Im thinking about not doing uworld?

[qqw]

I'm a DO student registered for both USMLE and COMLEX.

I will take an NBME in 2 weeks to gage where I'm at. If I'm too low, I'll cancel USMLE.

I have done 85% of Combank's COMLEX questions and 12% of Combank's USMLE questions.

I'm planning on just finishing combank's USMLE questions rather than buying Uworld. I also have access to kaplan's qbank as well.

Is this a bad idea or am I good?
I tried out the sample questions from uworld and it was ok, but to be honest it didnt seem much different from combank's explanations. I feel I've learned well from it. But everyone on here swears by uworld so I'm feeling a bit guilty for not getting it. Does uworld really make that much difference? Any thoughts appreciated.

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[OnePunchBiopsy]

I took step about a month ago and I felt that UWORLD was essential. I have done Kaplan, USMLERx, 3 NBME's, and UWORLD, and my Step 1 questions were most like UWORLD.

 

[abolt18]

Thinking about not using UWorld? You thought wrong!

Ok but in all seriousness, I really felt I got a LOT more out of it than I did from COMBANK.

 

[nwmedapplicant]

lots of people are successful without Uworld. Yes Uworld is great - but if you are dedicated to Kaplan I'm sure you will do just fine. It's not always the resource but your dedication to utilizing the resource. If you study hard with kaplan - you will do great on the USMLE - like thousands of others.

 

[pathologyDO]

As far as I know, everyone uses UWorld, everyone I have talked to at my D.O. school that is taking the USMLE is using or has used it. You may not need to do a second pass, but trust me, you need to use it to get familiar with the way the USMLE is going to ask you questions (e.g. extremely integrated, dense and sometimes downright perplexing clinical vignettes). COMBANK doesn't even come close IMO, you should at least do 1 pass through UWorld to get acquanted, not to mention that it is one of the best learning tools.

I have gotten super frustrated at times with UWorld and I know people that have stopped using it, but IMHO it is probably the best tool for the USMLE... or at least equal to important for FA and pathoma

again this is just my opinion, YMMV

 

[rodmichael82]

Taking USMLE without Uworld?
You'll get wrecked.

 

[InvegaSustenna]

Bad idea

 

[UWorldAlternative]

As far as I know, everyone uses UWorld, everyone I have talked to at my D.O. school that is taking the USMLE is using or has used it. You may not need to do a second pass, but trust me, you need to use it to get familiar with the way the USMLE is going to ask you questions (e.g. extremely integrated, dense and sometimes downright perplexing clinical vignettes). COMBANK doesn't even come close IMO, you should at least do 1 pass through UWorld to get acquanted, not to mention that it is one of the best learning tools.

I have gotten super frustrated at times with UWorld and I know people that have stopped using it, but IMHO it is probably the best tool for the USMLE... or at least equal to important for FA and pathoma

again this is just my opinion, YMMV

Why did you get frustrated with UWorld?

 

[pathologyDO]

Why did you get frustrated with UWorld?

It's difficult! I was scoring 70-80% on Kaplan Qbank but then when I switched to UWorld it was more like 50%'s. They also like to ask deep-thought types of questions and I sometimes don't know whether to pick the blatant answer or re-read and think harder about the question. takes practice to know how to do UWorld questions. That being said it is pretty much an indispensable resource.

 

[Dharma]

Bad idea. UWorld all the way. If you want to do your best, you use UW.

 

[qqw]

I didn't buy uworld. I did some sample questions and it was ok. But i felt they weren't any different than Kaplan's questions. Also, I feel like Combank's explanations were better.

I have done 3,217 questions total between combank and Kaplan. just counted lol.

I will take NBME 17 and if I score too low, ill either cancel or reschedule for sometime during rotations. at what score should I consider cancelling? <210?

 

[Craigielawson]

I did about 40% of the combank questions and found that 80% of what I did was really easy questions compared to unworldly while the other 20% of combank I found myself saying "that's a clown question bro". Those 20% were just trying to trick you and mess with you. Nonetheless, uworld is a much better program (I did the entire thing) and really challenged me. But the biggest difference. I did question set of uworld and learned 200 things. I did a question set of com bank and learned maybe 30 things.

 

[da Vincis World]

Uworld is pretty much the gold standard prep for the USMLE. Forgoing the gold standard is a pretty bold move. Let us know how it goes.

 

[paintballguy]

oh man I hope these ppl changed your mind. UWORLD is so useful it's ridiculous! I'm sure it's possible to do well without it if you are really smart and well motivated, but why risk it? Combank questions are much shorter and explanations are less useful and content is not as relevant to the USMLE. Plus after doing uworld, comlex and combank will seem easy.

 

[Crayola227]

I didn't buy uworld. I did some sample questions and it was ok. But i felt they weren't any different than Kaplan's questions. Also, I feel like Combank's explanations were better.

I have done 3,217 questions total between combank and Kaplan. just counted lol.

I will take NBME 17 and if I score too low, ill either cancel or reschedule for sometime during rotations. at what score should I consider cancelling? <210?

I would say yes most definitely. In fact, I would cancel if less than 220, to be honest.

People rarely do better than what those tests predict, but I guess it all has to do with how much risk you can tolerate, score goals, and how well you feel pravtice tests match up to your scores IRL.

 

[Crayola227]

Being frustrated with a bank you only 50% on vs one you do 75% on, the point is that you want a bank most like the real deal, and USMLE is it, they point out that a bank like test day where you get a lower percentage is just teaching you more things you didn't know.

Maybe your bank prep is adequate. Not clear why you wouldn't have done UWORLd over Kaplan but maybe it was promo or something.

 

[renee093]

I did USMLE world 2 times but I still fail comlex.

 

[W19]

Sorry to highjack this thread:

Will I be able to go over UWorld, USMLE-Rx, FA and Kaplan twice in 8 weeks? I plan to study 12 hrs/day... Not sure if I will be able go over all these materials in 8 weeks.. My target score is >225. I am a below average student at a low tier US school. I am already anxious about that test...

 

[Entadus]

Sorry to highjack this thread:

Will I be able to go over UWorld, USMLE-Rx, FA and Kaplan twice in 8 weeks? I plan to study 12 hrs/day... Not sure if I will be able go over all these materials in 8 weeks.. My target score is >225. I am a below average student at a low tier US school. I am already anxious about that test...

Do you mean doing just FA twice? Or doing all those Q banks twice? I don't think it makes sense to try and re-do your question banks.

 

[W19]

Do you mean doing just FA twice? Or doing all those Q banks twice? I don't think it makes sense to try and re-do your question banks.

I will be doing FA/Rx, Uworld and pathoma twice since I have 8 weeks to study for the test, which is more than enough time by most people account... I will probably do Kaplan once...