I am very scared and need a game plan :(

[jcmnancy]

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I am an OMS-II with ~6 weeks to study for my COMLEX Level 1 and 7 weeks to study for my USMLE Step 1. I struggled a lot during my first two years, usually making low 70's in my difficult subjects and mid 80's in my favorable subjects. I started studying on and off in January but spent most of my energy focusing on lecture. I started DIT videos but didn't feel like they were helping me very much so I stopped after a few days. I've read through all of FA once and I have 34% left in UWorld. I haven't started Pathoma or Comquest yet, nor have I read Savarese.

Here is my problem: I am awful at memorizing. I got through my exams up til now by generally knowing the information and making educated guesses. Clearly, it didn't work perfectly but it got me by. When I first opened FA, I tried to memorize it because that's what everyone says to do, but I just could not do it for the life of me. It was so dense and it took me hours of staring at one page to remember it all, so I gave up on that. I've read the book once. I've annotated in it from DIT (somewhat) and from UWorld (a lot). I have 6 weeks and I don't know how to maximize my time. In these 6 weeks, I need to finish UWorld and repeat it, finish Comquest, do Pathoma, read Savarese, and somehow memorize the information in FA.

I'm currently terrified because a lot of the posts here say that the people who fail boards are the people who never learned the information properly to begin with. I feel like that describes me perfectly. If you tell me the name of a pathogen or a drug or an enzyme, I will draw a complete blank. I forget all of the material from the exam the day after. I'm in the 22nd percentile in UWorld on my first run-through. I don't know what to do. I can't push my test back because of my school's policy. I'm trying to stay motivated but I feel hopeless.

 

[kedrin]

Suck it up and stop worrying. You have a boatload of time and a boatload of work ahead of you. Just focus on putting out work from now until your exams are done. Print a calendar and write out your study schedule and stick to it. My point is you haven't even started studying yet, yeah I would be worried too if your exam was next week, but it is not.

From the sounds of it you should do DIT. Follow their instructions exactly and don't be lazy and not write out what they ask you to do. You need to read FA a couple times too. Practice Qs are important but you need to have a good review of the material before you can make Uworld productive.

 

[Bones DO]

I am an OMS-II with ~6 weeks to study for my COMLEX Level 1 and 7 weeks to study for my USMLE Step 1. I struggled a lot during my first two years, usually making low 70's in my difficult subjects and mid 80's in my favorable subjects. I started studying on and off in January but spent most of my energy focusing on lecture. I started DIT videos but didn't feel like they were helping me very much so I stopped after a few days. I've read through all of FA once and I have 34% left in UWorld. I haven't started Pathoma or Comquest yet, nor have I read Savarese.

Here is my problem: I am awful at memorizing. I got through my exams up til now by generally knowing the information and making educated guesses. Clearly, it didn't work perfectly but it got me by. When I first opened FA, I tried to memorize it because that's what everyone says to do, but I just could not do it for the life of me. It was so dense and it took me hours of staring at one page to remember it all, so I gave up on that. I've read the book once. I've annotated in it from DIT (somewhat) and from UWorld (a lot). I have 6 weeks and I don't know how to maximize my time. In these 6 weeks, I need to finish UWorld and repeat it, finish Comquest, do Pathoma, read Savarese, and somehow memorize the information in FA.

I'm currently terrified because a lot of the posts here say that the people who fail boards are the people who never learned the information properly to begin with. I feel like that describes me perfectly. If you tell me the name of a pathogen or a drug or an enzyme, I will draw a complete blank. I forget all of the material from the exam the day after. I'm in the 22nd percentile in UWorld on my first run-through. I don't know what to do. I can't push my test back because of my school's policy. I'm trying to stay motivated but I feel hopeless.

Buckle down, it's not like your exam is tomorrow. Just focus, and get through the material as many times as possible. The more passes you have, the more you'll remember. You'll be OK.

 

[jcmnancy]

Print a calendar and write out your study schedule and stick to it.

I'm having trouble forming a schedule, which is why I posted. I don't know if I should continue spending the majority of my day on questions when I don't even have the basic information down yet (which is why I feel my UWorld percentage is so low). I'm posting because I hope that someone can give me ideas on how to spread out my work load over the next 6-7 weeks.

 

[preDoGuy24]

I'm having trouble forming a schedule, which is why I posted. I don't know if I should continue spending the majority of my day on questions when I don't even have the basic information down yet (which is why I feel my UWorld percentage is so low). I'm posting because I hope that someone can give me ideas on how to spread out my work load over the next 6-7 weeks.

7 weeks is a long dedicated study period dude, you just need to get after it. Start reading First Aid-if you don't have the background then fill in the holes with another more specific review book. Do a search on here for the Taus method-at a minimum it's a good guide for other resources and a schedule to fit them too. If you are that low (22% right?) on Uworld maybe you should switch to usmlerx for a a week or two- drill the basics more, then get back after it on Uworld, I have yet to take my step, this is what I am doing and it is working so far. We all feel the same way sometimes, especially after missing topics we have just covered/things we should know. You passed two years of med school, you know this ****, you just need to grind at it and quit making excuses.


My schedule after I am done with USMLERX on saturday is going to be 8am-1pm two random blocks of Uworld with review and annotations-->first aid. Then I am doing a systems approach to reading w/pathoma in the afternoon for 6ish hours in the evening. planning on covering uworld +second run of first aid in ~4 weeks with some scattered nbmes, Uworld incorrects + taus last 10 days at the end.