Do UWorld during 2nd year?

[Gunneria]

Did anyone start UWorld at the start of the second year using it solely as a learning tool to do say 5-10 questions a night on stuff they could handle (i.e.- first year stuff)...while I get UWorld should be put off till the end, I ask this as someone who can't cram 2000 questions cold at the end and would rather like a long-term approach of mastering just one qbank-the best one and then maybe using dedicated time to study, take NBMEs, and review UWorld. My only concern is whether UWorld, while I understand is highly integrative and most of it comes from 2nd year, does the interface allow me to select "easy" or perhaps 1st year material only problems to get started.

Note Im using gunner training so that takes a lot of time + with path and pharm 2nd semester, pathoma and robbins q/a are the only supplemental sources I reasonably can fit in and I'm not sure if its worthwhile to do Kaplan or Rx if a.) most people say they're not reflective of the real step questions and b.) I'm already using GT as my cumulative knowledge pool

Im also just shooting for the 240-250 range, very high but not sdn/crazy gunnerish high.

Thanks

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[Kaputt]

lol @ "just" a 240-250

World is the best qbank, and you want to be doing it at the peak of your productive, dedicated study time. During 2nd year, do Rx or Kaplan.

 

[RestoreSight]

250 is a hard score to acheive first off. SDN selects for people with super high scores. Just because you see 5-10 people post they got 260+ scores doesn't mean its very common (or even true).

Study Uworld second year. It will help your in-house exam peformance and prepare you for STEP 1.

 

[MilkIsGood]

how do you like gunner training?

 

[Gunneria]

Its amazing, some find it over the top but i like how spaced repetition works and the fact that i dont need to consult any supplemental review books. Its my method of masteigfirst aid and beyond than simply passively reading.

My big concern hence is can I handle Uworld early on in the year and whether its wise simce i dont think ill have time to do kaplan or rx but will have time to do a rew uworld qs each night and master uworld over the course of the year.

 

[red10]

if you learn best from questions you can use Uworld and break it down by whatever subject you're working on at the time. I used it that way for the second half of the year and found it super helpful for school.By the time I was ready to do random sets during dedicated board studying, I had done so many Qs and some of them months before so it's not like I remembered answers. I could tell you I'd seen it before but it was like "oh yea this one is C", I still had to think through them.

Do what works best for you.

 

[Gunneria]

bump...more thoughts from year-round Uworld users?

 

[metallica81788]

Do USMLErx or Kaplan during the year. Not only will it save you money initially since those are cheaper for longer subscriptions, but you'll get better use of Uworld. I found myself remembering Uworld questions during my second pass through incorrects and I feel like it would have been even worse if I would have done it throughout the year.

Of course, I won't have my scores until Wednesday so who knows what my advice is worth? But seriously, it's best to get as many different questions done as possible and using multiple qbanks will help you get there.

 

[Gunneria]

Bump

 

[futuredoctor10]

This is a tough question. I used UWorld during half of 2nd year and I found it to be quite helpful to start practicing with board style questions early on, even sometimes helped with concepts for school exams. However, during the summer (dedicated prep time) I found that I remembered answers to some questions I had done.

Perhaps doing Kaplan or Rx during MS2 then starting World in the last 3 months is another option, but I cannot fairly comment on this since I did not do this.

 

[loveoforganic]

Quick unrelated question on UWorld - I remember reading somewhere that in order to be able to reset the bank, you have to buy a year long subscription? If that's the case, and I plan on just doing UW during dedicated study time (hopefully x2), it would make more sense to just buy 2 separate 30 day memberships, wouldn't it? Or is there something I'm missing?

TYIA

 

[metallica81788]

Quick unrelated question on UWorld - I remember reading somewhere that in order to be able to reset the bank, you have to buy a year long subscription? If that's the case, and I plan on just doing UW during dedicated study time (hopefully x2), it would make more sense to just buy 2 separate 30 day memberships, wouldn't it? Or is there something I'm missing?

TYIA

You could also buy a 2 month long subscription, but mark every single question from the very beginning. When you finish, start doing quizzes using only marked questions and it unmarks them for you when you're done. That way you don't get repeat questions the second time around. But you have to be prepared to do this from the beginning. I didn't do this, but used the same strategy with my incorrects and it worked out.

 

[Gunneria]

Why not just use Uworld as a learning tool (like most people say) like first aid to master? That is, ignoring the percentage on UWorld to gauge one's score on the boards (use NBMEs for that), why not just use UWorld long-term and progressively...heck thats 2000+ questions but doing them over the span of a year with reasonable attention given to them, I would think that would be helpful. Furthermore, I'm sure the integration with path would only be a bonus...amirite?

Sorry I'm adamant about not using other qbanks (its just gunner training, robbins q/a book, etc.. are using up my time) but all I hear is FA + UWorld as the mantra for 240+ and knowing a select few sources seems like the best approach.

 

[JackShephard MD]

Why not just use Uworld as a learning tool (like most people say) like first aid to master? That is, ignoring the percentage on UWorld to gauge one's score on the boards (use NBMEs for that), why not just use UWorld long-term and progressively...heck thats 2000+ questions but doing them over the span of a year with reasonable attention given to them, I would think that would be helpful. Furthermore, I'm sure the integration with path would only be a bonus...amirite?

Sorry I'm adamant about not using other qbanks (its just gunner training, robbins q/a book, etc.. are using up my time) but all I hear is FA + UWorld as the mantra for 240+ and knowing a select few sources seems like the best approach.

Don't be sorry about anything. Make a decision and stick to it.

You have more than enough advice and info to decide what to do at this point.

 

[Kaputt]

Why not just use Uworld as a learning tool (like most people say) like first aid to master? That is, ignoring the percentage on UWorld to gauge one's score on the boards (use NBMEs for that), why not just use UWorld long-term and progressively...heck thats 2000+ questions but doing them over the span of a year with reasonable attention given to them, I would think that would be helpful. Furthermore, I'm sure the integration with path would only be a bonus...amirite?

Sorry I'm adamant about not using other qbanks (its just gunner training, robbins q/a book, etc.. are using up my time) but all I hear is FA + UWorld as the mantra for 240+ and knowing a select few sources seems like the best approach.

If you feel like you got a solid foundation from the first two years, FA + World is really all you need. The Kaplan qbank is superfluous and unnecessary (can't speak for Rx, but imagine it is similar). Most other review sources beyond FA are unnecessary unless you having a gaping hole in your knowledge (which happens; no school teaches you every pertinent disease).

 

[ijn]

Quick unrelated question on UWorld - I remember reading somewhere that in order to be able to reset the bank, you have to buy a year long subscription? If that's the case, and I plan on just doing UW during dedicated study time (hopefully x2), it would make more sense to just buy 2 separate 30 day memberships, wouldn't it? Or is there something I'm missing?

TYIA

You can reset with a 6 month subscription.

 

[ijn]

Sorry I'm adamant about not using other qbanks (its just gunner training, robbins q/a book, etc.. are using up my time) but all I hear is FA + UWorld as the mantra for 240+ and knowing a select few sources seems like the best approach.

Robbins is probably great for your pathology class, especially if the professor is citing Robbins as the primary source in his or her slides, but I didn't find it useful for STEP 1 purposes. You'd be better off picking a secondary question bank that's designed to mimic STEP 1 prompts.

I started using UWorld towards the tail end of the first semester of second year, and then hit it hard on MS1 topics during the winter break. In retrospect I found it pretty helpful for comprehensive review for the NBME subject exams. Just as an FYI, if you have any concepts on those subject exams you're not sure about, make sure to go research the hell out of it. You can have questions word for word from those subject exams appear on your STEP 1. They're all part of the same question pool. Especially pathology and pharmacology.

 

[linkin06]

Spend 2nd year annotating first aid with goljan path. Then you can memorize what you studied the last two months while doing uworld.

 

[JackShephard MD]

Spend 2nd year annotating first aid with goljan path. Then you can memorize what you studied the last two months while doing uworld.

Why not just use RR path, why annotate it into another book? There are figures and high-yield margin notes in the book.

 

[loveoforganic]

You could also buy a 2 month long subscription, but mark every single question from the very beginning. When you finish, start doing quizzes using only marked questions and it unmarks them for you when you're done. That way you don't get repeat questions the second time around. But you have to be prepared to do this from the beginning. I didn't do this, but used the same strategy with my incorrects and it worked out.

You can reset with a 6 month subscription.

Thanks for the info. I guess I'll decide what to do over christmas. Marking every Q seems like kind of a PITA, but not rolling in money either

 

[linkin06]

I agree it's a good book. Just thought it was too dense and sometimes extraneous

 

[Gunneria]

bump

 

[Jay Gatsby]

bump

You can't use Uworld during 2nd year, old sport. No sense in that.

 

[walkthesplanch]

I didn't use any qbanks during 2nd year (mostly because questions on our exams were always directly out of the lecture notes) but I kind of wish I had. Kaplan has a lot of details that you won't necessarily get from lectures and while a lot of people think that's a drawback, I still found the explanations very helpful. I also wish I had been doing UWorld during second year because when I used it for Step 1 studying I found I had been reading things for the first time.

 

[tiedyeddog]

Kind of related, anyone use both kaplan and USMLErx? Which is better?

I only want to buy one for usage during all of second year, will get UW during dedicated step prep.