3 weeks away from 2nd pance

[samhamiam]

Hi everyone,

First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to read this and especially if you leave me advice, please know I am very grateful for it. 

I am taking my pance for the 2nd time in 3 weeks and I will list what I have done so far in the past 9 weeks studying and what I plan to do for the remaining 3 weeks. 

I focused on questions! I started with what I did weak on first then moved along, so MSK, GI, Cardiology, pulmonology, EENT, Repro, Renal, GU, Endocrine, neurology, psych. Each of these 11 topics I did all the questions on that section on Rosh first, then all the questions on that section on Exammaster, then all of the questions on Kaplan. I only used Rosh, Exammaster, Kaplan question banks and did the questions by the subject I was studying that day. I scored anywhere from 65% to 85%, any wrong answers I got I wrote down the explanation and why what I picked was not the right answer in a notebook (I have 4 of these notebooks now) I reviewed one of them a couple times. 

Now here is my plan for the next 3 weeks: 

- Reset all question banks today 

- daily jog 6am - 7am 

- 300 mixed questions  with <10 min break between each block (8am to 2pm) about 5x a week

- review wrong answers but not write anything down (takes forever, I don't have the time) 

- before bed listen to Joe Gilboy podcast and notes (should be done with this in next 10 days)

- 1 chapter from aapa book (I already read about 6 chapters, should be done in next 2 weeks) 

- Review my notebooks from questions I got wrong and explanations 

NOT study the day before and just do yoga most of the day, eat a lot and sleep. 

 

What else do you all recommend? I have everything riding on this test and am scared, because it is my second time. My first time I failed by 9 points, which I know it doesn't matter by how much you failed, it's that you failed so you need to review everything. What else do you all suggest? Thank you in advance!

[PAcandidate7002]

That is an excellent plan. Keep up your work. How much has your percent in the individual databases improved since you started? When you say you failed by 9 points how many points is the test out of? Do you mean 9 questions or 9 percentage points?

[MarkMass]

Sounds like a thorough and well organized plan. I have two bits of advice, but I recognize that everyone studies and retains differently so it may or may not help.

1. Don't overstudy and be too rigid to your plan.  I told my classmates, you will never know everything and if you let yourself, you will obsess over small details and go down wormholes while forgetting the core info.  Which leads to my second:

2. Doing questions are great and how most people advise us to study.  I also think it's important to know core details about topics because, as you probably saw with the 1st pance, they ask round-about type questions.  For example, I felt like mine had a lot of endocrine, especially pituitary function/dysfunction.  I did questions while studying but also spent a good amount of time making sure I knew details of the pathologies and how to differentiate primary, secondary, and tertiary causes.  That took the guesswork out when I saw vague questions about decreased libido or skin hyperpigmentation, etc.

And you're 100% right.  Take the day before off, watch mindless Netflix, and don't even think about studying.  Lastly, don't doubt yourself or change answers.  That seems to be where a lot of people have trouble and regret the most after completing the exam.

Good luck, you got this.