- Joined
- Jun 30, 2009
- Messages
- 140
- Reaction score
- 2
So Im set to take my test in a little over two weeks, and while Im more or less on track with my study plan, Im toying with the idea of bumping it up by 5 days to get it out of the way while things are still fresh in mind. Im curious about how much success people have had with switching to an earlier test date, and am trying to figure out if I have ample reasons to do so or not to.
Reasons for bumping up:
1.) Aside from having things fresh in mind, Ill have recently finished up all my UWorld unused questions and most if not all of my incorrect and marked ones. I realize I havent been hitting UWorld at the 4-blocks a day pace that a good number of people do mainly since I tend to spend a while covering the explanations and annotating into FA, plus I also try to do a bit of content review each day even after having done ~2 passes for most of FA since Ive found that its helped me reinforce what I know and get a few more questions right here and there
2.) Once I finish all the unused UWorld questions, Im wary that the remaining days till test day may feel a bit harder to power through and dont want to burn out or go through them at a really slack pace. Now, I do have enough unused questions in Kaplan QBank to tide me over (used Qbank during second semester last year and early this summer but sorta abandoned it in favor of UWorld), though Ive found that some of the questions there are either WTF-type questions with details or a slant that doesnt quite mirror NBME or UWorld questions. Im wary that changing gears to the slightly different question setup in Qbank might throw me off a bit and/or stress me out, so I feel like re-doing my incorrect/flagged UWorld questions and just re-doing blocks of all question types after that may be more beneficial (might also help in the off-chance that I encounter some identical/near-identical questions on the actual test?)
3.) In decent shape based on the practice runs Ive taken so far:
-NBME 7 (4 weeks ago): 226
-UWSA 1 (3 weeks ago): 238
-NBME 11 (1 week ago): 238
-UWSA 2 (2 days ago): 250
-UWorld first-pass overall % so far: 71
Im wary that there are mixed opinions on the predictive value of the UWSAs and I don't want to feel overconfident based on my most recent one, plus I havent done NBME 13 or 15 which are reputedly predictive. If I bump my date up, Ill probably only do one of the two- Ive heard NBME 15 is good for getting a feel of the current test with some longer question stems. However, I dont know if a drop in performance on that one might tank my confidence a bit.
4.) Few extra days of rest before starting up rotations, plus several classmates taking the test 5 days before my date. Not the most compelling reason to bump the test forward in the interest of not being stuck studying for several extra days while other peeps are enjoying freedom, but Im slightly afraid that this might be hard to block out of my mind if Im already feeling stagnant in my prep towards the end.
Reasons to NOT bump up:
1.) Would probably have to sacrifice doing one NBME (13 or 15) in the timeframe I have left
2.) May not get to do some straight-up FA content review
3.) Would have to pay a higher re-scheduling fee depending on when I decide to change the date
4.) Regretting bumping up my date on the actual test day and/or later down the road
If I dont bump my date forward, I suppose my game plan would be:
-Finish up UWorld and re-do blocks of incorrect and flagged questions; re-do random blocks of everything once I get through the incorrects/flagged
-NBME 15 and 13 over the next two weeks, one per week (probably 15 before 13 feedback since the vignettes for some questions are longer and might merit a little more review time with the extended feedback, though Im hoping I wont miss too many)
-free 150 questions on the NBME site after the last NBME I do, a few days before actual test (heard that the difficulty doesnt reflect NBMEs or the actual test, though I figure itll at least give me a chance to cover some barebones knowledge if anything)
-as much FA content review as possible; hit biochem, embryo, pharm, micro, and Pathoma hard during the last week before test-day
My gut feeling generally leans towards a play-it-safe/if it aint broke, dont fix it approach to stick with my current date, though the urge to take the leap forward is occasionally there, so Im hoping to get this figured out soon. Thanks in advance for any input.
Reasons for bumping up:
1.) Aside from having things fresh in mind, Ill have recently finished up all my UWorld unused questions and most if not all of my incorrect and marked ones. I realize I havent been hitting UWorld at the 4-blocks a day pace that a good number of people do mainly since I tend to spend a while covering the explanations and annotating into FA, plus I also try to do a bit of content review each day even after having done ~2 passes for most of FA since Ive found that its helped me reinforce what I know and get a few more questions right here and there
2.) Once I finish all the unused UWorld questions, Im wary that the remaining days till test day may feel a bit harder to power through and dont want to burn out or go through them at a really slack pace. Now, I do have enough unused questions in Kaplan QBank to tide me over (used Qbank during second semester last year and early this summer but sorta abandoned it in favor of UWorld), though Ive found that some of the questions there are either WTF-type questions with details or a slant that doesnt quite mirror NBME or UWorld questions. Im wary that changing gears to the slightly different question setup in Qbank might throw me off a bit and/or stress me out, so I feel like re-doing my incorrect/flagged UWorld questions and just re-doing blocks of all question types after that may be more beneficial (might also help in the off-chance that I encounter some identical/near-identical questions on the actual test?)
3.) In decent shape based on the practice runs Ive taken so far:
-NBME 7 (4 weeks ago): 226
-UWSA 1 (3 weeks ago): 238
-NBME 11 (1 week ago): 238
-UWSA 2 (2 days ago): 250
-UWorld first-pass overall % so far: 71
Im wary that there are mixed opinions on the predictive value of the UWSAs and I don't want to feel overconfident based on my most recent one, plus I havent done NBME 13 or 15 which are reputedly predictive. If I bump my date up, Ill probably only do one of the two- Ive heard NBME 15 is good for getting a feel of the current test with some longer question stems. However, I dont know if a drop in performance on that one might tank my confidence a bit.
4.) Few extra days of rest before starting up rotations, plus several classmates taking the test 5 days before my date. Not the most compelling reason to bump the test forward in the interest of not being stuck studying for several extra days while other peeps are enjoying freedom, but Im slightly afraid that this might be hard to block out of my mind if Im already feeling stagnant in my prep towards the end.
Reasons to NOT bump up:
1.) Would probably have to sacrifice doing one NBME (13 or 15) in the timeframe I have left
2.) May not get to do some straight-up FA content review
3.) Would have to pay a higher re-scheduling fee depending on when I decide to change the date
4.) Regretting bumping up my date on the actual test day and/or later down the road
If I dont bump my date forward, I suppose my game plan would be:
-Finish up UWorld and re-do blocks of incorrect and flagged questions; re-do random blocks of everything once I get through the incorrects/flagged
-NBME 15 and 13 over the next two weeks, one per week (probably 15 before 13 feedback since the vignettes for some questions are longer and might merit a little more review time with the extended feedback, though Im hoping I wont miss too many)
-free 150 questions on the NBME site after the last NBME I do, a few days before actual test (heard that the difficulty doesnt reflect NBMEs or the actual test, though I figure itll at least give me a chance to cover some barebones knowledge if anything)
-as much FA content review as possible; hit biochem, embryo, pharm, micro, and Pathoma hard during the last week before test-day
My gut feeling generally leans towards a play-it-safe/if it aint broke, dont fix it approach to stick with my current date, though the urge to take the leap forward is occasionally there, so Im hoping to get this figured out soon. Thanks in advance for any input.
