Your UW strategy

[MattD]

So, how is everyone using UW for their studies? Basically, I'm trying to decide how I should be organizing my tests. Should I go all unused until I finish them all, incorporate a few 'all question' tests from time to time, do frequent 'incorrect only' tests, or what? I guess it's a balancing act between getting through all of them and reinforcing the material, and I know after the 2nd time or so seeing the same question you pretty much know the answer just from recognizing the stem, but what is everyone else doing?

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[Blesbok]

Unused, timed, all groups is the only way to go. If you have time at the end redo some of the ones that you missed, but don't incorporate them into your first go around.

 

[MattD]

Unused, timed, all groups is the only way to go. If you have time at the end redo some of the ones that you missed, but don't incorporate them into your first go around.

Eh, I don't bother with timed, I just look at the timer at the end to see how quick I was. I've never had problems with running out of time on exams, by the time 72 seconds (or whatever the max is) have elapsed on a single question I feel like I've wasted a whole hour Although in that case i don't suppose it matters if i do timed or untimed eh?

I have quit using tutor mode though, it just seems too artificial to stop and review between EVERY QUESTION.

 

[Labslave]

Doing questions right from the start on timed and random mode didn't make much sense to me. On my first pass through the material, I did about 50 - 75 questions per day on the material I had covered that day. Now that I'm on my second pass, I'm doing random and timed.

 

[Blesbok]

Eh, I don't bother with timed, I just look at the timer at the end to see how quick I was. I've never had problems with running out of time on exams, by the time 72 seconds (or whatever the max is) have elapsed on a single question I feel like I've wasted a whole hour Although in that case i don't suppose it matters if i do timed or untimed eh?

I have quit using tutor mode though, it just seems too artificial to stop and review between EVERY QUESTION.

I like timed because I get practice in marking a question and coming back to it when I know that I need to keep moving.

 

[MattD]

I like timed because I get practice in marking a question and coming back to it when I know that I need to keep moving.

good point!

 

[mudphudwannabe]

Unless you are starting months out from the test, random, timed questions are the way to go (preferably in blocks of 50 at a time). You need to start getting into test mode right off the bat. The more practice you can get, the better. You don't want to end up with any surprises as far as your test taking skills go - even though you say you are completing blocks in plenty of time when you are untimed, you might react differently when you are actually under time pressure.

I'm a pretty good test taker and didn't expect timing to be an issue for me in the exam, but in the beginning of my studying it was a little tough. There was a bit of a panicky feeling, and I would spend way too much time on some questions, not leaving much time to double check at the end. Then I over-corrected and would blaze through the blocks quickly and make lots of careless mistakes. Finally toward the end of my 3-week review I found some kind of balance between reading the questions carefully and deciding on the answer quickly. It worked out, but I definitely needed the practice.

 

[InternationlDoc]

Unless you are starting months out from the test, random, timed questions are the way to go (preferably in blocks of 50 at a time). You need to start getting into test mode right off the bat. The more practice you can get, the better. You don't want to end up with any surprises as far as your test taking skills go - even though you say you are completing blocks in plenty of time when you are untimed, you might react differently when you are actually under time pressure.

I'm a pretty good test taker and didn't expect timing to be an issue for me in the exam, but in the beginning of my studying it was a little tough. There was a bit of a panicky feeling, and I would spend way too much time on some questions, not leaving much time to double check at the end. Then I over-corrected and would blaze through the blocks quickly and make lots of careless mistakes. Finally toward the end of my 3-week review I found some kind of balance between reading the questions carefully and deciding on the answer quickly. It worked out, but I definitely needed the practice.

Word bro

I'm in the initial phase that you went through. I am terrible at timed test, because I freak out and want to get every question right and spend way too much time deriving the answer (which I do successfully albeit at a loss of significant clock!) so I am reading questions super fast (relatively speaking, i'm still a slow reader compared to big ballers on this forum) but guess what...making LOTS of mistakes. on a 30 random timed question set I took, I easily made 5 mistakes that had everything to do with misreading (piece of info missed etc). Great. Hopefully the "Settling" phase comes soon. Its frustrating to see performance drop on Qbank. I had a question though, would it be detrimental if one has to re-read the question on the real step 1 exam? I mean usually, one liners give you a good break (30 sec answer) so that you can spend ~2 min on a tough question etc. But thats Qbank - would that be the case on the real step 1 test? Does NBME represent "question length" appropriately besides content.

I want to start 50 random timed....as soon as my school ends (school makes board studying harder..too much work)

 

[SoCuteMD]

I did random 50 questions blocks daily - at least 1, often 2. I took notes on the ones I got wrong. At the end of the week I went back and did blocks of all the ones I'd gotten wrong and made a special note of the ones I was STILL getting wrong. I never did blocks specific to subject because I felt like it wouldn't be representative of Step 1.

Lots of

 

[virilep]

So, how is everyone using UW for their studies? Basically, I'm trying to decide how I should be organizing my tests. Should I go all unused until I finish them all, incorporate a few 'all question' tests from time to time, do frequent 'incorrect only' tests, or what? I guess it's a balancing act between getting through all of them and reinforcing the material, and I know after the 2nd time or so seeing the same question you pretty much know the answer just from recognizing the stem, but what is everyone else doing?

Decided to do three blocks of 25. One block I would do based on what I studied the previous day and the other two I would do them random. All of them timed.

 

[registered user]

I did blocks of 50 question blocks, sometimes more than one, untimed on the subject(s) I was studying that day at the end of the day. Everyone has their own opinion, but I felt that the 150 free USMLE questions and the NBME exams were for getting the timing down and USMLEWorld q's were for learning. I felt like I would rather understand why I got a q right or wrong immediately after I answered it because it was fresh in my mind. It worked well for me.

 

[45408]

I like two separate blocks of 20 questions more than 50 questions. I understand that the real deal uses 50 question blocks, but if I try to absorb the rationale for 50 questions at once, I won't remember any of it. I'm not bothering with a timer because I never run out of time.

 

[hasha100]

I did blocks of 50 question blocks, sometimes more than one, untimed on the subject(s) I was studying that day at the end of the day. Everyone has their own opinion, but I felt that the 150 free USMLE questions and the NBME exams were for getting the timing down and USMLEWorld q's were for learning. I felt like I would rather understand why I got a q right or wrong immediately after I answered it because it was fresh in my mind. It worked well for me.

I agree with you completely. When I did timed tests with Kaplan, I always had time left over. Also when I took NBME #1, I also had lots of time left over...so I really use UW to learn. I feel it's better to check the answer right after I do a question.

 

[45408]

Interestingly enough, on the first four tests I took, nearly every question I marked, I ended up getting wrong. I guess if I mark it, I should pick a different answer than my first guess.

 

[Clemson Doc]

Everyone is different, but I view USMLEWorld as a learning tool. Use the NBMEs to gauge your progress and get your timing down, since we all know that USMLEWorld is harder than the real thing. After using USMLEWorld for a few days, however, I can attest that it is AWESOME.

Deciding between doing all subjects or choosing specific subjects is up to you. I felt that my knowledge base was not up to par, so I reviewed all the material once before starting questions (otherwise, I knew I would miss a ton of questions and lower my confidence). Then I created tests with all subjects. I think it's best to mix questions from all subjects.

I am a huge fan of tutor mode. I have tried both timed mode and tutor mode, and I found that I save a lot of time doing 50 questions on tutor mode as opposed to timed mode. The question is fresh on your mind after you answer it, so you avoid spending time reading the question again to familiarize yourself with it.

 

[mudphudwannabe]

Everyone is different, but I view USMLEWorld as a learning tool. Use the NBMEs to gauge your progress and get your timing down, since we all know that USMLEWorld is harder than the real thing.

I was not trying to say USMLE World is *not* a learning tool or that you should use it to gauge your performance. In fact, I don't think USMLE World scores are a good way to gauge your progress at all. What I was trying to say is that you can use it as a learning tool for test taking skills as well as facts and reasoning. NBME's are good for estimating your score, but unless you have time to take multiple NBME's (many people seem to here, I didn't), they aren't going to provide you the kind of repetition you would need if you really want to improve your test taking skills.

Also, USMLE World is overall more challenging than the real thing, but the individual questions are very representative of the more challenging questions on the real exam. On the real exam, there will be a few easier ones thrown in, but the distribution of questions is random (so you could end up with a lot of the more challenging types all in one block). If you are practicing USMLE World timed and doing well, you will probably have a tad extra leeway on the real exam which might come in handy if you run end up with a really hard block or if test anxiety sets it.

 

[indo]

What about tutorial mode? I like to see the answer and the reasoning while I'm still fully focused on the question. It makes it easier to consolidate all the information and learn.

 

[Clemson Doc]

What about tutorial mode? I like to see the answer and the reasoning while I'm still fully focused on the question. It makes it easier to consolidate all the information and learn.

Same here. Plus, it saves a lot of time.

 

[hasha100]

Same here. Plus, it saves a lot of time.

I agree. I would say I save almost half an hour by doing tutorial mode instead of timed because if I did timed, I would have to go back and reread the question and look over all the answer choices.

 

[standup man]

when you guys talk about UW % are you talking about what percentile you are on or the % questions you are getting right? Just a little confused

 

[BarronBlack]

Try this post that I had written earlier.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=514571