UWorld Help

[colts]

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How do people do Uworld? I know that the ideal way is to read the entire explanation and the wrong answers and the educational objective, but that would literally take an eternity and would take time away from reviewing First Aid.

I tend to just skim the explanations and educational objectives so that I understand why the answer is correct and I read a little bit more ONLY if I really don't understand it. For my first pass, it would take my about 2 to 2.5 hours to do a 46 question block and review it.

For my second pass of Uworld, its going a lot quicker and I just quickly skim it or sometimes I don't even read the explanation if I remember the reasoning behind it.

Comments on this approach would be much appreciated.

 

[johndoe3344]

As you said, I would probably go crazy if I were to memorize every single word of every single detail in those explanations. And in my opinion, it's unnecessary. Some of those explanations have way more detail than I'd ever care to know (the few questions about the HMP shunt where they draw out every single byproduct is a good example). I like to at least read/skim through the explanations/wrong answer choices, and I'll take notes/bullet points on things that I thought were interesting/relevant and/or things that I didn't know. I'm still on my first pass, and I take on average 2-2.5 hours per block as well, and I usually end up with around 1-1.5 pages of notes.

 

[MrBeauregard]

I studied micro, biochem, immuno, etc. in First Aid before I began studying the systems chapters. Once I study a system in First Aid, I follow it up by studying that system in Goljan RR. I then do 46 question blocks on untimed tutor mode covering all disciplines but only the system I just studied. I typically try and read all explanations, even if I got the question correct, because they present information in the wrong answer explanations that can't be found elsewhere in the question bank. I also open up a Word document on a separate monitor and take notes as I go along. I typically end up with ~4-6 pages of notes per block, but I also take notes on questions that I got right but there was something about the right answer that I didn't know. I usually take 3 hours to do a block of 46. So far this method has really been good for reinforcing what I know after studying FA and what I need to study again. It also shows me that no matter how well you have memorized First Aid, the questions are going to ask how well you understand the material and can think though it, not how well you can regurgitate facts. I do 2-3 blocks per day until I finish all questions for that system, then move on to my next system and do the same thing. I also review my notes that I've typed up each night.

 

[ipizzy]

I would read the UWorld explanations at the expense of more passes through FA, personally. Reading the explanations gets you into the mindset of understanding how details are woven into conceptual multistep questions. Reading FA makes you memorize facts.

On test day I'd rather be comfortable with my ability to apply knowledge and problem-solve rather than my rote recall. (I.e. recall is important, but multistep thinking is more important)

 

[SteinUmStein]

I would read the UWorld explanations at the expense of more passes through FA, personally. Reading the explanations gets you into the mindset of understanding how details are woven into conceptual multistep questions. Reading FA makes you memorize facts.

On test day I'd rather be comfortable with my ability to apply knowledge and problem-solve rather than my rote recall. (I.e. recall is important, but multistep thinking is more important)

I agree, but I get very little out of reading FA for hours on end. I chose to spend more time on UWorld at the expense of FA time which inevitably turns into a staring contest between me and the book with very little information gained. 😛 If you're the kind of person who can just soak up FA facts like a sponge, more power to you, but you'll still need to understand, process, and apply those facts to real questions, and UWorld will help with that.

 

[Aclamity]

There are some questions that are just drop-dead easy and you know everything about that subject and easily get the answer right. I usually just skim through those explanations and see if there's any extra material. For the questions on subjects I'm not too great with I usually read through the explanation pretty thoroughly and look at the answer choices if they add any other useful info. Even if I got those questions right. To be perfectly honest, I think I've learned more Mol Bio from UW than from FA because of this. Now reading FA mol bio is a breeze (sort of)