Everyone in medical school will tell you to do UWORLD, do UWORLD, but how do you really do UWORLD or AMBOSS? Doing practice questions is more than just sitting and clicking through vignettes; it’s visualizing a patient entering your office or ER with chief complaints, and you will help fix their problem as their doctor. Creating the scenarios in your head will allow you to appreciate the question more.

Questions to Ask Yourself

Let’s dissect a question together because this took me so long to appreciate the question stem and how much information is given within that can be utilized to answer quicker. 

1. Look at the last question first. What are they asking? Is it a clue question?
2. Look at the sentence above it. Is there any direct information that can assist you in answering the question without reading the rest? [For pharmacology, sometimes the drug is there, and the question is, what is the MOA? This technique can save you 1 minute on exam day]
3. Now let’s go to the beginning of the question; age & gender rule out the different specialties. If it’s a male, we can rule out OBGYN right there. If it’s an adult, rule out pediatrics. Begin ruling out immediately. 
4. Location: Where is the patient? ER or office? If the patient is in the emergency department, is it acute, trauma, or surgical? In the office, is it routine screening?
5. PMHX: What is the PMHx? Is the patient a Cardiopath? Endocrine? Autoimmune? Cancer patient? If there’s a PMHx of MI, they can have another corresponding Cardiopathic condition. If they have diabetes, they may experience complications of their current disease. If they previously had an autoimmune disease, they may have another one. If they previously had cancer, they may have cancer again. 
6. Chief Complaint: What is the patient complaining of? What are the signs & symptoms?
7. Signs: How are their vital signs stable or unstable? Are there lab values or imaging that can clue in or clue out?
8. Physical exam: Is there anything significant in the PE?
9. Other things to think about: Have they taken any NEW medication recently? Is there a medication interaction?

These are some of the running questions going through my head when I analyze a question that has helped me rule in or rule out some options.

Once we get to the answer choices…

1. Eliminate what you know is incorrect immediately!
2. I usually am stuck between two answers; that’s when I go with my clinical and gut judgment and see if I got the answer right.

Analyzing UWORLD

1. Whether you got the question right or wrong, this part matters the most.
2. READ THROUGH the explanation; what are they focusing on?
3. If you got the question wrong – read the answer choice you picked and see what differentiates it from the correct answer; sometimes, it’s one little detail you may have missed.
4. If you got the question right, do you know the topic, and can you save time and do more questions, or did you guess?
5. If you guessed and got it right, treat it like you got it wrong, read through the explanation, and read through the objective. Are there any new details that UWORLD is giving that you have not seen before?

Last Few Tips For UWORLD

USE UWORLD AS A LEARNING TOOL

• Although, yes, you are testing yourself by doing UWORLD, it’s not exam day; it’s still a learning tool and a great way to fix the knowledge gaps you may have!

DO UWORLD WITH A STUDY PARTNER

• Questions with a friend are always better than doing it alone; it allows you to learn from one another and see how they are thinking, approaching the question, and what clues in the question stem drew them into the answer vs. what you may have picked up on.

Conclusion

I hope these tips help you when you are approaching your next practice questions. If you have any additional questions, please contact me on Instagram @dr.sandrakamel or email me below.

Check out the next blog post – How to Effectively Utilize ANKI?