My plan went to crap....help

[J ROD]

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So, I planned to study for Step 1 all through my spring semester BUT it did not happen. If I wanted to get through classes, I had to put Step 1 down around March.

I have down some light review since but I got about 5 weeks for Step 1.

I have gone over FA once. I have DIT and Pathoma. Pathoma, I have been using through the semester.

I have done about 400-500 USMLE Rx..............but plan on getting UWorld.

I also want to do some practice tests........

In this short time frame, what is the best plan? How many times should I plan on trying to get through FA and how many times should I review UWorld? Is it better to do Uworld twice or finish Rx? How many practice tests and which ones are best?

I need help figuring out what is the best use of my time from those that have experience. I am not trying to kill it just want a 220-230.

Thanks.

 

[swoopyswoop]

start Uworld ASAP. Like today. Do 2-3 blocks of 46 Qs random timed every day + review answers.
Divide # of FA pages / # of days to find out how much to read.
Divide # of pathoma minutes / # of days to find out how much to watch.

If you want to do NBMEs, do the more recent ones, maybe 1 per week til your exam. on those days you probably won't do Uworld or Fa/pathoma since it takes so long.

 

[Ionian]

Whoa, someone on SDN actually asking how to obtain a reasonable score, and not a 260+ with 3 weeks of prep, having been a less than average student the first two years.

Never thought I'd see the day.

 

[J ROD]

Whoa, someone on SDN actually asking how to obtain a reasonable score, and not a 260+ with 3 weeks of prep, having been a less than average student the first two years.

Never thought I'd see the day.

A 230 would be a 250+ for me. I am not the great standardized exam taker like most on here. But, I am slightly above average. Probably could be a little higher if I wanted.

I just want to make sure I use the time I got the best. I could see myself spinning my wheels trying to cover this and that and messing it up. I take my finals next week and then it is on. 5 weeks to get stepped on.

 

[Fox800]

So, I planned to study for Step 1 all through my spring semester BUT it did not happen. If I wanted to get through classes, I had to put Step 1 down around March.

I have down some light review since but I got about 5 weeks for Step 1.

I have gone over FA once. I have DIT and Pathoma. Pathoma, I have been using through the semester.

I have done about 400-500 USMLE Rx..............but plan on getting UWorld.

I also want to do some practice tests........

In this short time frame, what is the best plan? How many times should I plan on trying to get through FA and how many times should I review UWorld? Is it better to do Uworld twice or finish Rx? How many practice tests and which ones are best?

I need help figuring out what is the best use of my time from those that have experience. I am not trying to kill it just want a 220-230.

Thanks.

You situation is exactly like mine, down to the resources and the USMLERx questions (33% done). I'm finishing up my first pass of FA right now, should be done on Tuesday, when our classes end. Are you sure you're not my twin?

I'm interested in the advice you're going to get.

 

[Petypet]

So, I planned to study for Step 1 all through my spring semester BUT it did not happen. If I wanted to get through classes, I had to put Step 1 down around March.

I have down some light review since but I got about 5 weeks for Step 1.

I have gone over FA once. I have DIT and Pathoma. Pathoma, I have been using through the semester.

I have done about 400-500 USMLE Rx..............but plan on getting UWorld.

I also want to do some practice tests........

In this short time frame, what is the best plan? How many times should I plan on trying to get through FA and how many times should I review UWorld? Is it better to do Uworld twice or finish Rx? How many practice tests and which ones are best?

I need help figuring out what is the best use of my time from those that have experience. I am not trying to kill it just want a 220-230.

Thanks.

5 weeks, no prob! I had t he same plan as you, except I blew off my course work and let my grades slip, but still passed. My sources were uworld, usmlerx, kaplan qbank, DIT, and pathoma.

I would stop using usmlerx, immediately and use uworld. If it were me, do 2 blocks of uworld in the AM, random timed, annotate that into FA. Doing a pass thru uworld is essentially a pass through FA since you look at everything as you annotate. Go over correct and incorrect. Then in afternoon/evening do DIT, and one chapter of pathoma if need be. I used pathoma with my course work and annotated what he said into the book, so going thru the videos again wasn't that helpful for me, and is a large chunk of time.

Honestly, I did kaplan qbank and usmlerx qbank, and they were ok, but people arent kidding when they say uworld is where your money is at. I learned so much more, so much faster by doing uworld and carefully reading the question summaries.

2 blocks uworld, + DIT + pathoma will take you approximately 22-24 days. After that do uworld again reset (or make sure you mark as you go) and then do 2-4 blocks a day to start building stamina. Then in the evenings read FA.

You can squeeze an nbme or 2 after your DIT and first pass uworld to see where you stand.

 

[bulldogmed]

So, I planned to study for Step 1 all through my spring semester BUT it did not happen. If I wanted to get through classes, I had to put Step 1 down around March.

I have down some light review since but I got about 5 weeks for Step 1.

I have gone over FA once. I have DIT and Pathoma. Pathoma, I have been using through the semester.

I have done about 400-500 USMLE Rx..............but plan on getting UWorld.

I also want to do some practice tests........

In this short time frame, what is the best plan? How many times should I plan on trying to get through FA and how many times should I review UWorld? Is it better to do Uworld twice or finish Rx? How many practice tests and which ones are best?

I need help figuring out what is the best use of my time from those that have experience. I am not trying to kill it just want a 220-230.

Thanks.

We're in mostly the same boat. I finished classes last week. I have five weeks of dedicated time. I'm halfway through FA now. Working on Pathoma as well. Doing Rx currently and moving onto UWorld in the next week or two hopefully. I'm shooting for a 230. Don't sweat it, and don't let SND average of 250 get you down.

 

[ketosisevangelist]

Just pass. Be thankful that you passed.

 

[honeyyygirl]

I'm 5 weeks out as well and would be very happy with a 230.
Used pathoma and first aid throughout the year.. making two passes through pathoma...
Now I'm doing DIT for the next 15 days with relevant RX at night then planning to switch to UWORLD after I finish DIT. do one pass through U world and then reset.

Should I change anything?

 

[Fox800]

I'm 5 weeks out as well and would be very happy with a 230.
Used pathoma and first aid throughout the year.. making two passes through pathoma...
Now I'm doing DIT for the next 15 days with relevant RX at night then planning to switch to UWORLD after I finish DIT. do one pass through U world and then reset.

Should I change anything?

Yeah, how much USMLERx do you have left to do? I'm doing USMLE world at 92 questions a day and it's going to take me almost a full month to do that. How are you planning to do Rx, and >1 pass of UWorld in 5 weeks?

 

[periaqueductal]

I'm 5 weeks out as well and would be very happy with a 230.
Used pathoma and first aid throughout the year.. making two passes through pathoma...
Now I'm doing DIT for the next 15 days with relevant RX at night then planning to switch to UWORLD after I finish DIT. do one pass through U world and then reset.

Should I change anything?

Yeah, how much USMLERx do you have left to do? I'm doing USMLE world at 92 questions a day and it's going to take me almost a full month to do that. How are you planning to do Rx, and >1 pass of UWorld in 5 weeks?

Agreed. Although Rx is an "easier" qbank to get through with less annotations etc it still takes a good amount of time. Make sure you give yourself enough time for Uworld plus at least marks and incorrects. I do 92q per day plus review plus FA/pathoma and I can't imagine doing another block and still reviewing at night. Takes me close to 6 hours to do 2 blocks plus review, sometimes longer.

 

[bwmd]

You could easily spend the entire 5 weeks doing nothing but UW and be better off for it. Go through it once, mark all guesses and incorrects, then do those a second time. That's all your time right there.

 

[J ROD]

I guess let me be clear. I have 5 weeks starting next Thursday (15th). I am in the middle of Finals now and I am doing Pathoma for Path final. So, I will have that cleared as a source. Minus reviewing stuff I have problems with.

Right now, I plan to do DIT over 18 days (4.5hrs). Read around 50 pages/day on FA. And then do UW around 92q/day.

Then, do a 3rd review of FA and second of UW until it is game day with some here and there review in weaker areas.

How is going over UW the second time the best use of time since you have seen it before? That is the main thing I am trying to understand. I tend to remember questions. Because I still have 75% of USMLE Rx left. I just did not have time for it. But, the consensus from reading on here is to do UW 2nd time over Rx.

Any thoughts and ideas are appreciated...........

Right now, I feel like I remember nothing and will fail. Hopefully, I will pass....would love a 220-230.

 

[Petypet]

I am on my 3rd pass of uworld and I am not just starting to remember questions. The second pass through, I recognized some questions and actually got them wrong because I thought I remembered the answer and not because I thought through the problem. The 2nd and 3rd passes through uworld have been very helpful for me personally. Having done kaplan and RX first, and still with active subscription to those, I plan on staying with uworld.

Some of the epidemiology questions and rare off the wall graphs, you remember, but if you actively go through on how to get the answer, it is still majorly beneficial.

 

[J ROD]

I shall go with it then. I do not have time for a 3rd pass and would probably be too burned out anyway. I burned myself out on the MCAT the first time trying to study everything. Second time I focused for about 6 weeks and did the damn thing........