saving UW for step 2?

[swtiepie711]

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I'm thinking about buying UW for Internal Medicine, but mentioned this to a classmate who had the counterpoint of "saving" UW for step2. I saw a few other references to this on the Internal Med Shelf thread.

Any validity to this?

Ran it by a resident who said it was bull, just use the qs and then do them again for step 2 in several months. Repetition is key anyways, was his point.

Thoughts?

Have StepUp, MKSAP (haven't touched this yet). Not sure about MKSAP vs UW at this point....

 

[howelljolly]

I'd strongly recommend saving UW for the Step2. Repetition is good, but doing the same questions over just builds your visual memory and recognition, and makes your over-confident.

There are plenty of other sources for your IM shelf.... MKSAP is excellent. Might as well use what you have.

Save UW for the Step2... It adds to your preparation to do all the subjects together, on a timer. And just before the test, you want to get good at 'processing' brand new question stems.

 

[swtiepie711]

I'd strongly recommend saving UW for the Step2. Repetition is good, but doing the same questions over just builds your visual memory and recognition, and makes your over-confident.

There are plenty of other sources for your IM shelf.... MKSAP is excellent. Might as well use what you have.

Save UW for the Step2... It adds to your preparation to do all the subjects together, on a timer. And just before the test, you want to get good at 'processing' brand new question stems.

So MKSAP + StepUp enough to do well on shelf? I've done just fine on the 2 shelves I've taken to date but this is another beast!

Also, MKSAP 4 vs 3? I have 4, but I guess I could always get a 3 if I finish 4 or whatever...

Also, any advice for studying? I cruised through most of step up and retained a small fraction. Just starting inpt medicine, feel like i've forgotten EVERYTHING since step1 -
someone gave me the advice to (a) read about my pts each night (b) do some qs and re-read the relevant StepUp w/ some note-taking in prep for shelf.... ((so far, hasn't been to bad but i have a feeling things are going to pick up & time will be short))

 

[howelljolly]

So MKSAP + StepUp enough to do well on shelf? I've done just fine on the 2 shelves I've taken to date but this is another beast!

Also, MKSAP 4 vs 3? I have 4, but I guess I could always get a 3 if I finish 4 or whatever...

Also, any advice for studying? I cruised through most of step up and retained a small fraction. Just starting inpt medicine, feel like i've forgotten EVERYTHING since step1 -
someone gave me the advice to (a) read about my pts each night (b) do some qs and re-read the relevant StepUp w/ some note-taking in prep for shelf.... ((so far, hasn't been to bad but i have a feeling things are going to pick up & time will be short))

Yes and yes.

About the advice,
(a) great advice. know their disease, risk factors, complications, pathophys, etc. cold.
(b) do questions. I did MKSAP. Re-read stepup if you want. I didnt. I'm more of a textbook person... one liners leave by brain really fast. But everyone else seems to like StepUp and First Aid.

 

[swtiepie711]

Yes and yes.

About the advice,
(a) great advice. know their disease, risk factors, complications, pathophys, etc. cold.
(b) do questions. I did MKSAP. Re-read stepup if you want. I didnt. I'm more of a textbook person... one liners leave by brain really fast. But everyone else seems to like StepUp and First Aid.

So what did you use instead of StepUp? Thanks for sharing your experiences, btw 🙂

 

[nogolfinsnow]

So what did you use instead of StepUp? Thanks for sharing your experiences, btw 🙂

The same folks who do MKSAP write "IM clerkship essentials for medical students." I just used MKSAP for questions. I didn't get a 95 like some of the people on here who used UWorld for IM, but I still did significantly better than the average, and now I have UWorld untainted for Step 2. I also don't know when I would have had time to get through all the UW questions. I barely got through the 400 or whatever it is MKSAP4 questions.