire day. I have NO time to go thru FA independent of UWorld. My original plan was to get 80 questions out of the way by like 5PM and then spend 5-6 hours reading FA/anki/videos.

For example, I got a question on Western blot correct, but I really didn't much about that lab technique (barely enough to get it correct). So I open up FA and then spend 1hr learning all the lab techniques (PCR, blotting, flow cytometry, etc.). Then a few questions later I get some question wrong about fructose intolerance. I then spend the next hour re-learning fructose/galactose metabolism.

Is this the right way to do it? It consumes the entire day, and I am ending up just randomly going thru FA rather than systematically.

the same thing happens to me and it takes me a long time to go through questions

 

[Traumahawk]

Another question about UWorld: our pathology prof just lit into all of us during a routine lecture and said we were going to fail Step 1 if we didn't start doing UWorld AND FA AND USMLE-Rx AND Kaplan now. (We're three weeks into semester 2 of M1.) I've been annotating FA per organ system and doing Firecracker since the start of M1, and doing reasonably decent on the Firecracker blocks, but path prof's advice is entirely at odds with everything else I've heard about proper use of UWorld for Step 1. Is path prof actually right, or just trying to pimp us?

 

[chromuffin]

Another question about UWorld: our pathology prof just lit into all of us during a routine lecture and said we were going to fail Step 1 if we didn't start doing UWorld AND FA AND USMLE-Rx AND Kaplan now. (We're three weeks into semester 2 of M1.) I've been annotating FA per organ system and doing Firecracker since the start of M1, and doing reasonably decent on the Firecracker blocks, but path prof's advice is entirely at odds with everything else I've heard about proper use of UWorld for Step 1. Is path prof actually right, or just trying to pimp us?

Pimping. Most people don't even start studying until second semester of MS2.

 

[doc-Oc]

so what is truly the best way to annotate FA with Uworld?