Does anyone not like UsmleWorld?

[automan2]

It seems like everyone likes UW. Many people bash Qbank and USMLERx, but I have never heard anything bad said about UW.

It is time for me to get my question bank, does anyone who has experience with UW compared to one of the others have any advice to offer?

Thanks

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[Wings4Marie]

I've noticed three or four major errors in USMLEWORLD. I dont really care to contact them about it, but Robbins confirms my observations.

There are also spelling and grammatical errors. You won't see that kind of stuff in Kaplan Q bank. Also some diagrams were drawn in by crayon which looked kind of silly.

Plus, the explanations need to be rewritten, they actually make the question that much more esoteric when you read 4 long written paragraphs that tell you nothing really about why the correct answer was right. It's like the explanation was written for a different question.

Lastly, sometimes they omit an explanation for some incorrect answer choices. For example, I'll pick "B" as my answer. It will be wrong, and the explanation doesnt say why "B" was wrong, it says why C A D E F G were wrong but it left out the answer I picked! This has happened 3 or 4 times.

After all this crap, I still think its the best Q bank only because my NBME shot up about 100 points after a 3 and 1/2 week non stop barrage of USMLEWorld questions.

 

[goldensnow]

i have used kaplan q banks, usmle rx 80% and usmle world,
kaplan is helpful in memorizing of some facts that i missed out during my study. but may be it is due to my way of study. i retain facts better if i get them wrong in the first place,
that is what i did, i did kaplan q banks first, then read the kaplan notes for one time and take some notes and summarized some chapters. then i use usmle rx) to consolidate it, but i found it is disappointing, i don't think it is helpful (for me.) i am currently using uw. of 3 q banks, i think both kaplan q bank and uw are must do, but usmle rx is a joke.
but that is only my opinion though and i haven't sat step 1 yet , so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[surprisedgirl]

i havent heard such a negative opinoin of usmlerx yet.....can i get some other opinions ffrom current users? pros? cons?

 

[Wings4Marie]

The USMLERx questions are long and weird. They also like to test remote facts in First Aid and assume they are doing you a favor by getting those facts into your head. For example there were a bunch of questions on that little mnemonic they pride themselves on "Kuh, La, " or whatever. You know the one that tells you the muscles of mastication or the hypoglossal nerve, something like that.

Some questions are super easy too, probably not a good thing.

I like how they show the scanned pictures of First Aid with most of the questions. Its also a very colorful and fun to use interface.

I don't like how they don't compare you with other users like all of the other major Q banks do. For example if Im stressed out about a question in USMLEWorld or Kaplan Qbank, I'll scroll down and see that "9% of users got this question right." That way I know its kind of a bogus question. But If I'm getting questions wrong that "75% of users got this question right," I know the problem is inherently a deficiency on my part.

 

[goldensnow]

i don't like usmle rx perhaps because i don't like first aids in first place. i know a lot of people swear by it. but i can't retain facts in that book.
it seems ( to me ) the whole book is a long list of things with little connection between them , the facts just flow through me. and usmle rx put a lot of emphasize on it.
if u like most people , love first aids , u will probably ok with this q bank.

 

[goldensnow]

and i must add after using usmle RX for one month and doing 80% of questions and in spite of getting average of 65-75% on that q bank, my NBME score remains the same as before i started. not even a digit jump.

 

[Wings4Marie]

NBME scores tend to plateau, after a certain point it just seems impossible to get them higher even after becoming a completely insane study freak. Same thing with weight training by the way.

what's separating the hard working student who toils day in and day out and still gets a 215 versus someone who took the NBME for Sh%ts and giggles with one eye closed, and gets 235? In my opinion its natural ability although some might argue "its all about how good a student you are first and second year."

 

[jpro]

"its all about how good a student you are first and second year."

That is really key IMO. There is only so much you can learn for the first time verses what you can recall in the same amount of study time.

 

[surprisedgirl]

well yeah so since I use FA would it be a good tool to hammer in FA facts or is it still pointless?

 

[joe6102]

I don't like how they don't compare you with other users like all of the other major Q banks do. For example if Im stressed out about a question in USMLEWorld or Kaplan Qbank, I'll scroll down and see that "9% of users got this question right." That way I know its kind of a bogus question. But If I'm getting questions wrong that "75% of users got this question right," I know the problem is inherently a deficiency on my part.

That's the best part of Kaplan Qbank IMO. USMLEWorld does that too? I'm considering adding it on.

 

[Wings4Marie]

^^

I read somewhere that the secret to USMLEWorld was the fact that they actually throw into the mix a bunch of Step 2 and 3 questions/concepts. Kind of a weird thing, and you'll see, a lot of things don't seem familiar at all. It gave me an uneasy feeling, I was like "DId I buy the Step 2 Q bank by mistake? F$%k!!!" But I think that is part of their methodology of challenging you. Can you think even above and beyond this concept to a Step 2 and Step 3 concept? A total mindf*^k in my opinion. But it seems to make all other question banks easier. You'll hear that a lot from users, even on this board.

Another thing is... you want a long explanation to each question? Each question has long long long explanations and if you read through them you learn everything about the disease, including stuff you dont really care for. But... if you just scroll to the bottom of the explanation, they summarize the major concept in 3 sentences. So you could in fact just read that and move on to the next question...

With about 3 days of study time left Im making one final decision on preparation. I'm going to just keep doing questions until I collapse, and thats basically what I have been doing for months.

I mean.. do you know medicine? the only way to really tell is to constantly test yourself on it.

I'll tell you.. it hurts to get low scores on these Q banks... I really take it personally. It hurts my feelings and I become an emotional wreck. But the only way to dig myself out of it is to keep going and keep reading the explanations.


But to answer your question, yes USMLEWorld does that too, and you wont feel so bad getting 50s when the average is actually like 42! HAHA

Surprisedgirl, in my humble opinion, don't buy USMLERx, get world and ALSO have your FA sitting right next to with a pen on your desk. Everytime you get a concept wrong, find that section in FA, open it up and write it down in the margins. That way when your going through FA at the end, its not just FA, its a super pumped up jacked FA filled with lots of other important material.

 

[surprisedgirl]

thanks so much! that helps my decision process much more b/c i wasnt sure what my bank was gonna be (besides kap)

 

[kasra138]

Hey people,
I have done kaplan qbank, UW, and Robbins. any recommendations and ideas what other qbanks I could purchase? I appreciate your opinion.
regards

 

[Law2Doc]

It's like the explanation was written for a different question.

There are questions where they clearly cut and pasted the identical first couple of paragraphs from a similar (but not exact) topic question into the response, so that it's not really closely tied to the question (I've seen the same wording repeated when doing blocks of a single subject). Very lazy if you ask me. The concise summary sentence at the end is often the best use of your time. World has better use of diagrams in the explanations than kaplan, but Kaplan at least tends to keep to the point in their explanations. I do like World's letting you know what percentage of people got each question right as you go along if you are in tutor mode -- lets you feel less dumb if only 12% got a question right that you flubbed.
On the whole, both qbanks seem to have somewhat different coverage, so there is probably some value in doing parts of both, particularly in sections you feel you need more reinforcement.

Whichever one ends up being on the actual exam is the one you should like better. That people who haven't taken the test yet seem to like world better doesn't mean squat. Probably just means some of it is easier as people tend to like getting higher percentages. If Qbank wasn't good for the actual exam one would think they would be hemorrhaging customers a lot faster than they are. But who knows.