Tackling USMLE World: Random vs By System???

[Vickz]

Hey everyone!

I'm taking my exam in 3 months and recently started to study while still going through my classes. I'm using primarily FA 2012, Pathoma, MicroCards, PharmCards and USMLE World Qbank. So far this has been a tremendous help.

So far I've been doing it by system in Tutor Mode to learn from it and integrate information after I finished reading it on FA and Pathoma, and I've been learning a lot from it. However, most of the people I know and almost every post I've seen on SDN people has done it Random Timed. I was planning to do Uworld by system and then buy USMLERx Qbank and do it Randomized to practice for the exam, but now I'm not sure if doing that would be sort of wasting Uworld by not doing it randomized.

Has anybody done Uworld primarily by system or has anyone that has done it randomized had tried it doing it by system first and noticed a difference when doing it randomized? Thanks in advance and good luck in your studies!

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[John Lannister]

Random.

Systems is easier and recommended for noobs.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

System is obviously going to be way easier especially if you've just been going over that system. You're still a long way out though so simulating the exam probably doesn't matter at this point. As you get closer to test time you'll want to simulate the way the exam will throw questions at you, which will be totally random.

I think most people would recommend doing Rx first though and UWorld later, as Uworld is much more like the real exam.

Also, upgrade to FA 2013 son.

 

[Phloston]

UWorld should be done random, timed.

If you're wanting to go by system bc you want a steady learning experience, use USMLE Rx and/or Kaplan QBank for that.

 

[MrBeauregard]

I did UWorld untimed and by system. It worked out very well for me.

There is no right way to use UWorld, and no way that it "should" be done. You need to evaluate how you believe you learn best and tailor your use of qbanks accordingly.

 

[bbaggins]

I did UW in tutor mode by systems during classes and it was awesome. I think I learned way more than I would have if I studied class notes or from a book. Everyone learns differently.

I then started the whole question bank over again in March, doing it on random/timed, to get ready for Step 1. I did very well on it, and I do not feel like I remembered questions. I would occasionally recognize a question, but out of the whole bank there were less than 5 where I actually remembered the answer. If I recognized the question sometimes I would work through it and get the right answer, but then change my answer to an incorrect answer simply because I remembered the question being tough and so I over thought it. Basically if I remembered a question I remembered the concept and not the specifics of the question. And you want to remember the concepts, that's the reason for studying.

I forgot to add that there was a 1 month break between finishing UW on systems/tutored before I started again on radom/timed. I may have remembered a lot more if I didn't take that month break.

 

[Wordead]

UWorld should be done random, timed.

If you're wanting to go by system bc you want a steady learning experience, use USMLE Rx and/or Kaplan QBank for that.

This is ideal if you have time, but as you should be annotating from UWorld into FA, it's incredibly time intensive to do random so I did first pass by systems and second pass random.

 

[Vickz]

This is ideal if you have time, but as you should be annotating from UWorld into FA, it's incredibly time intensive to do random so I did first pass by systems and second pass random.

That's what I was thinking. I've been told that there's a lot of info on Uworld that is not on FA. I remember a question about S.aureus that by reading the question you knew it was a Staph infection, but then they asked you about a specific granule that it produces and the answer was Panton-Valentine leukocidin. I was able to answer it because I learned that in my Med School classes, but it wasn't in FA or in MicroCards but it was in FA. If I do it by system, I could take about 3 weeks before doing it a second time, but I'm not sure if it would be ideal.

 

[Phloston]

That's what I was thinking. I've been told that there's a lot of info on Uworld that is not on FA. I remember a question about S.aureus that by reading the question you knew it was a Staph infection, but then they asked you about a specific granule that it produces and the answer was Panton-Valentine leukocidin. I was able to answer it because I learned that in my Med School classes, but it wasn't in FA or in MicroCards but it was in FA. If I do it by system, I could take about 3 weeks before doing it a second time, but I'm not sure if it would be ideal.

I definitely don't remember that detail from UWorld. When did you encounter that?

 

[Wordead]

It's implicated in MRSA. Like a lot of things, I have no idea why the hell it's tested. I only knew about it from class as well.

 

[Chirurg]

It's implicated in MRSA. Like a lot of things, I have no idea why the hell it's tested. I only knew about it from class as well.

from wikipedia:

PVL causes leukocyte destruction and necrotizing pneumonia, an aggressive condition that often kills patients within 72 hours.Comparing cases of staphylococcal necrotizing pneumonia, 85% of community-acquired (CAP) cases were PVL-positive, while none of the hospital-acquired cases were. CAP afflicted younger and healthier patients and yet had a worse outcome (>40% mortality.) [8] It has played a role in a number of outbreaks of fatal bacterial infections.

interesting.

 

[Vickz]

I definitely don't remember that detail from UWorld. When did you encounter that?

I encountered it on a Micro Uworld question a few days ago while doing the Derm questions. I remembered it from my classes that it was common in CA-MRSA and I thought that it would be on FA or MicroCards, but to my surprise it wasn't on either one.

When I enter my dedicated study time, I know that many details that I learned during the year I won't remember, and a lot of what I won't remember are unimportant minutiae that are extremely unlikely that will be asked, so it might not bother me that I won't encounter it on FA or other supplemental material. USMLE World seems to be great for learning both the big picture and the most important minutiae. What scares me and makes me unsure is that by doing the Qbank in random blocks, I won't be able to organize the Qbank's important facts efficiently and not learn them as well as by doing it by system, which I would be able to have read the material for that system, test my knowledge of that system, and annotate the things that are not in the FA so I can fill the gaps. But by doing it by system early on I'm pretty sure I'll remember the questions on my 2nd run-through and it won't work for me as well as it might have been if I did it random. I don't know if just doing a weekly NBME would be enough practice since they're random.

I'm so confused...I'm starting to feel the pressure.

 

[Phloston]

The fact of the matter is, everyone who takes the exam will encounter at least a couple questions asking absurdly low-yield details. So in this case, PVL is probably good to know if you're gunning high. Glad I learned something.