I tried to keep not so as usual tips and tricks here. Now let’s see how you guys will respond. In my opinion, this will be more useful for those who are in the intermediate phase of the preparation.
In a nutshell-
NBMEs are super under predictive, so don’t get discouraged.
Do UWorld nicely, very nicely. By this, I mean- at the end of the day, you should know the educational objectives of UW questions.
The final exam will be conceptual, like UWSAs.
Exam day and your mentality are very important factors, which we consider insignificant usually.
Why NBMEs underpredict and UWSAs predict
This is my very personal opinion. NBMEs will check how well you memorized First Aid, mind it- the only memorization. If you forget only one word from First Aid, your question- will be wrong, for sure.
UWSAs will check the core concepts. You have to drive one thing from another, have to integrate the concepts, and the question won’t be straight forward. The questions will be tilted in some way, as same as the final exam.
How the final exam will be
Don’t worry at all. Most of the questions, you must have studied somewhere in UWorld. This is for sure.
The same most stereotypical case will be presented to you like 40 years old, African American female presented with some kind of lung problem must be something with sarcoidosis, we usually do hundreds of these type of questions in UWorld.
Then what should you do- just think over there, use your brain, focus, and integrate the concepts.
If the question stem is simple, options will be tilted in some way and if options are simple then question stem will be tilted in some way.
Heart sounds, ECGs will be there, so be prepared. I can’t recommend a specific resource for these.
How to attempt a question
I got this in the very end phase of my preparation, and I found this very useful.
As I told you, they will ask the same HY concepts differently, same stereotypical case
will be presented so choose the simplest one, don’t over-think, don’t think that how
USMLE people can ask a simple concept like this.
For example, if there is a male patient with some abdominal pain, and you’re thinking about
acute cholecystitis, so just review it again, because the stereotypical case is fertile fatty forty
female with abdominal pain.
Another example, second newborn female having some obstruction in GIT, and you’re
thinking about pyloric stenosis then review it again because the stereotypical case is
firstborn male newborn usually presented with pyloric stenosis.
These things you will learn throughout UWorld.
These are just some examples to tell you guys what I want to say.
Secondly, you always have to choose the most appropriate option, always exclude
things to exclude the options.
The third is always look over all the options, I mean it always even if you’re damn sure about
your choice, still do it.
And keep lab values always open, their monitor screen is too big, not like our laptops, so it
won’t compromise your question stem length.
If you’re not sure about heart sound questions, do these in last, don’t waste your time over that.
I took 4 minutes, and I got short of time at last, and I left 2 questions unread.
Manage your time properly. In UWSA 2 I mismanage the time, last 4 questions I left unread, same
happened in my final one, though it was because of heart sounds, we can’t blame them too.
Mistakes I did
- I took a lot of time for preparation, delayed my exam unnecessarily.
- Did NBMEs with explanations, with lots of extra searching, googling, and all, I recommend this, but only if you’re able to revise before the exam, I didn’t revise, so at last, I forgot the questions of NBMEs.
- Didn’t do the Heart sounds.
- Unable to manage the time during the exam.
- Underestimated the UWorld a little bit.
The question we always ask ourselves
“Do we need to know every minor detail of UWorld explanation”
The answer is NO.
You just need to know the educational objective, that’s it. UWorld isn’t like
First Aid, playing games with us that there are some hidden words, we usually miss and the question comes from that missed part. UWorld isn’t designed this way.
You just have to know the basic concept aka the educational objective. If there is “a word” in the explanation that you
don’t get, it’s okay, focus on the basic concept not on that word, and just move on. If that
word is important, UWorld has already made a question on that. It’s now UWorld people’s responsibility.
My resources
- First Aid ( I don’t remember how many times I’ve read this, different chapters; different times)
- UWorld (2 times, 2nd pass was just my weak areas depicted by NBMEs)
- Pathoma (I did it religiously)
- Sketchy Micro (highly recommended)
- Did neuro from Dr. Najeeb and Kaplan ( you can leave Dr. Najeeb, but just don’t leave Kaplan videos of neuroanat, you will feel the difference)
- Started my preparation with Kaplan videos, idk those helped or not.
- Boards and Beyond videos.
Assessments-
- Somewhere in Aug 2018- UWSA 1- 251
- Sept 24 NBME 17- 234
- Dec 16 UWSA 2- 243
- Jan 13 NBME 18- 238
- Jan 18 Free 120- 77%
Jan 21- The final exam.
UWorld and First Aid
You need to understand First Aid word to word. For this UWorld will help you.
Mentality
I could write a whole post on this.
If you’re positive, happy, confident, and having an instinct that you can do it, then nothing
can stop you.
I know so many people who sacrificed everything, live alone knowingly to avoid disturbance from family, break up in relationships, etc.
It may seem helpful in the short term, but at last, you will be exhausted. At the end of the day,
you need someone with whom you can talk, share. So don’t get hard on yourself, and
everyone needs some kind of emotional support and all.
No one is supposed to know everything. I used to ask numerous simple questions, even on this day I may not be able to answer the simplest question.
Here, perfection is the key to misery. Some people are waiting for 2 years to be their NBMEs 240,250. For being matched, scores are much needed but USCE, LORs are important as much too. So its better to move on, and do some rotation and impress people there instead of being stressed here and ruining your peace.
Last month preparation- 243(UWSA2) to 249
It’s all about “highly condensed study” this is how AMGs take their exam with just 4-6 weeks of preparation.
I revised FA with annotations in this month, some chapters once and some twice didn’t do
UW.
Exam day
I was so happy on that day, so much excited that finally step 1 will be over and it
made a difference.
Don’t be anxious, stay cool, and calm.
I took a break after every block, I used to wash my face, took a bite of chocolate, protein bar, some water, and red bull
I talked to myself in the mirror, that everything will be fine, you’re doing great, good luck
sweetie, etc.
So good luck guys, be positive and optimistic, you will be fine.
The Med Kid 