Taking too long on practice Q's - any advice?

[Doc Hef]

I'm doing USMLEWorld and I'm having a hard time with the timed exams. I know the Q's are harder and take longer, but I had a hard time with the actual COMLEX 2 exam also. I used up the entire 8 hrs and felt a little rushed on a couple of the sections. I'm trying to pace myself, but just end up feeling rushed all the time. BTW - when I do untimed vs timed exams on USW, I also notice that I do quite a bit better on the untimed exams. I'M worried that the time issue is hurting my score and could be a big problem. ALSO, I do notice that I look up at the clock quite a bit. I've tried covering up the clock with a sticky note, but still go over either way.

ANYONE have any advice for gettting through quicker? Anyone had this problem and found some good tricks? Thanks all.

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[manning18]

I have not necessarily done well on NBME-authored exams, but timing has never been a concern for me.
The questions that tend to eat up my time are the ones where I think (I might act like I know, but I really just think) I can get it right by pondering it, rationalizing, eliminating incorrrect choices, etc. Maybe you could try to mark such questions and get through the ones you know relatively fast and the ones you know that you do not know quickly and save the remaining time for the in between questions. Obviously, this category makes up a sizeable chunk of the questions, but it's best to pick up as many points as fast as you can and also identify which questions are time inefficient (in the sense you're unlikely to get them right, regardless of how long you stare at the screen!). If, out of 46 questions/block, you know 23 for sure, you're a rockstar, so there aren't going to be to many sure bets. There probably won't be too many questions you know you have very little chance on, either.
For the middle group, maybe you could try striking through the wrong answers and choosing what you think is best (at least for the time being), marking and then returning to the question. It is hard to tell where you stahnd with a question without spending at least some time on it.
Try not to look at the clock too much, but don't cover it up. Just try to refrain from the urge! If it's covered up, you might still be worrying about it, even though you can not see the time.
Keep plugging away and you'll get faster.
Btw, how far off are you? Out of 46 Q's/block, how many do you get through, on average?

 

[Doc Hef]

I have not necessarily done well on NBME-authored exams, but timing has never been a concern for me.
The questions that tend to eat up my time are the ones where I think (I might act like I know, but I really just think) I can get it right by pondering it, rationalizing, eliminating incorrrect choices, etc. Maybe you could try to mark such questions and get through the ones you know relatively fast and the ones you know that you do not know quickly and save the remaining time for the in between questions. Obviously, this category makes up a sizeable chunk of the questions, but it's best to pick up as many points as fast as you can and also identify which questions are time inefficient (in the sense you're unlikely to get them right, regardless of how long you stare at the screen!). If, out of 46 questions/block, you know 23 for sure, you're a rockstar, so there aren't going to be to many sure bets. There probably won't be too many questions you know you have very little chance on, either.
For the middle group, maybe you could try striking through the wrong answers and choosing what you think is best (at least for the time being), marking and then returning to the question. It is hard to tell where you stahnd with a question without spending at least some time on it.
Try not to look at the clock too much, but don't cover it up. Just try to refrain from the urge! If it's covered up, you might still be worrying about it, even though you can not see the time.
Keep plugging away and you'll get faster.
Btw, how far off are you? Out of 46 Q's/block, how many do you get through, on average?

I'm a little worried about skipping q's - I'm afraid that I'll end up having to read the q again the second time around and then take more time overall. Like you said - you have to spend a little time on it anyway to see where you stand on it. I might try this out though and see how I fair.

And if I take the test timed - I usually end up with about 8 questions to answer in the last 5 minutes. I've noticed that during the exams I usually take about 20-30 seconds to answer the ones I know and then up to 2 or 2.5 minutes for those I'm not sure about (obviously a lot more of these).

If I take the test untimed and just don't care about the time AT ALL, then I could actually take up to 2 hours just thinking through each question.

I think that one of my biggest problems is that I see what I think is the obvious answer and think that it is too easy and try to justify answering one of the distracters as the right answer. And I usually am pretty good at arguing my point on the distracter - but obviously this doesn't help at all.

 

[manning18]

That habit (about playing Devil's Advocate) has to go. It's not easy, but you can work on it. Just be confident that you know your stuff. That said, there are VERY FEW questions where one knows he/she is right for sure.
I only did some of UW and just finished about 900 QBank Qs. I often read the question itself and the answer choices before carefully reading the history. For some questions (maybe the easiest of them all, say 1 in 5 or so), it allows me to answer the question in literally less than 10 seconds and skim through the stem to make sure there's no reason for my first choice to be wrong.
I encourage you to take TIMED tests, without referring to the clock very often. Covering the timer up may not help as much as you'd like.
For that set of questions where you think you have a shot (but can not get it right away), just try to strike through the obviously incorrect answers and select the most attractive options and then move on. Spending 120-150 seconds per question on multiple questions/blocks really hurts the time you have for later questions, many of which are not that hard.
You're not that far off anyways. You should be able to get timing down by test time. If you have eight questions left in five minutes, there are probably 2-4 questions you would not get to read at all, assuming you spent adequate time on the questions that you did evaluate carefully. That's not that bad; I've heard much worse!

 

[pathman2006]

One strategy I used is read the last line of the vignette. Sometimes I would notice the question was so straightforward you did not need the vignette.

If it is not a straightforward question then at least you know what points to look for when you are reading the vignette.

good luck

 

[Doc Hef]

One strategy I used is read the last line of the vignette. Sometimes I would notice the question was so straightforward you did not need the vignette.

If it is not a straightforward question then at least you know what points to look for when you are reading the vignette.

good luck

Yeah, I've started to use this tool and definitely helps. I just need to make sure I put it into practice during the actual exam.

 

[manning18]

The above strategy is a smart one. Bad news is, th exams are hard enough where most average examinees will only get 10-or-so questions that can be answered in this manner. That would amount to 10 questoins in 3-5 minutes, including time spent to skim the rest of the vignette to confirm your first selection is correct. That adds a lot of extra time to the reamaining questions. While guessing blindly is never encouraged, be honest with yourself and admit that there are some questions you will not be able to answer, regardless of time, so strike through the obviously wrong answers and give it your best shot and move on, without spending too much time.

 

[jmrck]

I find myself usually pressed for time also, I think that the questions are set up to take approx 76 sec per questions. At least that is how it was for the shelf exams. I would divide the blocks into 3 sets, in that, you should know where you are timewise by the time you are 1/3 done, 2/3 done, etc. There are times when you have a set of easy questions that will render you ahead of time in the middle, and that will usually give you more time to answer questions in the latter 3rd. I know you are getting a lot of advice at this point, but I think you should figure out which works for you,practice and perfect that strategy.
Good Luck

 

[Doc Hef]

I find myself usually pressed for time also, I think that the questions are set up to take approx 76 sec per questions. At least that is how it was for the shelf exams. I would divide the blocks into 3 sets, in that, you should know where you are timewise by the time you are 1/3 done, 2/3 done, etc. There are times when you have a set of easy questions that will render you ahead of time in the middle, and that will usually give you more time to answer questions in the latter 3rd. I know you are getting a lot of advice at this point, but I think you should figure out which works for you,practice and perfect that strategy.
Good Luck

Thanks for the advice. I actually was dividing my exam in half - checking the time at 23 q's. But if I was behind at the half, then I might be rushed for the next 15 q's to get caught up. I will try to split it up into 3 or 4 and this way I will keep better tabs on the time. Thanks