Learning from UWORLD

[surfguy84]

Going to get through UWORLD once before dedicated. Since I'm using it as a learning tool, wondering if it's better to do the questions by subject/system or in random blocks. If doing by subject, I'd do them so they correspond to the FA subject I'm currently reviewing (and using USMLERx flash facts).

Any opinions would be welcomed.

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[IH8ColdWeath3r]

Uworld. All day. Every day. Their explanations are spot on, and if you understand that, then you know the concept being tested. I did Rx but IMO it would be better to go through Uworld x 2 and pathoma/FA on repeat. Basically, Uworld is the only Qbank you need.

 

[surfguy84]

Uworld. All day. Every day. Their explanations are spot on, and if you understand that, then you know the concept being tested. I did Rx but IMO it would be better to go through Uworld x 2 and pathoma/FA on repeat. Basically, Uworld is the only Qbank you need.

Re-read what I was saying...I'm doing both Rx and UWORLD. Wondering how best to use UWORLD...

 

[ShowtimeKaner88]

Going to get through UWORLD once before dedicated. Since I'm using it as a learning tool, wondering if it's better to do the questions by subject/system or in random blocks. If doing by subject, I'd do them so they correspond to the FA subject I'm currently reviewing (and using USMLERx flash facts).

Any opinions would be welcomed.

Do them by subject now and on tutor mode. Read the explanation for every single answer thoroughly and try to fully understand the concepts being tested. During dedicated do it random and timed and spend the majority of your time reviewing your incorrects and the ones you know you either guessed or got lucky on.


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[IH8ColdWeath3r]

Re-read what I was saying...I'm doing both Rx and UWORLD. Wondering how best to use UWORLD...

I am telling you. Stop using Rx. Go through Uworld thoroughly, twice if possible. It is already January so I would recommend switching soon to doing the sections random and timed if you are doing them section by section on tutor mode. The sooner you get used to the time, the better you will do on the real thing. Don't waste time with Rx

 

[t5Nitro]

I am telling you. Stop using Rx. Go through Uworld thoroughly, twice if possible. It is already January so I would recommend switching soon to doing the sections random and timed if you are doing them section by section on tutor mode. The sooner you get used to the time, the better you will do on the real thing. Don't waste time with Rx

I would do this. Somebody at my school scored one of the top step 1 scores in the country last year. I think this student just pumped out as many questions on random and timed modes as possible. Obviously this person has a brilliant mind, but it's worth taking note of. I think getting as comfortable with random, timed exams is your best option. I thought Rx was nice to start with to teach the topics that haven't been covered in class, at least to give somewhat of a foundation before heading into UW.

 

[surfguy84]

I am telling you. Stop using Rx. Go through Uworld thoroughly, twice if possible. It is already January so I would recommend switching soon to doing the sections random and timed if you are doing them section by section on tutor mode. The sooner you get used to the time, the better you will do on the real thing. Don't waste time with Rx

Fair enough. But do you think learning FA isn't vital? I'm using rx flash facts to help get all of fa down...I can't just read and memorize, it's too passive for me. Im definitely not doing rx qbank over uworld, just using flash facts while I do uworld concurrently. Not sure iuf that changes your opinion...

Fwiw, while I do uworld on tutor mode I make sure I answer each question within 70 seconds on average so I'm keeping pace. Time has really never been an issue for me on standardize exams so not too worried about that part.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Agree Rx is a good way to learn FA and get your feet wet before jumping into the water, but if your test is in May or earlier, time to dive into UWorld.

 

[hallowmann]

It doesn't matter. Everyone learns differently, and people do both (Uworld by systems or just random). Pick whichever you feel you'll learn the best from and just do it. It's more important that you go through a ton of questions then necessarily how you go through them (that said, timed and in blocks is ideal to get used to the logistics of the exam).

 

[surfguy84]

Agree Rx is a good way to learn FA and get your feet wet before jumping into the water, but if your test is in May or earlier, time to dive into UWorld.

Definitely doing UW now..I'm like 10% done. My exam is going to be early June...so if my math is correct, doing 20 questions per day will get me through UW once before dedicated. Figure I can knock out another 120 q's per day during dedicated giving me about 2.5 passes of UW and probably one pass of COMBANK. I'm hoping that should be a sufficient number of qs......hoping....

 

[t5Nitro]

Definitely doing UW now..I'm like 10% done. My exam is going to be early June...so if my math is correct, doing 20 questions per day will get me through UW once before dedicated. Figure I can knock out another 120 q's per day during dedicated giving me about 2.5 passes of UW and probably one pass of COMBANK. I'm hoping that should be a sufficient number of qs......hoping....

When are you starting COMBANK or are you going through it alongside UWorld? I can't decide if it's better to do 20 UW a day and 20 COMBANK a day or just finish UW and then go through all of COMBANK or just the OMM questions and focus most of my time on UW. I have 6 months to UW and 3 to COMBANK (not yet activated).

 

[surfguy84]

When are you starting COMBANK or are you going through it alongside UWorld? I can't decide if it's better to do 20 UW a day and 20 COMBANK a day or just finish UW and then go through all of COMBANK or just the OMM questions and focus most of my time on UW. I have 6 months to UW and 3 to COMBANK (not yet activated).

I do COMBANK on my phone, dont make anki cards/take notes off of it...Ill just add those in whenever I can. Definitely dont let them get in the way of UW...just use them as a bonus really.

 

[hallowmann]

Focus most of your time on UWorld. Get through it multiple times. Then the week before the COMLEX (assuming you have close to a week in between or you're taking it first) hammer through as much of Combank as you can. You could probably do 200 a day at that point (after dedicated study and doing 120+ Uworld a day), so it's not unreasonable to expect to get through most of Combank in that week.

This is at least my advice on what I would do. I'd only modify this if you were only taking the COMLEX, in which case I'd recommend having enough time to get through Combank leading up to the exam.

To be honest, I found doing both in the same day very disruptive and I feel like it made me do worse on both question banks. There is a clear stylistic difference in the exam questions and I felt myself getting out of Uworld mode every time I did a Combank block, so it's better to be focusing on only one bank at least for the week leading up to your exams.

 

[abolt18]

UWorld: I always did timed random full length blocks (42q?). Finishing the test was a real concern to me because I'm a relatively slow reader. Additionally, the real test is random, so I felt it would be most beneficial to do questions on random.

COMBANK: I only did the OMM questions, and I did them all during the 3 days between USMLE and COMLEX. This is true for 1 and 2.

For both tests I did USMLE 1 and 2 on a Monday. COMLEX 1 and 2 on Thursday or Friday. Just throwing in what worked for me. I scored 240's on the USMLE 1 and 2 and scored 600's and 700's on COMLEX 1 and 2 respectively.

 

[t5Nitro]

UWorld: I always did timed random full length blocks (42q?). Finishing the test was a real concern to me because I'm a relatively slow reader. Additionally, the real test is random, so I felt it would be most beneficial to do questions on random.

COMBANK: I only did the OMM questions, and I did them all during the 3 days between USMLE and COMLEX. This is true for 1 and 2.

For both tests I did USMLE 1 and 2 on a Monday. COMLEX 1 and 2 on Thursday or Friday. Just throwing in what worked for me. I scored 240's on the USMLE 1 and 2 and scored 600's and 700's on COMLEX 1 and 2 respectively.

Congrats, those are some nice scores! Can I ask if you made a journal for questions you missed on UW? I've been adding to a doc the main point of every question right or wrong so far. How often did you review this journal if you made one?

 

[abolt18]

Congrats, those are some nice scores! Can I ask if you made a journal for questions you missed on UW? I've been adding to a doc the main point of every question right or wrong so far. How often did you review this journal if you made one?

So after each block, I'd read through every single answer choice description whether I got it right or wrong. I'd write little notes of ANYTHING I didn't know or thought was worth memorizing, and wrote it down in a notebook. I'd draw a line across the page under my notes when done for the day and write the next day's date. After I got a week or two into it, I started reviewing the old notes. I would do a block on UWorld, then review the notes from a week ago, then review the block I just completed and write new notes from today. Rinse and repeat. After reviewing old notes, I put a tally mark next to the date (each set of notes was dated) so I knew how many times I'd reviewed it.

If that description isn't clear enough, please let me know and I'm happy to clarify.

 

[t5Nitro]

So after each block, I'd read through every single answer choice description whether I got it right or wrong. I'd write little notes of ANYTHING I didn't know or thought was worth memorizing, and wrote it down in a notebook. I'd draw a line across the page under my notes when done for the day and write the next day's date. After I got a week or two into it, I started reviewing the old notes. I would do a block on UWorld, then review the notes from a week ago, then review the block I just completed and write new notes from today. Rinse and repeat. After reviewing old notes, I put a tally mark next to the date (each set of notes was dated) so I knew how many times I'd reviewed it.

If that description isn't clear enough, please let me know and I'm happy to clarify.

Got it! I definitely take too many notes than what I planned on, but the explanations are so good. I think I take a good 2 hours to do 10 questions after review. Too much?

 

[abolt18]

Got it! I definitely take too many notes than what I planned on, but the explanations are so good. I think I take a good 2 hours to do 10 questions after review. Too much?

1 hour to take the test. 3 hours to review it and take notes. That was about the norm.

 

[Bokeh]

Uworld. All day. Every day. Their explanations are spot on, and if you understand that, then you know the concept being tested. I did Rx but IMO it would be better to go through Uworld x 2 and pathoma/FA on repeat. Basically, Uworld is the only Qbank you need.

Should I be worried only getting between 45-60% on these question sets? I am not too far into World. I do random timed mode. I have already been through another question bank and ended similarly with an average about 58%, random and timed... feels like I am stuck when I should be improving.

 

[ShowtimeKaner88]

Should I be worried only getting between 45-60% on these question sets? I am not too far into World. I do random timed mode. I have already been through another question bank and ended similarly with an average about 58%, random and timed... feels like I am stuck when I should be improving.

You're fine. Don't focus too much on the percentages right now. UWorld is meant to be difficult and it's going to test your understanding and knowledge to a level that no other qbank does, which is why it's the gold standard. Your scores will steadily start to improve as you progress through UWorld and start to develop your test taking strategy and get a question approach solidified.

Just my two cents on question approach - read the last line of the whole thing (the actual question) then read the answers briefly, then go back to the beginning. This will help orient your mind to what you need to pay attention to in the sometimes ridiculous paragraphs of info and labs. Sometimes you won't even need to read the whole thing because it will be a simple recall question.

 

[Bokeh]

You're fine. Don't focus too much on the percentages right now. UWorld is meant to be difficult and it's going to test your understanding and knowledge to a level that no other qbank does, which is why it's the gold standard. Your scores will steadily start to improve as you progress through UWorld and start to develop your test taking strategy and get a question approach solidified.

Just my two cents on question approach - read the last line of the whole thing (the actual question) then read the answers briefly, then go back to the beginning. This will help orient your mind to what you need to pay attention to in the sometimes ridiculous paragraphs of info and labs. Sometimes you won't even need to read the whole thing because it will be a simple recall question.

Thank you!!