I looked at more than 100 NAPLEX posts. I think students may be studying the wrong way.

I spend probably too much time reading NAPLEX posts here :)
One thing started bothering me, so I went back and looked at around 100 posts/questions from students preparing for the exam.
Not scientific research. Just me being curious.
What surprised me was how often the problem was not really “I don’t know pharmacology.”
It was things like:
“I know the material but I can’t decide between two answers.”
“I keep making stupid calculation mistakes.”
“I studied the whole chapter but the question looks completely different.”
“I don’t know what to focus on anymore.”
“I keep postponing because I never feel ready.”
Calculations came up a lot, obviously. But so did anticoagulation, diabetes/insulin, infectious diseases, oncology and some of the smaller topics people tend to leave until the end.
But there was another pattern I found more interesting.
A lot of people seem to be measuring preparation by how much material they have covered.
Finished 70% of UWorld.
Read X chapters.
Did X thousand questions.
Studied X hours.
I’m not sure those are the best measures.
After teaching pharmacy students for many years, I think there is a point where doing more content gives less return than getting better at making decisions with the content you already know.
Especially when two answers both look reasonable.
Maybe the last phase of NAPLEX preparation should be less:
“What else haven’t I studied?”
and more:
“Why did I choose the wrong answer when I actually knew the topic?”
Curious what recent test takers think.
For those who passed recently, what caused you more trouble in the final weeks: knowledge gaps or decision-making under pressure?