Just got OWNED by UWSA1

[Captopril]

So I've been doing UWorld daily. Unused random timed blocks of 48. I tend to get between 60-70%. I've been memorizing FA and am on my second read of RR Path. I've done biochemistry, micro, and pharm fairly well in the past few weeks. So I thought I'd be a hotshot and take the USWA1.

Holy crap. It is NOTHING like the regular UWorld questions. I'd say about 95% of the time I would read a question I would sit there thinking "WTF WTF WTF WTF" then guess an answer.

Am I borderline ******ed? I wanted to take Step 1 in a month but I'm getting killed on practice tests. Anyone else have a similar story?

Sorry, just needed to vent.😱

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[fergustsi]

So I've been doing UWorld daily. Unused random timed blocks of 48. I tend to get between 60-70%. I've been memorizing FA and am on my second read of RR Path. I've done biochemistry, micro, and pharm fairly well in the past few weeks. So I thought I'd be a hotshot and take the USWA1.

Holy crap. It is NOTHING like the regular UWorld questions. I'd say about 95% of the time I would read a question I would sit there thinking "WTF WTF WTF WTF" then guess an answer.

Am I borderline ******ed? I wanted to take Step 1 in a month but I'm getting killed on practice tests. Anyone else have a similar story?

Sorry, just needed to vent.😱

what was your score?

 

[Captopril]

what was your score?

460 which translates to a 209.

I was expecting a lot worse but those questions are really insane. Am I alone on this, or is that the general consensus? I took NBME 2 a couple of weeks ago and thought it was much easier, even though I only managed a 201.

 

[ChronicAnxiety]

460 which translates to a 209.

I was expecting a lot worse but those questions are really insane. Am I alone on this, or is that the general consensus? I took NBME 2 a couple of weeks ago and thought it was much easier, even though I only managed a 201.

I haven't really done these tests, but I have experienced the same feelings (WTF is going on here?!) much more often than I care to admit. What usually helps me to overcome this is to step back and analyze the questions in a different light. These questions differ in some way, something is throwing you off, and you need to identify that variable. Maybe the questions are structured differently? Maybe the latter tests minute details which you may not have gone over yet?

In any case, I hope you figure it out! Let us know how you progress 🙂

 

[512TA]

So I've been doing UWorld daily. Unused random timed blocks of 48. I tend to get between 60-70%. I've been memorizing FA and am on my second read of RR Path. I've done biochemistry, micro, and pharm fairly well in the past few weeks. So I thought I'd be a hotshot and take the USWA1.

Holy crap. It is NOTHING like the regular UWorld questions. I'd say about 95% of the time I would read a question I would sit there thinking "WTF WTF WTF WTF" then guess an answer.

Am I borderline ******ed? I wanted to take Step 1 in a month but I'm getting killed on practice tests. Anyone else have a similar story?

Sorry, just needed to vent.😱

hey i think you are not alone. may be that you have not completed FA could be a cause of you not scoring for now. i have written down my experience in 'CBT Practice Test vs fred2'. i think it is very normal. may be the test just wants to check that you know everything and for now you do not.
another thing that i realized was the way i was approaching questions. after a crashing score on CBT test and lack of time, i started with a new procedure of solving questions. i read the last line first (no matter how short the question was) and then solved it. you know what? doing that my score went much higher, i was better able to concentrate on the question and i saved a lot of time.

try doing some of this.
and dont panic. i did that after i crashed the exam but no point. i think it is a slow process. by the way i have been scoring quiet well on usmlerx. that i think should be an indicator that at least there is some learning going on.
i believe the same could be going on with you

 

[Currantjelly]

UWSA2 was highly representative of my real examination. And the score was very accurate to 4 points even though I had done UW 2x already before that.

 

[Captopril]

thanks for all the info everyone. Now that I'm reviewing the test, I see what the problem is. The practice tests (and the real thing I assume) use a very different style of question than UWorld. Where UWorld will be pretty straight forward about what information it is asking, even in multi-step q's, the practice tests try to be a bit more cryptic. A large number of the questions I missed were asking information that I knew, I just didn't realize what exactly they were looking for. Gotta watch out for that next time.

Thanks again for all the advice.

 

[DrMed2009]

..

 

[512TA]

I had the exact same experience. I was in the 70s (but i tutor mode which was prolly my problem9 AND DID THE UWtest1 and got 192 and was shocked! It throw me of so much that I got even worde on UW questions now.
What I always do is that I look over the answer first and then read the question so I know what to look for (are they asking for meds or physiology or bacteria etc.) Or sometimes you read the whole story about some pathology nd symptoms the patient has and then to figure out all they were gonna ask is some behavioral science question like "What do you tell the patient"

its been 2 weeks since i have started with a new techniques of first reading the last line and then the entire question.. and guess what i can focus better on what is being asked and can also save time. this is how i am going to proceed with further prep.

 

[motorola]

I think this is a normal thing. I have heard this from many of my friends. I have also heard that UWSA2 is more representative. I would still trust NBME more than UW.

 

[clement]

I think this is a normal thing. I have heard this from many of my friends. I have also heard that UWSA2 is more representative. I would still trust NBME more than UW.

I took Step 1 in August. Be VERY cautious with using the UWSA exams. I scored a solid 20 points lower than UWSA-2 which I took 48 hours before the exam. My score was more along the lines of what I got on NBME 5 and 6 about 3 weeks before the real deal. STICK WITH THE NBME forms to reduce the chance of ugly surprises. Although to UWSA's credit, I will say that the score I got on UWSA was just a few points short of what medfriends predicted for me after the free 150....So I'd be wary of the free 150 as well.

PS: I was not one of those people that walked out feeling like crap. I thought my form was very reasonable. I also got a script error after block 6 for what it's worth, but from what I've read, that shouldn't have influenced anything.