Is this a ridiculous study plan?

[badasshairday]

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My main resources would be FA, RRpath, and Uworld.

I would read FA 3x during a 4.5 week study period. Just read it through, over and over, while doing blocks of Uworld every day. Then take a week to cram through RRpath (have read it 2x over the school year plus listened to goljan audio 2-3x per lecture).

I would throw in a couple of other resources here and there on the side.

But basically, it would not be structured systems wise for study period. It would just be about getting through all the material and doing all the UWORLD questions and simulated exams, plus redoing wrong answers.

I've gone through webpath 2x, and robbin's qbook once over the year as well. Plus I have read through FA 1x over the course of the year and have done 450q's of USMLERx, so I am somewhat familiar with it already.

Goal is 235+, but would be happy with anything in 230s, of course higher the better. I'm just having issues in how to tackle this and get a study plan going. Only have one shot! Advice/comments would be appreciated.

 

[kryptik]

looks solid for your time frame, how are you spacing your nbmes or uwsa?

 

[Perrotfish]

1) What is the maximum amount of time you can take to study for this test?

2) Have you taken a practice NBME test yet, and if so what was your performance?

 

[badasshairday]

The only NBME I have taken is the CBSE given through school. I get my results this week. I have finals this week as well, comprehensive Pharm and Path finals.

I think I will be more than good for Pharm and Path from the get go... Esp, pharm, my school is ridiculous. Final exam is 5 hours long, 40 pages of fill in short answers, NO multiple choice. So we really have to know our pharm. Upperclassmen said that Pharm should be cake on boards after our prep in school. Seems like on boards the mult choice pharm will be a breeze... I worked through some Kaplan Pharm problems yesterday.

Last final is this Friday, so I'm looking to take a practice NBME (free 150) on Saturday. It is really lame that I don't even know where I stand at this point. Probably will take the other self assessments at 2 weeks into study, 3 weeks into study, and on the 4th week like 4 days before the exam. I'm thinking of 2 Uworld Self assessments, Free 150, and NBME form 6 or 7.

I just thought this study plan would work mostly because it makes me see the high yield material (FA) in its entirety 3x in a relatively short period of time. I think that would help me while solving UWORLD at random. I guess I'm taking nearly 5 weeks, May 15 to test day which is June 18. The last possible date I can take it is June 25, but I rather not, since I want some time off before rotations.

 

[username456789]

I obviously haven't taken it yet, but that seems like a not-too-crazy idea. I learn best from repetition too, so seeing stuff that often would probably be beneficial.

I know it sounds stupid to most people (at least it would to most of my classmates), but I wish we had a "final exam" for path and pharm (we don't even have a separate pharm course), rather than just a regular exam covering 3-4 weeks' worth of material on the last day. It'd suck right now cramming for it, but it'd be great "mandatory prep" for the boards in general.

Good luck!

 

[Rabbit Hole]

My main resources would be FA, RRpath, and Uworld.

I would read FA 3x during a 4.5 week study period. Just read it through, over and over, while doing blocks of Uworld every day. Then take a week to cram through RRpath (have read it 2x over the school year plus listened to goljan audio 2-3x per lecture).

I would throw in a couple of other resources here and there on the side.

But basically, it would not be structured systems wise for study period. It would just be about getting through all the material and doing all the UWORLD questions and simulated exams, plus redoing wrong answers.

Your plan looks great.

I personally prefer doing UW questions system wise with FA - makes it easier to study and review questions. NBME exams to chart progress.

 

[sumguy]

given all the work you've already done along with your classes, my bet is that you're already at the lower end of your goal of 230+. i guess you'll find out soon enough.

 

[badasshairday]

Your plan looks great.

I personally prefer doing UW questions system wise with FA - makes it easier to study and review questions. NBME exams to chart progress.

I have Kaplan's "Mini Q-Book" that has subject specfic topics like biochem, behavioral, micro what I will do to hit what I just covered.

I don't know though... Part of me thinks that I should do something more structured, ie. Basic Science first then Organ systems broken up. Like hitting BRS Cardiovascular, RR path Cardiovascular, and then FA Cardiovascular. Bleh. It just seems so hard to make this freakin decision.

 

[MilkmanAl]

That's what I'm doing. I think I'm going to do BRS gross chapter summaries--> BRS phys-->question block-->Goljan-->question block-->FA-->rest of the questions for each organ system.

 

[kryptik]

having some structure definitely helps, milkman's approach looks good. a couple of my friends do basic sciences in the a.m then organ system in the afternoon to night

 

[mordounhas]

I'm going at it in a fairly similar way to the OP.

I'm taking 6 weeks (started last week), mostly going through RR Path, First Aid, and usmleworld. Finished a first pass through Goljan last week, and am about 2/3rd through First Aid. I do about 120 random usmleworld questions a night (tutor mode, I'm not worried about timing on the test) and plan on getting a second pass through the qbank.

I'll also use practice tests (2 usmleworld ones and probably nbme 6 and 7) to pinpoint weaknesses and hone in on them (which for me will be pharm).

I can't imagine sitting through 4 days of biochem early in a study period as many people do and having it stick for me, but to each their own.

 

[badasshairday]

Alright. I think I am just going to go through FA with BRS Physio for first pass, probably take 2-2.5 weeks. Then after that read straight through RR path on week 2.5-3.5. Then go over FA as much as I can until exam date. All while doing 2 blocks of UWorld a day. I am keeping it simple. 👍

 

[lildave2586]

I'm not doing any structured systems study at all. I start my day with a 48q block of Uworld timed and completely random/unused. I review this until and then take another 48q block. This usually gets me until 3:00, and I go to the gym and listen to goljan audio until around 5:00. I start studying again at about 8:00 and usually read BRS physio.

 

[metalrex]

I made a religious time table but I am off on it often.Sometimes spontaneity is best and trust your gut instinct, also I get bored of one resource too easily, so I need to have a mix.This has me tackling bits of RR, FA,BRS Physio and ofcourse beloved UW daily.

Not being very organized either.

 

[username456789]

I'm not doing any structured systems study at all. I start my day with a 48q block of Uworld timed and completely random/unused. I review this until and then take another 48q block. This usually gets me until 3:00, and I go to the gym and listen to goljan audio until around 5:00. I start studying again at about 8:00 and usually read BRS physio.

Good deal. I'm guessing you're pretty far along in your studying at this point? Are you still doing much FA?

 

[lildave2586]

Good deal. I'm guessing you're pretty far along in your studying at this point? Are you still doing much FA?

I started my third week today, and I test on June 5th. I keep FA in front of me as I review the questions on UW. If I need verification or feel like I'm lacking in information on a certain topic presented in a question, I'll look it up and read/annotate. I'm constantly reviewing things that I have written previously. I've got 35% of Uworld done, and when I finish I'm going to start all over. I also plan to bring in some other things after I finish UW. I'm going to start reading RR goljan (margin notes, diagrams, and images ONLY) as well as recap the things I've written in FA. We'll see how it goes. NBME 5 the middle of April was 231 (before I started my study period), NBME 6 after the first week of studying was 244, UWSA 1 after the second week was 250 and 88% on Free 138. Hopefully I'll keep going up, but if I level off, I'm fine with that. I only need 240 to put me in the running for ENT!

 

[username456789]

I started my third week today, and I test on June 5th. I keep FA in front of me as I review the questions on UW. If I need verification or feel like I'm lacking in information on a certain topic presented in a question, I'll look it up and read/annotate. I'm constantly reviewing things that I have written previously. I've got 35% of Uworld done, and when I finish I'm going to start all over. I also plan to bring in some other things after I finish UW. I'm going to start reading RR goljan (margin notes, diagrams, and images ONLY) as well as recap the things I've written in FA. We'll see how it goes. NBME 5 the middle of April was 231 (before I started my study period), NBME 6 after the first week of studying was 244, UWSA 1 after the second week was 250 and 88% on Free 138. Hopefully I'll keep going up, but if I level off, I'm fine with that. I only need 240 to put me in the running for ENT!

Nice, man. I'm starting off at point similar to you (about the same on my first NBME before I started my study period, although I had been doing a painstakingly slow attempt at a Taus first pass since Feb), I'm just about 3-4 weeks behind (finished classes last friday, started study period yesterday, take the test at the end of June).

So I'm just gonna hope that my progress follows yours!

 

[Rabbit Hole]

Alright. I think I am just going to go through FA with BRS Physio for first pass, probably take 2-2.5 weeks. Then after that read straight through RR path on week 2.5-3.5. Then go over FA as much as I can until exam date. All while doing 2 blocks of UWorld a day. I am keeping it simple. 👍

Keeping it simple is a good strategy. 🙂
Are you doing G-audio by any chance?

 

[badasshairday]

Keeping it simple is a good strategy. 🙂
Are you doing G-audio by any chance?

I would like to, but with the time constraints maybe not. Definitely will read rr for sure. I have been doing world and it is amazing what reading rr two times so far (supplemented with webpath 2x) over the year can do. I get a bunch of questions right that have less than 50 percent correct responses all the time thanks to poppie. I did listen to each lecture 2 or 3x with classes so yea. It would be nice to at least listen to the early lectures again since it has been so long since I have heard them plus I could understand the integration better now that my knowledge base is larger.