I have a question

[BP87]

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Hi guys
I need your opinion on how I should utilize the next 6 weeks before the test. I have already read FA once (3 monts ago)but I haven't been studying consistently and there have been major gaps in my prep (school and personal issues). I plan to memorize FA but as you know that takes time. I had the Kaplan qbank for almost a year now and it's going to expire in 2 weeks. I've finished 50% of it (on and off) but I didn't feel like I've benefited much from it as I didn't know the material very well and ended up guessing a lot. I wanna finish the qbank before it expires. Doyou think I should take a week to read all of FA and then sit down for another week and finish Kaplan? Or is that a waste of time? I could use that time to memorize FA instead of just doing 40+ pages a day. I just want to be able to finish memorizing FA at least 10 days before the test so that I can just review for the remaining days and do assessment tests (I find it pointless to do assessment tests when I haven't mastered the material yet). What's your opinion? I'm so lost!
Thank you for reading and please tell me what you think!

 

[Charlie Hustle]

With your exam 6 weeks away, I think your priority should be to hammer First Aid + UWorld. At this point, I think you would benefit more from working your way through UWorld as opposed to finishing Kaplan. Also, don't discount the NBME assessments. They aren't just score predictors - buy the extended feedback option and figure out where your weakest areas are. Then work on those areas and take another assessment to see how you've improved.

 

[MLT2MT2DO]

With your exam 6 weeks away, I think your priority should be to hammer First Aid + UWorld. At this point, I think you would benefit more from working your way through UWorld as opposed to finishing Kaplan. Also, don't discount the NBME assessments. They aren't just score predictors - buy the extended feedback option and figure out where your weakest areas are. Then work on those areas and take another assessment to see how you've improved.

I agree. You need to get through FA, 3 months ago really doesn't count. I'm not sure what type of hours you're putting in but if you're having trouble just sitting down and reading first aid I'd suggest USMLErx, and let that help guide your FA reading. It really helped me.

 

[BP87]

I agree. You need to get through FA, 3 months ago really doesn't count. I'm not sure what type of hours you're putting in but if you're having trouble just sitting down and reading first aid I'd suggest USMLErx, and let that help guide your FA reading. It really helped me.

I have rx, was planning to do it along with uworld. I should mention that I've finished 25% of uworld already and 17% of rx. I've got a long way to go but I'm just a big time perfectionist and find it extremely hard to do questions on material I haven't studied/ reviewed yet. getting a bad score on a uworld block can easily ruin the next 2-3 days of my prep 🙁
I'm seriously starting to freak out now!

 

[MLT2MT2DO]

I have rx, was planning to do it along with uworld. I should mention that I've finished 25% of uworld already and 17% of rx. I've got a long way to go but I'm just a big time perfectionist and find it extremely hard to do questions on material I haven't studied/ reviewed yet. getting a bad score on a uworld block can easily ruin the next 2-3 days of my prep 🙁
I'm seriously starting to freak out now!

As long as you're going to have enough time, do at least 2k of the questions of RX before touching Uworld. I think I did about 10% of uworld with about 800 rx questions under my belt and was averaging mid 50s. I stopped doing UW and finished all 3k (the last 500 questions were fairly sketchy though) rx and watched my uworld jump low-mid 70s.

Don't waste UW for easy rhote memorization facts, that's what rx and reading FA should be used for.

 

[Astarael]

I have rx, was planning to do it along with uworld. I should mention that I've finished 25% of uworld already and 17% of rx. I've got a long way to go but I'm just a big time perfectionist and find it extremely hard to do questions on material I haven't studied/ reviewed yet. getting a bad score on a uworld block can easily ruin the next 2-3 days of my prep 🙁
I'm seriously starting to freak out now!

The questions aren't just for reviewing what you know/don't know. They're also for getting used to the wording and how the board tests your knowledge. That means that volume is important, even if you're not doing fantastically well on them (since you need to get used to the format).

 

[BP87]

The questions aren't just for reviewing what you know/don't know. They're also for getting used to the wording and how the board tests your knowledge. That means that volume is important, even if you're not doing fantastically well on them (since you need to get used to the format).

I know exactly what you mean but I can't help but feel so depressed after seeing a below average score on uworld 🙁 does anyone else feel this way?
Te volume is very important which is why I was trying to do finish my Kaplan qbank...

As long as you're going to have enough time, do at least 2k of the questions of RX before touching Uworld. I think I did about 10% of uworld with about 800 rx questions under my belt and was averaging mid 50s. I stopped doing UW and finished all 3k (the last 500 questions were fairly sketchy though) rx and watched my uworld jump low-mid 70s.

Don't waste UW for easy rhote memorization facts, that's what rx and reading FA should be used for.

Initially for the first 10% of the qbank, I was just doing questions without going over FA first (figured I'd annotate the book before memorizing it) and I was consistently scoring the 40s-low 50s. So I dropped uworld for 2 weeks. Memorized a good chunk of FA (biochem, micro and immuno) and I kid you not my % increased dramatically that I actually had 90s on a couple of blocks.
I just feel bad not being able to finish the Kaplan qbank. It is really not a bad qbank. But taking 10-14 days to "rush through FA" might not be very fruitful.

 

[Zuhal]

As long as you're going to have enough time, do at least 2k of the questions of RX before touching Uworld. I think I did about 10% of uworld with about 800 rx questions under my belt and was averaging mid 50s. I stopped doing UW and finished all 3k (the last 500 questions were fairly sketchy though) rx and watched my uworld jump low-mid 70s.

Don't waste UW for easy rhote memorization facts, that's what rx and reading FA should be used for.

Do you normally read FA before doing Rx questions?

 

[Zuhal]

With your exam 6 weeks away, I think your priority should be to hammer First Aid + UWorld. At this point, I think you would benefit more from working your way through UWorld as opposed to finishing Kaplan. Also, don't discount the NBME assessments. They aren't just score predictors - buy the extended feedback option and figure out where your weakest areas are. Then work on those areas and take another assessment to see how you've improved.

In the "elementary" stages of studying, I think it does take a long time to go over questions etc because you're learning at the same time but once you get closer to your exam (ex the last 2 weeks), most test takers say that you can do as much as 300+q/day (uworld 2nd pass/kaplan/rx/pretest/whatever other qbank out there). Do you think that's true?
I haven't taken the test yet, but I have to admit that its very reassuring to know that most students can breeze through that many questions/day.

(To OP: if the above is true, you can actually finish your remaining 50% of your Qbank in 4 days....)