Last few days...how to keep everything fresh and not burn out?

[funshine]

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Monday is the big day.
I took a full length Kaplan and felt pretty good about my score, but it was EXHAUSTING. I'm all burned out now, and don't feel like studying.

I've identified some areas that I need to review
I could go over First Aid cover to cover again.
I could read BRS Path-- I selectively studied some chapters, but not all.
I could do NBME 1 and 2 (I've already done 3 and 4, my score was "eh" but that was 2 weeks ago.)

I'm not aiming for an awesome score. I'd be thrilled with a 230-ish, closer to 240 but I'm keeping my expectations in line.

So how should I spend my last weekend? I'm a very slow studier, so I know I'm not going to get everything on my list done. I'm faster when I do questions simply b/c they're timed, but then I'm not sure how much I'm getting out of it.

I'm also just really tired.
Help me prioritize!! I know for sure I will be going thru the High Yield Facts and pictures in the back of First Aid, but aside from that, I don't know if I should be doing questions every day, or just reviewing.

Are NBME 1 &2 worth it? I hear some identical questions may show up on the real thing, so I kinda think it is...

Thanks😳

 

[mudphudwannabe]

I wouldn't really worry about burn out in the last few days. It's more of a concern when the exam is far off. I would stick to your normal schedule, making sure to get plenty of sleep and wake up in the morning at the time you will need to on test day. I think the best use of your time will be to go over any weak areas one more time and look over the stuff in FA that is crammable. Basically what I did is page through FA and then look up any stuff that didn't seem immediately familiar in my other review books (BRS Path, BRS Phys).

BRS Path is a great resource - have you used something else for path? If not, it's probably worth at least looking over the areas you haven't done. If you've used a different book for path, though, probably better to use that for any weak areas rather than reading new chapters in BRS Path.

In my opinion, now is not the time for NBME's unless you are really concerned that you might not pass and are willing to postpone the exam if you don't do well on the NBME's (and pay the fee that comes along with that). Doing questions right before the exam is kind of a personal thing -- if you think it will shake your confidence if you don't do well on the questions, probably better to focus on review only. But, if you have a set routine of doing questions every day and aren't too worried about how you do on them, it's probably ok to do a block or two. I did questions right up until the end, but I saw them more as a learning tool rather than being focused on my score.