USMLE Haven't finished First Passes Halfway through

[Milotic]

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First time posting a "help" thread.

Started ISP 3 weeks ago with diagnostic score of 188 on an NBME. I used FA, Uworld (80% of it but I reset it for my ISP), and Pathoma throughout MS2.
My exam is in 3 weeks (halfway mark!!) and I have 5 FA chapters left to go through on First Pass of ISP, about 50% of Pathoma on First Pass of ISP, and am 50% through Uworld.

I do about 12-13 hours a day where I will spend the first half of the day studying FA (will nail down about 25-30 pages on average, some subjects more than others) and the respective chapter in Pathoma, and the second half doing Uworld (average up to now is about a 70% Mixed+untimed).

I am a little worried now that I am halfway through my ISP. I have a reading disability that was diagnosed MS1, which may explain why it takes me so long to get through and try to remember everything in FA, but I have been only able to do about 50-70 questions of Uworld on average per day in terms of studying/annotating the notes into my FA.... Is it worth it at this point to keep up this strategy? Should I stop doing Uworld and focus on finishing my first pass through FA/Pathoma and then go back to Uworld? Should I stop annotating and just bust through all the questions?

I understand that Uworld is great, I love it and it helped me in MS2, but under this time crunch, I'm worried that spending so much time reading these explanations/wrong answer selections is going to hold me up and I won't even be able to get a 2nd pass through FA/Pathoma. I don't feel like certain concepts are fully sticking when I read the Uworld section UNTIL I cover the respective chapters in Pathoma/FA.

Any advice or input would be appreciated, thanks!

Update: Took a "halfway" practice NBME. Was a 215. I felt like crap taking it because I felt there were so many easy Cardio/Renal/Endocrine/Musculo questions on there that I had to guess on because I haven't gotten to those chapters yet..... Should I just bum-rush the rest of my First Passes of FA/Pathoma with 3 weeks left so I could review?

 

[Milotic]

Does everyone just hate me?

 

[Entadus]

I'm guessing ISP = Intensive Study Period....?

 

[Milotic]

I'm guessing ISP = Intensive Study Period....?

Yes, sorry. the Dedicated study period.

 

[TBV]

I found that I was much faster and able to cover more material when I switched to doing my 100 daily questions starting in the morning. Usually get done around 3 and then take the next 4 or so hours to read FA/Pathoma. Can't say if it'll work for you but just my n=1 but might be worth switching it up and seeing if you can cover more material.

 

[Milotic]

I found that I was much faster and able to cover more material when I switched to doing my 100 daily questions starting in the morning. Usually get done around 3 and then take the next 4 or so hours to read FA/Pathoma. Can't say if it'll work for you but just my n=1 but might be worth switching it up and seeing if you can cover more material.

When you did your 100, were you studying and annotating information in the explanations/other answer choices into First Aid? This is what has been holding me up and I have never been able to hit 100 questions in a day. I am asking if being 3 weeks away is just too little time to be doing this method.

 

[Burnt Almonds]

Have you figured out the areas you are weakest in? Studies show questions are definitely the way to go.

 

[TBV]

When you did your 100, were you studying and annotating information in the explanations/other answer choices into First Aid? This is what has been holding me up and I have never been able to hit 100 questions in a day. I am asking if being 3 weeks away is just too little time to be doing this method.

Oh no I keep a handwritten notebook where I summarize the concepts of things I was shaky on/don't know instead of writing in FA. So the flipping may save me some time I suppose.

 

[Milotic]

Have you figured out the areas you are weakest in? Studies show questions are definitely the way to go.

Yup, when I saw my report from the 215 on NBME 16, I was VERY lopsided. Very poor on the subjects I haven't even reviewed yet in First Aid/Pathoma like Cardio/Endocrine/Renal/Musculo, which is very frustrating because I have been doing the Uworld mixed, but doing that only allows me to learn pockets of those chapters at a time and it hasn't been helping me retain the information when I just read the explanations before having covered the chapters in my First pass of FA. Perhaps it just goes back to my reading issues since I don't retain information solely from reading blocks of text.

Oh no I keep a handwritten notebook where I summarize the concepts of things I was shaky on/don't know instead of writing in FA. So the flipping may save me some time I suppose.

So you were able to do 100 questions, take notes on them and then also cover material in FA in a day? Would you be taking notes on a theory or pathophys process that Uworld introduces but hasn't been mentioned anywhere else (ie specific immuno theories or genetic theories about some diseases)? What about when a "wrong answer choice" would present a new disease and not necessarily talk much about it? I think I get too wrapped up in these details which is why it's taking me so long to get through it all the FIRST time 🙁

 

[Burnt Almonds]

Yup, when I saw my report from the 215 on NBME 16, I was VERY lopsided. Very poor on the subjects I haven't even reviewed yet in First Aid/Pathoma like Cardio/Endocrine/Renal/Musculo, which is very frustrating because I have been doing the Uworld mixed, but doing that only allows me to learn pockets of those chapters at a time and it hasn't been helping me retain the information when I just read the explanations before having covered the chapters in my First pass of FA. Perhaps it just goes back to my reading issues since I don't retain information solely from reading blocks of text.

What was your first resource for all these topics? I mean...where/how did you first cover them? FA is a pretty bad way to learn a topic the first time around and even Pathoma only covers a fraction of mechanisms.

 

[Milotic]

What was your first resource for all these topics? I mean...where/how did you first cover them? FA is a pretty bad way to learn a topic the first time around and even Pathoma only covers a fraction of mechanisms.

My school did organ system blocks. So I learned the material during the year, these particular systems in like February and March, so I haven't touched them since. I did pretty well in these blocks during the school year, but they went by so fast that it felt so crammed so months later I forgot even simple stuff like S3 vs S4 gallop. When I finally get to the FA chapters, I'm not learning them for the first time. But until I do get to the chapters in FA/Pathoma, all of the material (murmurs, specific roles of hormones, etc) are all jumbled around in my head for not covering them for months. This is why I was wondering if it were a bad idea for me to drop doing questions for now and complete my first passes so that I don't miss easy questions on these practice NBME's/Uworld, you know?

 

[Burnt Almonds]

My school did organ system blocks. So I learned the material during the year, these particular systems in like February and March, so I haven't touched them since. I did pretty well in these blocks during the school year, but they went by so fast that it felt so crammed so months later I forgot even simple stuff like S3 vs S4 gallop. When I finally get to the FA chapters, I'm not learning them for the first time. But until I do get to the chapters in FA/Pathoma, all of the material (murmurs, specific roles of hormones, etc) are all jumbled around in my head for not covering them for months. This is why I was wondering if it were a bad idea for me to drop doing questions for now and complete my first passes so that I don't miss easy questions on these practice NBME's/Uworld, you know?

The resources you're struggling with right now are time and energy.

My best suggestion (based on the limited information I have on you) is that you make a reasonable schedule and pick a system, review it in FA and then hammer all the questions under that topic until you pass out each night.

Questions highlight all the details that become a blur while you're just studying.