advice on kaplan qbank scores

[pdz]

I will have 3 weeks to study for the test. I've already done a first reading of the material I'm planning to use (FA, brs path and phys, high yield behav). I've done this during these last 2 months, studying around 2 hours/day. I did 300 questions from kaplan qbank this week (two 50 q blocks/day, timed) and got between 56-68% (60% avg). I know it's very very low and I'm very frustrated since I thought by reading all the material once I was gonna be able to get more questions right.

Now here come my questions: do you think 3 weeks will be enough for me to get this score up? Should I spend all the 3 weeks doing tons of questions, or should I at least take one whole week to try to go through the whole material one more time? Any advice?

Also, out of curiosity, what score people (who do fine in the test) usually get in kaplan qbank around 3 weeks before the test?

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[blz]

finish the rest of kaplan in 2 weeks - do them in full length 350 question marathons (8hrs), go over mistakes for 3-4 hrs, review FA the rest of the day. That should get you through kaplan in about a week. So I guess you could even do a 350 block every other day and review the days in between. Regardless, that leaves about a week to just hardcore memorize FA all day and night till the exam. If you can do this, this should allow to reach the best possible score you can in three weeks.

so a typical day can be something like:

350 question block: 8am - 4pm
review questions: 4pm - 7pm
review FA: 7pm - 12am
sleep: 12am - 7:30am

it's rough but when it comes down to it, just tell yourself "shut up and do it!."

 

[pdz]

Thanks for your advice! It sounds like a good plan. I'm actually considering giving myself 4 weeks instead of 3.

 

[lord_jeebus]

What is your target score? If you're shooting for 220s or lower I would not panic or change your schedule.

 

[Doc 2b]

What do the percentile scores on Kaplan corelate to on the exam. I keep getting about 2-4% lower than "other users". Granted I have 5 weeks left and am just now getting ramped up into my focused board study. But does that really mean my mom lied and I am not super man, but below average? Or is this for everybody that has taken that question, begining studying and ending studying? THX😉

 

[anesthesiarocks]

What do the percentile scores on Kaplan corelate to on the exam. I keep getting about 2-4% lower than "other users". Granted I have 5 weeks left and am just now getting ramped up into my focused board study. But does that really mean my mom lied and I am not super man, but below average? Or is this for everybody that has taken that question, begining studying and ending studying? THX😉

if you're doing random sets of unused questions and checking off every discipline and are 2-4% on average less than the kaplan mean....you'll be fine. Especially if you have a bunch of time left.

 

[merovingian]

So from what I've read in this forum, a 66% avg on Kaplan Qbank = about a 215, which I would say is about an avg Step 1 score... but the avg on Qbank for "other users" is around 60%... does this mean that the majority of people using Qbank get a below avg score on the real thing?

 

[doctorp82]

I have the same question. Talking with 4th years who I am friends with, it seems that although I think my 65% overall (about 47% through qbank, and lately starting to hit 70's and sometimes an 80%) is fine, especially since for the same amount of questions I am about 5% over all other users. Some question sets I do are back and forth across that 65% mark.

I am also planning to do the IV bank, which is another 1000 something questions, and if I have time, I'm getting USMLE Steps 1,2,3 for free, and will do 2000 more there. I've heard that doing the high number of questions is a well proven strategy so long as you're learning, and that your NBME scores are going up from the start to finish of your studying. I took form 2 before doing any rigorous prep, and scored a 440 (205 step 1 score).

 

[anesthesiarocks]

So from what I've read in this forum, a 66% avg on Kaplan Qbank = about a 215, which I would say is about an avg Step 1 score... but the avg on Qbank for "other users" is around 60%... does this mean that the majority of people using Qbank get a below avg score on the real thing?

Lots of different factors are at work here. They aren't that hard to figure out:

1) A lot of people do questions on it before they are maximally ready(depressing the kaplan averages)
2) A lot of people do questions that aren't random and are over disciplines they have just finished studying(elevating the kaplan averages)