[drGio]

I,m doing UW by topics so far i did genetics, bio and molec, inmunology and micro, i have left 1472 questions, can any body give an advice if I'm doing well or not, my test is for march, do I have time to get a good number

 

[ashishkabir]

You have time, but are you done your Kaplan and your First Aid? Why are you getting the questions wrong that you are getting wrong?

As time passes your UW score should improve to the 60%s... if it isn't I'd look to see if you need to go over Kaplan or your material again. Make sure you focus on your weak areas.

One other thing - I don't think its a good idea to do UW by topic. Part of the teaching ability of UW is that it covers the connections between topics. You will miss out on this if you UW by subject and these interconnections are what get you that 90+ score on the USMLE.

 

[drGio]

thanks ashishcabir

yes, but yes that is true but I already started by topics, since micro I'm getting above 55%, but the rest that I did before bio/gen/molec very bad, right now i'm doing cardio and is above 55%, probably because those were the most dificult topics I dont know,
I did Goljan lectures and audios plus first aid once, do you think that is enough and that is why I'm getting this score,
thank you

 

[ashishkabir]

It seems like you have a good idea of where your weaknesses are. The only thing is if you do UW by topic it will be hard for you to correlate your average performance to the UW Score because most people on the forums do random timed blocks.

If you feel you're weak in certain areas, I would focus most on those areas. Thats my suggestion. Do whatever resource you used the first time again and then when you're ready, you will hopefully see your score improve.

I also recommend random timed blocks because its a closer approximation of the actual exam. Its the only way also, of teaching you to sit 8 hours in a row in one position. Trust me on this - it is a problem people have, not being able to sit in one place...

You might also want to do Goljan / FA again - I know you did it once, but you should probably do FA 3 times throughout and now seems like a good time to go over it again. Maybe after you've covered your weak areas.

Hope that helps.

 

[drGio]

thanks again

yes, that is what I'm doing now with the UW by topics, I study the chapter, listen to the audios then do the Q,
thanks for your advice,
probably will do UW twice now and then ramdom blocks

 

[heights]

It is true that it is good to do UW random timed blocks, but I also think that at this stage of your preparation you are probably not ready for that as you haven't mastered all the topics as yet. If you're doing random timed UW and don't have a solid foundation, you will still miss the interconnections that UW is teaching. When you feel you have a good grasp of all the topics, you can start doing UW random timed blocks. Don't worry about if your assessment with UW is accurate at this point, you can use the nbme forms to get a predicted score and practice sitting for a long time. I think right now you need to focus on learning the material.

From what you said, it seems that you only used Goljan Path and FA, to be honest I don't know if that's enough. Since you know what your weaknesses are, go through those in detail in FA and maybe pull on another source to help you with difficult topics (for eg Kaplan LNs or some of the other books that are recommended). Keep doing UW questions on these topics to drive home the concepts.
In the month or two before your exam, start doing random timed blocks in UW.

You should see you scores start to go up soon, just keep working at it!

 

[drGio]

thanks heights

yes I'm doing my second round with the UW by topics when I finich each system,
thanks I will use NBME to see when I'm ready