Content in USMLE Rx and Kaplan Q Bank vs Uworld

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Numba1Plumma

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Just finished up annotating my first aid heavily from both USMLE Rx and Kaplan Q bank. Without a doubt, the annotating questions bit takes up quite a bit of time. I have 7 wks to study for step 1 over summer and was planning on starting uworld then.

My questions is pretty simple: for those who have done USMLE Rx and Kaplan Q Bank, would you say that UWorld has additional KNOWLEDGE/FACTS not found in Rx, Q bank or First Aid. I'm not talking about multistep questions or about the quality of questions or question difficulty; I know Uworld is gold. But, if I know that most of my time can be spent answering questions and reading explanations and not having to annotate more information, such as new drugs, microbes, etc. b/c I've already seen them in Qbank or Rx, then I know I will be able to save a lot of time.

Hope this question makes sense. I'm hoping that b/c I spent so much time on Rx and Qbank and annotating first aid, that I don't have to annotate as much once Uworld comes around and I can spend my time elsewhere.

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Just finished up annotating my first aid heavily from both USMLE Rx and Kaplan Q bank. Without a doubt, the annotating questions bit takes up quite a bit of time. I have 7 wks to study for step 1 over summer and was planning on starting uworld then.

My questions is pretty simple: for those who have done USMLE Rx and Kaplan Q Bank, would you say that UWorld has additional KNOWLEDGE/FACTS not found in Rx, Q bank or First Aid. I'm not talking about multistep questions or about the quality of questions or question difficulty; I know Uworld is gold. But, if I know that most of my time can be spent answering questions and reading explanations and not having to annotate more information, such as new drugs, microbes, etc. b/c I've already seen them in Qbank or Rx, then I know I will be able to save a lot of time.

Hope this question makes sense. I'm hoping that b/c I spent so much time on Rx and Qbank and annotating first aid, that I don't have to annotate as much once Uworld comes around and I can spend my time elsewhere.

sorry to burst you're bubbles. But out of those three qbanks, Uworld is by FAR the most superior in explanations and in content that you NEED to annotate into your first aid. Personally i thought the rx questions were ehh ok, but the explanations were complete doo-doo no reasoning and ALOT of errors. I haven't taken the exam yet, but from the experiences that i have read on this forum, specifically the 2014 exam experiences thread. The general consensus is that UWorld explanations are pertinent to step 1 studying. Shouldn't take you too long tho. if you really bust your ass you can finish it all in a month still leaving you with 2-3 weeks of study time. If you decide not to annotate, i would at least read all the explanations and understand why you got a question wrong or right for that matter. good luck!
 
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The only things you need to write down are important facts that you know you're going to forget and explanations to important concepts that you don't know. First aid is a basically a list of facts but it's light on explanations. UWorld is all about concepts and understanding why things happen. I don't think annotating from RX was worth your time although I've only done about 1/3 of it. It's good for understanding what's in first aid and knowing basic facts. You probably have a good foundation by now but there are plenty of things in uworld that aren't in first aid.
 
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Rx helped me a lot. And I annotated from here a lot as well. I found their explanations to be pretty darn good (i.e. to the point without fluff) IF you have a solid foundation from your classes... which you should have. It was a great warm-up for UWorld. I found UWorld to be as awesome as everyone says... BUT... their explanations can start to get a bit over the top and become a time sink once you really start to nail down concepts. So you need to recognize those concepts that you can afford to just skim over (or skip) and which you really need to get down and dirty with and start annotating. That said, you can definitely expect to see more than number of concepts in UW that you won't find anywhere in FA or Rx. I even learned a few things I never stumbled upon in my first two years, and I was one of those textbook-reading types (who will never sit with Robbins for more than 30 minutes ever again).

UWorld diagrams and pics are golden. (Keep your phone handy so you can snap off shots to review later). I had my FA spiraled with blank sheets inserted every few pages so I knew I wouldn't run out of space for annotating like mad. (Probably better to get the 3-hole punch and binder though). After finishing Rx and UWorld and annotating heavily from both, I still have blank sheets. I have the ultimate FA now... Loaded with diagrams, charts, drawings, flows… BALLING!

Take home: You can annotate from Rx when it helps (and not everything from Rx is in FA). But the real action is with UW. Leave space. Expect to annotate heavily from there. Good luck young blood.

EDIT: looks like you already did the Rx thing. Advice stands for others reading.
 
Rx helped me a lot. And I annotated from here a lot as well. I found their explanations to be pretty darn good (i.e. to the point without fluff) IF you have a solid foundation from your classes... which you should have. It was a great warm-up for UWorld. I found UWorld to be as awesome as everyone says... BUT... their explanations can start to get a bit over the top and become a time sink once you really start to nail down concepts. So you need to recognize those concepts that you can afford to just skim over (or skip) and which you really need to get down and dirty with and start annotating. That said, you can definitely expect to see more than number of concepts in UW that you won't find anywhere in FA or Rx. I even learned a few things I never stumbled upon in my first two years, and I was one of those textbook-reading types (who will never sit with Robbins for more than 30 minutes ever again).

UWorld diagrams and pics are golden. (Keep your phone handy so you can snap off shots to review later). I had my FA spiraled with blank sheets inserted every few pages so I knew I wouldn't run out of space for annotating like mad. (Probably better to get the 3-hole punch and binder though). After finishing Rx and UWorld and annotating heavily from both, I still have blank sheets. I have the ultimate FA now... Loaded with diagrams, charts, drawings, flows… BALLING!

Take home: You can annotate from Rx when it helps (and not everything from Rx is in FA). But the real action is with UW. Leave space. Expect to annotate heavily from there. Good luck young blood.

EDIT: looks like you already did the Rx thing. Advice stands for others reading.

Yeah they like to repeat a lot of questions. I swear I got like twenty questions about turner's syndrome. I got no questions about it on the real thing and neither did anyone else I talked to. But I'll know it when I see it in real life.
 
hello..
can someone give me their extra notes from usmlerx and/or kaplan step 1 ????
much appreciated ......
 
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