Study plan gone horribly wrong

[GoldSoundz]

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Is anyone else in the thick of their study plan and realizing, maybe too close to test day, that something is just not working? What did you do to get back on track?

Here's my progress--just got done with NBME6 and feel like breaking something:

Basic science comp (mid march): ~178
UWSA1 (5/6, right after finals, beginning of dedicated study time): 206
UWSA2 (5/18--after about a week of DIT): 209
NBME6 (today): 212

Test day 6/22, was aiming for a 240, now fearing not even breaking the mean. Right now I'd be thrilled with a 230.

I mean, wtf, you'd think I was studying while simultaneously getting drunk and playing Halo or something--not putting in 12-14h days for the last month. Part of me wants to say that maybe this last test was a fluke, but honestly, it didn't seem so bad while I was taking it, at least not as bad as UWorld.

This is what I've been doing: Finished DIT and first pass of FA, UWorld 50% done with 60% average so far, Goljan mostly for reference (love it, but don't think i have the time left to read it cover to cover), listened to about half the audio (but not sure if I have time for more). I am basically just running through the DIT supplement again and making sure I know everything in it along with the relevant FA material, and also finishing World--maybe going through wrongs/marked questions a second time. I dunno, this seems like the most "HY" thing to do at this point, but clearly my plan isn't working well so far.

Anyway, my point isn't to whine, but I'm really wondering if anyone else has this feeling that they've been wasting their time and if maybe some simple change made a huge difference. This just seems abnormal to me. I have the option of taking 6 more weeks, but I REALLY want to avoid doing that....

 

[username456789]

I think something that can definitely help is continuing to do UW questions and really reading the explanations to understand why you got something wrong (or right!).

Just knowing all the facts really isn't enough to get insane scores on this thing, regardless of what people casually say on here. You have to be able to think critically using those facts and understand what the test takers are really getting at. That may be the underlying issue here. You could memorize every single page in FA until you're blue in the face, but if you can't make connections from page X to page Y, it's not particularly helpful. I can tell you I don't have half that book memorized, and my practice scores have been going really well.

I should also add that, for me, RR Path is great. I've read it during the school year, but reading it now seems to be really helpful for me, followed by reading through First Aid. Just reading FA with no other context can be a painful exercise in rote memorization. After I've gone through Goljan (and not even particularly thoroughly), reading through FA feels much lighter, and highlights many (but not all) of the key points. I often find myself reading along in FA after having done Goljan earlier in the day and adding stuff in just from memory that is missing from the pages of FA, but key to my understanding.

 

[HTxFrog]

+1 on Everything GuyWhoDoesStuff just said. I used to hear people say that you should just know FA cold and you'll be good, but I definitely don't think that is what the test is about. RR is by far the most helpful thing I have done along with Goljan audio, and I think it is easily just as high yield as FA because it helps you integrate things and understand the concept they are trying to test rather than attempting to memorize facts alone out of context. I would try to keep RR as a big part of your studying, definitely not just a reference. If you haven't read it through at least once you should try to. It will take a week to really read it thoroughly and honestly I think that would be more high yield than trying to sit and memorize random stuff from first aid. You still have about three weeks left, which is enough time to read RR once thoroughly (1 wk) then review all of FA and all of RR again and do 1000 UWorld q's in the last two weeks if you use the taus method. Thats what I would do if I were in the same spot, so hopefully that gives you another perspective. good luck!

 

[PokerDoc]

you guys really think the goljan audio is really that great if youre already reading RR? Does he say anything more? I mean, I'd love to listen to it, but Im already in a time crunch, i need to use my time carefully.

 

[HTxFrog]

I thought it was really great during the year when I had tons of time to listen to it, but I'm not going to relisten to it now or anything. If you haven't listened to it earlier in the year, its kind of harder to say if its worth the time in the final month or so. For me I'm really glad I listened to it and it really helped me understand everything better, but he doesn't add much that is not in the text, so you are still going to have exposure to the info. just by reading the book. In my case, it helped me to gain an extra level of understanding that I don't think I would have gotten just by reading it, but I don't really know why that is or how to explain it. I guess it helped to focus on particular parts of the book or maybe it was just having the same info. in two different formats so that when you read it, you remember him saying it and so you understand it better for some reason. I really don't know, but it is a big time commitment and probably a quarter of the time he is telling some random story or something anyways. I think I would do it if I had 5 weeks and not do it if I had any less than that.

 

[PokerDoc]

I thought it was really great during the year when I had tons of time to listen to it, but I'm not going to relisten to it now or anything. If you haven't listened to it earlier in the year, its kind of harder to say if its worth the time in the final month or so. For me I'm really glad I listened to it and it really helped me understand everything better, but he doesn't add much that is not in the text, so you are still going to have exposure to the info. just by reading the book. In my case, it helped me to gain an extra level of understanding that I don't think I would have gotten just by reading it, but I don't really know why that is or how to explain it. I guess it helped to focus on particular parts of the book or maybe it was just having the same info. in two different formats so that when you read it, you remember him saying it and so you understand it better for some reason. I really don't know, but it is a big time commitment and probably a quarter of the time he is telling some random story or something anyways. I think I would do it if I had 5 weeks and not do it if I had any less than that.

Thanks, I think I might read the transcripts only, or hand pick maybe 3-4 topics im weakest in for days where I just cant bear to read by myself and I need Uncle Goljan to read me a bedtime story. But no way am I listening to all of them at this point.

 

[aashkab]

i think if you just focus on test taking strategies more you could bump up your score considerably. like having a game plan for certain questions, developing a more robust thought process, working on mental toughness, all these intangible things that no one teaches but what I believe, plays a tremendously important part