Test Day tips for USMLE

While the multiple choice format is not uncommon during our training years, an 8 hour multiple block exam is different, it needs some kind of strategy to keep yourself focused and fresh during your whole test day,  while at the beginning of a test session adrenaline can keep you up to speed during your first blocks it tends to fade away and you may feel exhausted during your last couple of blocks, it’s not uncommon that exhaustion makes you feel like reading gibberish and makes you read twice or even three times each question to understand them.

A major part of the exhaustion is caused by anxiety and a vague fear for your results, either you are counting questions to try and predict your score or feel like failing (which unfortunately it’s a really normal feeling during a really long and complex exam) and more so if you feel like the score is the most important thing in your life, first of all let’s get some things clear to ease your mind a bit:

 You cannot predict your outcome by counting your questions during the exam it only takes your attention away from the next question in the block; it consumes both your allotted time and your mental attention. 

The results are not the most important thing in your life try to put it in perspective, remember that there are other things that are more important for you, also it is not the only thing that matters for your application to a program you like, and if you fail you can take it again and it’s not the end of your career. 

Results depend mostly on your preparation, there is no other way around this you have to make your best effort and keep yourself focused toward your goals for a long period of time.

Today we are sharing some test taking tips for you to use during your exams hopefully these tips will help you get improve your performance and keep you calmed and focused.

The first answer is always the best answer

This is something you will hear very often, the first answer you think about its probably the right answer and you should really think at least three times before changing it, many of us get doubtful about our first guess and then try to change it, when in doubt trust your first guess, also if you really don’t trust your answer try and explain yourself why the new answer is better chances are you were right the first time.

In case you really want to change an answer make it only if you have a really clear argument about it. When in doubt trust your first logic.

Make your best guess

There will be times when a question doesn’t sound like anything familiar to your preparation, and that’s ok it happens, it’s in those questions where you take a guess, now logic may help you find which one might be but most importantly which of the answers you are sure are not the answer, if you can take 2 out of the group you will increase your odds up to a 50% to take a right guess.

And there will be questions where you will need to make a guess, so try and reduce your choices to the most logical probabilities.

 

Read the question again

After reading a question most of the times you have an idea of what to look for in the answers, generally the answer is there waiting for you, but when in the multiple answers there is nothing that looks like the thing you thought up, maybe it’s a mistake in your reading, so before trying to fit an answer to your own logic try and read the question again, sometimes our interpretation of the question may be wrong. This alone can help you improve your results a lot.

Don’t rush take your time

You have 8 hours to complete the test, don’t try to race to the finish line, it’s not about doing it fast, there is enough time to complete the test and not be in a hurry to finish all blocks, relax and read each question slowly, paying attention and understand the context, many of our misinterpretations come from the fact that we are racing against the clock.

There is enough time in each exam to answer and make 2 reviews of all the blocks, don’t rush, take your time and your score will be better.

Use sugar at the end

A little trick that might help you at the end, before the last 2 blocks of any given exam, go out and take some form of sugar, drink some water and take a couple of big breaths, relax for a bit and think about something else (like what you will be doing later that day) this simple action will increase your attention and will help you finish with a clear mind.

Stop Counting

As it was said before you can’t predict the outcome for these exams, don’t count the ones you think you have right or wrong, this is only keeping your attention on the count and making you waste time in the middle of an exam, try not to think about the results until they actually arrive, it’s better to focus on the question in front of you and not in the probable results of the last block.

Each question is a separate event

This is something that might help you keep relaxed and focused, think about each question in its own time and not about your last one, stop skimming forward to see the next questions, and keep your attention on the present one, each question is a separate event and you shouldn’t worry about how many wrong in a row you think you have or if the next one is a hard one or not, this only takes away attention from your current question and also makes you feel anxious about the results.

Treat each question as a separate event and focus on each one in its own time, if you leave some questions without answers, don’t think about them until you finish your block.

Hopefully these tips will help you improve your performance during test day, as always we would like you to check our products and visit us at www.usmleprepguide.com and if you have other test day tips to help everyone your are welcome to leave them in the comments section.

Study strategies and advice for USMLE no. 2

Continuing our previous blog on study strategies and advice for USMLE, We would like to continue recommending strategies for you to form your own strategy to tackle all the material for any Step, since having a strategy it’s important to your performance we are giving today some tips that hopefully will help you get a really great score in your tests.

Remember that preparing a step it’s not just about studying material and committing to memory facts and numbers, but also it requires you to have a strategy for preparation, a way to prepare you for the possible questions as well as highly used topics and high yield contents.

-Check the topic list:

Before starting a topic in any given subject check if it is important for the exam, there are many subjects that are not included in the exam or some that may be asked but are not regularly used, those should be the last on your list since studying the most used and high yield contents will be a more efficient use of your time.

If there is a topic you think it’s not really being used like for example (just as an example)  physiology of the auditory system, then by all means use your time and effort in a highly used topic like vitamins for example. All in all do some research about the topic you have doubts and ask in forums about it. Remember that it’s possible to ask for help when you need it.

-Write from memory

After you are done with a particularly difficult topic for you, make a quick review and write it down in your own words from memory, there is a part of our memory that helps retention when you write down those ideas. Also it will help you find those gaps that you have forgotten or where you are not sure about some fact.

Your own words will be the best way to review a subject quickly and more comprehensibly than reading cards or facts from other source.

-Check the unusual facts

There are always really unusual facts that are frequently used in the exams, like a protein named avidin that depletes a B vitamin to name one unusual fact, remember to write them down in one side of your review material, there are some that are frequently used in the exams, those particular or awkward signs and symptoms that make a disease different like blue colored sclera in osteogenesis imperfecta type 2, particularly also the clinical findings and manifestations of trisomy diseases and how you differentiate them from each other.

If you find unusual or strange data try to remember it and associate it to a disease, there may be clinical vignettes where you have to recognize the pathology using these unusual findings, including the use of images.

-Get your facts right

If you come across a fact or number that doesn’t seem right or you have doubts about its real value, double check it with a reliable source, search them in a well-known textbook or search online in official websites, it’s important to double check when in doubt since you will have one chance to get it right in the exam.

Also when you have doubts while answering question banks or simply trying to remember a topic, check again if you are not sure of some specific details, don’t leave your doubts in the air, you have to be more of a perfectionist in the case of doubts or missing pieces of information, remember that questions are made to be confusing or make you doubt your own answers so mastering each topic is really important.

-Add your own information

Whenever possible add information from your own research, you may find important details in textbooks or other sources that improve the ones you are working for your exam, add them as a side note, remember that there may be more and better ways to explain a topic that what you are currently reading, also simplicity in words and concepts are easier to remember, explain to others and use in a given situation.

-Associate images with important facts

There is always a really important fact lying in front of you in each image, it’s not just about the recognition of a given image or relation with a diagnosis, but also important details like specific growth media, bacterial growth requirements, specific deficiencies like the case of hemophilia, commonly found anatomical regions for growing a specific type of cancer etc. 

The whole idea is to add more contents to your knowledge when identifying a specific image. So they become available once you see the image presented, this will be important for questions on pathology, histology and medical imaging (x ray, cat scans etc.)

sacroidiosis with psamoma bodies

Keep in mind these tips during your preparation to improve your retention of material, don’t forget to check our tutoring guides at www.usmleprepguide.com to have a detailed tutor for your preparation, also if you have other ideas to help for studying let us know in the comment section.