Timing on Real Deal

[J ROD]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I know it has been said in here many times that the real deal takes longer so you need to be prepared for that.

What exactly can one do to make sure they are prepared for that? For example, on UW, I usually have around 20 minutes left after doing a section of 46.

To me, that should make me clear of timing issues. The biggest thing I think I need to start doing is marking ones I know that are going to require more thought and then come back to them. I tend to want to go in order even when I am actively thinking about this strategy. I still have that bring all comers approach and forget to put longer and harder questions on ice. I do not want to get stuck on the test with these and not finish a section and miss ones I could have gotten easy. That is how they put that time pressure on you to get you to mess up.

Appreciate any insight from those that have taken it and what worked for you best.

 

[YeahNoMind]

I know it has been said in here many times that the real deal takes longer so you need to be prepared for that.

What exactly can one do to make sure they are prepared for that? For example, on UW, I usually have around 20 minutes left after doing a section of 46.

To me, that should make me clear of timing issues. The biggest thing I think I need to start doing is marking ones I know that are going to require more thought and then come back to them. I tend to want to go in order even when I am actively thinking about this strategy. I still have that bring all comers approach and forget to put longer and harder questions on ice. I do not want to get stuck on the test with these and not finish a section and miss ones I could have gotten easy. That is how they put that time pressure on you to get you to mess up.

Appreciate any insight from those that have taken it and what worked for you best.

20 minutes left on a 46 question UW block is a good spot to be in. However, I would bet money that you will not have greater than 6-7 minutes left per block on the real deal.
And dude, that's being generous. It has nothing to do with your ability,
It's the WORDING of the questions on the real deal. I remember doing uworld blocks a few weeks ago, and out of 46, around 7-8 of the questions were 2-3 liners. On my exam, there wasn't a single one liner or 2-3 line question. Your ability to laterally think quickly, and decipher the stem is what helps ultimately.
I also tried to read the last sentence of every single stem 1st on the real deal, they may be all long stems, but more than a few times in my test, the money was in the last sentence.

Hope this helps, best of luck man!

 

[Petypet]

I know it has been said in here many times that the real deal takes longer so you need to be prepared for that.

What exactly can one do to make sure they are prepared for that? For example, on UW, I usually have around 20 minutes left after doing a section of 46.

To me, that should make me clear of timing issues. The biggest thing I think I need to start doing is marking ones I know that are going to require more thought and then come back to them. I tend to want to go in order even when I am actively thinking about this strategy. I still have that bring all comers approach and forget to put longer and harder questions on ice. I do not want to get stuck on the test with these and not finish a section and miss ones I could have gotten easy. That is how they put that time pressure on you to get you to mess up.

Appreciate any insight from those that have taken it and what worked for you best.

I ended up marking ~10 per section with ~10-15 mins per section left. During my preparation I was doing uworld, like you, with 20 minutes per section. One block, I probably marked 50% of the questions and didn't get to go over all of my answers. I found if you mark more than 10, with ~10 minutes remaining, it will be tough to make it through all of them, as in the section that had ~20 marked (keeping in mind a few are these are WTF time sinks). It seemed like my marking was more out of fear because the questions were like something I've seen before, but not what I've seen, and it was apprehension. After 3 blocks, I settled down and only marked those questions that I have NO idea, which ended up in 8-10 per block.

Not sure how that helps you, but I took my USMLE first and I learned from it. Then, when I went to take my COMLEX, I knew that there would be questions I may know, and there are questions I have no bloody idea. For those that I may know, I trusted my gut with my first response, and then I only went back to the harder, more obscure, questions.

For what its worth my percentile score jumped almost 8% between the two tests, and I attribute that to "hitting it and forgetting it". I honestly thought that during my exam, and if I knew it or partially knew it I moved on. If i had no clue or I thought I need another minute to figure out what is being asked, I marked it and moved on. On comlex, with this strat I finished every block 20 minutes early and finished the exam a little more than an hour early.

tlrd
trust your instincts and don't dwell on any one question

 

[J ROD]

That is an unique way. Probably is good for handling the time aspect of pressure. But, I am also looking for one where I save harder ones with some time to spare. For example, if I get a murmur, I know I would like to save it for the end and think some. I hope I am not that pressed for time.

 

[Petypet]

That is an unique way. Probably is good for handling the time aspect of pressure. But, I am also looking for one where I save harder ones with some time to spare. For example, if I get a murmur, I know I would like to save it for the end and think some. I hope I am not that pressed for time.

That is ballsy because you dont know how many hard questions you will get. Further, you may think 2-3 questions are super hard at first glance, but in fact they ask some obscure fact. Then say you read the passage, think "oh this is hard" skip it, and then when you come back you will have to reread the entire passage. I know this because some blocks, I marked a question and I felt like WTF is this, did I really read this question the first time through. The reading and re-reeading of stuff is what consumed most of my time.

 

[J ROD]

I usually skim over the passages and pick out info like I do when I read notes and such. Same for labs. Being a pharmacist, I have developed a sense of getting through the BS and it seems to help on the time. The only ones that really slow me down are biostats and genetics. Those you have to really pay attention to details more.

petypet........ your plan sounds like the one I am thinking about. I am not a big marker anyway.

 

[Petypet]

What's with all the pharmacists going back for their MD. A bunch of my classmates are pharmacists too.

 

[J ROD]

What's with all the pharmacists going back for their MD. A bunch of my classmates are pharmacists too.

I actually planned on getting both. But, mainly it comes down to wanting more. Pharmacy is somewhat limited in what you can do clinically. Many find they want more clinical interaction. Or more of a challenge. I had several of my classmates ask me about coming to med school since they were bored. So far, none of them have joined me after I told them how much harder and time consuming it is. One went on to become a professor and enjoys that aspect.

I work hospital and do some antibiotic dosing, IVs, chemo, etc. to make things interesting. I could not imagine doing retail everyday. I swear it is worse than when I used to work in a high volume ER. That's why they call it retail hell. There are some decent spots here and there in retail but overall it just sucks IMHO.

 

[Transposony]

Based on my CK experience time really flies and there is no time to ponder over questions.
I used to finish UW CK blocks with 15 min to spare but was rushing to finish the blocks despite kicking into 5th gear. I had no time to come back to any questions so I went with my gut on those questions in rest of the blocks.
However, I have heard that Step 1 questions are not that long. Hope someone with Step 1 experience can chimes in.
My suggestions will be to move on to next question after marking the answer with your "gut" in case you don't have any time left to come back to the difficult Qs.
HTH

 

[Transposony]

That is an unique way. Probably is good for handling the time aspect of pressure. But, I am also looking for one where I save harder ones with some time to spare. For example, if I get a murmur, I know I would like to save it for the end and think some. I hope I am not that pressed for time.

On the real deal all the planning goes out of the window and what is left is "race against time".

YMMV

 

[J ROD]

On the real deal all the planning goes out of the window and what is left is "race against time".

YMMV

Yeah, I am hoping not to **** my pants.....and stay focused and execute some form of my plan. I know if I do not finish each section I can kiss a decent score goodbye. I need all the easy ones. probably like everyone else...lol

 

[thehundredthone]

I had no issues with timing on either of my tests. I got through the blocks similar to UWorld. I did of course spend every remaining minute trying to figure out the strange questions. I would recommend sticking to your UWorld strategy. For me it was reading the question, looking at (and choosing if possible) the answers, and then going back to the stem. I would also recommend a little more attention to the stem than just skimming because they definitely tend to put in a lot of conditions that could change your answer (although that's more of a Step 2 thing). If you haven't been able to find one correct answer, make an educated guess and mark the question.

You don't have to set an exact time limit, your UWorld experience should have tuned you into how much time you've spent on a question. Like some have already mentioned, there's no way to know how many difficult (for different reasons) questions you will have, so make an effort to have got through the entire block in your usual time (for me that was 20-25 minutes in during UWorld, probably closer to 30 minutes on some blocks on the real deal). It's important to pick up as many gimmes as possible, and then come back to the ones you weren't sure of the first time around.

 

[J ROD]

Damn, you did 46 questions in 20-25 min?

 

[Transposony]

Yeah, I am hoping not to **** my pants.....and stay focused and execute some form of my plan. I know if I do not finish each section I can kiss a decent score goodbye. I need all the easy ones. probably like everyone else...lol

Don't worry, it's not that bad. You can still get a good score even if you miss couple of questions if you are well prepared and keep your finger off the panic button.
In my 1st block I ended up doing last 5 questions in 2 minutes two of them with long stem. So, technically I didn't leave any questions but have no idea what I did on those Qs.........everything was a blur......
I still managed to get a decent score.

 

[sjonies88]

I was always pressed for time even on practice NBMEs. On random, timed blocks of UWorld, I would typically have about 5-10 minutes left per section. Being pressed for time worked in my favor ultimately I think, because it prevented me from going back and second-guessing (and thus changing corrects-->incorrects) my answers.

On the real deal - I tried to give myself a minute per question. If I didn't know it in a minute, I marked down my best guess (never leave a question blank!), marked the question to return to later, and moved on and put that previous question out of my mind for the time being. Some questions inevitably take longer and you don't even realize it until you look at clock and realize it's been 3 minutes. That being said, don't get obsessed with checking the clock - it's a fine line. Some questions, as I just said, will take longer than a minute but there will also be some questions each block that you reflexively answer within seconds…so it evens out. I tried to stick to the one minute/one question strat and still found myself scrambling on most blocks. I would typically finish a block with no more than 5 minutes left and about 12-15 marked per block. I would have time to click through my marked answers, re-think a few if needed and then the block would end. I ended up not changing the majority of my marked answers which I think was a good decision retrospectively. Chances are if you chose an answer, you probably had a good reason for choosing it, even if it was "just" a hunch.

Bottom line - I think the one minute/one question rule helped me get through the block and give each question a fair shot, and gave me a few minutes to scratch my head about the harder questions…while still ensuring I had time to knock the easy, gimme questions out.

 

[thehundredthone]

Damn, you did 46 questions in 20-25 min?

It isn't that much of an advantage, when you're still unable to bring yourself press the submit button until you've scratched your head raw trying to settle on your answer for the questions that come out of left field.

 

[cyanide12345678]

I don't think you should even be worrying about time considering that you're finishing a block of uworld with 20 mins to go. Time seems to be irrelevant for you.

I used to finish a uworld block with roughly 2 - 3 mins to go. I've always had time "moving on" from hard questions and accepting defeat, especially when im deciding between 2 options. On the real deal, I felt a little rushed during the last 5 or so questions in 4 blocks. The stems were slightly longer, more useless information in there, but you seem to already have the ability to skim through the crap. For the real deal, I was still able to finish comfortably. When I say "rushed", I just mean that I had 1 minute or about 50 seconds per question for the last 4 - 5 questions. So if I was able to finish on time, without skipping any questions, and spending ridiculous time on hard questions (like I always do), then you should be fine too.

 

[J ROD]

I know I have never had a problem finish a test. Was not pressed for time on the MCAT.

I am using UW to judge my time bc on NBMEs I do them untimed so that I can look up questions I do not know as I go since you can not come back and look at it. I read that on here and it seemed to work. Or I would be wondering what the answers are. And really not get as much out of it.

 

[thehundredthone]

The NBMEs don't block you from taking screenshots for later use.

 

[Phloston]

You won't be pressed for time on the Step 1. Your adrenaline will make you do what you need to do.