USMLE uworld by organ system or random in dedicated with low pre-study nbme/cbse?

[Mesupsta]

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Hey, came to ask some advice on what you think is best from going through the step 1 studying process.

Pres-study assessments without starting uworld yet.
School cbse = 194 (enough to get approved to register for step 1!)
nbme 16 = 190

The assessment reports showed everything in the borderline middle or boderline low-middle. No organ system was greater than the other and it was consistent that way down the line. I thought I would start on a weaker system but it's universally low and similar to each other system.

I read some step 1 experiences here but a lot of people have higher baselines and have been using uworld off and on before and are ready for random since that's how the test is. The other big thing is the practice and readiness for how unpredictable and random the test is.

So I am in my dedicated 4 weeks (lost a few days from the assessment testing) and have time to probably do uworld once now and first aid. Should I attack it by timed organ systems one by one since my assessments are borderline on every system? Or timed random? Tutor?

I'd like to get in the 220-230 range for a final score.

My concern was if using uworld as a study aid and ignoring the % score's and how my assessments were universally low on everything, would random or by system result in different outcomes for better or worse?

Ok thanks a lot for your help! 🙂

 

[Adjet]

4 weeks isn't a lot of time for dedicated! I think most people like to have at least 5-6 weeks. But anyways, getting through first aid should be the #1 priority and hopefully you can tackle a couple uworld sections/day on the side. In your case, I think it would make sense to go system by system as you go through first aid to make your learning more efficient vs jumping around all over the place with random blocks (it's fine if you want to start out with tutor or untimed). If you're focused, you should be able to get through first aid/pathoma and a majority of the q bank in ~3 weeks at which point you can spend the remaining time wrapping up uworld in random (may not be able to completely finish, which is fine) and reviewing topics in first aid. I would take an NBME closer to when you finish first aid to check if you're on track.

Don't read too much into the uworld %s or the CBSE/NBME breakdown, which is basically just saying you haven't reviewed anything yet. Be patient, focus on learning, and the performance graph should be looking a lot better once you take your next NBME. You will review everything, so don't worry too much about the order - personally, I went in the general order that I learned the subjects in MS1/2

 

[Mesupsta]

4 weeks isn't a lot of time for dedicated! I think most people like to have at least 5-6 weeks. But anyways, getting through first aid should be the #1 priority and hopefully you can tackle a couple uworld sections/day on the side. In your case, I think it would make sense to go system by system as you go through first aid to make your learning more efficient vs jumping around all over the place with random blocks (it's fine if you want to start out with tutor or untimed). If you're focused, you should be able to get through first aid/pathoma and a majority of the q bank in ~3 weeks at which point you can spend the remaining time wrapping up uworld in random (may not be able to completely finish, which is fine) and reviewing topics in first aid. I would take an NBME closer to when you finish first aid to check if you're on track.

Don't read too much into the uworld %s or the CBSE/NBME breakdown, which is basically just saying you haven't reviewed anything yet. Be patient, focus on learning, and the performance graph should be looking a lot better once you take your next NBME. You will review everything, so don't worry too much about the order - personally, I went in the general order that I learned the subjects in MS1/2

Hey thanks a lot for that very useful advice!

I purchased uworld a few hours ago and activated it to see how many questions there are and how everything is distributed.

This is the plan adopted from what you suggested and so starting tomorrow, I'll first read that chapter or system from first aid in full + the respective Pathoma and THEN immediately start the corresponding subject or system from uworld in untimed tutor mode.

I'll try to do a minimum of ~100-120 uworld questions a day. After finishing up those block question goals from uworld, I'll continue into reading the next new section from first aid + Pathoma and go onto selecting the next new uworld section PLUS adding the previous day's unused leftover uworld section as applicable AND combining into the new uworld section and on and on.

I don't know if that makes sense but it did to me for a few minutes

If there aren't enough uworld questions to meet my daily question goal, I'll start right onto reading the next section from first aid + Pathoma and move on to the next uworld system right after and adding on like above until it's fninished. I know it's not perfect but hoping it'll work out ok.

If anyone has any modification suggestions or tips, would love to know to keep in mind. Thanks again for the advice!

👍 👎

 

[Adjet]

Hey thanks a lot for that very useful advice!

I purchased uworld a few hours ago and activated it to see how many questions there are and how everything is distributed.

This is the plan adopted from what you suggested and so starting tomorrow, I'll first read that chapter or system from first aid in full + the respective Pathoma and THEN immediately start the corresponding subject or system from uworld in untimed tutor mode.

I'll try to do a minimum of ~100-120 uworld questions a day. After finishing up those block question goals from uworld, I'll continue into reading the next new section from first aid + Pathoma and go onto selecting the next new uworld section PLUS adding the previous day's unused leftover uworld section as applicable AND combining into the new uworld section and on and on.

I don't know if that makes sense but it did to me for a few minutes

If there aren't enough uworld questions to meet my daily question goal, I'll start right onto reading the next section from first aid + Pathoma and move on to the next uworld system right after and adding on like above until it's fninished. I know it's not perfect but hoping it'll work out ok.

If anyone has any modification suggestions or tips, would love to know to keep in mind. Thanks again for the advice!

👍 👎

It's definitely the right idea, but probably a lot more ambitious than you know. To get the most out of uworld, you will want to take the time to read all the explanations - not only why the right answer was right but why the wrong answer was wrong. If you follow through with this level of thoroughness, it could take anywhere from 2-4 hours for just one 40 question block (at least initially). As such, probably only 1-2 blocks/day is feasible. I understand that it would be nice to finish the qbank, but you probably won't learn as much from it if you're just rushing through and I don't think there's a need for you to put that pressure on yourself.

To get through First Aid in ~3 weeks, you'll want to pace yourself somewhere ~35 pages per day. The online scheduling tool 'Cram Fighter' can help you plan that out (you can start a 1 week trial and extrapolate from there). It can be tough to get through some topics in one day (like Biochem) so it would be ideal to figure out how you can split up the work evenly over the week so you don't go nuts. As far as how to use Uworld, I like the idea of selecting topics that you previously reviewed to keep yourself fresh on it while you review the material. If you are keeping up with two blocks/day, I might do one block dedicated to the day's topic (so you can nail it down) and the other block with everything that you've reviewed.

So to summarize, in a day you (in any order you like) should
1) try to read through the # of pages in first aid that you determined and try to understand all of the concepts described using outside resourced if you need to. Some chapters can take much longer than others to get through, depending on your level of comfort, so be aware of that
2) watch pathoma to get a solid foundation and understanding. Some people like to watch before reading first aid
3) try to do 2 sets of uworld: one in the topic you studied that day and maybe another cumulative/random set

4 weeks is pretty tight, so be open to the possibility of pushing back if it gets overwhelming. As I mentioned, it would be a good idea to take an nbme in week 2-3 to see if you're close.

Hope that helps

 

[Mesupsta]

Thank you so very much again for taking the time and sharing all of this!

It was extremely valuable to note and think about before starting full on! Hope your advice will also help others if ever in such a predicament! 🙂