how you keep on going?

[drss]

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hello everyone!
i wonder how you all study persistently and motivated all through usmle prep,i started UW and it makes me bore sometimes to go over all explanations,and i have month left to cover up and 65% to finish.how i should do it effectively?when i read,even for wrong ones,i say to myself,ooh,s**t i knew it,so skip jotting down points i think i know,and there are few which i feel i never heared or read or skipped so note that down.but i am not able to do more than 50 each day ,makes me sad,how should i increase stamina,i may sound fool or dumb to some but will appreicate if some guides me.
thank you.

 

[HIJay]

i never bother writing anything down as i know that would just take up too much time for me

what i did and my plan was to get thro all the UW qs at least once, all of them. and read thro all the explanations or at least the main point while thro the 1st time around

then i went and did all of my wrong ones and this time i really read the explanations and made sure i understood them

and then i did more UW qs again and went over the explanations again and again.

so basically my plan was just repeat repeat repeat and repeat as much as i can

 

[Risa]

stamina is an issue for me too...

i like to switch study methods frequently, or take frequent mini-breaks, rather than study one thing for hours at a time with nothing to keep me going.

for example, right now i'm alternating between doing 20 qbank questions, 20 flashcards, back and forth. i can get through each set more easily because i'm looking forward to switching to the other kind shortly. it's kind of like when you dangle a carrot on a string in front of a cart horse... but somehow, it still works.

or, i'll tell myself that every time i finish 20 qbank questions, i can stop and play a song on guitar hero 🙂

we'll get through this somehow!

 

[HIJay]

yea sometime instead of doing a 50q block, i do 20 or 25, and sometime only 10

 

[drss]

Thats cool,
yes,HIjay,i was not doing like this,i was doing in tutor mode so reading explanation at same point.do you think its wrong strategy?but once in week i do unused timed and read explanation later on.which is good but with others reading pending,i could do it once or twice a week.
i also try sometimes mixed quetsions,20 qbank,20 UW or some flash cards but UW kill me 😱 (perhaps have time pressure,and i can not work under it 🙁 ,good excuse 😀 though ).
I will try the way you do RISA,i never pat myself for accomplishing task at hand,now i will.although i take mini breaks frequently but somehow i get tired easily,i guess fun or cherish part was missing
thanks for sharing.

 

[HIJay]

i did what works for me. only you will know what works for you and what you need to do to learn the material.

i have always known that doing Qs and Qs and repetition works very well for me in MS1 and MS2, so i stuck with what has been working for me the past 2 yrs.

good luck

 

[alpha06]

i never bother writing anything down as i know that would just take up too much time for me

what i did and my plan was to get thro all the UW qs at least once, all of them. and read thro all the explanations or at least the main point while thro the 1st time around

then i went and did all of my wrong ones and this time i really read the explanations and made sure i understood them

and then i did more UW qs again and went over the explanations again and again.

so basically my plan was just repeat repeat repeat and repeat as much as i can

HIJay,

I see that you emphasize doing questions over and over....

But how did you actually do this? Did you do it by system or discipline? Or just random? I just figure if you did them randomly then it would be kind of hard to follow the concepts of what you got wrong? Just thinking about the randomness of it all....


And to you drss,

I find doing questions a bit of a drag😴, but I agree with Risa that taking some mini-breaks here and there can help with stamina. I usually do 50q timed, take a 5-10 minute break and then go over them. I try not to spend too much time on the review. I just make points as to what concept I missed and read over those when I study. It makes going thru the questions a lot easier, I think.😀

 

[HIJay]

i did about 2 weeks of review and then i first started off with kaplan qbook qs which was subject based. after i finished that, i started on UW
and every 2 weeks i would do a nbme to gauge myself

after about 1/2 way thro UW , i did another kaplan qbook and then went on and finished the UW and afterward review all the wrong ones i got on UW

also did a 350qs kaplan simulation which was good pratice and the free 150 usmle qs, which were too easy compared to the real thing

i must note that doing qs has always helped me retain and understand stuff better so i stick with that method for usmle. and i figure usmle is a questions based exam so the more qs i see and do, i will be more comfortable with the style

best of luck

 

[Freddie]

usmle world was a drag; i found it especially difficult to sit at the computer long enough to finish one block; so took them in 25's and in tutor mode after one week in; (once i was sure i was able to do 50 within the hour).

then when i continued to be bored; i applied a bit of covert sensitisation😳 ; pictured myself stuck with a poor score, in a bad state; that helped the adrenaline kick in to keep me going..

another thing that really helped was keeping in touch with a friend who was giving step 1 around the same time as myself.. discussing qs and scores and more so to share the agony of having to slog 😉

 

[MaxMoonMD]

I used Taus´ study guide to make a realistic schedule for each day, leaving enough room for daily workout (e.g. running, going for a walk).
No use to push too hard though, get a feeling how much you can achieve each day, otherwise you will only get frustrated.

For me the key was switching between two topics each day, for example I started the day reading 2 hours Respiratory in RR Pathology, then did a block of unused UW questions in Mixed Mode (Tutor or Untimed, I prefer Tutor), which took around 2- 2 1/2 hours, taking breaks as necessary.

Then I took a longer break, watched some DVD like Scrubs, Star Trek TNG 😉 , ER etc., then repeated the whole process (e.g. reading Biochemistry in FA or MSK in RR Pathology), ending up doing 4 hours worth of reading and around 4-5 hours doing questions.

Burnout became kind of an issue for me, UW kept freaking me off in Pharmacology, Microbiology and Biochemistry, which was alot easier in my exam btw.
Then again I guess as an IMG there is a greater risk spending too much time on preparation.

 

[drss]

thank you all,i thought its me only who finds uw bore n tiresome explanation but again admitting fun part,to enjoy other activities is also important.i have started taking frequent breaks and now im lil bit comfortable,but 50 question block at one go is still cumbersome,so i do 50-75 qn each day but in many shifts.and i hope with this regular practice i shall increase my stamina to 150/day,keeping fingers crossed 🙂