advice for step 1 - how to review uworld questions and is this resource helpful? (2024)

1. whats a good way to review uworld questions such that i actually learn the info? people say to annotate what you missed into FA, not sure how much i get out of that. Other people recommend a uworld journal, and i don't know if i'll come back to this in a few months to review it before step 1. am i not doing these right or are there other ways?

2. on the same topic, has anyone used the flash card functionality of uworld. Is it built with spaced repetition or are making those in anki the better idea?

3. lastly, i have this review book - USMLE step 1 secrets but im not sure how to incorporate it into my studying. how have you guys used this book to review, because i think its actually really good but i don't know where to put it into my studying.

thanks!

For each question, figure out what you needed to know to logically select the correct answer. Make sure you know those things and understand why the wrong answers are wrong.

Identification of this stuff can be done through FA annotation / journal / anki or any method that works best.

Ideally you will mix in cycles of review over this material as you continue to work through the q bank to keep the information fresh and also to remember the context in which the information is tested.

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What I thought was good was to go through the UW questions, and then when you run into a topic or a subtopic in which you weren't that solid on download the Zanki deck or whichever premade deck you like (faster than making your own), and add all the cards on that topic to your "UW" deck. Just keep buzzing at those and you'll get better over time.

I prefer active learning to passive, so UW and Anki were my primary sources. Though I did go over the traditional UFAP stuff.

I made a typed-UW journal divided into topics. Basically, a word .doc for neuro, cardio, GI, biochem, etc. I'm a fast typer, and once I got into the flow of things, it didn't take long at all to do. Much of the documenting was done in my own words, so it forced me to understand and synthesize the explanations. I printed out the pages as I went and blocked off 1 hour at the beginning and end of each day to go through these notes.

If I had to do Step 1 over again, I'd do it the same way.

I didn't annotate FA. It becomes a mess. I kept a separate UWorld journal. I didn't end up reading most of it, but it was there if I had time to review. The mere act of writing things out in a concise way helps me remember them. The key word is concision. Distill it down to the most fundamental concept. I.e. dementias all look similar right? But what makes them different? Lewy Body: hallucinations/PD, Alzheimers: STM loss, Vascular: step-wise decline, NPH: www, etc. Make it easy for yourself.

The Step 1 secrets book is great. Think of it as a nice way to carry Step 1 around with you. Read it on any down time you might have. You're watching the game and reviewing those annoying nephritides (Nefertiti?) at the same time. But priority = UWorld.

I think a point that I'd emphasize is making sure you understand why each answer choice is incorrect. UWorld does an amazing job of writing solid distractors and putting in differentials that you would never expect would be related to a given concept just by reading source material.

By truly understanding how two concepts differ this way, you can turn a weak/fluffy understanding into a more concrete/quantized one.

Apoplexy__ said:

I think a point that I'd emphasize is making sure you understand why each answer choice is incorrect. UWorld does an amazing job of writing solid distractors and putting in differentials that you would never expect would be related to a given concept just by reading source material.

By truly understanding how two concepts differ this way, you can turn a weak/fluffy understanding into a more concrete/quantized one.

Click to expand...

This is what I love/hate about UWorld. Sometimes you have a good feeling about 1 answer, but then you see another choice that makes you re-evaluate your whole life

idkididk said:

This is what I love/hate about UWorld. Sometimes you have a good feeling about 1 answer, but then you see another choice that makes you re-evaluate your whole life

Click to expand...

"If I don't get this question right, I swear I might end it..."

Osteoth said:

What I thought was good was to go through the UW questions, and then when you run into a topic or a subtopic in which you weren't that solid on download the Zanki deck or whichever premade deck you like (faster than making your own), and add all the cards on that topic to your "UW" deck. Just keep buzzing at those and you'll get better over time.

I prefer active learning to passive, so UW and Anki were my primary sources. Though I did go over the traditional UFAP stuff.

Click to expand...

Funny when I was thinking about the answer to my own question, I came up with this same method after I had posted this onto sdn but before I read the replies. I figured - since I anki so much anyway, why not take the zanki cards relevant to that question and put them in a custom "Uworld" deck that I do *every single day* with the idea that this deck gets bigger every time I do questions. I didn't like this uworld journal because knowing me I would never come back to it and I agree 100% with active learning > passive learning. Thanks!

dr.0ne said:

Funny when I was thinking about the answer to my own question, I came up with this same method after I had posted this onto sdn but before I read the replies. I figured - since I anki so much anyway, why not take the zanki cards relevant to that question and put them in a custom "Uworld" deck that I do *every single day* with the idea that this deck gets bigger every time I do questions. I didn't like this uworld journal because knowing me I would never come back to it and I agree 100% with active learning > passive learning. Thanks!

Click to expand...

Yeah overall this strategy works well. The only disadvantage that I came across was that if you do this the relative "yields" of questions in your deck will be given the same weight in Anki, aka a question on IgG4 will be right next to a question on the primary abdominal organ to be lesioned in a MVA. Obviously if you learn one faster than the other they'll be weighed in that fashion, but regardless this can lead you to keep hammering relatively "low yield" questions. Not a bad thing with unlimited time but a downside regardless. What I did to ameliorate this was to have a separate "high-yield" deck made up of all of the terms in the "high yield" stuff in the back of First Aide. Worked out well for me.

libertyyne said:

This might be weird, but I like to know what people scored before I start taking advice to heart.

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"I passed step 1 with a 193. Here's how you can too"