Taking it a little easier the last 3 days...

[DCDAWG]

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So Ive been going strong for 7 weeks now. I just took NBME 4 and got a solid score that I am very happy with. I am scheduled to take the test Wed. I had been planning to follow Taus's last 3 day plan starting tomorrow, but I am thinking about doing a little lighter studying during these last 3 days. Maybe lightly go over some of the notecards I made and looking at the Goljan pictures (instead of going through RR as Taus method suggests), and then take the majority of Tuesday off.
Anyone else do a little lighter load to try to chill out and rest the brain for the last 3 days?

 

[OveractiveBrain]

Im a power tester. I put in more effort right before the exam, reviewing all of first aid and my 100 pages of notes in about 3 days. Thats me though.

Others have pampered themselves on the final day. They got their hair cut, their nails did, some people even took an entire day at the spa. Relaxation helped them.

If you are the type of person who freaks out that you havent read your notecards for the 75th time, taking it easy is probably not for you. If you feel prepared and are happy where you're at, take it easy. Maybe reassure yourself by taking some more NBMEs, just to keep your USMLE style question handling in line (200 MC questions without reviewing the answers a day is simple).

No one wants to hear it, but its really what YOU think is best. Decide if you are burnt out or worried, will you destroy the test or will another read through Goljan's notes get you those two valued points? Its up to you main.

 

[strv04]

My ability to go at studying hardcore peaked as I finished RR path almost 3 weeks ago. It has been a downward trend since helped along by scoring well on practice tests. For the last couple days its been tough just to get through the short FA chapters with going all ADHD.

 

[DCDAWG]

I feel exactly the same right now. I hit a wall a few weeks ago, and studying has been progressively more difficult everyday. Thats why Im even posting about the last 3 days. Normally, I could pump out 3 days of hardcore studying like it was my jobby- job. But, now I am nauseated at the thought of even 5 more minutes of this, let alone 3 days! I was even considering paying 150$ to move my test up to Monday. But I realized that is a little ridiculous.

 

[odoole]

I feel exactly the same right now. I hit a wall a few weeks ago, and studying has been progressively more difficult everyday. Thats why Im even posting about the last 3 days. Normally, I could pump out 3 days of hardcore studying like it was my jobby- job. But, now I am nauseated at the thought of even 5 more minutes of this, let alone 3 days! I was even considering paying 150$ to move my test up to Monday. But I realized that is a little ridiculous.

I took two days to look through first aid one more time three days before the test. Then I gave myself the entire day off the day before the test. Didn't crack a book, just cleaned the house and went to a movie and coffee shop to read the New Yorker. One day off was enough for me to totally clear my head, and I'm glad I did that final FA run-through because it reminded me of a few details that DID end up on my exam.

 

[sprinkibrio]

So Ive been going strong for 7 weeks now. I just took NBME 4 and got a solid score that I am very happy with. I am scheduled to take the test Wed. I had been planning to follow Taus's last 3 day plan starting tomorrow, but I am thinking about doing a little lighter studying during these last 3 days. Maybe lightly go over some of the notecards I made and looking at the Goljan pictures (instead of going through RR as Taus method suggests), and then take the majority of Tuesday off.
Anyone else do a little lighter load to try to chill out and rest the brain for the last 3 days?

I'm with you. I take mine on Thursday, but I just can't study anymore. I've been studying for 6 weeks and am done. I really feel like anything I don't know by now is not going to stick anyway.

 

[pseudoknot]

I wish I hadn't seen this thread. I feel the same way, but my plan calls for my to go through BRS Path and FA once more starting...oh, this morning or so...

The way I look at it though, I'm in a good place on the NBMEs, so anything more I can learn or clarify is icing. I'm not going to kill myself for the last five days.

 

[Cirrus83]

I have exactly 2 weeks left (not counting test day) and I'm freaking out now because I'm still on my first run through everything since I basically did one really slow run to try and understand everything.
At my current pace I'll only have a week and a half to really memorize everything and I'm debating whether I should push my exam until the very last possible day...meaning I go right into 3rd year the next day to get an extra 5 days.
Problem is that it would require flying elsewhere to take it since the local prometric center is uber booked, and I'm kinda convinced given more time I'll just start forgetting more stuff making all this rather pointless. Arrghh...what to do.
Still have 1700 questions on USMLE World to get through, and I've basically forgotten all the basic sciences at this point. *sigh*

 

[Sartre79]

That's kind of what happened to me as well. Tmr is my test date and I feel like I"m being let out to slaughter. I have no real advice, just trying to sympathize. 🙁

I have exactly 2 weeks left (not counting test day) and I'm freaking out now because I'm still on my first run through everything since I basically did one really slow run to try and understand everything.
At my current pace I'll only have a week and a half to really memorize everything and I'm debating whether I should push my exam until the very last possible day...meaning I go right into 3rd year the next day to get an extra 5 days.
Problem is that it would require flying elsewhere to take it since the local prometric center is uber booked, and I'm kinda convinced given more time I'll just start forgetting more stuff making all this rather pointless. Arrghh...what to do.
Still have 1700 questions on USMLE World to get through, and I've basically forgotten all the basic sciences at this point. *sigh*

 

[kdburton]

I have exactly 2 weeks left (not counting test day) and I'm freaking out now because I'm still on my first run through everything since I basically did one really slow run to try and understand everything.
At my current pace I'll only have a week and a half to really memorize everything and I'm debating whether I should push my exam until the very last possible day...meaning I go right into 3rd year the next day to get an extra 5 days.
Problem is that it would require flying elsewhere to take it since the local prometric center is uber booked, and I'm kinda convinced given more time I'll just start forgetting more stuff making all this rather pointless. Arrghh...what to do.
Still have 1700 questions on USMLE World to get through, and I've basically forgotten all the basic sciences at this point. *sigh*

Have you taken an NBME? And if so, did you do anywhere near where you want to be? And how come you still have 1700 questions left after one pass? If you've got two weeks left that is a lot more time than you think, but you need to be doing at least one random set of questions per day in order to keep your mind sharp I think. I feel like I forgot a lot of stuff from my first pass through the material and I only gave myself one week to review before the test, but it seems that somewhere in the back of my brain I'm able to pull up the necessary information to answer multiple choice questions correctly more often than not. I think its worth trying not to change your test date for the sake of sanity (especially when it doesn't buy you that much more time). I'm currently reviewing and I haven't even reviewed some important subjects, but the more I study the more I just want to take the test right now and get it over with. Similarly I already know people who have pushed their dates back and regret it because they don't think that the extra time will help improve much. On the other hand if you're on the verge of failing then thats a different situation.. Thats just my two cents.

 

[sprinkibrio]

I have exactly 2 weeks left (not counting test day) and I'm freaking out now because I'm still on my first run through everything since I basically did one really slow run to try and understand everything.
At my current pace I'll only have a week and a half to really memorize everything and I'm debating whether I should push my exam until the very last possible day...meaning I go right into 3rd year the next day to get an extra 5 days.
Problem is that it would require flying elsewhere to take it since the local prometric center is uber booked, and I'm kinda convinced given more time I'll just start forgetting more stuff making all this rather pointless. Arrghh...what to do.
Still have 1700 questions on USMLE World to get through, and I've basically forgotten all the basic sciences at this point. *sigh*

Seriously, don't push your test back. I did and I'm KICKING myself over it. Had I taken it when planned I wouldn't have been so burned out. I pushed it back 5 days but I haven't done ANYTHING and am probably just forgetting things.