Got the P with 6 hour study and average NBMEs
I wanted to hop on here and tell how I studied for the exam. I’m not a lazy student but I definitely burn out way quicker than most. You’ll never catch me studying for 10 + hours. I studied for 6 hours consistently ( pure study , no breaks ) 3 in the morning, 3 in the afternoon. Sometimes 2 hr at night . I went to gym and had a routine.
My NBMEs ranged from 56% to 66%. My free 120 that I took 2 days out was 80% ( I still have no idea how I jumped from 66% to 80% )
All I did was review NBME mistakes. I had google docs of all the topics from different subjects that I made consistent mistakes in. I screenshotted the topics from FA and made a separate document. Last 1 week I revised this document almost 10+ times.
UWORLD - 1st pass done, 46% score
1 day before exam
- I booked a hotel. Watched the office. Chatted with mom to get my mind off. Around 6pm I did a bit of yoga and meditation and slept at 8:30 . No studying
On the exam day
- woke up at 6:30 Am, got ready. Ate fruits and 1 sandwich. Went to the exam centre
- the exam topics were vague, I marked almost 12/20 questions on every block and this worked for me cause I didn’t run of time and had at least 10 mins of every block to review the marked questions
- even though the topics were vague they weren’t unfamiliar. I looked at the key words, eliminated options and pattern recognition was the KEY
- DO ETHICS FROM BOTH UWORLD AND AMBOSS. They were pretty direct and some word for word from AMBOSS
- I did my blocks 20/20/20 (60Q) - 5 min break - 20/20/20 (60Q) - 15 min break ( lunch ) - 20/20/20 (60Q) - 5min break - 20/20/20 (60Q) - 10mins break - 20/20 ( 40Q )
- I still had 30mins or so left in my break time but I felt refreshed enough in those small breaks
- between every block I would take 20 secs to deep breath without actually taking the break
- during breaks I ate sandwich, fruits , candy ( for quick energy ) monster ( monster was a bad idea ) . I stretched and gave myself pep talk ( highly recommended)
- I was calm and trusted the process.
Honestly nonchalance is the answer cause writing an exam of any difficulty with 8 hours of sustained concentration is a challenge in itself and the only way to get through is to detach your self worth from the results.
Trust your learnings, don’t regret the days you took breaks.
You know the content already, don’t be intimidated by long vignettes.
If I did it, believe me so can you. I’m no genius. I’m just above average at maxx.