People in the last 5 weeks of their preparation - alston

[ArchivalUser]

@alston please share what you're doing
will help all of us
my first nbme was a barely pass, still haunting me

please share what you did in these 3 wks

[ArchivalUser]

have started uw renal , planned 2 days to complete renal but its taking longer :/

[ArchivalUser]

That's really good Alston. Good luck. Keep going and you'll get there .
@annie92: I agree with you; uwsa is hard, 1 more so than 2. I don't get the people who keep saying uwsa is easy!

[ArchivalUser]

HI all , sorry was not updating here

today will do cardio fa

GL

[ArchivalUser]

@mojo my strategy is custom made for me and it deals with my numerous deficiencies .

I have reduced my distractions completely .For many it is internet .I do not have that issue .
I make a weekly schedule and then try my hardest to never break deadlines.
I am sleeping a lot less in quantity ( 5 hours ) but quality is super and I dont mind it short term .I did it for 7 days for my NBME and now I am back to about 7/8 hours .My next NBME is this weekend and I will spend two heavy workload days again .
I am doing rounds between UW - FA - Pathoma .UW is helping me immensely .I am finally getting the hang of the questions .First Aid has lost its spark but I cannot deny its importance . I am not doing it page by page anymore .I am just referring to it for my questions.
I am spending two thirds of my time doing UW and offline questions of all sorts and 1/3rd revising everything .
I dont let my mistakes go .
I stay super positive and remind myself that I am not just looking for a score I have to improve my focus , optimism , persistence skills as well and that I am doing by working on my mistakes daily .
This upcoming assessment will be my 5th assessment .I dont have many left .Lets see .

[ArchivalUser]

NBME showed three weak areas so working towards that .Next NBME is this weekend which is very close !!

Biostats and Biochemistry and Reproductive system !!
What about you ?

@ Mojo Renal is a given very conceptually in UW .It is not an easy subject.Take your time but understand it .It took me two days just for the nephrotic - nephritic section of FA and it is still a lot memorization .I also look for good mnemonics for quick recall since this is a timed exam.

[ArchivalUser]

@alston thanks a bunch for sharing your strategy

im out of words here, may be one of days when u feel low and lost :/ anyhow im gonna start with uw now

i just did 20 questions from renal yesterday , which is not really great but im gonna complete the block today

i know what youre saying , i think i can relate , my weakness is not internet , my weakness is keeping up with the schedules i make for myself

as difficult as it is to say im gonna confess , my nbme shows im weak in everything, borderline in CVS and CNS
now how to go about this issue ??? this is what actually makes me feel confused !

i have a month more to exam, and i know im better than this , i can do this exam
but nbme has really put me down

any suggestions alston ??
appreciate it

[ArchivalUser]

okay this may take time but I am always exhausted while rechecking my NBME because it takes longer to go through the questions and pick out the mistakes and the reasons behind them especially when I made like 10 mistakes a block that prepared a huge block of mistakes on its own.
Look at your questions one by one and find out what problem there is .Is it that you do not know the fact from the beginning or that you cannot integrate , or you memorized and forgot OR you are just nervous .In the beginning it feels like every wrong question is a mixture of all three but an honest assessment differentiates between them .Some things are fixable by memorization , others by learning ( new facts ) and others by meditation and practice ( nervousness)

I "discovered" that everything is in First Aid .UW has all the sample questions and ways they want us to think in BUT no question in the exam will be exact same as UW or NBME and we should not prepare ourselves like that too.If there is similarity in questions then it is hardwork that made us lucky but we should count of those coincidences.
Develop one liner concepts out of UW.
Divide your day between UW and FirstAid .Try to reduce mistakes in simpler subjects like microbiology and Pharmacology, some easy system like GIT they are usually recall questions.See what you can do to improve their retention.Write , memorize , study partner , whatever works for you .Repeat a lot but understand how the questions can be asked ( through UW ).

I am not done with the exam yet so I am not the best person to advise too much .Just a few weeks more ( and then 3 more for the result ) .
I know your exam is in a month do not give up EVEN if you end up delaying this study is going to help you .
Remember we are all feeling the burden and the stress its not you alone.No one said it is easy .Feeling distresses is part of the game I guess just make it work for you .

[ArchivalUser]

its my 3rd wk in finishing fa

had distractions last week & some this week but i am back

GL all

[ArchivalUser]

@alston thankyou so much , appreciate everything you wrote there

i will not give up , i need to push myself as you are doing which is amazing, sleeping 5 hours just to get to a point where you feel confident or atleast satisfied with the hardwork u put in !

i already opened up and copied my nbme result in a piece of paper so that i see it everyday and decide my day accordingly

i think i should make weekly schedules too for now, since its close to impossible to keep up with a months

thanks alot , please keep posting here , it really helps