Debating on how to do UW questions

[medstu2006]

I just finished the Biochem section in FA. I'm debating whether I should do all the biochem/genetics questions in UW or should I wait 2 weeks or so, finish a few more sections in FA and then do random sets?

I really do not learn from doing random questions when I haven't reviewed the material because there's no flow to it. When I do random questions, I feel like I'm learning random bits of info that I'll forget later.

What do u suggest I do?

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[osli]

It depends on the person, what you like, how you learn, and how you want to use the question bank. If you want to use it to test your understanding of something you have studied, then subject specific blocks are fine. Do them right after or delayed depending on whether you are wanting to reinforce newly learned information or figure out what you actually learned and what was only in short term memory.

If you want to use the qbank as a primary learning resource, and learn well from questions (especially ones you miss), then do random unused blocks.

Personally, I get too burned out doing just one subject, both studying and questions. So I do a random unused block morning and night to bookend study from review books. I learn from both the questions and the review books, but in different ways, and it keeps more major concepts fresh in my mind at once. I probably forget some details this way too, so it is a tradeoff. In the end, I like the idea of knowing that much of my board prep is random timed blocks of the same size and time length of those that make up the board exam.

 

[PenguinHead]

I didn't get much out of random blocks of questions until about 2 weeks into my studying. The first week, I just ended up frustrated and it was taking way too long to do questions and read explanations, mainly because I didn't know anything.

Now it's getting better. Now that I've reviewed most subjects I'm starting to actually learn more by doing questions. I use UW for my random blocks. If I feel the need to do subject specific review I use another source (kaplan, rx, qbooks, etc)

I think it was Taus' study guide that advised doing 75% study and 25% questions at first and then gradually reverse that ratio as it gets closer to test time.

 

[rb10]

I didn't get much out of random blocks of questions until about 2 weeks into my studying. The first week, I just ended up frustrated and it was taking way too long to do questions and read explanations, mainly because I didn't know anything.

Now it's getting better. Now that I've reviewed most subjects I'm starting to actually learn more by doing questions. I use UW for my random blocks. If I feel the need to do subject specific review I use another source (kaplan, rx, qbooks, etc)

I think it was Taus' study guide that advised doing 75% study and 25% questions at first and then gradually reverse that ratio as it gets closer to test time.

agreed. Im a question learner myself, so I have been using UW first. Simply because the explanations are so much better. Maybe Kaplan for random then? thoughts? Seems like Rx is just a waste of time.

 

[Blesbok]

i highly recommend random questions. there may be some questions that you dont get because you havent studied, but random is a much better way to gauge progress and also it prevents you from forgetting the stuff you studied 4 weeks before the test because you are constantly thinking about it.

 

[medstu2006]

i highly recommend random questions. there may be some questions that you dont get because you havent studied, but random is a much better way to gauge progress and also it prevents you from forgetting the stuff you studied 4 weeks before the test because you are constantly thinking about it.

So I think I'll delay doing questions for 2 more weeks, review more info and then do 100q's a day instead of 50/day. My test is on June 26th, so i'll have a month to complete the questions.

 

[Blesbok]

i did 100/day when i was studying 5 days a week and it worked out perfectly with 5 weeks and 3 nbmes in there i finished the friday before my exam with 130 questions left. then i did those 130 at the end of my review the day before the test to get back into question mode and just glanced over the answers very quickly and called it a night.

 

[78222]

At first i did mine subject based. What I'd suggest is just adding subjects as you cover them. That way you won't run out of questions on a particular subject and you will be in a constant state of review (which I believe is key to a good score).