How to take UW notes efficiently

[DrPicard]

So I just got done with the first block of my first run of UW (tutor mode, untimed), and I'm a little overwhelmed. My preparation thus far is decent I feel, and I ended up scoring 83% on the block...but I also ended up with 20 pages of type written notes in MS Word (size 11 font). And this is before adding the pictures I took (of diagrams etc).

At this rate I'm looking at 1500 pages of notes (lol!). Clearly I overdid it, but I get a little paranoid and I want to make sure I don't miss anything that might show up in the exam. Am I being too particular about this? Or did I have so much typing to do since its my first block, and as ideas start being retested, it'll go down?

Any/all guidance will be appreciated!

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[jnmdz]

You're definitely writing too many notes. The NBME doesn't test all of the possible minutiae that UWorld mentions. A lot of factoids that you'll come across during your Step 1 preparation are completely untestable. One of the factors that separates high scorers from other test takers is the ability to recognize testable material.

I did 2 passes of UWorld and had ~225 pages of notes total (15o from my 1st pass, 75 from my 2nd pass). I aimed to write down 1 sentence for each question, regardless of whether I answered correctly. For some questions that was easy, for others it was impossible and I had to write more. By the end of my dedicated study period I only had enough time to review 160 pages of my UWorld notes, and that was despite how short my notes were (compared to how long they could have been). Keep in mind that you'll have to read your notes at some point, and you probably won't want to read 1500 pages of notes.

 

[MelMcT2009]

My take on on my uworld journal - better to have 75 pages of "take home points" that you will actually remember than 1000 pages of info that you'll never remember, and dont need to. When you take notes that way you often miss the big point.

Concept of my journal was "what's the one point I needed to answer the question correctly?" - then I typed one sentence in question format, and typed the answer in the line below.


I'm not saying that you don't need to understand all of uworld, because you do. Spend time learning and understanding the concepts. I find that if I'm having to write too many words to explain a concept, I probably don't understand the concept well enough.

Best of luck

 

[psychMDhopefully]

Yeah Im at a complete ****ing loss on how to use uworld too, some people just read that little " take home point" at the end of each explanation and that is enough for them I did that and failed miserably. I honestly hate this test and I'm having a hard time to bring myself to study for it again, there is just too much stuff for me to remember.

 

[Pruthvi]

DR.Picard - 83 % is very good..can u please post ur preparation resources and plan? how long are u preparing ? are u using uworld random or subject wise ? thank u :0

 

[DrPicard]

I'm an IMG, so I did the "standard" IMG prep. My first reading was essentially a run through kaplan (pathoma for patho) except I didn't watch any video lectures (found them too tedious; did skim through pathoma to catch the h/p explanations). The 200 hours I saved there, I invested into doing FA for all subjects other than anatomy/physio/biochem during my first reading.

First reading was followed by a ~5 month gap due to stuff at home I had to deal with.

Second reading was breezing through the Kaplan portions I had highlighted + FA + google/wiki stuff I didnt understand. I also always had a notebook where I would draw any integrations I made in the form of flow charts (esp biochem). After finishing my second reading, I did a quick run through only FA in about a week, and started UW (random tutor). Right now I'm 16 blocks in with a cumulative of 89%, so I think my method was good.

I also think its crucial to read FA alongside UW (maybe 3 hours a day) or you start forgetting stuff. I haven't been doing this so far and I'm beginning to feel the effects, so I plan on starting.

The big thing is I think Kaplans video lectures are heavily overrated. Its a huuuuge time consumption relative to the benefit they provide. Probably people use them as a way of easing into USMLE prep...;not sure, but I think you'd be better off not watching them or restricting their use to stuff you don't understand well.