When to hit questions?

[Dharma]

So I'm using FA-Rx (U-World saving until mid-March)-Pathoma triad. Not so sure of how to attack this...

Let's say it's a topic I haven't studied in a while (say MSK which was almost a year ago). I was thinking it's a good idea to spend a day (or part of since I'm juggling class as well) reviewing FA, then the next morning, hit questions. At night, review answers and corresponding sections in FA.

Also trying to find a way to incorporate pathoma into the mix. So, whatever system I'm on, I'll cover that along with questions.

What do you think? Any advice would be appreciated.

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[Modeselektor]

When I did it I used this set up:

 

[ChessMaster3000]

id start with pathoma, esp if youre in class right now. once youve done a run thru of that, you can do one pass of FA and then start Rx concurretly with your second pass

 

[Dharma]

Thanks for the tips guys. I won't have much time for dedicated study since we have less than 2 weeks between end of classes and beginning of rotations. So, I'd like to get moving on questions in the mean time. I'm willing to take a hit in class grades since I'm relatively safe in that department. I already feel behind in terms of boards though, considering the lack of available dedicated study time.

 

[Dharma]

id start with pathoma, esp if youre in class right now. once youve done a run thru of that, you can do one pass of FA and then start Rx concurretly with your second pass

so you think questions only after i make an FA pass?

 

[ChessMaster3000]

so you think questions only after i make an FA pass?

One FA pass won't hurt. Rx=FA, so even w rx youre still doing fa

 

[Dharma]

One FA pass won't hurt. Rx=FA, so even w rx youre still doing fa

Yeah, that's why I'm leaning towards jumping in on questions. Time is short. I've seen the material already (just not via FA), and I'd rather not hold off another few weeks on questions. So both it is. Thanks for the tips though.

 

[Dharma]

When I did it I used this set up:

That looks like full-day study. No time for that. I'll have about 10 days of dedicated study time at the end of the semester before my exam. This looks like a great plan for someone at a school with 4+ weeks of dedicated study. Unfortunately, that isn't me...

 

[Modeselektor]

@Dharma How much time per day do you have and how many days?

 

[Dharma]

@Dharma How much time per day do you have and how many days?

It varies with schedule. But I could afford on average about 4 hours at this point. Would like to push it a bit longer, but class workload is a bit heavy. I'm taking my exam last week in May.

 

[Modeselektor]

With 4 hours a day it'd probably be best to spend each day dedicated to a certain task.

• One day to answer and check 2 blocks of questions
• One day to revise your FA (and some pathoma, but priority is FA)

Basically your original plan, I'd say uworld has got about 2200 questions so....../blocks of 46, that leaves you with about 48 blocks of questions to complete. If you do 2 blocks every other day, it will take you a month and a half to get through your first run through.

On your final 10 days, practice doing 8 blocks in a row every other day for the first 6 days, (don't really bother to check the correct answers during this run through, you would have been through them allready so check the wrong ones). These 8 blocks are needed to build up endurance for the exam. Make sure to chill for the 2 days before the exam to allow yourself to peak.

This is all my two cents.

 

[ChessMaster3000]

With 4 hours a day it'd probably be best to spend each day dedicated to a certain task.

• One day to answer and check 2 blocks of questions
• One day to revise your FA (and some pathoma, but priority is FA)

Basically your original plan, I'd say uworld has got about 2200 questions so....../blocks of 46, that leaves you with about 48 blocks of questions to complete. If you do 2 blocks every other day, it will take you a month and a half to get through your first run through.

On your final 10 days, practice doing 8 blocks in a row every other day for the first 6 days, (don't really bother to check the correct answers during this run through, you would have been through them allready so check the wrong ones). These 8 blocks are needed to build up endurance for the exam. Make sure to chill for the 2 days before the exam to allow yourself to peak.

This is all my two cents.

Most people advocate just hanging out the last day before the exam--are you arguing for 2 days of little to no study before?

 

[Modeselektor]

@ChessMaster3000 Pretty much, I'd say 2 days was necessary for me. I studied on both days but it was very light, like about 15-25% of normal perceived effort.

 

[Dharma]

With 4 hours a day it'd probably be best to spend each day dedicated to a certain task.

• One day to answer and check 2 blocks of questions
• One day to revise your FA (and some pathoma, but priority is FA)

Basically your original plan, I'd say uworld has got about 2200 questions so....../blocks of 46, that leaves you with about 48 blocks of questions to complete. If you do 2 blocks every other day, it will take you a month and a half to get through your first run through.

On your final 10 days, practice doing 8 blocks in a row every other day for the first 6 days, (don't really bother to check the correct answers during this run through, you would have been through them allready so check the wrong ones). These 8 blocks are needed to build up endurance for the exam. Make sure to chill for the 2 days before the exam to allow yourself to peak.

This is all my two cents.

Thanks for the advice Modeselktor. I like this style of attack. Newbie question here: how much time do you allot per question? ~1:20 per question? Do you usually shoot to finish that block of 46 in an hour? I'm guessing that's the case.

Also, do you think I should spend time just working through FA without questions? Kinda leaning towards jumping right on in with what you mentioned.

I really appreciate your advice though. Definitely helps. Thank you.

 

[Modeselektor]

@Dharma Since you're using usmlerx. Just dive right in using this schedule. You'll be working through material in two ways.

I always shoot to finish the block ASAP, (I want it all done with 15 minutes to spare at least). Training like this means that on the real thing you'll be able to tackle the very hard questions with the extra time, and this I believe is a secret to scoring well. Better to overkill than be overwhelmed.

 

[ChessMaster3000]

@Dharma Since you're using usmlerx. Just dive right in using this schedule. You'll be working through material in two ways.

I always shoot to finish the block ASAP, (I want it all done with 15 minutes to spare at least). Training like this means that on the real thing you'll be able to tackle the very hard questions with the extra time, and this I believe is a secret to scoring well. Better to overkill than be overwhelmed.

Agreed. 15-20 minutes to spare at the minimum. If you have <15 minutes to go on a UW block, you aren't working fast enough. (I haven't taken the test, but I've read enough on here that I have that mentality just the same.)

 

[ChessMaster3000]

Agreed. 15-20 minutes to spare at the minimum. If you have <15 minutes to go on a UW block, you aren't working fast enough. (I haven't taken the test, but I've read enough on here that I have that mentality just the same.)

Btw, I believe it's 78 seconds a question, FWIW.

 

[Dharma]

Solid. Thank you both. I'll check back in, a bit down the road.

 

[ulikedaggers]

I've done three 46Q blocks on random (Anatomy, Embryo, Biochem, Genetics, Behavioral only) of Rx so far and I've been able to answer pretty much all the questions except for the pharm related ones. Do you guys think it's a waste to do Rx as an MS1?

 

[Dharma]

I've done three 46Q blocks on random (Anatomy, Embryo, Biochem, Genetics, Behavioral only) of Rx so far and I've been able to answer pretty much all the questions except for the pharm related ones. Do you guys think it's a waste to do Rx as an MS1?

I wish I started questions in M1 to be honest. I would have used it as practice questions for whatever system I was on, along with becoming more familiar with FA. That said, don't get too crazy thinking about boards yet. But practice questions and reviewing the system with FA is definitely a nice supplement to developing a foundation in your coursework. If I could go back, I would do that, along with answering some questions from older material so that it stays relatively fresh. There are going to be topics that I haven't seen in over a year and let me tell you, there is a heavy lining of dust covering said material in me head. Questions along the way, with some light FA review could have prevented that. But yeah, developing a foundation is more important than boards at the point.

 

[ulikedaggers]

I wish I started questions in M1 to be honest. I would have used it as practice questions for whatever system I was on, along with becoming more familiar with FA. That said, don't get too crazy thinking about boards yet. But practice questions and reviewing the system with FA is definitely a nice supplement to developing a foundation in your coursework. If I could go back, I would do that, along with answering some questions from older material so that it stays relatively fresh. There are going to be topics that I haven't seen in over a year and let me tell you, there is a heavy lining of dust covering said material in me head. Questions along the way, with some light FA review could have prevented that. But yeah, developing a foundation is more important than boards at the point.

Ok cool, thanks for the info. The reason I'm looking to boards material so soon is that my school has extremely easy exams (our averages are routinely >85% and there's usually at least 1 person with a 100%) that center on word association with things the professor said in lecture and/or has in his notes. There is minimal critical thinking or integration involved so I really don't need to spend a lot of time on the lecture material to do well on exams. So for me it's difficult to build a good foundation without supplementing my school notes with board material and questions. Plus, focusing more on boards material has improved my exam grades quite a bit. I probably spend 70% of my study-time on FA/Firecracker/board prep books (and now Rx) versus only 30% on lecture notes.


Are you going to do Kaplan Qbank too? Or just Rx/World?

 

[Dharma]

Ok cool, thanks for the info. The reason I'm looking to boards material so soon is that my school has extremely easy exams (our averages are routinely >85% and there's usually at least 1 person with a 100%) that center on word association with things the professor said in lecture and/or has in his notes. There is minimal critical thinking or integration involved so I really don't need to spend a lot of time on the lecture material to do well on exams. So for me it's difficult to build a good foundation without supplementing my school notes with board material and questions. Plus, focusing more on boards material has improved my exam grades quite a bit. I probably spend 70% of my study-time on FA/Firecracker/board prep books (and now Rx) versus only 30% on lecture notes.


Are you going to do Kaplan Qbank too? Or just Rx/World?

Just Rx/Uworld. I'll be cutting it close just with those 2.

 

[Dharma]

@Modeselektor I found myself extra time to study for step 1. So I will be able to follow a pattern similar to your A-day/B-day method (which looks a bit different in your post above than I remember). My question is how long/thorough should I be giving to going through explanations after finishing questions? I find myself taking A LOT longer to go through the explanations that I do the block itself (which I usually finish with a good 15-20 min to spare). Just feels like I'm moving a little slow. Any tips (beside moving quicker, haha!)?