Timing issues on UWorld self-assessments

[PokerDoc]

I tried not making a new thread about this but my question in my other long thread seemed to get overlooked but I really want to know if you guys felt more strained for time on the UW self-assessments vs the NBME practice tests.



I took UW #2 today and ran out of time, and had to smash buttons on the last 2-3 questions in all 4 blocks.. I'm hoping today was a fluke but I am going to have to wait a while before I find that out because I don't want to jump into another practice test without doing more qbank questions first.

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[HTxFrog]

I was running out of time on UWSA #2 also and had to really hurry the last 5-10 questions and even almost guess on the last two on a couple of blocks. I'm normally a fast test taker, so I think there were just a lot that required some extra time to think about on that test.

 

[Domenech]

Strangely I didn't have any timing issues on Uworld SA form 1. I was finishing with 6-9 minutes to spare in all blocks. This could be possible because I already realized the content of this exam is very tough so applying the strategy: "If you don't know the answer, guess and just move forward", proved to be very useful.

Oh on nbme, sometimes 15 minutes to spare in a block

Seriously just make a guess and move forward. NOT worth spending more than 2-3 minutes on any individual question!

 

[HTxFrog]

just to add on to that, I didn't have timing issues on UWSA #1 either. It was really only #2, so although that is just anecdotal evidence from one person, you're at least not the only one that thought #2 took a little longer than most practice tests.

 

[Domenech]

just to add on to that, I didn't have timing issues on UWSA #1 either. It was really only #2, so although that is just anecdotal evidence from one person, you're at least not the only one that thought #2 took a little longer than most practice tests.

There'd be another anecdotal advice as soon as I am done with the second one 🙂

 

[greg1184]

For me UWSA 2 was a terribly hard exam, harder than I thought UWSA 1 was (and I was in an earlier point of studying).

 

[Domenech]

For me UWSA 2 was a terribly hard exam, harder than I thought UWSA 1 was (and I was in an earlier point of studying).

Hmmmm makes me really eager to do it but I'd do it 2 days earlier from my actual exam just to make sure it gives me good practice.

 

[PokerDoc]

For me UWSA 2 was a terribly hard exam, harder than I thought UWSA 1 was (and I was in an earlier point of studying).

FML, I did two first b/c everyone said it was the easier exam... you all lied!!!

 

[mordounhas]

Easier is relative. I think I scored about 10% higher on UWSA #2 than #1 (and scored 15 points higher on their scale), but that could just be a function of knowing the material they tested on 2 better than 1 or better luck on a lot of guesses (likely some combination thereof). I don't think many people would call either of the tests easy.

 

[radiodoc99]

The UWorld Assessments and NBME exams are different. Have you tried reading the last line in questions and looking at answer choices to get a feel for the question? I used to spend a lot of time reading the question and thinking about the answer choice (without looking at it), but as you get to 20-30 question in a set, you will need to go faster. The real exam is similar with a lot of graphs, interpretation of experiments and "thinking". So leave time to think about the answer choices given instead of trying to think of the answer without looking at the answer choices as you get further in the question set.

 

[HTxFrog]

I still think UWSA 2 might be easier. It just took me longer. I did 11 points better on it that UWSA 1 and I took #2 about a week and a half after I took the first one

 

[PokerDoc]

I still think UWSA 2 might be easier. It just took me longer. I did 11 points better on it that UWSA 1 and I took #2 about a week and a half after I took the first one

well it might just be a function of when I took the test. I'll be sure to report back after I do UW1..which will probably be in a week or so, half-way through the DIT course.