W
webgenius
Hello everyone,
I've started UW 6 days ago, did 500+ Qs already.
Random, unused, timed.
Each block took 1 hour to do, 5 hours to review.
I don't plan on do it again so I take my time on each block.
Performance 84%
The something I noticed about UW is that you really can almost solve more than 95% of it just from FA, 4% from the skills you learn in your journey of preparation).
If I reviewed FA cover to cover in a week then started UW my performance would be 99% lol.
I was skeptical before about people saying FA is enough, but now in retrograde I can really see it's more than enough.
The thing is FA is just a bare bone, by itself and by you not remembering anything from basic science it's not enough, you have to add muscles and skin, these added information are for one purpose only ---> to explain what's already in FA, when you do that then you got yourself the ultimate step 1 resource.
That's why there is no single best book in step 1, everyone has to create its own.
I even think that UW correlates with FA better than usmlerx lol.
In the end everything you annotate, and every extra explanation you write in FA has been already written in your brain.
The Qs I got wrong in UW was like (Lesion to what hypothalamic nucleus leads to anorexia), last time I read FA was 4 weeks ago so guess what? I will definitely confuse lateral from ventromedial.
also I got many pharma wrong (pure memorization problem, where I knew the type of drug they're talking about but I just couldn't remember the name).
I also get some Qs wrong due to misreading.
The Qs I get wrong due to new concepts are very rare!
So to cut it to the point what ever sources you use to explain FA (Goljan rapid review, pathoma, BRS, usmleRx, Firecracker ...) it doesn't matter, in the end you're building a frame or a theme in your brain, you're making a new mindset where you can answer based on judgement not just pure memorization.
That's why it's so important to review FA in the last week before your exam.
Believe me you will score a lot of Qs right just by doing that.
Screw the obscure molecular biology Qs or the anatomy ones!!!
Don't read anything before you exam other than FA.
For each molecular Q you get right for reading High yield molecular biology in the last week you will probably lose 3 easy recall Qs you just can't seem to remember because your last read was more than two weeks.
Step 1 material is big already, don't overwhelm yourself with too many resources in the end ---> you will lose more than you gain.
There is no human brain that can retain many books in the short term memory, it's just one book, make it FA.
I was planning on reading Goljan rapid review 4th ed after UW, but guess what now? I won't!!
I will stick to FA after UW and keep on reviewing it in the last 2 weeks before my exam (Late November).
One of my friends (Step1 265, step 2 269) did goljan in the last two weeks before his exam and he told me that he regret it, his exact words were: "Goljan is great, but I could have scored 270+ if it weren't for the easy recall Qs I got wrong for not reading FA instead of Goljan".
I used to explain FA the following resources:
Usmlerx (Great, helps you to recognize how diseases present, my entire way of studying changed after finishing it).
Firecracker (Amazing, with many imp explanations, I read it like a book didn't use it the way it was created to be used by).
Pathoma.
KLNs were useless.
You don't need tons of dense info to ace step 1.
You need a broad understanding to ace it.
These are just some of thoughts ---> their purpose is to help anyone out there who need them 😛
I didn't take the exam yet so ... nothing for granted ... I might be wrong ...
Good luck 😍
I've started UW 6 days ago, did 500+ Qs already.
Random, unused, timed.
Each block took 1 hour to do, 5 hours to review.
I don't plan on do it again so I take my time on each block.
Performance 84%
The something I noticed about UW is that you really can almost solve more than 95% of it just from FA, 4% from the skills you learn in your journey of preparation).
If I reviewed FA cover to cover in a week then started UW my performance would be 99% lol.
I was skeptical before about people saying FA is enough, but now in retrograde I can really see it's more than enough.
The thing is FA is just a bare bone, by itself and by you not remembering anything from basic science it's not enough, you have to add muscles and skin, these added information are for one purpose only ---> to explain what's already in FA, when you do that then you got yourself the ultimate step 1 resource.
That's why there is no single best book in step 1, everyone has to create its own.
I even think that UW correlates with FA better than usmlerx lol.
In the end everything you annotate, and every extra explanation you write in FA has been already written in your brain.
The Qs I got wrong in UW was like (Lesion to what hypothalamic nucleus leads to anorexia), last time I read FA was 4 weeks ago so guess what? I will definitely confuse lateral from ventromedial.
also I got many pharma wrong (pure memorization problem, where I knew the type of drug they're talking about but I just couldn't remember the name).
I also get some Qs wrong due to misreading.
The Qs I get wrong due to new concepts are very rare!
So to cut it to the point what ever sources you use to explain FA (Goljan rapid review, pathoma, BRS, usmleRx, Firecracker ...) it doesn't matter, in the end you're building a frame or a theme in your brain, you're making a new mindset where you can answer based on judgement not just pure memorization.
That's why it's so important to review FA in the last week before your exam.
Believe me you will score a lot of Qs right just by doing that.
Screw the obscure molecular biology Qs or the anatomy ones!!!
Don't read anything before you exam other than FA.
For each molecular Q you get right for reading High yield molecular biology in the last week you will probably lose 3 easy recall Qs you just can't seem to remember because your last read was more than two weeks.
Step 1 material is big already, don't overwhelm yourself with too many resources in the end ---> you will lose more than you gain.
There is no human brain that can retain many books in the short term memory, it's just one book, make it FA.
I was planning on reading Goljan rapid review 4th ed after UW, but guess what now? I won't!!
I will stick to FA after UW and keep on reviewing it in the last 2 weeks before my exam (Late November).
One of my friends (Step1 265, step 2 269) did goljan in the last two weeks before his exam and he told me that he regret it, his exact words were: "Goljan is great, but I could have scored 270+ if it weren't for the easy recall Qs I got wrong for not reading FA instead of Goljan".
I used to explain FA the following resources:
Usmlerx (Great, helps you to recognize how diseases present, my entire way of studying changed after finishing it).
Firecracker (Amazing, with many imp explanations, I read it like a book didn't use it the way it was created to be used by).
Pathoma.
KLNs were useless.
You don't need tons of dense info to ace step 1.
You need a broad understanding to ace it.
These are just some of thoughts ---> their purpose is to help anyone out there who need them 😛
I didn't take the exam yet so ... nothing for granted ... I might be wrong ...
Good luck 😍