Practice exams are great tools to test yourself with the knowledge and estimate where you are in your preparation. But they are also a great tool for preparing you for TEST day (aka GAME DAY).
Treat practice exams such as NBMEs, UWORLD SIM, or FREE 120 like an exam day. If your real exam is set to begin at 8 am, start your practice exam at 8 am. If you get a break between blocks, take the break in between blocks with the same snacks or drinks you consume on test day.
STIMULATE TEST DAY.
Stimulating weekly test days leading up to the big board exams is important. It’s a mental and physical battle to sit through all day studying and TESTING your knowledge.
Which Practice Exam to Use?
- For Step 1 – check out this blog post to know which exams I used.
- For Step 2 – check out this blog post to know which exams I used.
- For Step 3 – check out this blog post to know which exams I used.
Analyzing Practice Exams
After doing the practice exam, I made the ANKI cards with my incorrects and utilized the hashtag to filter it into my filtered deck (check out this blog post). I also hand-wrote them into a notebook to reinforce my weak topics further. By doing this, I create a cheat cheat for myself to read over DAILY the week of my exam/shelf/board exam.
Conclusion
Utilizing practice exams in the correct method can help keep you on track with your goals for the exam that you are studying for. I hope these tips help you on your next exam.
If you have any additional questions, please contact me on Instagram @dr.sandrakamel or email me down below.