UsmleRx + UWorld + Pathoma? (No FA)

[dextor2003]

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Would this combo be enough to get 240+? I was thinking that since I learn better from questions than just passive reading, I'd forego FA altogether during dedicated and instead do subject specific Rx/Kaplan/Pathoma for part of the day followed by random/timed UWorld for the rest. Has anyone tried this, or can anyone provide any thoughts on this method? I know it's recommended to do Rx or Kaplan during the year, but I'm just hardly finding the time to do them. I have been following along with FA with our classes though so I was hoping that would qualify as my "going through" FA instead of having to go through it during dedicated.

Any input would be much appreciated.

 

[Chir0nex]

First and foremost you should be doing what works best for you. If you are covering the same material in a better way then go for it.
I would use FA as a reference source and annotate it heavily so that later on you can easily glance at it for small details, but there is no point in sitting and reading it if you are not going to retain anything.
There is no garunteed way of getting a great score. Just because you watch Pathoma or read FA does not mean you will learn it well. Conversely, nothing is truly "required" to do well either, it is just that most people have developed study habits that make FA more effective for them.

 

[dextor2003]

Appreciate the feedback. I'm not really the smartest cookie, so I'll be lucky to just even pass if I were to use UW alone. But I guess I'll just try sticking to multiple qbanks. Thank you guys

 

[Profe10P]

First and foremost you should be doing what works best for you. If you are covering the same material in a better way then go for it.
I would use FA as a reference source and annotate it heavily so that later on you can easily glance at it for small details, but there is no point in sitting and reading it if you are not going to retain anything.
There is no garunteed way of getting a great score. Just because you watch Pathoma or read FA does not mean you will learn it well. Conversely, nothing is truly "required" to do well either, it is just that most people have developed study habits that make FA more effective for them.

Nice reading this. This is totally true. As long as it works for you do as it helps you the most.

 

[seminoma]

My concern would be that you won't have time to do Rx, Kaplan, Pathoma, and Uworld during dedicated time. Three qbanks plus pathoma isn't any less time consuming than coursework plus one qbank.

 

[dextor2003]

My concern would be that you won't have time to do Rx, Kaplan, Pathoma, and Uworld during dedicated time. Three qbanks plus pathoma isn't any less time consuming than coursework plus one qbank.

Fair point. I may just drop Kaplan during dedicated and stick to Rx and UWorld

 

[seminoma]

Fair point. I may just drop Kaplan during dedicated and stick to Rx and UWorld

The other concern would be that you spend too much time on Rx (or Kaplan) at the expense of UWorld. I definitely agree that doing system-specific blocks of Rx is better for learning/retention than simply reading the corresponding section in FA, but most of the organ systems have 100+ Rx questions. So depending on what you have planned for your schedule (i.e. multiple days of the same system or the full system in 1-2 days), you're potentially looking at much more time spent on your "pass of FA". For example there are 197 (4 blocks and some change) Neuro questions in Rx, which would take approximately 12+ hours to complete if you take 1 hour per block and 2 hours to review the block. It definitely wouldn't take anywhere near 12 hours to carefully read/review the neuro section in FA.
So perhaps doing Rx has a better learning/time ratio than doing FA, but does the combination of Rx+Uworld have a better learning/time ratio than FA+Uworld? I don't know; but considering how highly touted Uworld is my guess would be that FA+Uworld > Rx+Uworld simply because the former gives you more time to spend on Uworld.

I thought about doing this myself (hence my concerns) because I too learn much better from questions.

 

[dextor2003]

The other concern would be that you spend too much time on Rx (or Kaplan) at the expense of UWorld. I definitely agree that doing system-specific blocks of Rx is better for learning/retention than simply reading the corresponding section in FA, but most of the organ systems have 100+ Rx questions. So depending on what you have planned for your schedule (i.e. multiple days of the same system or the full system in 1-2 days), you're potentially looking at much more time spent on your "pass of FA". For example there are 197 (4 blocks and some change) Neuro questions in Rx, which would take approximately 12+ hours to complete if you take 1 hour per block and 2 hours to review the block. It definitely wouldn't take anywhere near 12 hours to carefully read/review the neuro section in FA.
So perhaps doing Rx has a better learning/time ratio than doing FA, but does the combination of Rx+Uworld have a better learning/time ratio than FA+Uworld? I don't know; but considering how highly touted Uworld is my guess would be that FA+Uworld > Rx+Uworld simply because the former gives you more time to spend on Uworld.

I thought about doing this myself (hence my concerns) because I too learn much better from questions.

Yea that's true too =\ But then if you were to just do FA then UWorld, would you do it random/timed, or subject-specific? Or maybe do FA, then a block of subject-specific UWorld, then the rest random/timed?

 

[Macaroon_Berry]

I'm also not using FA so you don't need it as long as you have covered every subject with other resources.. I learn best from questions as well.

 

[seminoma]

Yea that's true too =\ But then if you were to just do FA then UWorld, would you do it random/timed, or subject-specific? Or maybe do FA, then a block of subject-specific UWorld, then the rest random/timed?

Study day will involve reading a chapter in FA (endocrine, for example) and 1-2 UWorld blocks on random (review and annotate). Reading FA will be to refresh the details learned during school, not to prepare myself for the Uworld blocks I'll do later in the same day.

 

[dextor2003]

Study day will involve reading a chapter in FA (endocrine, for example) and 1-2 UWorld blocks on random (review and annotate). Reading FA will be to refresh the details learned during school, not to prepare myself for the Uworld blocks I'll do later in the same day.

Is that gonna be your entire study day? If that's the case, then I'm guessing that should be around a 6-8 hr day?

 

[seminoma]

Is that gonna be your entire study day? If that's the case, then I'm guessing that should be around a 6-8 hr day?

Not the entire day, just the parts that involve FA/Uworld.

 

[dextor2003]

Not the entire day, just the parts that involve FA/Uworld.

Gotcha. Well hopefully I'll figure this whole schedule thing out by winter break

 

[pd1112]

Would this combo be enough to get 240+? I was thinking that since I learn better from questions than just passive reading, I'd forego FA altogether during dedicated and instead do subject specific Rx/Kaplan/Pathoma for part of the day followed by random/timed UWorld for the rest. Has anyone tried this, or can anyone provide any thoughts on this method? I know it's recommended to do Rx or Kaplan during the year, but I'm just hardly finding the time to do them. I have been following along with FA with our classes though so I was hoping that would qualify as my "going through" FA instead of having to go through it during dedicated.

Any input would be much appreciated.

If you learn the best by questions now, why not try using RX and/or Kaplan along with classes, subject-specificfor reinforcement, instead of your current method of following along in FA? For me, it's a lot easier to do 15-20 questions at the end of the day over the material I've been covering in class than it is to try to read FA after reading class notes all day. If you don't want to completely neglect FA, set aside a few fours on Saturday to breeze through the chapters that correspond to what you covered that week in class. It seems that you recognize that questions are your best learning tool, but you are neglecting to use them now and instead are saving them for dedicated. I think you are underestimating how long it will take to go through 3 question banks. If you're trying to forgo using FA during dedicated, I think you'll spend more time looking through other references to reinforce answers to questions (when necessary), because the content won't be as fresh in your head without using FA during dedicated.

 

[dextor2003]

If you learn the best by questions now, why not try using RX and/or Kaplan along with classes, subject-specificfor reinforcement, instead of your current method of following along in FA? For me, it's a lot easier to do 15-20 questions at the end of the day over the material I've been covering in class than it is to try to read FA after reading class notes all day. If you don't want to completely neglect FA, set aside a few fours on Saturday to breeze through the chapters that correspond to what you covered that week in class. It seems that you recognize that questions are your best learning tool, but you are neglecting to use them now and instead are saving them for dedicated. I think you are underestimating how long it will take to go through 3 question banks. If you're trying to forgo using FA during dedicated, I think you'll spend more time looking through other references to reinforce answers to questions (when necessary), because the content won't be as fresh in your head without using FA during dedicated.

I do try to do questions during the year. I try to do robbins review path and webpath alongside classes and subject-specific kaplan at the end of our blocks, but I just don't get the time to get through all of it, which is why I thought maybe I could try to finish it alongside Rx and UWorld during dedicated. I don't do qbanks alongside classes because they'd be a waste for me if we haven't even covered all the material for the given subject yet. But I do see your guys' point...I may end up using FA after all

 

[Profe10P]

Hi guys,

sorry to mention this here but, any of you willing to sell at a reasonable price the Kaplan Step 1 notes? (More of a donating price :S 😀) 《Year>2011; blue color》

PM please if you want to sell yours :S