Downsides to doing UWorld early?

[Fried Plantaris]

I have started doing 10 UWorld questions per day, since our school provided a subscription this summer. If I continue at my current pace for the rest of the year, I will have done approx. 2/3rds of the bank before dedicated would begin (at my school it would be early spring semester). So far I have liked the time I've spent with it.

I know many people don't like to use it until dedicated, probably because they recognize answers on the second try. However, since the questions are the closest in similarity to the actual Step 1, why wouldn't it be a good idea to get in as many passes in as possible? The answer descriptions are useful and that primarily is my focus if I were to do it again later.

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[slowthai]

People usually say to save UWorld (or at least some of it) for dedicated or at least somewhat close to dedicated because it best primes you for the test, as it is usually the most representative overall. That said, I've heard of several people scoring 250+ that did it along with classes starting from the beginning of M2.

As far as the number of passes, it's hotly debated. I'm in the "the more unique questions the better" camp, but it really comes down to what works for you, because I've seen an equal number of high scorers from both camps.

 

[Kr#36]

Research shows a larger number of NEW questions correlates better with higher step scores than doing the same questions over and over. Since Uworld is the best resource, it would be more beneficial to do another Qbank first and then save Uworld for dedicated.

 

[Fried Plantaris]

Research shows a larger number of NEW questions correlates better with higher step scores than doing the same questions over and over. Since Uworld is the best resource, it would be more beneficial to do another Qbank first and then save Uworld for dedicated.

Link?

 

[dj-Roomba]

My experience so n=1 but I did 2 passes through UWorld and scored 246 on Step 1. I started the first day of Winter break and finished my first pass a couple of weeks before the start of dedicated. I did a few hundred of the incorrects during those 2 weeks then reset at the beginning of dedicated. Over 30 days of dedicated I did my second pass of UWorld.

Looking back I wish I would have done a second qbank like Rx but overall I am happy with my score. I do not use Anki so UWorld was one of my main learning resources. My first pass was untimed, random, tutor mode. I had a lot of questions that I had no idea what the answer was since we hadn't yet covered it in path, pharm, micro. However, I used it as an opportunity to apply what I already knew and improve my test taking strategies.

 

[slowthai]

Link?

"We distinguished between unique and repeated study questions for the first time in the Step 1 literature. Emerging evidence suggests that time spent testing (e.g., question bank usage) is superior to repeated studying (e.g., reading review books) for long-term content retention.

However, the distinction between testing on unique versus repeated identical questions is not well described. Here, repeated testing on identical questions was inferior to testing on new questions covering similar Step 1 content, suggesting an important area for further learning science research, as this approach is broadly applicable in medical education."

Study Behaviors and USMLE Step 1 Performance: Implications... : Academic Medicine

in 2014 and 2015 at their institution to two cohorts of medical students who had recently taken Step 1. Demographic and academic data were linked to responses. Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations, and multiple linear regression analyses were performed. Results Of 332 medical...

journals.lww.com

 

[M&L]

I have started doing 10 UWorld questions per day, since our school provided a subscription this summer. If I continue at my current pace for the rest of the year, I will have done approx. 2/3rds of the bank before dedicated would begin (at my school it would be early spring semester). So far I have liked the time I've spent with it.

I know many people don't like to use it until dedicated, probably because they recognize answers on the second try. However, since the questions are the closest in similarity to the actual Step 1, why wouldn't it be a good idea to get in as many passes in as possible? The answer descriptions are useful and that primarily is my focus if I were to do it again later.

our school provided uworld in october first semester of M1 year, and we use it throughout the 2 years, - each block we are given a list of questions to work through. So we use question bank throughout the 2 years, and save the 2 uworld practice tests for dedicated. This gives us a chance to do more questions from other banks, - amboss, rx, kaplan. i personally love doing all uworld questions at the end of each block because it helps me solidify the information.

 

[ciestar]

Downside? You burn through most of UWorld before you even start dedicated. Repeating questions definitely can give you an artificial boost in your practice scores. You can also only reset it once per subscription

 

[Patros]

I did one Uworld block per day starting about 6mo before my dedicated study period, which allowed me to finish 1 pass before the study period. During dedicated, I did another pass through. There are ~2500 questions in total, and I can assure you that you will forget the vast majority (if not all) of questions before your 2nd pass, so it's basically like doing it from scratch.

I also did the Kaplan and USMLERx qbanks. They each have their strengths, but are even more different from the "style" of the official NBME questions. Doing more qbanks is helpful, because even if they're "lower yield", they still expand your knowledge base with topics that aren't found in Uworld. I ultimately got high 250s, so I guess it worked. There is some debate whether it is better to do multiple passes of Uworld or doing multiple qbanks. I think ideally, you should aim to do Uworld twice and one other qbank casually, as well as the official NBME practice tests to gauge your progress. The only limiting factor is time.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Downside? You burn through most of UWorld before you even start dedicated. Repeating questions definitely can give you an artificial boost in your practice scores. You can also only reset it once per subscription

While this is true, honestly the point isn't to see what your percentage correct is to have a rough estimate of how you'll eventually score--you have practice exams for that. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is that you review the maximal amount of material whether that be by having time to repeat questions or try a different resource.

So if the alternative to doing UWorld "early" is that you're using one of the other resources, then that would be fine. If the alternative would be doing *nothing*, then that's a bad idea.

 

[Neopolymath]

It's a complete myth that you can do UW too early (within reason)

 

[7331poas]

Research shows a larger number of NEW questions correlates better with higher step scores than doing the same questions over and over. Since Uworld is the best resource, it would be more beneficial to do another Qbank first and then save Uworld for dedicated.

I mean, those types of research articles are just med students trying to pad their resume.

 

[SteyrFWB]

Got a MS4 roommate, she got 266 on Step1, awaiting Step2 score.

She recommend start using UWorld from first day ! Our school curriculum is very USMLE oriented. So she recommend using UWorld questions as prep for in class exam.

She is AOA with 266. So use UWorld early works BOTH ways for class work and USMLE.

Another upper classmate, she gone the route of getting in that mythical “7000” Questions in during the dedicated period. She got the idea from “some research” that to get a high score, the strongest correlation is the number of “high” quality questions that you gone through during this period. So she used UWorld, NBME, Amboss. Tons of quality questions to reach that mythical “7000”. She did get pass that mythical 7000. But she is very disappointed with her effort showing a 229.

 

[smh343]

Honestly either way is fine. Either you know UWorld really well, which is similar to the test (just don't get overconfident), or you can better evaluate your progress/weak areas by saving it for dedicated. I did Rx first and saved UWorld and got high 250s fwiw.

 

[slowthai]

Another upper classmate, she gone the route of getting in that mythical “7000” Questions in during the dedicated period. She got the idea from “some research” that to get a high score, the strongest correlation is the number of “high” quality questions that you gone through during this period. So she used UWorld, NBME, Amboss. Tons of quality questions to reach that mythical “7000”. She did get pass that mythical 7000. But she is very disappointed with her effort showing a 229.

I have to question this. She did 7000 qs DURING dedicated? That's like 3 qbanks in 4-8 weeks. Who has the ability to do that while actually getting the most out of those questions? People struggle just to finish UWorld, let alone anything else.

 

[Kr#36]

I have to question this. She did 7000 qs DURING dedicated? That's like 3 qbanks in 4-8 weeks. Who has the ability to do that while actually getting the most out of those questions? People struggle just to finish UWorld, let alone anything else.

Yea I'd have to imagine this was over a longer period of time.

Either way these anecdotal "my friend did the same 10 questions over and over and got 280 or my friend did 17000 questions and got 200" dont really matter. Seeing the information presented in various ways that force you to recognize and integrate concepts intrinsically makes sense and the research supports it. That doesn't mean you can't do well with just Uworld, you certainly can. You just might not reach your absolute peak score.

 

[slowthai]

Yea I'd have to imagine this was over a longer period of time.

Either way these anecdotal "my friend did the same 10 questions over and over and got 280 or my friend did 17000 questions and got 200" dont really matter. Seeing the information presented in various ways that force you to recognize and integrate concepts intrinsically makes sense and the research supports it. That doesn't mean you can't do well with just Uworld, you certainly can. You just might not reach your absolute peak score.

I agree. So many people have destroyed step (250+) with just UWorld, but my paranoia will not allow me to take the risk. I'd rather go overboard with qbanks and know that I did everything I could to maximize my score than to hope that UWorld alone will be enough to carry me.

 

[Neopolymath]

I agree. So many people have destroyed step (250+) with just UWorld, but my paranoia will not allow me to take the risk. I'd rather go overboard with qbanks and know that I did everything I could to maximize my score than to hope that UWorld alone will be enough to carry me.

That's the only way to approach it IMO. Why leave regret over your score and possibly career?!

 

[SteyrFWB]

MS4 roommate just got Step2 back, 273.
266, 273, AOA
She was serious about starting UWorld early supplementing for regular classwork, and not saving it for dedicated.

 

[Fried Plantaris]

Yeah I don't understand the people who say to wait. Studying Uworld early and adding their information to anki seems like the best way to prepare before dedicated even begins..

...and when dedicated does begin, there is plenty of other high yield information to look at if a repeat of uworld becomes redundant (which it shouldn't, with over 3000 questions)

 

[deleted804295]

Are there other good qbanks to use prior to MS2? I'd prefer to save uworld for ms2 so I dont burn through the best resource right away.

 

[slowthai]

Yeah I don't understand the people who say to wait. Studying Uworld early and adding their information to anki seems like the best way to prepare before dedicated even begins..

...and when dedicated does begin, there is plenty of other high yield information to look at if a repeat of uworld becomes redundant (which it shouldn't, with over 3000 questions)

Everyone has a different approach, but mine is to maximize my time before dedicated. I'll be using dedicated mostly for assessment of weak points (practice tests) and attacking those weak points (BnB/Pathoma/whatever high yield content review resource prn).

Maximizing my time pre-dedicated includes doing all or most of UWorld before dedicated starts. I'll be building myself up with other qbanks before UWorld.