choosing between 2nd question bank

[sjsmx75]

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Having trouble choosing a 2nd qbank, i have usmleworld already, was thinking about a 2nd between usmlerx or kaplan, any suggestions ?

 

[nkhan]

Kaplan's way more picky, Rx is good for getting 1st aid down (each q has a pic of where it is in FA)--if you have 1st aid down completely use Kaplan if not then do Rx.

Both have a few errors and about 100 of rx's 3000 questions have to do with lithium and NDI for some reason 🙂

 

[winkleweizen]

Ive really liked Rx....cheaper and the First aid thing.

 

[sjsmx75]

thanks for the feedback, i got a few more days before i buy either one of them, hopefully i can figure it out by then

 

[Encephalectomy]

I did kaplan along with classes and am about 500 qs into Rx. I don't really have a strong preference between the two, though I think that Kaplan is harder (not necessarily a plus or a minus). I wouldn't stress too much about the decision they are both pretty good and neither is as good as Uworld.

Also, if you annotate, Kaplan puts the First aid page numbers in so I think that is even as well. If you don't want to open up your first aid while you are doing q's though, then having it right in front of you is nice.

 

[hrandani]

I never thought I'd say this, but I'd go with Kaplan
-The interface is a lot nicer, snappier, and never logs you out like Rx
-There are more questions and the explanations are better
-More neuro video / heart sound question
-It also has references to FA & Medessentials
-There are definitely some WTF moments with the questions, but better to over prepare than under prepare
-The iphone app is wicked handy to do questions in spare moments
-Not sure if this is supplied to regular subscribers but it has a pretty cool set of diagnostic tests, 7 block trial runs, and a separate physio qbank
-Really good breakdown at the end of each test by both discipline and organ system of where you're screwing up

Reasons I had against Rx
-Constantly logged me out, log in / test submit process was very buggy
-It seemed like the FA pages never answered the question! So frustrating!
-Also had plenty of WTF moments with questions.
-Questions too easy, not very varied. Didn't feel like I learned much.
-Did not help at all with "learning FA" like I planned.

Either qbank is a distant second to UWorld. I just don't understand the disconnect between writing a question and then not giving the explanation for an answer. But there's not really a huge difference if the price is a big factor there's no reason not to go with Rx.

 

[jfgavina]

Do you recommend doing UW 3 times or is it better to do uworld 2 times and kaplan one time?

 

[Encephalectomy]

do uworld 2 times and kaplan one time?

This

 

[Encephalectomy]

Yea, Rx's interface/constant logging out is super annoying and sometimes causes you to lose your marked questions, also very annoying.

 

[engineeredout]

Yea, Rx's interface/constant logging out is super annoying and sometimes causes you to lose your marked questions, also very annoying.

I have the majority of problems with kaplan, where I have to suspend the exam and restart it again because sometimes it will just decide not to move on, despite my internet connection working fine.

I'd vote for USMLERx. I think the questions are better written and more high yield, and I've had far fewer problems with the actual interface than with kaplan. Plus you get 1000 more questions with Rx.

 

[MossPoh]

I've discovered Kaplan is kind of quirky. It looks better with google chrome, but doesn't crash/free with explorer.

I'm a little irritated with Kaplan right now because I went to try it out with firefox and evidently I'm locked out of my account and nobody will reply to my emails over the last few days.

Really, I'm borderline furious. Luckily I have Uworld as well, but what if I were someone that ONLY had kaplan? It is crappy to leave someone out in the cold like that.

I think Kaplan is really educational, but their questions are kind of mediocre. If you're really cheap, you can just get a few question books and work through those as well. The books aren't as good, but I have learned stuff from them. I've done the pretest one, a good chunk of kaplan and about a quarter of NMS along with the standard Robbins review.