USMLE Save UWorld for dedicated?

[JooceMan137]

Hey guys,

I've used USMLE-RX, Kaplan, and UWorld Q banks with much success during my M1 year, as well as for my first M2 exam. However, i'm starting to think that I should save UWorld for dedicated, so I don't end up "memorizing answers".

The thing is, my faculty had a Step 1 seminar for us M2 students, and told us that doing UWorld during the year was highly recommended.

I was wondering if anyone could provide their input on this. Thanks!

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[dushash]

Hey guys,

I've used USMLE-RX, Kaplan, and UWorld Q banks with much success during my M1 year, as well as for my first M2 exam. However, i'm starting to think that I should save UWorld for dedicated, so I don't end up "memorizing answers".

The thing is, my faculty had a Step 1 seminar for us M2 students, and told us that doing UWorld during the year was highly recommended.

I was wondering if anyone could provide their input on this. Thanks!

It's better to start UW closer to dedicated or at least no earlier than January MS2 (give or take). However, if you know the material in UW and you go through answers and explanations and understand them - then you have that knowledge - no matter if you memorized answers or not and that's what matters eventually on exam day. Yes, you won't be able to check yourself and get that true percentage score (since your answers will be memorized), but you'll be able to answer questions on step1 if you mastered the material presented in UW.
That been said, some people NEED to learn how to guess questions correctly, they need to go through that process of logical thinking and eliminating wrong answer choices etc. and they will benefit from NOT having answers memorized. So you might miss that part of building your test taking skills, but that's why it's recommended to save it for dedicated or at least start from January, not earlier. All imho.

 

[Lnsean]

Hey guys,

I've used USMLE-RX, Kaplan, and UWorld Q banks with much success during my M1 year, as well as for my first M2 exam. However, i'm starting to think that I should save UWorld for dedicated, so I don't end up "memorizing answers".

The thing is, my faculty had a Step 1 seminar for us M2 students, and told us that doing UWorld during the year was highly recommended.

I was wondering if anyone could provide their input on this. Thanks!

This has been discussed many times over. There have been plenty of high scorers who saved uWorld until dedicated and there have been high scorers who used it early. You have to figure out what's best. IF you learn primarily from qbanks then starting uWorld early might be beneficial. The reason people save it towards the end is because uWorld is like an actual step 1 practice. You only get to do this once so there's no "I'll forget the questions by that time" bs. The problem with saving uWorld til the end is if you happen to do shtty on it...there's not alot of time to address weaknesses.

That being said, most of the high scorers at my school saved it til at least after Dec/Jan.

 

[JooceMan137]

I appreciate all the input guys. It's a tough call- I could indeed sharpen my test taking skills by starting UWorld early. I feel that USMLERx and Kaplan could help me with that, and then I can save UWorld for dedicated.

Looks like i'm going to have to think about this.

 

[Lancer]

Absolutely save UWorld for dedicated. If you use it up while you're still taking classes, you won't get any benefit out of it and feel like you're randomly clicking questions

 

[Peach Newport]

I too am firmly in the “save it for dedicated” camp. I did pretty damn well on step and I feel as though your instincts about “memorizing answers” are spot on.

 

[JooceMan137]

I too am firmly in the “save it for dedicated” camp. I did pretty damn well on step and I feel as though your instincts about “memorizing answers” are spot on.

I really appreciate the input. Sincere thanks!