how beneficial is it to have Qbank memorized?

[suckerfree]

When people say they were scoring 70% to the end of their studying w/ qbank, is that including 70% on q's they have already seen?

A big part of my prep is to focus on FA and have Qbank mostly memorized, and I have pretty much memorized BRS Path. I have 3 weeks to go and got a 206 on NBME I at the beginning of my study period about 2 weeks ago. I plan to take an NBME 2 after about 6 days from today. I read so many books throughout the year to prepare but I am so nervous. I annotated FA heavily and the only other book aside from BRS Path which I plan to read for a 3rd time starting tomorrow will be HY Cell Bio. The rest I will be relying on my heavy annotated FA and I currently have Qbank almost done. I spent the last 5 days memorizing my BRS Phys which I read for a 2nd time (I know that is too much time but I was getting a little bit burned out)

I really just want to guarantee myself a pass more than anything. I didn't do so great during my 1st 2 years because of deaths in the family etc. so I have really been focusing on this Step I and moving on with my life. Any comments to any of the above would be most appreciated. I am most interested in whether having Qbank memorized so that I get > 90% on randomized 50 q sets is good.

Do you think that having Qbank memorized (understanding right and wrong answers) is a good thing? I just don't know what to think. Thanks! How comprehensive is Qbank w/ all of its explanations?

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[YouDontKnowJack]

of course, anything memorized will benefit you. And studying the sht you get wrong is also good. it's just common sense really.

 

[(nicedream)]

With FA/Qbank memorized, and BRS/HY studied heavily, I guarantee you at least a 240 unless something's wrong with you.

 

[lord_jeebus]

There's a lot of crap in QBank that's a total waste of time. Usually when you think "the boards wouldn't test that, would they?" it's not worth learning. If you've done an NBME exam, ask yourself if you could see that QBank question in another NBME test.

 

[dara678]

the usmle is more a test of reasoning rather than memorizing. if you can "memorize" and understand mechanisms that is vastly better than remembering every single stupid thing in qbank ... which i thought was pretty useless anyway.

 

[YouDontKnowJack]

the usmle is more a test of reasoning rather than memorizing. if you can "memorize" and understand mechanisms that is vastly better than remembering every single stupid thing in qbank ... which i thought was pretty useless anyway.

doesn't matter what everyone says. keep memorizing.
Just be sure you can apply what you memorized.

 

[suckerfree]

I'm not sure how you can memorize without understanding exactly.

I was so worried but I took an NBME and was convinced that the vast majority of it was in First Aid and that REALLY knowing First Aid and Qbank = guaranteed pass.
When I say have Qbank memorized, I don't mean just remember what the answers are...but rather you should be able to fully explain to someone else all the content of the explanations.

There are too many q's to have them all memorized without knowing what the answers mean really I think.

Man I hate studying for this exam.

 

[kito]

Man I hate studying for this exam.

Amen to that bro.

 

[Evil Monkey]

In my experience, Qbank and Step 1 were very different. I found it beneficial for getting used to the block format/mental fatigue. Nothing beyond that.

 

[suckerfree]

In my experience, Qbank and Step 1 were very different. I found it beneficial for getting used to the block format/mental fatigue. Nothing beyond that.

In what way can Qbank possibly be different from the exam? Aside from the fact that it may include obscure things as well as the main items. It is a preparation tool, it makes sense to include obscure items if the source is to be comprehensive.

I am very curious if anyone saw facts being tested on their exam that they could be sure weren't mentioned in qbank or First Aid combined. I think the probability of this approaches zero.

 

[kito]

In what way can Qbank possibly be different from the exam? Aside from the fact that it may include obscure things as well as the main items. It is a preparation tool, it makes sense to include obscure items if the source is to be comprehensive.

I am very curious if anyone saw facts being tested on their exam that they could be sure weren't mentioned in qbank or First Aid combined. I think the probability of this approaches zero.

You are very correct. There was NOTHING on step 1 that wasn't mentioned ad nauseum in Qbank. You are also right to say that a prep tool should be comprehensive even if that means being at times inane. The one gripe, however, that I can understand, is that only half of the Qbank questions were written in the same prose as Step 1. Those questions were small paragraphs describing a patient or a clinical situation. The other half of Qbank is completely unlike this, and more like the questions you find at the end of review books. That being said I think that it is a good idea to supplement Qbank with NBME and Robbins questions, that way you get the breadth and the form down cold.

 

[suckerfree]

You are very correct. There was NOTHING on step 1 that wasn't mentioned ad nauseum in Qbank. You are also right to say that a prep tool should be comprehensive even if that means being at times inane. The one gripe, however, that I can understand, is that only half of the Qbank questions were written in the same prose as Step 1. Those questions were small paragraphs describing a patient or a clinical situation. The other half of Qbank is completely unlike this, and more like the questions you find at the end of review books. That being said I think that it is a good idea to supplement Qbank with NBME and Robbins questions, that way you get the breadth and the form down cold.

At the end of the day, the mind has to be trained like a computer to hone in on the cues that will equate to the diagnosis. These clues may be given as buzzwords or classical scenarios, or they may not be so explicit but a little reasoning with simple things will then give the relevant cue on the second order thinking. No big deal if you practice enough with qbank I think.

That is a very good comment from the above poster, I will remember that. I f(*ked up rediculously by reading and trying to memorize a book for every subject. Guess what, I learned much less and after seeing the nbme I realized that I didn't see anything that I thought wasn't mentioned in first aid. FA + Qbank memorized (right answers and wrong answer choice explanations understood) + BRS Path = pass at least (I hope )

That is my plan now. I might consider supplementing with HY Cell bio or the Kaplan lecture notes that I read for immuno and cell bio that I read, plus my Micro rediculously simple tables that I annotated.

whew! Back to work!

 

[(nicedream)]

There were definitely things on my USMLE that are not in Qbank or FA. Not a lot, but some - mostly the molecular stuff and of course behavioral. Between USMLE Qbank, COMLEX QBank, and USMLERx, I did 7,811 questions, 5,089 of them unique, and did my best to memorize FA. There were things on the test that weren't covered in the above. Having said that, even if you missed those (and you have a good chance at guessing them anyway, or knowing them from another source), you would still get a 99 if you had the above materials memorized.

 

[Bubb Rubb]

i didn't think there was much direct overlap in question style between qbank and step 1, save for behavioral sciences. and that was the area i did worst in, go figure...

also, i would like to note that i didn't see a single digeorge syndrome question on my step 1 administration, while there were seemingly dozens on that topic in qbank.

 

[suckerfree]

i didn't think there was much direct overlap in question style between qbank and step 1, save for behavioral sciences. and that was the area i did worst in, go figure...

also, i would like to note that i didn't see a single digeorge syndrome question on my step 1 administration, while there were seemingly dozens on that topic in qbank.

there are 2000 questions on qbank, the USMLE is 350. There will be a few questions left out on the actual exam I think.

The important thing is to be prepared. I don't think I'll be remembering anything on the exam that I didn't see in a review book but saw in class; that's why I'm just drawing information to get a sense of how comprehensive my main sources are. I gotta stop stressing about this. A very large percentage of students only make it a fraction of the way through qbank. I think I should stop questioning the validity of my method and rest assured, spending as much time as possible w/ FA, Qbank, and BRS Path as my cornerstones +/- minor other things, I'll be okay.

 

[Evil Monkey]

In what way can Qbank possibly be different from the exam? Aside from the fact that it may include obscure things as well as the main items. It is a preparation tool, it makes sense to include obscure items if the source is to be comprehensive.

I am very curious if anyone saw facts being tested on their exam that they could be sure weren't mentioned in qbank or First Aid combined. I think the probability of this approaches zero.

The probability is not zero. I absolutely had questions on Step 1 that were not on Qbank. You are responsible for a lot of information and Qbank cannot presume to cover all of that information. Once you take the real deal you may agree with me or not. People have different opinions about this, which is not surprising given that everyone takes a different exam drawn from a pool of questions. All I'm saying is don't rely on memorizing Qbank. Use other review materials by different publishers to cover your bases.

 

[suckerfree]

The probability is not zero. I absolutely had questions on Step 1 that were not on Qbank. You are responsible for a lot of information and Qbank cannot presume to cover all of that information. Once you take the real deal you may agree with me or not. People have different opinions about this, which is not surprising given that everyone takes a different exam drawn from a pool of questions. All I'm saying is don't rely on memorizing Qbank. Use other review materials by different publishers to cover your bases.

that's why I have memorized BRS Path, BRS Phy (as best as I can), and HY Cell Bio and FA. I read so many books and reached the point of diminishing returns and now with 2 1/2 weeks left, my plan is to finish my final run through of BRS Path and afterwards, each day, review 1 subject in FA in the morning and then run through all the relevant Qbank and Qbook Q's (up to 250 - 300 / day) and cycle through the material 2 more times. THe only reason I will be able to do as many as 300 q's / day is because I've already gone through qbank once. Of course, I don't remember the answers to specific q's but my brain somehow remembers the concept in each question. I think this will be good enough for the pass that I seek. I do plan to do at least 1 or 2 more NBMEs but those are just for diagnostic purposes more than anything I think.

 

[Evil Monkey]

You'll be fine. Make sure not to burn yourself out though. Taper down before the exam date and take a little time off. Have faith in your weeks/months of studying.

 

[devildoc2]

I got a 225 by ONLY using Qbank. I memorized Qbank and did every question at least twice, some of them 3 times. I read FA but did not retain anything from it and did NOT memorize anything in it.

When I first started out doing random questions, I was averaging 50%.

My cumulative average on Qbank was 76% at the end, but thats artificially inflated because when I kept doing the missed questions over and over again until I got them right.

 

[suckerfree]

I got a 225 by ONLY using Qbank. I memorized Qbank and did every question at least twice, some of them 3 times. I read FA but did not retain anything from it and did NOT memorize anything in it.

When I first started out doing random questions, I was averaging 50%.

My cumulative average on Qbank was 76% at the end, but thats artificially inflated because when I kept doing the missed questions over and over again until I got them right.

you mean you didn't read any high yield, or BRS or anything???!!!! That is amazing!!!!