Honest Critique

[Zuhal]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Well I'm exactly 14 days out. I can barely concentrate at this point (I've been at it for quite some time now but school got in the way and I stopped "studying" for a while) and I have yet to go through the following:

1) Half of Neuro
2) All of Psych
3) All of Behavioral Science
4) All of Repro
5) About 70% of drugs in FA
6) 40% of Uworld

No NBME's yet, no UWSA's yet (although I have both of them).
Plan#1: Finish 1-6 in one week (very optimistic, I know) and start taking NBME's the week before the test.
Plan#2: Stop reading FA and do DIT for 14 days (I've already done 10 lecture so I guess it will take 13 days and give me a day off before the test)+ Do 2 NBME's the week before.

What do you guys think? I really wanna hear your honest opinions, you guys have been pretty amazing with all ur advices and post exam experiences!

 

[HoboCommander]

Finish UWorld. Half of UWorld is worth +15 points (for me, based on NBMEs). Ditch DIT, it takes too long for what it is worth.

Do all the UWSAs and NBMEs. It's great practice and way to learn new stuff. The score prediction is just a bonus, knowing your predicted score has no impact on anything, just a curiosity.

 

[Oreoomar]

Finish UWorld. Half of UWorld is worth +15 points (for me, based on NBMEs). Ditch DIT, it takes too long for what it is worth.

Do all the UWSAs and NBMEs. It's great practice and way to learn new stuff. The score prediction is just a bonus, knowing your predicted score has no impact on anything, just a curiosity.

I completely agree, DIT is worthless this close to the test. Would you really recommend buying ALL the NBMEs? I'm only 4 days out but I've done 3 of them (11,12,13) and i plan on taking 1 more (15). If I do try another one, which one do you think is the best?

 

[Choo]

DIT is worthless anytime. I did my test last week and got more out of phlostons four powerpoints than I did out of the entire DIT. Picmonic is money better spent than DIT.

Just sit down and time your self studying for 14 hours a day. You'll get through FA a few times.

 

[HoboCommander]

I completely agree, DIT is worthless this close to the test. Would you really recommend buying ALL the NBMEs? I'm only 4 days out but I've done 3 of them (11,12,13) and i plan on taking 1 more (15). If I do try another one, which one do you think is the best?

You can do NBME 6 and 7 as extra practice. I found NBME 6 to be a little harder. WIth 4 days left you probably just want to take one of them, and use the rest of time to work on whatever is in your plans.

I just think that past a certain level, to further improve you need to work on concepts you don't know. NBME questions test concepts that you will get on your actual exam. The stuff that you miss now, are the same questions you will get wrong on the real exam. UWorld also has an inside scoop on what's in the actual exam, whereby seemingly low-yield concepts are known to show up.

 

[Jamiu22]

Well I'm exactly 14 days out. I can barely concentrate at this point (I've been at it for quite some time now but school got in the way and I stopped "studying" for a while) and I have yet to go through the following:

1) Half of Neuro
2) All of Psych
3) All of Behavioral Science
4) All of Repro
5) About 70% of drugs in FA
6) 40% of Uworld

No NBME's yet, no UWSA's yet (although I have both of them).
Plan#1: Finish 1-6 in one week (very optimistic, I know) and start taking NBME's the week before the test.
Plan#2: Stop reading FA and do DIT for 14 days (I've already done 10 lecture so I guess it will take 13 days and give me a day off before the test)+ Do 2 NBME's the week before.

What do you guys think? I really wanna hear your honest opinions, you guys have been pretty amazing with all ur advices and post exam experiences!

I agree with most of the comment above... do ALL NBMEs - the question sets start to become repetitive after a while - that imho ensures that you will definitely hit a minimum score that you expect - cos you've seen their question content asked various vignettes... and you start to know what they want.

Scrap DIT... after taking 2-3 NBMEs you start to know your weaknesses and you can then tailor the rest of your study plan to ensure you shore up those areas. I think you'll be faster just blasting through FA in your weak areas.

 

[Zuhal]

You can do NBME 6 and 7 as extra practice. I found NBME 6 to be a little harder. WIth 4 days left you probably just want to take one of them, and use the rest of time to work on whatever is in your plans.

I just think that past a certain level, to further improve you need to work on concepts you don't know. NBME questions test concepts that you will get on your actual exam. The stuff that you miss now, are the same questions you will get wrong on the real exam. UWorld also has an inside scoop on what's in the actual exam, whereby seemingly low-yield concepts are known to show up.

So if I wanted a "reality check" NBME right after I finish reading all of FA, which one do you recommend? (beside nbme 15, I wanna take that one after I've reviewed my weak areas etc).
Thanks for ur responses 🙂

 

[Zuhal]

I completely agree, DIT is worthless this close to the test. Would you really recommend buying ALL the NBMEs? I'm only 4 days out but I've done 3 of them (11,12,13) and i plan on taking 1 more (15). If I do try another one, which one do you think is the best?

I agree with most of the comment above... do ALL NBMEs - the question sets start to become repetitive after a while - that imho ensures that you will definitely hit a minimum score that you expect - cos you've seen their question content asked various vignettes... and you start to know what they want.

Scrap DIT... after taking 2-3 NBMEs you start to know your weaknesses and you can then tailor the rest of your study plan to ensure you shore up those areas. I think you'll be faster just blasting through FA in your weak areas.

Okay ditching DIT. I guess I mostly wanted to do it because I'm not sure I'm at my optimal level of functioning right now...I feel like I've had enough hahaa and I'm not even finished. So I figured DIT would be a nice "break". But I guess you're right. Thanks guys

 

[g8orlife]

Okay ditching DIT. I guess I mostly wanted to do it because I'm not sure I'm at my optimal level of functioning right now...I feel like I've had enough hahaa and I'm not even finished. So I figured DIT would be a nice "break". But I guess you're right. Thanks guys

If I'm not too late, I vote Plan 1.