FA review before or after UW block

[tootheye]

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How does one typically use FA in relation with UW. Do you review before doing a block or after -when reviewing the answers of UW. I am facing these issues:

Pre review(brush FA a bit before a test block)- My scores skew towards better performance.It could be artificial but my morale is better and I feel I tend to remember the concepts better. This may be wrong.

Post review- scores seem variable. I am left with a feeling that I could've done better had I reviewed before. I am in a hurry to finish quickly and curious to know where I am! In this way I tend to skip topics in FA that I answered right.( which doesnt happen with a pre viewing).

I am confused. I would like to know how others are doing.

 

[Orthodoc2be]

I went through ALL of first aid one full time REALLY slow and took notes on things that I wasn't sure about and highlighted the crap out of my book. I did this at the same time I was doing about 10 UW questions every other day on time, random mode. I made sure I read through every explanation of each exam and annotated in FA.

After I did a full pass through FA, I did a practice USMLE test. Again, I went through every question and explanation (regardless if I got it wrong or right) and annotated in FA. For me, learning by doing test like questions is what works best.

After doing the exam, I went through the book and drew out every single pathway (mostly in biochem) and kept them so I can keep practice drawing them and knowing where disease manifestations occur if an enzyme is missing. I also went through and made a list of all the formulas. Lastly, I went through and made a list of all the pages that I felt I was weak on. When I finally get to my real studying (beginning of May), I'm going to practice drawing the pathways once or twice a week, doing the formulas once or twice a week, doing a 100 UW questions on timed, random mode every day (followed by reading the explanation) and reading on micro/pharm at night for an hour or two everyday. I'll also be sure to cover the pages I felt I was weak on at least once a week.

I haven't written down everything I'm going to do each day yet in the calendar, but this is the basic idea I'm going to do. I've heard from several 3rd years who did very well on the USMLE that doing the test on random, timed mode is the best way to do it since that's how the real deal is going to be. Just be sure that you read all the explanations and understand why each answer choice was wrong or right.

Oh yeah, and I'm taking 3 more practice exams to gauge my progress and see where my weaknesses are so I can focus more on those.

 

[jfgavina]

Hi! I'm starting tomorrow with FA+UW. I'm going to read a section then do the questions corresponding to that section. I don't know if it's the correct way to do that but I have no doubts that it will be the one that works best for me. First FA, then questions about that theme. On my second, third and fourth pass on UW I will do it randomly, but for my first it is better this way. 50 questions daily of UW just to start, until the end of june I must finish it.

 

[RadOncRocks]

I went through ALL of first aid one full time REALLY slow and took notes on things that I wasn't sure about and highlighted the crap out of my book. I did this at the same time I was doing about 10 UW questions every other day on time, random mode. I made sure I read through every explanation of each exam and annotated in FA.

After I did a full pass through FA, I did a practice USMLE test. Again, I went through every question and explanation (regardless if I got it wrong or right) and annotated in FA. For me, learning by doing test like questions is what works best.

After doing the exam, I went through the book and drew out every single pathway (mostly in biochem) and kept them so I can keep practice drawing them and knowing where disease manifestations occur if an enzyme is missing. I also went through and made a list of all the formulas. Lastly, I went through and made a list of all the pages that I felt I was weak on. When I finally get to my real studying (beginning of May),

I'm sorry, but I laughed out loud when I got to that part. You are totally hardcore! I was reading your post thinking, man this guys study plan is great, only to find out it was your PRE-studying plan. Crazy stuff.

You'll do great when the time comes I'm sure though!

 

[RySerr21]

Hi! I'm starting tomorrow with FA+UW. I'm going to read a section then do the questions corresponding to that section. I don't know if it's the correct way to do that but I have no doubts that it will be the one that works best for me. First FA, then questions about that theme. On my second, third and fourth pass on UW I will do it randomly, but for my first it is better this way. 50 questions daily of UW just to start, until the end of june I must finish it.

thats how ive done it and i think its worked really well. The random UWblocks didn't seem very helpful to me, or at least not as helpful as this approach. And to get the "random blocks" I do a test every week. I know its working b/c each week my scores have improved.

 

[tootheye]

Hi! I'm starting tomorrow with FA+UW. I'm going to read a section then do the questions corresponding to that section. I don't know if it's the correct way to do that but I have no doubts that it will be the one that works best for me. First FA, then questions about that theme. On my second, third and fourth pass on UW I will do it randomly, but for my first it is better this way. 50 questions daily of UW just to start, until the end of june I must finish it.

I 've done 50% U world this way. Random isn't working very well in the first pass. I feel it'll be better off to use UW as a learning tool at this stage than random right away. I am annotating every choice into FA if not already there. This might help the second pass go quick or atleast if there isn't enough time for a second pass you've UW in FA for a quick revision.

 

[Orthodoc2be]

Are any of you guys doing DIT? I was originally going to do the 2 week course at the very end, but now I feel like doing UW questions and FA on my own is the better idea.