Failed UWSA 2.. 4 days til the real thing.. postpone?

[gottakeepgoing]

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Hi everyone~

Just took UWSA2 today and got 175.. needless to say I'm scared now..

I took UWSA 1 about 4 weeks ago and passed.. 192 i think.. that was after finals and looking over basic subjects like immuno and biochem (my weakest part).. then started doing questions and reading answers... I found out I don't retain much by just reading over FA so I thought I'd focus on uworld and annotate FA. Did that 4 a few weeks.. just a few blocks of 48/day...should've worked harder.. even took some days off for personal reasons..=(

Now 4 days til the real thing, I'm about 2/3 way done with the 2nd pass and was getting high 50-60%.. but UWSA2 has wayy more basic stuff than I expected. On top of that, I made a ton of very silly mistakes.. I had been doing path, pathophys the past few days in diff organ systems and I guess I've forgotten more basic stuff than I thought..

So after the test today I think I need some advice on how to proceed?

1. Postpone it? (already at the last days so have to delay rotations to do that)..

2. Just read FA again, concentrate on the basics on just take it in 4 days?

3. Do another practice in a day or so then decide?

Thanks for your time on reading this.. any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[gottakeepgoing]

by the way.. read FA entirely once.. used it during winter/spring quarter so certain subjects several times.. basic science like immunol n biochem several times..

Hi everyone~

Just took UWSA2 today and got 175.. needless to say I'm scared now..

I took UWSA 1 about 4 weeks ago and passed.. 192 i think.. that was after finals and looking over basic subjects like immuno and biochem (my weakest part).. then started doing questions and reading answers... I found out I don't retain much by just reading over FA so I thought I'd focus on uworld and annotate FA. Did that 4 a few weeks.. just a few blocks of 48/day...should've worked harder.. even took some days off for personal reasons..=(

Now 4 days til the real thing, I'm about 2/3 way done with the 2nd pass and was getting high 50-60%.. but UWSA2 has wayy more basic stuff than I expected. On top of that, I made a ton of very silly mistakes.. I had been doing path, pathophys the past few days in diff organ systems and I guess I've forgotten more basic stuff than I thought..

So after the test today I think I need some advice on how to proceed?

1. Postpone it? (already at the last days so have to delay rotations to do that)..

2. Just read FA again, concentrate on the basics on just take it in 4 days?

3. Do another practice in a day or so then decide?

Thanks for your time on reading this.. any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Perrotfish]

Pay for NBME 6 or 7, which is more accurate that the UWorld tests. If you get less than a 195 on the NBME then yes, you should postpone.

 

[physics junkie]

Postpone it.

I don't see why you would take a test that you are unprepared to take. You will be faulted more for failing or getting a low score than you will for delaying the test. Plenty of Caribbean students take >10 weeks to prepare so it's not as unusual to delay it as you may think.

Your situation reminds me of all the people in the MCAT forum who are scoring 19s on practice test but take the test because they signed up for it. I could never understand if they thought they were going to 'get lucky' or what.

 

[gottakeepgoing]

hehe i see where you are coming from.. that mcat analogy makes a lot sense..

I really didn't want to mess with my rotation schedule and have to include in the letter coming 4th yr that I had to take extra time off to prep for step1.. what's worse? explain in my letter that I need extra time to study or having to retake it.. (oman.. really should have kept the pressure high throughout the prep time..)

thanks for your advice..

Postpone it.

I don't see why you would take a test that you are unprepared to take. You will be faulted more for failing or getting a low score than you will for delaying the test. Plenty of Caribbean students take >10 weeks to prepare so it's not as unusual to delay it as you may think.

Your situation reminds me of all the people in the MCAT forum who are scoring 19s on practice test but take the test because they signed up for it. I could never understand if they thought they were going to 'get lucky' or what.

 

[slowbutsteady]

not even a close call. postpone it.

 

[gottakeepgoing]

I will do that tomorrow first thing.. going to read over FA again tonight on my weak parts and try to refresh my memory..

thanks for the advice..

Pay for NBME 6 or 7, which is more accurate that the UWorld tests. If you get less than a 195 on the NBME then yes, you should postpone.

 

[gottakeepgoing]

it felt like the questions were wayy harder in the 2nd SimExam than the 1st one.. way more biochem and basics.. is that my illusion?

thanks for your advice though..

not even a close call. postpone it.

 

[kryptik]

if you are going to postpone, give yourself enough time to significantly improve your score, a few days postponing wont do much

 

[gottakeepgoing]

yea will go discuss my options tomorrow..

just took that nbme freebie online.. averaged about 80%... it might not b very predicative tho.. will take another nbme tomorrow n c..

 

[physics junkie]

Good luck. Post here tomorrow with an update so we can knock some sense in to you. 🙂

 

[gottakeepgoing]

just finished nbme 7.. 192..

still waiting to talk to my advisor.. she's in a meeting til 3 apparently..

just a shout out to any M1, M2 that might be reading this sad post.. nothing replaces serious learning during the 1st 2 years.. i was super distracted during the 1st two yrs.. did lots community services, started a couple new projects with the local med schools to serve the local uninsured.. organized a conference, led a couple of orgs.. oh n have a paper published and made a poster for a national conf.. on top of everything.. i def went out wayy too much on the wkends.. so yea..

if u r unfortunately distracted like me.. at least get a copy of FA and uworld EARLY.. and focus JUST on step1 for at least 4-5 weeks.. n don't procrastinate..

sigh..

 

[gottakeepgoing]

just talked to school..

if i postpone.. have to delay graduation by a whole yr..

im not really aiming for a high score.. i know i wanna do family med and work at a private clinic my fam owns..

what to do.. =(

 

[PokerDoc]

IF you want family med you should be able to get it with any passing score.. but the keyword is passing. what is you % on UW Qbank?

 

[Perrotfish]

just talked to school..

if i postpone.. have to delay graduation by a whole yr..

im not really aiming for a high score.. i know i wanna do family med and work at a private clinic my fam owns..

what to do.. =(

It sounds like you school made your decision for you. In any event your NBME was passing, so that means that odds are you'll pass. Review hard in the last few days and you should have no problems. Good luck.

 

[gottakeepgoing]

yea thanks for the advice guys.. im burning through questions like crazy.. just finished going over most of qbank the 2nd time.. gonna take the exam and hope for the best.. lol.. im getting mid 50% on those questions.. keeping my fingers crossed..

 

[physics junkie]

yea thanks for the advice guys.. im burning through questions like crazy.. just finished going over most of qbank the 2nd time.. gonna take the exam and hope for the best.. lol.. im getting mid 50% on those questions.. keeping my fingers crossed..

, good luck man. Knock 'em dead!

 

[gottakeepgoing]

just to give an update for completeness sake... got my score this past wed..

passed.. 195.. >.<

a couple of pointers: don't take practice tests too close to your actual exam day.. give at least 4-5 days i think.. i totally freaked out after the practice test and kept second guessing myself all damn day during the real thing.. changed around 15 questions from right to wrong.. the real thing is not bad... having faith in yourself is almost as important as knowing the knowledge..

nway good luck everyone~

 

[sexyman]

damn youre pretty ballsy ha- glad it worked out for you!

 

[jerryjr36]

*thumbs up*

 

[physics junkie]

Congrats! 😀