Uworld hell

[DarkHorizon]

So I have been doing Uworld for about 10 days now, and I can't seem to score any higher than in the 50s, all random unused timed questions. I had one block where I scored 67%, but I equaliZed that by scoring in the 40s on the next couple of blocks. While going through the explanations I come across at least 10 quetions that I know the answer to but i marked it wrong due to misinterpreting the question. Also, I feel like i am always behind on time, rushing to get through last few questions. I am learning a lot though, still 5 more weeks to go. Any suggestions guys? It's just demoralizing studying so hard and yet get schooled. I did score a 77% on free 150, so that's a positive but I felt it was wayyyy easy compared to Uworld. Hoping to break a 230, is it doable? Because I am starting to doubt it the way Uworld is going for me.

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[SlaveOfTCMC]

Be sharp:

There are few things in World that is not in First Aid or the Kaplan notes.


Rather, World presents things in a different way. Moreover, the answer choices often obscure one another, as multiple choices may seem like the right answer if you don't definitively know.


The real challenge in World is to be able to peel back through those layers. In that sense, it is already far more challenging than the NBME practice exams.


There is a correlation formula out there that indicates World underestimates your true performance... but take that with a grain of salt

 

[MossPoh]

Keep doing what you're doing, learning. That is the critical step in it. Most people don't start out well. After a couple hundred questions you just notice one day that your timing improved and that your percentages were creeping up. There is a bit of a uworld thought process. Once you do enough questions important/relevant facts begin to kind of pop out at you. There will probably still be those days where things don't go quite as planned (I had one today) but the important part is to try and learn something from each question.

You don't have to memorize the entire explanation, but if you can take 1 or 2 major points from each question you answer and apply them later you will be golden.

 

[kingofthehill]

I agree, don't give up! Don't try to put much into your performance right now, as it sounds like you're beginning your studies, and you will accumulate knowledge by reading the explanations. I finished uworld last week, and I can definitely say that toward the end things do start to pop out at you because of your prior experience in answering their questions. Uworld is not meant to be an assessment of how much you know, and that's even stated in the software when you log in. The questions are designed to trick you--the answer choices all supposed to sound good so that you're forced to learn distinctions. While I do think some of their questions are a stretch, it's still a good learning tool. Also, keep in mind a lot of people reset the qbank and redo all the questions, some do it in "tutor" mode where they're looking up the answers as they go along, so don't even pay attention to that. If you put in the effort into really learning from the explanations, you'll really reap the benefit out of uworld.

 

[pullandbear]

Man I have the same exact problem! No matter what I do I can't increase my score. I've decided to not bother worrying about the score and instead just using uworld to learn. I'll use nbmes to gauge progress. But it's kinda hard when you see ppl posting their averages in the high 60s and low 70s. World can be really demoralizing at times. Sometimes the only thing to do is laugh.

What do you guys consider hard uworld tests. I just had two today where the overall average from all test takers was 50%. Is that normal or relatively hard?

 

[Cochan]

I always found difficult tests to be below 50% avg.

 

[dude1344]

UWorld makes my head hurt... tricky questions and things I've never learned about. I'm about 80% of the way through 1st pass of FA and I've done around 300 questions. Avg is 71...

They say UWorld is harder than the real thing correct?

 

[sairam84]

I feel like i am drowning as well. Granted I have only done 150 questions but it is very discouraging looking at 40% average on Uworld. What's worse is my exam is on June 21st.
Any advice?

 

[bowlofmushypeas]

Kinda off topic but just curious, for those who do subject tests immediately after you study that section (which is what I do), do you guys ever set a "goal" percentage in qbank before moving on to the next subject?

 

[justdoit31]

Kinda off topic but just curious, for those who do subject tests immediately after you study that section (which is what I do), do you guys ever set a "goal" percentage in qbank before moving on to the next subject?

I use USMLERX for my subject specific test (UW I do on timed, random and I'm on my second go through since I finished it a few weeks ago because I used it during course work more for subject exams) and I usually try to do 30-50 questions on the topic I've been studying that day and if I am above 60% I'm happy. There are some subjects that I have consistently scored lower on my NBME's and CBSE exams that I plan to do more than the 30-50 questions.

 

[DarkHorizon]

More frustration with Uworld, I encountered a question this morning that presented a patient with severe hypertriglyceridemia and essentially asked for two drugs that should be used to treat. I narrowed it down to Lovastatin+Gemifibrozil and Niacin+Gemifibrozil. I pick the first one, wrong! even though statins and niacin both lower triglycerides but Niacin is apparently better. Now here's what irritated me, Uworld then went on to contradict themselves by stating that "however, statins in high dose a very effective in lowering triglycerides."

Another question that had my head spinning:

A 67 year old male is hospitalized with low grade fevers, fatigue, and a diastolic murmur at the left sternal border. Blood cultures reveal gram positive cocci that are catalase negative and are able to grow in 6.5% saline. This patient's medical history is most likely to reveal which of the following procedures in last month?

A) Dental Extraction
B) Skin Biopsy
C) Sinus drainage
D) Nasal polpectomy
E) Cystoscopy

I am immediately thinking endocarditis, MCC of course is S.Viridans since its catalase negative, which would be acquired mostly through dental work. Wrong again! they had enterococci in mind, which I have never read as causing endocarditis anywhere (Goljan, FA, class notes), ahhh

 

[RapplixGmed]

More frustration with Uworld, I encountered a question this morning that presented a patient with severe hypertriglyceridemia and essentially asked for two drugs that should be used to treat. I narrowed it down to Lovastatin+Gemifibrozil and Niacin+Gemifibrozil. I pick the first one, wrong! even though statins and niacin both lower triglycerides but Niacin is apparently better. Now here's what irritated me, Uworld then went on to contradict themselves by stating that "however, statins in high dose a very effective in lowering triglycerides."

Another question that had my head spinning:

A 67 year old male is hospitalized with low grade fevers, fatigue, and a diastolic murmur at the left sternal border. Blood cultures reveal gram positive cocci that are catalase negative and are able to grow in 6.5% saline. This patient's medical history is most likely to reveal which of the following procedures in last month?

A) Dental Extraction
B) Skin Biopsy
C) Sinus drainage
D) Nasal polpectomy
E) Cystoscopy

I am immediately thinking endocarditis, MCC of course is S.Viridans since its catalase negative, which would be acquired mostly through dental work. Wrong again! they had enterococci in mind, which I have never read as causing endocarditis anywhere (Goljan, FA, class notes), ahhh

For the first question, you never want to use fibrates and statins together because they exacerbate rhabdomyolysis if used together. (See chart on lipid drugs in FA)

For the second question, enterococcus is the only one that survives at 6.5% NaCl so its kind of a givaway too. (see chart on gm + lab algorithm in FA) Cytoscopy commonly causes dissemination of enterococcus. In fact, they recommend prophylaxis for it if it must be done without a urine culture.

 

[DarkHorizon]

For the first question, you never want to use fibrates and statins together because they exacerbate rhabdomyolysis if used together. (See chart on lipid drugs in FA)

For the second question, enterococcus is the only one that survives at 6.5% NaCl so its kind of a givaway too. (see chart on gm + lab algorithm in FA)

What's your percentage in Uworld? must be in the 80s because both of those questions had a correct response rate in the teens.

 

[priam18]

Not to detract from the conversation, but I'm not too sure you should be posting uworld questions on a public forum.

 

[RapplixGmed]

What's your percentage in Uworld? must be in the 80s because both of those questions had a correct response rate in the teens.

I'm approaching 80% but haven't been able to break it more than once. In your defense, Uworld does have many questions that are just out of the blue and smack you in the face (I can think of one asking where in the larynx you can find stratified squamous epithelium) but many of the more tricky questions can be answered by a more detailed reading of FA or other sources. I remember the Lang pharm flash cards emphasized that fibrates and statins must never be used together.

 

[bowlofmushypeas]

Fenofibrate is actually safe to use with statins. They figured out sometime in the last 5 years I think because it works via a separate pathway, but Gemfibrozil is still contraindicated due to badness to muscles. It's a crappy question. I didn't actually know anything I'm posting though, I looked it up and my uworld score is nothing close to 80% so don't freak out

 

[winkleweizen]

For the first question, you never want to use fibrates and statins together because they exacerbate rhabdomyolysis if used together. (See chart on lipid drugs in FA)

For the second question, enterococcus is the only one that survives at 6.5% NaCl so its kind of a givaway too. (see chart on gm + lab algorithm in FA) Cytoscopy commonly causes dissemination of enterococcus. In fact, they recommend prophylaxis for it if it must be done without a urine culture.

Yeah I think that Second question is definitely fair game. Its one of those tiny ass details in first aid. (check out the gram+ algorithim i think its in there)

The first question..ehh I always heard you shouldnt use Statins and fibrates..but who knows.

 

[DarkHorizon]

I'm approaching 80% but haven't been able to break it more than once. In your defense, Uworld does have many questions that are just out of the blue and smack you in the face (I can think of one asking where in the larynx you can find stratified squamous epithelium) but many of the more tricky questions can be answered by a more detailed reading of FA or other sources. I remember the Lang pharm flash cards emphasized that fibrates and statins must never be used together.

Haha, I remember that one, I think the answer was true vocal cords IIRC. thanks for your explanations bro, you will crush this exam as it seems.

 

[dude1344]

Just wanted to vent on how ridiculous UWorld answer choices can be.

Complete central DI vs partial central DI? wtf? lol.

 

[ScubaStarved]

Just wanted to vent on how ridiculous UWorld answer choices can be.

Complete central DI vs partial central DI? wtf? lol.

I also thought that was a ridiculous question. However, I also believe it's there because the answer choices must appear on the real exam (albeit probably as incorrect choices).

Many of the novel/nitpicky/ridiculous UWorld questions showed up on my exam and were worth probably 10+ questions. The bone mol bio information alone accounted for 3 easy questions, the answers to which could NOT be obtained from FA/Goljan/BRS alone (but would be covered by any molecular review book).

 

[dude1344]

I also thought that was a ridiculous question. However, I also believe it's there because the answer choices must appear on the real exam (albeit probably as incorrect choices).

Many of the novel/nitpicky/ridiculous UWorld questions showed up on my exam and were worth probably 10+ questions. The bone mol bio information alone accounted for 3 easy questions, the answers to which could NOT be obtained from FA/Goljan/BRS alone (but would be covered by any molecular review book).

I tried to reason through that question but I guess I was wrong. I saw that urine osmo increased after one hour of water deprivation, so I was like "hmm there must be a LITTLE ADH secretion, or why would urine osmo go up" so I chose partial central DI. lol...

It's good to know UW helped you on the exam though.

 

[fahimaz7]

What's your percentage in Uworld? must be in the 80s because both of those questions had a correct response rate in the teens.

75% and I got them right.

 

[karizma098]

Uworld isn't necessarily easier than the real thing, to be honest. I heard a lot of that last summer and didn't find it to be the case. Use the NBME's as comparison; there are probably a few more 'gimmies' on the real test, but for the most part the average uworld question and average usmle question are fairly similar - like a poster above said, there are probably a few less distractors in the answer questions, but the knowledge to answer the question is fairly comprable.

to pass the usmle you should be scoring in the mid 50's at least. Everyone has 'off sets', even at the end of my studying i had a random 48% or something. I finished uworld with an average of about 63% ( 50's in the beginning, high 60's and some low 70's near the end ). Use it as a learning tool, not as an indicator of your score - the NBME's are there to help you guess where your score would be. Uworld is a phenomenal resource. in my last month of studying all i did was reread first aid, and redid all of my 'incorrect' questions on uworld while annotating the extra info into my first aid, my nbme score went from 216--> 228 -->240 while doing just this.

good luck, don't freak out. don't take the exam if you're not scoring 200+ on the nbme. kids in my class who averaged 58% on uworld scored 230's, and others who were scoring 65%'s scored 200's. Everyone is different.

 

[speedyk]

So my average is 45% when I do timed blocks but 65% when I do tutor mode. I do not change my answers or anything on tutor mode. The only think I can think of is that I read the questions more carefully knowing that I will see the answer soon? Does anyone else have this issue?

 

[DarkHorizon]

So my average is 45% when I do timed blocks but 65% when I do tutor mode. I do not change my answers or anything on tutor mode. The only think I can think of is that I read the questions more carefully knowing that I will see the answer soon? Does anyone else have this issue?

I haven't tried tutor mode, but I am sure I would get at least a few more questions right if I did it in tutor mode, I am always crunching for time.

 

[ProtossCarrier]

I think NBME is far easier if you have a good foundation because of the amount of elmination you can do.

Uworld have some questions that are designed to trick you / word play.