step 1 in 2 weeks, need help

[spitfire5454]

so ive been studying for about 10 weeks. ive seem to hit a plateau. ive been stuck in the cumulative low 40s of UW. i do 50q a day and review them. that takes about 6 hours. ive been through FA twice and packed it with my own notes. i know so much more than i did 4 weeks ago but my scores just wont go up. when i review them, i understand the concepts (with the occasional WTF? answer). 3 weeks ago i took my kaplan simulated and scored a 205. with 5 weeks until my test i figured i was right on track. But 3 days ago i scored a 350 on NBME 3. While i was taking it I thought i was doing really well on it. i almost didnt take it b/c i thought it might kill my confidence so close to the real thing (which is what happened). so basically im 2 weeks out. what should i do to get over this hump. maybe less review and more questions? should i even take another nbme? thanks in advance.

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[lord_jeebus]

If you thought you were doing well while taking the test, you should take a closer look at the nature of your errors on an NBME.

If I were you, I'd purchase NBME #2 or #4, and take it in untimed mode. For each question, answer it, then research the answer (which is not a bad learning exercise in itself). For each mistake, determine if your error was due to lack of knowledge or faulty reasoning. If the former predominates, more reading. If the latter, more questions.

 

[blz]

dude it shouldn't take you 6 hours to go over 50 questions at this point. you should be using USMLEWorld as a learning assmentment rather than a learning tool at this point. don't focus so much on the details they have in their explanations, most of it is not high yield. most of the USMLEworld questions can be answered from your fund of knowledge from FA and good reasoning skills. always ask yourself how you could answer a question even if you didnt know specific details - that's going to be a better skill to learn rather than cramming in useless information.

 

[bigdan]

My 2 cents?

Try to talk some of your weak areas out with someone. Let's say you're not doing so hot in cardiovascular phys (or whatever your NBME score assessment says). Can you explain to a classmate what happens during a cardiac defect AND WHY? ...or some fascsimile thereof... Hearing yourself explain things might identify weak areas, especially if you can do chat with a classmate that can pepper you with questions.

Recognizing buzzwords from FA has helped boost Kaplan Qbank scores for me, but understanding has helped boost UW scores.

dc

 

[sweatybrain]

What's your target score?

With the amount of time you have left, your best bet might be to understand whatever is in FA really well. By understanding I don't mean regurgitating the FA facts; instead, focus on understanding the path/phys/biochemical mechanisms underlying those facts. Of course, other review books are helpful. However, in my opinion, the marginal benefit for reviewing, say, HY immunology, is incremental at best. ( If you can go through first aids with reasonable proficiency, you should be able to score >220. My friends, who scored 270+ on step 1, based most of his study on FA + Q-bank.)

Other than that, I'd suggest trying to maintain some sort of normalcy in your life. Like exercise, and most importantly, sleep. Your brain needs at least 8 hours of sleep for that retrieval-linkage

 

[anesthesiarocks]

so ive been studying for about 10 weeks. ive seem to hit a plateau. ive been stuck in the cumulative low 40s of UW.quote]

UW is for people who really want to go high. it doesn't look like you are going to fall in that category. I think you need to switch over and go hardcore with a combination of memorizing firstaid and doing kaplan qbank. UW is great for people who are scoring 70% on it and want to score 250+ on the real test, but you're scoring so low right now that you really don't even have a good idea where you stand(because UW is much harder than the test).

You need to make sure you can answer questions like: woman comes in with a UTI. Culture shows gram negative rods that are oxidase+ and elucidate a blue-green pigment. The exotoxin produced by this organism has a similar mechanism to that of.............?

That's bread and butter, and bread and butter will get you a passing score. UW is for people who want to do a lot more than pass, which is great, but UW isn't what you want to do if you haven't even got the bread and butter stuff down that ensures you a passing score yet.

 

[phudrix]

Keep doing as many questions as you can. Find new questions that you havent done. smashstep1 . com has a bunch of supplemental questions for last minute review.


Good luck on your exam!!!