What would you do 1 week before your USMLE test date?

[Peeshee]

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Any helpful hints/suggestions as to what is recommended to do 1 week before your USMLE test date? Would you just do lots of questions and review them? Would you focus on your weak areas? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[theodore]

I had planned so i would finish q bank exactly one week from my exam. Then for the last week i was just trying to simulate the exam conditions, namely wake up at 8am, shower-coffee-breakfast until 9, and then i would do questions using the random mode at 1 hour bursts, with small breaks in between until 5pm. At that point i wasn t doing timed tests, I just wanted to keep contact with the test's format, and if I happened to learn something new, even better. I wasn't forcing myself to learn anything new at that point, cause everything new that would go in at that point would probably be a detail, and it would likely take the place of something more important. After 5pm I would go to the gym, or rot in front of the tv,or even do some more questions, depending on how i felt.
And for god's sake, don't dare studying anything the last day. You can only harm your self by doing this. Just relax, spend some time with a friend or gf, watch a movie, in other words chill out.
Hope it was helpful,
Theodore

 

[Foxxy Cleopatra]

I'd do First Aid and lots of questions (Q Bank, USMLE CD). I wouldn't try to cram in new info but I'd keep practicing and review F.A.

good luck

 

[Castro Viejo]

If you're done with Qbank, then just spend that last week reviewing First Aid over and over and over again until you're sick of it. Review it while you're in the john. Review it while you're riding on a bus.

Good luck.

 

[Jaded Soul]

If you have Qbank, Kaplan has advice on exactly this subject. It's under "Strategy Session" on your MyKaplan homepage. Here's the gist of it, hopefully paraphrased enough to avoid copyright issues.

* Taper off studying, get into mental and physical shape.

1. Don't cram new material. Work on what you already know.

2. Review keywords, phrases and concepts. Practice recall. Go over summary notes (i.e. annotated First Aid). Do practice questions, but don't panic if you don't get them right because they are usually harder than the real thing. [I hope this is true.]

3. Realize that you won't know everything for the exam to give yourself a sense of control.

4. Fix your sleep-wake cycle to get your body to work right the dav of the exam. Wake up at the same time you'll take the exam, don't nap in the middle of the day.

5. Sleep enough.

6. Take some time each day to relax.

7. Visit the Sylvan Center where you'll take your exam to get an idea of the commute, parking situation, computer set-up.

 

[toofache32]

Weed.