Amboss vs UWorld for Shelf Exams / M3

[CanIBeAnonymous]

Most of the threads on this are from years past and if you even mention using Amboss you get dumped on since UWorld was clearly the meta. However, Amboss really has risen up recently and more people I'm sure have started using Amboss alongside UWorld or just Amboss alone.

I start rotations soon (Surgery wooo) and am trying to workout my study plan for killing the shelf exams and then Step 2. I'm pretty much between

• Anki + Amboss questions daily + UWorld closer to Step 2 / during dedicated
• Anki + UWorld questions daily + UWorld reset for dedicated

Using both is honestly too expensive for me (I get the basic subscription to their database and Anki addon for free thankfully), and I know myself well enough and I certainly wouldn't get through them both.


What has worked for you?

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[Arsartium]

To be honest, even with a lifetime subscription to Amboss I haven't used it much during rotations. I primarily used Anki + UWorld for each rotation with a couple choice texts depending on the clerkship. In an ideal world, I would've done both Amboss and UWorld questions relevant to each rotation, but in the end I found that I simply didn't have the time. By the time dedicated rolled around I still had ~2000 UWorld questions left so I had no need for a reset.

From a shelf exam perspective, this method was fairly successful for me (>=95 percentile for each one). As for step 2 ck, I can let you know when I get my score back in a few weeks.

My understanding is that they're fairly equivalent from a rotation perspective (a few have offered that Amboss might be superior). Amboss possesses a level of detail in questions that might help you to impress your clerkship evaluators. I would hesitate to do 5 hammer questions too often though, as you then may overthink NBME/USMLE questions.

P.S. Great that you have the anki addon; it is well worth it.
P.P.S. I may consider doing Amboss questions soon to prepare Step 3. We'll see how that goes.

 

[CanIBeAnonymous]

To be honest, even with a lifetime subscription to Amboss I haven't used it much during rotations. I primarily used Anki + UWorld for each rotation with a couple choice texts depending on the clerkship. In an ideal world, I would've done both Amboss and UWorld questions relevant to each rotation, but in the end I found that I simply didn't have the time. By the time dedicated rolled around I still had ~2000 UWorld questions left so I had no need for a reset.

From a shelf exam perspective, this method was fairly successful for me (>=95 percentile for each one). As for step 2 ck, I can let you know when I get my score back in a few weeks.

My understanding is that they're fairly equivalent from a rotation perspective (a few have offered that Amboss might be superior). Amboss possesses a level of detail in questions that might help you to impress your clerkship evaluators. I would hesitate to do 5 hammer questions too often though, as you then may overthink NBME/USMLE questions.

P.S. Great that you have the anki addon; it is well worth it.
P.P.S. I may consider doing Amboss questions soon to prepare Step 3. We'll see how that goes.

Thanks for the input!

That was one of my fears - Amboss questions making me question myself when taking shelf exams / step due to fear of being tricked.

If for whatever reason I find myself getting through UWorld questions for a particular clerkship and wanna add more questions I'll drop 1 and 5 hammer questions on Amboss

 

[TakotsuboOkazaki]

I found UWorld to be the more complete resource, but my experience with AMBOSS wasn’t bad.

I’d say pick one and really learn every detail rather than trying to grind both or constantly debating in your head.

Like Ron Swanson said: “don’t half ass two things, whole ass one thing”.

 

[Captain_Falcon]

I did the first option and have no regrets so far (have one more rotation left in M3)

 

[aldol16]

UWorld hands down is the gold standard resource and if you want to crush your rotations and Step 2, UWorld is really all you need in addition to Anki for spaced repetition. If it's one or the other, I would say UWorld. It's going to be more expensive though and you have to decide how to plan it because you might have to buy more than 1 subscription if it lapses before you take Step 2.