FA and Qbank= all you need

[chef]

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ppl always talk about importance of "concepts" to do well in step1, but if you had a slightest clue about what was going on during first 2 yrs in medschool the concepts are taken care of. i mean we didnt learn quantum physics concepts or anything!! LOL

i think if u just really study FA and do qbank for 4 weeks (solid 10 hrs/d) and have kept up w/ class first 2 yrs (avg, not top 10%), you will probably get around 220-230 range no prob, 235+ if u get lucky.

of course if u want 250+ it'd be a diff story..

 

[timequaker06]

errr....

10 hours a day is a lot. I've probably only averaged 7.

I probably don't know FA half as well as I should, but I have finished Qbank and have read a number of other books in support of FA (the usual suspects, BRS physi, path, HY embryo, gross, behavior).

I'm hoping for 235+ Who knows. I guess I'll find out if I should have worked much harder on Sat.

 

[12R34Y]

absolutely! i thought that first aid and qbank were excellent board prep.

pretty much all i used.

later

 

[DireWolf]

I started slacking off on QBank to make sure I had FA and some other materials mastered.

I could finish it if I really wanted to put in the time. Or I could stop at completing around 75% of the questions.


Anyone have any thoughts on whether or not the extra 500 questions will make that much of a difference?

i.e. Is QBank useful because you are likely to see repeated questions and concepts on the actual USMLE or just because it gets you used to answering a lot of questions?


thanks.

 

[PACtoDOC]

Hey Wolf, I did 82% of the questions leaving all the biochem, stats, and anything that was not included in the systems method of taking the tests. I did the systems only, one per day for a couple of weeks. I ended up with 74% overall but I am certain that would have gone down had I included all the extra biochem and cell bio. It probably would have helped me immensely to have limped through those topics because my exam was littered with cell bio!!

 

[DireWolf]

Hey Wolf, I did 82% of the questions leaving all the biochem, stats, and anything that was not included in the systems method of taking the tests. I did the systems only, one per day for a couple of weeks. I ended up with 74% overall but I am certain that would have gone down had I included all the extra biochem and cell bio. It probably would have helped me immensely to have limped through those topics because my exam was littered with cell bio!!

Thanks man.

Did you feel that the QBank questions helped in regards to repeated questions/concepts on the actual USMLE, or was it simply more useful as a practice tool for doing lots of questions?

I'm afraid that if I neglect the last 500 questions, I may miss some easy questions on USMLE due to similar questions.

 

[Willamette]

My opinion is to not sweat Qbank. If you finish it cool, if not...well that'd be cool too. The mistake would be to continue doing Qbank and neglecting to brush up on/ learn concepts in areas that you are weak in. That being said, I didn't feel like my Step was very Qbankesque (except for the layout), and I DO wish that I'd have paid a little better attention to FA (remember...EVERY WORD is important in FA), and reading a pathophysiology of disease book would have been a good idea too. Don't sweat it too much though, most of what you'll need for the test you already know. Just don't be afraid to click on an answer that seems to be right, even if you're not sure about it answering every part of the question stem. Good luck!


Willamette

 

[PACtoDOC]

The problem I feel I had was that I was not ready for the format of the cell bio questions because I had not done but a handful on Q Bank. I just used FA to memorize cell bio and I had not practiced using that info in a thought provoking way. I would do them just to feel more confident. If you are running short on time just read the question and the answer and don't read the wrong answers.

 

[trouta]

I wish I had spent more time on FA and less on the extra books. I agree w/ the first poster that FA and Qbank are really all that you need if you just want to do reasonably well (230). If I could have memorized more of FA I know there are several more questions I would have got right.