Is UW question stem too short?

[SupremeSurgeon]

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For those who have done UW questions, do you find the stem too short? I've been doing well in UW because I think the short stem in UW makes it easier to not be distracted by irrelevant materials. I remember reading a post by this Brisket guy with blood-shot eyes about how much longer the question stem is in the real thing. Is it actually the case?

 

[UditNarayan]

yes, thought the UW stems were shorter. i would have 10-15 mins per UW section left, and on the real deal, 5-6 mins only. i def was not going slower, if anything, i felt like i was moving faster through content on the real deal, but each just had a lot of info (all the info you'd need + more) so you had to 1) read kinda quick, 2) pick out the important info quickly, 3) think about the info and what they were getting at. i felt that UW helped me with the thinking part, but since im a slow reader, getting thru the longer stems was something i hadnt quite planned for. no need to sweat it, just keep in mind that on test day, the questions may be a bit different from wut ur used to and dont let that phase u...thats def the key...dont let anything phase you on test day.

bunch of questions you may need to scroll down the screen. in these questions, there would be 8-9ish lines of text, labs, and pic. i had a few that were just a couple lines, but far less of these short stems than anticipated. honestly, looking back at it, the shorter stemmed questions were the tougher ones...they asked u point blank: do you know this?

 

[Knicks]

A question for those who've taken the Step 1 already:

In your opinion, what's the best strategy for approaching those long-ass stem questions?

ie: reading the last line of the question 1st and THEN reading the question from the beginning? or reading the last line of the question 1st, glance over the answer choices, and THEN read the entire question? or just start reading the question from the beginning? or etc....?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[car123]

This is also a huge problem for me...I'm a slow reader and feel that with long question stems, I may not be able to finish within the given time frame....any suggestions on how to approach the long-stems would be much appreciated....

 

[BrisketAttack]

I may be the slowest reader in human history. the problem I have is that I reread sentences i just read, realizing that although I may've read it, i didn't pay attention. it's very tough on the real exam, because you're nervous and want to be sure you've extracted every salient point in the passage, all while keeping a fast pace. It's true that the passages are longer than UW, but Udit and I are both examples of people who read slow, who scored above 250. matter of fact, i think udit scored above 260. so don't let the longer question stems intimidate you.

 

[LUBDUBB]

I felt my passages were about the same length as UW; however, as brisket said, on the real deal, you want to extract everything from the passage and keep on double checking to make sure that you marked the right answer, this eats up your time, IMO.

 

[SupremeSurgeon]

.Yo brisket and udit, considering how you did, on this usmle sht, how bloodshot were your eyes, how your minds were fried, I hope you don’t mind, telling me how to shine, by giving some advice, whether you made some highlights, on the question lines, or is there a real need, to read the question in repeat? .

 

[BrisketAttack]

i did not use the highlight button. ever. it took too much time. ditto the lab values chart. never once. i read each question as fast as i could, and if it was a really long one, i'd read the last sentence first. most times the last sentence made it clear that i needed to read the whole passage to get the answer.

 

[UditNarayan]

so i used a couple of strategies to tackle these long questions...these were strategies i would use throughout the questions i wud take so by test day, it was second nature...i had used these strategies towards the end of my studying even on short question stems, just so i could get used to it...

when i saw these long ***** stems, i didnt panic...didnt even take a deep breath or anything, just hit the question as hard as i could. for the ones that were longer (like 5-6 lines, altho some of mine were much more) i quickly read the last sentence to make sure i had registered the "end point" of the question. I then read thru the entire stem while highlighting anything i felt was important. for those hilighters out there, i thought that hilighting on UW was easier than on the real deal (either the software just seemed better on UW or the computer was not doing a good job at my prometric center). the hilighting is definitely not necessary, but i like being a bit hands on to keep myself engaged, and this hilighting partially helped. what you will be faced with on test day is a question that is seemingly going in many different directions...you will need to read the question, understand a few of the points they are making, and put it together into something that makes sense.

my eyes were not bloodshot, but my head was throbbing like anything. pain relievers didnt help, but the breaks i took were the best...after each section, i would eat something small, drink some gatorade/water, and go to the bathroom (even if it was to wash my face and feel a little more fresh). that way, when i started the next section, i would attack it quickly. some people want to be in the "zone" and go straight thru; for me, the "zone" was to be as prepared for each block as possible.

hey brisket: im glad there's another fellow slow reader here!! testament to the fact that you dont need to have superior reading skills to do well...you do need good problem solving skills tho to get some of the tough questions right and you can hone these skills thru practice and a good knowledge base.

 

[GMDMD]

I wouldn't say the stems are too short. They're definitely shorter (IMO) than the real thing. But the point of questions banks IMO is 90% learning, 10% practice. And UWorld is a fantastic tool for learning.

If you're a slow test taker, you're a slow test taker. After 1800 or so questions, I was never able to get that much faster than I was when I started. The problem is you can't simulate the nerves of the real thing. Where you second guess and then reread to make sure (are they really asking something so simple?) you read things right.

I definitely wouldn't switch to Kaplan (tried both, got through 30% kaplan) just for wading-through-bull**** practice. Instead set a goal of finishing your world blocks with 15 minutes to spare.

I never really highlighed on World but I did on the real thing for some reason, probably because many of the stems were so long. I just highlighted major details as I read along. I don't think it slowed me down at all. My reading/digesting speed was what held me back. Like brisketattack, I'm one of those guys who often reads through the first 3 sentences and then rereads it again because i realized I didn't absorb any of it.

I consider myself a very slow test taker (on school exams I'm usually bottom 20% to finish time-wise, top 10% score-wise) and I felt waaaay more cramped for time on the real thing than I did on World. But I did very damn well on the real thing so rest assured if you come to the test prepared the time issue won't be a big deal.

 

[IndyZX]

try giving this a shot if youre worried about time on the real thing (i was).

first pass: read all the questions thruogh and answer whatever you can. try to have 20 minutes left at the end of this. mark anything youre not 100% sure about.

second pass: go through all the questions again. for the ones you know, make sure you didnt do something dumb. this may sound like overkill, but i doubt that it adds more than two minutes overall, might be nice for your peace of mind. for the harder ones, give them your best shot and leave the ones that youre still unsure about marked.

third pass: go over your marked ones and get as many points as you can.


by the time the real thing came around, my first pass was done with 20-30 minutes to go. i still took the whole 60 minutes just to be thorough, but time wasnt the reason i missed any of my questions.

 

[2cr8tive]

my exam the questions were mostly 2-3 lines with ofcourse maybe 10 or so per block that were longer and had lab values. but im still a slow reader and finished just on time. im sure others could have finished it faster.