UWorld Shenanigans

[Anti-PD1]

Anyone else not confident that UWorld prepares you well? Obviously it's the best qbank out there, but I can't help but call bs when I hear people say just focus on UWorld. Do UWorld twice. In one thread I read someone used only UWorld to study, period.

The explanations are thorough, and I study them like crazy. But I swear, there's concepts that are repeated way too often, and it gets annoying. I'm rolling my eyes when I read the question stem, like, please ask me about the other 90% of First Aid that you barely touch! I.e.:

1) Brain tissue damage = liquefactive necrosis
2) Turner's syndrome = coarcation of aorta
3) DKA. DKA. DKA. Never HHS. Just DKA.
4) Kid with puffy eyes, cola urine = PSGN
5) Down Syndrome. Because Down Syndrome.

Then I read pathoma, and I wish UWorld would ask about more of those things. I did like ~800 Kaplan qbank questions, and ~800 USMLE Rx. Maybe I'll go back to Kaplan after finishing UWorld.

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[Reperfused]

Hmmm I do believe that UWorld prepares you really well for the real deal. But I totally agree with you about Uworld being not sufficient as the only source. Yes, it doesn't cover everything and repeats often too. I'm doing system wise and there are 4 questions of Bulimia nervosa in psych! Made me go crazy!

 

[Surgeria]

most of the time people saying that they know uworld cold - they don't. if they did, they would score 100% on second run and not 80%.

 

[yankees527]

Do you guys think its too early to start Uworld?

 

[Surgeria]

it's never early, what a cliche to start uworld late, it's like to start playing basketball at 30 and try to get into nba, sounds poor. start as early as you can, the best will be with classwork ...

 

[TheOther]

Anyone else not confident that UWorld prepares you well? Obviously it's the best qbank out there, but I can't help but call bs when I hear people say just focus on UWorld. Do UWorld twice. In one thread I read someone used only UWorld to study, period.

The explanations are thorough, and I study them like crazy. But I swear, there's concepts that are repeated way too often, and it gets annoying. I'm rolling my eyes when I read the question stem, like, please ask me about the other 90% of First Aid that you barely touch!

I'm sure it's not a novel revelation, but I came to a realization earlier this week as I'm knee deep into board prep. Studying for Step 1 has two components:

1. Laying a knowledge/conceptual foundation
2. Integrating the information

In my opinion, UWorld is 98% number 2. There's not much new information in there that's not elsewhere. What is new is how things are presented and why they're presented that way.
All other resources pretty much fall under number 1. Except Goljan -- he dabbles in both.

Those who relied heavily/solely on UWorld most likely had number 1 down pat going into dedicated -- a strong pre-clinical performance, taught to board material, heavy use of Bro's/FA/Pathoma/Sketchy since day 1 of MS1, and/or Jason-Bourne-I-know-every-license-plate-in-the-parking-lot memory. These are the people who go in gun-slinging 230s-240s on their first practice exam 3 months out. All they need at this point is to focus on learning how to better integrate the material they already know and fill in the little details that UWorld/practice exams provide that aren't in FA.

Then there's the rest of us. We did okay during pre-clinical and got into more focused board prep a bit later in the game. We still need UFAPS and it's all good. We gon' be alright.

 

[str8cashhomie]

So for people who did okay in pre-clinical and getting into board prep with a lackluster foundation that slows down the integration, whats the key to hitting 240+ during dedicated and into the exam?

 

[TheOther]

So for people who did okay in pre-clinical and getting into board prep with a lackluster foundation that slows down the integration, whats the key to hitting 240+ during dedicated and into the exam?

UFAPS is the key.

How you use it will vary person to person depending on: circumstances, how extensive the foundation is, where weaknesses lie, how much time in dedicated, optimal learning styles, etc.