Best Qbank, once and for all.

[metalmd06]

I have been reading about the comparisons between the different Qbanks online and I haven't been satisfied. The statements made are always the same: "Uworld is better than Kaplan." Why? I'm not sure. Most say that its more representative of the actual questions on the exam. While I know that the NBME self-assesments are probably the best, in the meantime I'm trying to decide the best Qbank to use up until I'm ready to do the those. WHY is Uworld more representative? Question/vignette style and answer choices? Difficulty level? I was wondering if anyone can be more descriptive/accurate when comparing the two. Right now I have Kaplan and am doing relatively well overall. I want to decide whether I should also get Qbank and work on those questions when the test gets closer. Any advice would be appreciated.

-Bill

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[vicinihil]

I haven't started UW yet and am finishing up Kaplan right now. From reading a lot of posts on this topic, my general impression is that UW questions are "more representative" of the boards in terms of difficulty and the scope it covers whereas kaplan is bigger on the minute details, UW is more on asking you questions that are a few steps removed from the immediate answer....I think

Someone who has taken the boards and done both banks like to comment?

 

[SweetTonics]

The exam is IDENTICAL to UW in terms of the layout, down to the color scheme...for me there was a comfort of familiarity while taking the Step. The q's on the real thing are *generally* easier than UW, but a lot of phys and pathophys q's were similar...esp graphs and the arrow questions. UW makes you think about the question and not just jump to the high yield answer. It made me a more efficient test taker.

I've done about 300 Qbank questions and I'm just not a fan...I didn't think they were high yield (I remember a q where a previously healthy 5 year old had VZV reactivation shingles...I was just like what's the point they were trying to make there?!) I didn't learn much from the q-bank, even w the teaching tabs and such. I've had friends do both - using UW to learn from and kaplan purely as a q-bank. Imho - just stick to UW....annotate the ish out of FA and RR with it

 

[nist7]

Anyone know how does USMLERx and USMLEConsult stack up against UW?

 

[Captopril]

This is still a debatable topic??? The answer is obviously UWorld.

 

[NRAI2001]

I hear USMLErx is second best after Uworld?? Is it better to do Uworld for a second/third time.. or USMLErx?

 

[lildave2586]

The exam is IDENTICAL to UW in terms of the layout, down to the color scheme...for me there was a comfort of familiarity while taking the Step. The q's on the real thing are *generally* easier than UW, but a lot of phys and pathophys q's were similar...esp graphs and the arrow questions. UW makes you think about the question and not just jump to the high yield answer. It made me a more efficient test taker.

I've done about 300 Qbank questions and I'm just not a fan...I didn't think they were high yield (I remember a q where a previously healthy 5 year old had VZV reactivation shingles...I was just like what's the point they were trying to make there?!) I didn't learn much from the q-bank, even w the teaching tabs and such. I've had friends do both - using UW to learn from and kaplan purely as a q-bank. Imho - just stick to UW....annotate the ish out of FA and RR with it

I remember that question!! As soon as I saw it, I thought "oh no, there is no way you just pulled that crap." Who the hell has heard of a 5 year old with recurrent VZV shingles? Did I even read this?

I'm almost at 50% on Qbank. I've done 100% of the path questions and about half of the pathophys. Their Path questions are waaay to easy (IMO), but I think the pathophys questions are about right. Overall, most Qbank questions are single step, disease recognition questions. You won't get many of these on boards.

I've been using Qbank to prepare for the path shelf, just to jog my memory about some of the diseases and things to that nature. It has been absolutely great for that purpose. I would never, ever use valuable Step I study time on Qbank. The yield is too low and some of the questions are straight out of left field.

 

[metalmd06]

I remember that question!! As soon as I saw it, I thought "oh no, there is no way you just pulled that crap." Who the hell has heard of a 5 year old with recurrent VZV shingles? Did I even read this?

I'm almost at 50% on Qbank. I've done 100% of the path questions and about half of the pathophys. Their Path questions are waaay to easy (IMO), but I think the pathophys questions are about right. Overall, most Qbank questions are single step, disease recognition questions. You won't get many of these on boards.

I've been using Qbank to prepare for the path shelf, just to jog my memory about some of the diseases and things to that nature. It has been absolutely great for that purpose. I would never, ever use valuable Step I study time on Qbank. The yield is too low and some of the questions are straight out of left field.

Is Qbank really that useless? Sucks for me since I've already done about 1000 questions and I've been going at a pretty good clip. Guess its time to get Uworld. I really want to see the difference. I guess the only way is to get it for myself. Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[RapidReview]

Where can I download for free the USMLE World Q-Bank 1? I've already gotten Kaplan's, can't find anywhere World, thou.

it's supposed to be one of the best ways to do well on the most important test of your professional career and you don't want to pay $200 for it???

just go buy it dude.

 

[SweetTonics]

Where can I download for free the USMLE World Q-Bank 1? I've already gotten Kaplan's, can't find anywhere World, thou.

i used the old UW Qbank for some of my shelf exams....honestly, the new Qbank is so much better, higher yield. i would sincerely recommend not wasting your time with the older one.

 

[lildave2586]

Is Qbank really that useless? Sucks for me since I've already done about 1000 questions and I've been going at a pretty good clip. Guess its time to get Uworld. I really want to see the difference. I guess the only way is to get it for myself. Thanks for the input everyone.

I wouldn't say its useless. I think it serves a great purpose for reminding you about different concepts. I used it mainly for Path shelf study (which was today), and I feel like I did pretty well (on the shelf). Even though the questions on the shelf were not very similar to Qbank's path questions, it still helped me simply by as a way of review.

The mistake is relying solely on Qbank for the Step. As long as you do all of Uworld at some point, you're gold!