TEST TOMORROW! What to do?

[WashMe]

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I know it's "impossible" to know everything, but I feel like there's a bunch of stuff in FA (like 500 pages, haha) that I should really try to look at again! I don't want to be burnt out for tomorrow, but at the same time I feel like I should pull a 15 hour cram session today... I made 1 full pass through FA, then I covered just a few sections again. I completed UW qbank with 5-600 incorrects, and I ran through 1/2 of the incorrects in my weakest subjects (micro, pharm) until I got them all right...

What should I do??? Thanks!

 

[mcatsucksss]

i took my test yesterday with the same attitude of "I HAVE TO REREAD EVERYTHING!!" the night before.
i ended up NOT SLEEPING all night because i got too worked up and nervous. i SERIOUSLY regret it now and i feel like i tanked it cuz i was fuzzed out during my test. nothing is worse than laying in bed for 9 hours knowing that you are screwed because you cant fall asleep. if you absolutely have to read something read until like 4pm then take the rest of the night off. DONT screw up like i did.
to be honest, it really is just like everyone says (at this point you know it or you dont).
and judging from your nbme scores you will probably crush the real thing.

 

[Hokie06]

dude don't focus so much on what you dont know, and focus on what you do know, which is a lot judging by your exam history. you're gonna do well. go into the exam in your best condition, which means a) dont stress to much and b) get a good night sleep. you'll rock this thing so relax and go watch a movie or something

 

[WashMe]

Thanks for the advice 🙂 I think I'm going to watch a couple movies at home while casually flipping through FA. I've been wanting to watch Blood Diamond again for some time anyway 👍

I'm tired of looking at stuff already, so I probably shouldn't go all out today since I have to be in the zone for 7+ hours tomorrow...

 

[fahimaz7]

Step 1: Get off SDN
Step 2: Review some stuff in first aid that you think you're weak in.
Step 3: Look through the high yield associations at some point in time.
Step 4: Take a zolpidem to get to sleep

 

[WashMe]

Step 1: Get off SDN
Step 2: Review some stuff in first aid that you think you're weak in.
Step 3: Look through the high yield associations at some point in time.
Step 4: Take a zolpidem to get to sleep

RE: Step 1: I will!
RE: Step 2: Can't read the whole book, haha 🙂 I'll look over biochem, immuno, pharm, and antimicrobials.
RE: Step 3: I assume you mean that section in the back of FA; I looked over that all once, but I'll hit it up again today.
RE: Step 4: No way! I have zolpidem that I take from time to time, but everytime I do I end up sleeping through my alarm and wondering WTF happened, feeling like I got drugged the night before and not remembering anything. It's really ****ed up, for real

 

[da8s0859q]

I'd just chill out. Look at anything in FA you know you absolutely need to -- like triage what you feel weak in -- but come 5pm or so, quit. Put the books away. Watch another movie.

fwiw, you've got a great NBME exam history. Shouldn't have any doubt that you'll be just fine. Good luck!

 

[bruinhd]

DO NOT read anything or you will start thinking "what else do i need to look at?" and then you will not sleep.

it begins by telling yourself that you've already done 99% of the studying for this test, if you add that extra 1% it may come at the cost of destroying that other 99% with lack of sleep and lack of brain function.

go out, drink beer with friends, go home, go to sleep.

 

[SeekerOfTheTree]

I know it's "impossible" to know everything, but I feel like there's a bunch of stuff in FA (like 500 pages, haha) that I should really try to look at again! I don't want to be burnt out for tomorrow, but at the same time I feel like I should pull a 15 hour cram session today... I made 1 full pass through FA, then I covered just a few sections again. I completed UW qbank with 5-600 incorrects, and I ran through 1/2 of the incorrects in my weakest subjects (micro, pharm) until I got them all right...

What should I do??? Thanks!

Dude when you go in there take some extra lube or vaseline and be gentle with the test because we know you are going to sodomize the **** out of that test. You got this man. Your practice NBMEs are all good. When you walk out of there it's going to be Step 1 that's gonna be walking funny.

 

[Metfan2987]

RE: Step 1: I will!
RE: Step 2: Can't read the whole book, haha 🙂 I'll look over biochem, immuno, pharm, and antimicrobials.
RE: Step 3: I assume you mean that section in the back of FA; I looked over that all once, but I'll hit it up again today.
RE: Step 4: No way! I have zolpidem that I take from time to time, but everytime I do I end up sleeping through my alarm and wondering WTF happened, feeling like I got drugged the night before and not remembering anything. It's really ****ed up, for real

NO WAY! I take ambien (Zolpidem) whenever I have a big test the next day (nothing bigger than this) and I know that I am going to have trouble sleeping. It has a very short half life, I always wake up feeling so much more refreshed than I do even on a normal night's sleep. My exam is at 10AM on Saturday so I am going to pop one at like 10-11 the night before, sleep til like 7, eat a niiiice breakfast, and get going.

 

[ar2388]

definitely dont drink alcohol the night before your exam.. lol

 

[jfgavina]

Take one pill of propanolol. You will be just fine by the morning, and it doesn't mess up with your brain physiology.

 

[WashMe]

Take one pill of propanolol. You will be just fine by the morning, and it doesn't mess up with your brain physiology.

Yeah but where would I get that? lol

 

[SirGecko]

Don't do anything the night before the exam! Make sure you have your stuff for the exam day (food, drinks, clothes) ready but that is it. If you want to review stuff the day before I would stick to super high yield and make sure you stop after dinner no matter what else you think you should look over. Watch some TV (light, funny stuff preferably), read a book, do something other than worry about the test for a few hours and then go to sleep at whatever your normal time is. (whatever you do make sure the last thing you do before going to sleep is not reviewing anything, you'll just sit there "studying" in your sleep and wake up already tired of the test)

 

[GolfMustang07]

NO WAY! I take ambien (Zolpidem) whenever I have a big test the next day (nothing bigger than this) and I know that I am going to have trouble sleeping. It has a very short half life, I always wake up feeling so much more refreshed than I do even on a normal night's sleep. My exam is at 10AM on Saturday so I am going to pop one at like 10-11 the night before, sleep til like 7, eat a niiiice breakfast, and get going.

I agree - It is wonderful stuff - puts me in ambien land for 20 minutes and then i just pass out. Mornings are a delight.

Good Luck to everyone - take mine June 21st.

 

[IandIatrogenic]

Sleep, sweet prince;
And may flights of angels sing thee to thy test.

 

[WashMe]

Thanks for all the comments guys! I ended up not doing anything yesterday except spending 10 minutes making sure I had the important equations memorized. I realize there's a lot of stuff I don't have down cold, but there's a lot of stuff I DO have down cold as well. Such is life; I'm heading to the testing center in 2 hours!

 

[step1saga]

Dude when you go in there take some extra lube or vaseline and be gentle with the test because we know you are going to sodomize the **** out of that test. You got this man. Your practice NBMEs are all good. When you walk out of there it's going to be Step 1 that's gonna be walking funny.

👍

NO WAY! I take ambien (Zolpidem) whenever I have a big test the next day (nothing bigger than this) and I know that I am going to have trouble sleeping. It has a very short half life, I always wake up feeling so much more refreshed than I do even on a normal night's sleep. My exam is at 10AM on Saturday so I am going to pop one at like 10-11 the night before, sleep til like 7, eat a niiiice breakfast, and get going.

5 mg or 10? I haven't given it a try yet, but just to make sure I don't go overboard?

Thanks for all the comments guys! I ended up not doing anything yesterday except spending 10 minutes making sure I had the important equations memorized. I realize there's a lot of stuff I don't have down cold, but there's a lot of stuff I DO have down cold as well. Such is life; I'm heading to the testing center in 2 hours!

GooodLUCK

 

[dude1344]

Good luck man. You're probably crushing it right now.

I'm kind of having similar issues - My test in next Wed and I feel like I'm going to forget everything I'm reviewing right now 1 week prior. zzz.

 

[DrDrToBe]

You won't see this before your test but here's sending you some good mojo, hope you're destroying it 🙂

 

[Metfan2987]

5 mg or 10? I haven't given it a try yet, but just to make sure I don't go overboard?

I do 10 mg, but thats because I'm a big guy and I need that much. If it's your first time taking it I would recommend taking 5 mg, should me more than enough. Of course that depends on how big you are as well.

 

[WashMe]

Hey everyone, I just got back from the test. Overall, I'm not sure how it went because I have no clue as to the scaling (i.e., how many you can miss to get a certain score). I marked very liberally, which is making me think I missed more than what I probably did, but I'd say I marked anywhere from 5 to 20 questions per block. I only saw maybe 3 questions on the whole test where I didn't have a clue what was going on. I'm really glad I didn't look at anything for the 2 days prior to the test; it wouldn't have made a difference based on what I saw today, and I'm glad I was well-rested.

Thanks for the positive thoughts, everyone!

 

[dude1344]

Hey everyone, I just got back from the test. Overall, I'm not sure how it went because I have no clue as to the scaling (i.e., how many you can miss to get a certain score). I marked very liberally, which is making me think I missed more than what I probably did, but I'd say I marked anywhere from 5 to 20 questions per block. I only saw maybe 3 questions on the whole test where I didn't have a clue what was going on. I'm really glad I didn't look at anything for the 2 days prior to the test; it wouldn't have made a difference based on what I saw today, and I'm glad I was well-rested.

Thanks for the positive thoughts, everyone!

congrats on finishing I'm sure you did fine. So you're saying extra review of FA wouldn't have helped in your case? I take mine next Wed and I'm going through FA one last time. Was minutiae not much tested?

 

[Guillemot]

Guys, I just wanted to chime in my 2 cents about this topic. Usually the night before a big exam I order a giant pepperoni pizza and eat the whole thing. Then I **** a ton.

 

[WashMe]

congrats on finishing I'm sure you did fine. So you're saying extra review of FA wouldn't have helped in your case? I take mine next Wed and I'm going through FA one last time. Was minutiae not much tested?

There was minutiae, but it's so hit-and-miss that the odds are you won't pick it up on your FA run. Most of the tough stuff wasn't in FA or UW (I checked when I got back from the test), but the core material was covered in FA.

I think if you spent a few days going through FA with a fine-toothed comb, you might get an extra 2-3 questions right out of 322, BUT this assumes that you won't suffer a performance drop due to burnout from last minute cramming.

Good luck!

 

[thepoopologist]

Masturbate and go to sleep. Then wake up and skim Rapid Review in the back of FA