Desperate student looking for answers please!

[EzioAuditore 357]

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Hey guys,

Hope everyone is well- was really hoping for some advice. I've been at UWorld for around 8months now- first pass. I'm still greatly struggling getting my blocks in timed. For each qn, I am taking around 2minutes.

I have no idea if I am overthinking each question or something- I take around 1minute to read the stem. Then, sometimes, I get the diagnosis immediately or sometimes I have to read the stem a few minutes to try to arrange the order in my head (while I am trying to think of potential diagnosis in my head)- which is particularly for the management questions.

I also highlighlight all the important points as I read it- otherwise I realize that I make too many errors in misreading the questions.
I don't know how everything everyone can be done in 1.5minutes.

Honestly, any advice is greatly appreciated

Thanks guy!

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[pigsinacloth]

I am objectively a slow reader compared to most of my classmates so I feel for you. I think at this point you're either weak in terms of content because you're not nailing the immediate association, you're second guessing yourself and wasting precious time double checking things. Also I know it's tough since in the past you have probably been able to think through and actually figure out most of the answers on an exam, but for these exams you can't know everything. Sometimes you will read a question and realize you don't have any idea what is going on. In those cases, you need to just guess and move on. If you really don't know something just accept it and learn it when you complete the block.

 

[DOVinciRobot]

Read the actual question -> read the answers -> skim stem and pick out info to help you delineate which answer is most correct.

Starting from the top and reading the entire stem of every question is going to slow you down significantly. There will be questions where almost the entire stem is irrelevant to what they are actually asking.

 

[EzioAuditore 357]

Great advice guys. Thanks a lot

 

[EzioAuditore 357]

​

Hey guys,

Hope everyone is well- was really hoping for some advice. I've been at UWorld for around 8months now- first pass. I'm still greatly struggling getting my blocks in timed. For each qn, I am taking around 2minutes.

I have no idea if I am overthinking each question or something- I take around 1minute to read the stem. Then, sometimes, I get the diagnosis immediately or sometimes I have to read the stem a few minutes to try to arrange the order in my head (while I am trying to think of potential diagnosis in my head)- which is particularly for the management questions.

I also highlighlight all the important points as I read it- otherwise I realize that I make too many errors in misreading the questions.
I don't know how everything everyone can be done in 1.5minutes.

Honestly, any advice is greatly appreciated

Thanks guy!

Yeah I do believe that I'm a tad slower in reading than others. I dunno if learning more about speed reading would help. Any thoughts my guy?

 

[GoSpursGo]

Read the actual question -> read the answers -> skim stem and pick out info to help you delineate which answer is most correct.

Starting from the top and reading the entire stem of every question is going to slow you down significantly. There will be questions where almost the entire stem is irrelevant to what they are actually asking.

This is so key. Additionally, I think it's helpful to stratify each question into 5 buckets after you read the question/answers:

1) I absolutely know this cold
2) I don't know this for sure, but I think it is most likely xyz and I can come back and maybe reason my way all the way through this
3) I don't know this for sure, but I think it is most likely xyz, however no amount of reasoning is going to help me further figure out the answer
4) I really don't know this, but I can eliminate a few choices I know are wrong. If I come back to this I might be able to further narrow down my choices.
5) I really don't know this, but I can eliminate a few choices I know are wrong. No amount of reasoning is going to help me narrow this down any further.

If you can recognize these patterns, then buckets 1, 3, and 5 should be done in 45-60 seconds tops. If you're being honest with yourself and your knowledge base is sufficient, then buckets 1, 3, and 5 should also be the majority of questions. I think 25-33% of questions really falls into buckets 2 and 4, so if you’re speeding up on the other 3 categories that saves you some extra time for the questions where actually thinking through things will help.

Importantly, I would still mark down whatever your initial impression is within 45-60 seconds, and then flag questions in buckets 2 and 4 to come back to. This ensures that you will at least see every question in a block, and then you can spend whatever time you have left over to come back to the questions where you think you can reason things out a little more. This feels uncomfortable, but it is by far much more important to make sure you get to see every question in a block than it is to get a specific question right if it takes you 5 minutes to reason your way through it.

If you have a lot of questions in buckets 2 and 4, then that is a fund of knowledge problem.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

UWorld stems are also longer than nbme

 

[EzioAuditore 357]

Thanks a lot for your replies everyone

 

[EzioAuditore 357]

This is so key. Additionally, I think it's helpful to stratify each question into 5 buckets after you read the question/answers:

1) I absolutely know this cold
2) I don't know this for sure, but I think it is most likely xyz and I can come back and maybe reason my way all the way through this
3) I don't know this for sure, but I think it is most likely xyz, however no amount of reasoning is going to help me further figure out the answer
4) I really don't know this, but I can eliminate a few choices I know are wrong. If I come back to this I might be able to further narrow down my choices.
5) I really don't know this, but I can eliminate a few choices I know are wrong. No amount of reasoning is going to help me narrow this down any further.

If you can recognize these patterns, then buckets 1, 3, and 5 should be done in 45-60 seconds tops. If you're being honest with yourself and your knowledge base is sufficient, then buckets 1, 3, and 5 should also be the majority of questions. I think 25-33% of questions really falls into buckets 2 and 4, so if you’re speeding up on the other 3 categories that saves you some extra time for the questions where actually thinking through things will help.

Importantly, I would still mark down whatever your initial impression is within 45-60 seconds, and then flag questions in buckets 2 and 4 to come back to. This ensures that you will at least see every question in a block, and then you can spend whatever time you have left over to come back to the questions where you think you can reason things out a little more. This feels uncomfortable, but it is by far much more important to make sure you get to see every question in a block than it is to get a specific question right if it takes you 5 minutes to reason your way through it.

If you have a lot of questions in buckets 2 and 4, then that is a fund of knowledge problem.

From the last sentence you are please (and please correct me if I am wrong), but it sounds like you have to be good at pattern recognition, i.e. certain keywords should make you think of certain differentials? (and then obviously the pure knowledge basics of what a condition entails)

 

[PandaBaer]

...you have to be good at pattern recognition, i.e. certain keywords should make you think of certain differentials...

That's medicine in a nutshell. Tbh, the way the tests are structured is counterproductive to MDM. Imo, you should read the stem/vignette and be thinking of a list of ddx and their associated keywords/knowledge then choosing the answer that correlates with the most likely diagnosis. But because they need to make it more convoluted, they plant minutiae, logic puzzles, and phrasing tricks which turns the whole endeavor into a game of who can run through their mental gymnastics the fastest.