How Do People Have Time To do 14,000 Questions in Medical School?

[greentealeaves]

Many of the uber high scorers who have posted on this forum have done multiple questions banks and NBME's, all together around 14,000 questions. If you did 40 questions a day, that would take one year. From what I hear, doing 80 questions takes a full day of studying. How are people being able to manage doing such a high volume of questions alongside medical school classes, research, extracurriculars, etc.?

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[ciestar]

14,000 questions? Where on earth are they getting that many lol

 

[DrStephenStrange]

40 questions a day for 12 months totals to more than 14K questions. I do more than 40 questions a day right now, so I think it's totally doable especially for people that started doing questions since first year.

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[DrStephenStrange]

14,000 questions? Where on earth are they getting that many lol

Kaplan step Qbank
Kaplan comlex Qbank (for DOs)
Rx
Truelearn/COMBANK step
Truelearn/COMBANK comlex (for DOs)
Amboss
BnB
UWORLD + 2 UWSAs
NBME
NBOME/COMSAE (for DOs)
CONQUEST (for DOs)

All those have over 2-3K questions. I think you'll find more 14K among all of them.

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[libertyyne]

You just do them. Not all questions are made the same. You could easily review and learn 120 uworld questions a day. On the other hand you could probably do 200+ rx questions or pretest questions etc.

 

[softball2344]

Even during dedicated max I could do was 80 Uworld qs per day, can’t imagine how someone could do that with classes, etc. Now that I’m on rotations I can only manage 20 per day.

 

[ciestar]

Kaplan step Qbank
Kaplan comlex Qbank (for DOs)
Rx
Truelearn/COMBANK step
Truelearn/COMBANK comlex (for DOs)
Amboss
BnB
UWORLD + 2 UWSAs
NBME
NBOME/COMSAE (for DOs)
CONQUEST (for DOs)

All those have over 2-3K questions. I think you'll find more 14K among all of them.

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Ahh yes, separate DO banks I forgot existed lol

 

[DrStephenStrange]

Ahh yes, separate DO banks I forgot existed lol

Even without the DO banks it's still over 14K+
questions.

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[ciestar]

Even without the DO banks it's still over 14K
questions.

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Gotcha.
I couldnt afford more the UWorld and the NBMEs soo

 

[efle]

It becomes in lieu of your preclinical curriculum, rather than on top of it. Like, the goal isn't to attend lecture all day, study lecture slides all afternoon, and then study boards materials and do Qbanks in the evening.

Instead you just skip straight to the boards materials and Qbanks in the morning/afternoon and have the evenings off, just like the standard preclinical model.

 

[ace_inhibitor111]

Few people I know who did really well did more than 8k questions. If you do UWorld + the available NBMEs that’s already 3-4K questions. If you add an extra qbank like Kaplan or something that’s 2.5k, and preclinical shelves is 1k that’s already nearly 8k.

Also they get super repetitive after a while because most qbanks copy off of UWorld, that’s the truth.

 

[Ho0v-man]

I’d be very surprised if most people do that many. I only did 4-5k at most. Probably closer to 4K. And that’s counting uworld repeats.

 

[efle]

I’d be very surprised if most people do that many. I only did 4-5k at most. Probably closer to 4K. And that’s counting uworld repeats.

Yeah the only way I can see people hitting this number is at schools that take step 1 after MS3, where they have the thousands and thousands of shelf exam Qs added into the number. Just doing Uworld, USMLERx and Kaplan during MS1-MS2 would only be halfway there.

 

[Lawpy]

It becomes in lieu of your preclinical curriculum, rather than on top of it. Like, the goal isn't to attend lecture all day, study lecture slides all afternoon, and then study boards materials and do Qbanks in the evening.

Instead you just skip straight to the boards materials and Qbanks in the morning/afternoon and have the evenings off, just like the standard preclinical model.

That makes one wonder what's the point of MS2 besides board study

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Yeah the only way I can see people hitting this number is at schools that take step 1 after MS3, where they have the thousands and thousands of shelf exam Qs added into the number. Just doing Uworld, USMLERx and Kaplan during MS1-MS2 would only be halfway there.

If you do those and then do all of the NBMEs and both UWSA's then you are over 10k. It just takes consistency and starting earlier than most people.

 

[efle]

That makes one wonder what's the point of MS2 besides board study

In the current climate? There really isn't any other point. Especially at pass/fail schools, the only significant measure of your entire MS1-MS2 time is your Step1 score.

 

[Dr. Death]

In the current climate? There really isn't any other point. Especially at pass/fail schools, the only significant measure of your entire MS1-MS2 time is your Step1 score.

Unless you go to a school where class rank is a thing. It's been brought up on several residency interviews

 

[efle]

Unless you go to a school where class rank is a thing. It's been brought up on several residency interviews

I think most of the pass/fail schools are also unranked these days

Must be pretty odd for the PDs to see applicants with like 250+ step scores and bottom quartile class ranks. How do you even explain that in an interview? "I realized my school curriculum was very different than boards and had to choose. I chose the boards." Probably doesn't go over that well with a lot of them

 

[libertyyne]

I think most of the pass/fail schools are also unranked these days

Must be pretty odd for the PDs to see applicants with like 250+ step scores and bottom quartile class ranks. How do you even explain that in an interview? "I realized my school curriculum was very different than boards and had to choose. I chose the boards." Probably doesn't go over that well with a lot of them

Most pds are not preclinical professors. So they probably dont care as much. But it is definitely at interesting dichotomy that they would see and probably ask about out of curiosity. It would also probably make it easier to drop that person down on the rank list because it is some what objective.

 

[efle]

Most pds are not preclinical professors. So they probably dont care as much. But it is definitely at interesting dichotomy that they would see and probably ask about out of curiosity. It would also probably make it easier to drop that person down on the rank list because it is some what objective.

Do most schools even do the explicit ranking still? I know a lot of deans letters have coded language like "outstanding = top 1/3rd, excellent = middle 1/3rd." But giving an exact like 25th/150 ranking system seems like it would encourage a lot of gunning

 

[Sephirakra]

Many of the uber high scorers who have posted on this forum have done multiple questions banks and NBME's, all together around 14,000 questions. If you did 40 questions a day, that would take one year. From what I hear, doing 80 questions takes a full day of studying. How are people being able to manage doing such a high volume of questions alongside medical school classes, research, extracurriculars, etc.?

The same way one can eat an entire elephant.

 

[Dr. Death]

Do most schools even do the explicit ranking still? I know a lot of deans letters have coded language like "outstanding = top 1/3rd, excellent = middle 1/3rd." But giving an exact like 25th/150 ranking system seems like it would encourage a lot of gunning

N=1 but my exact rank was reported on my MSPE

 

[ciestar]

Do most schools even do the explicit ranking still? I know a lot of deans letters have coded language like "outstanding = top 1/3rd, excellent = middle 1/3rd." But giving an exact like 25th/150 ranking system seems like it would encourage a lot of gunning

Mine does the coded language stuff

 

[Lawpy]

N=1 but my exact rank was reported on my MSPE

And it's pass/fail?

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

N=1 but my exact rank was reported on my MSPE

They only report the exact number for the top quartile. The rest of the class just says the quartile. People right on the edge of the next quartile kinda get hosed that way but I can see why they do it.

And it's pass/fail?

No.

 

[libertyyne]

Do most schools even do the explicit ranking still? I know a lot of deans letters have coded language like "outstanding = top 1/3rd, excellent = middle 1/3rd." But giving an exact like 25th/150 ranking system seems like it would encourage a lot of gunning

I think they do quartile based ranking like you are describing. Most honest schools do it for clinical years. However not so honest schools do it for preclinical as well .

 

[aldol16]

Yeah, I don't think 14,000 questions is typical or average. Question and study quality is important, on top of volume. I did around 5000, most of them during dedicated.

 

[Hopeful101]

Are you talking about Zanki?

 

[DrStephenStrange]

Omg 14,000 questions?!? That’s outrageous. I only did Uworld and the free 120 during 5 weeks of dedicated and scored in the 260s on Step 1. More is not better. If you just do thousands of questions but aren’t retaining much because you’re focused on doing thousands of questions, what’s the point?

Not outrageous if you start early, and do many practice exams. I plan on doing 10K questions if I can keep the same pace I am right now, and I know people that have done way over 5K questions already.

 

[Jesus1]

That makes one wonder what's the point of MS2 besides board study

This idea of just going full boards and paying lip service to class material rarely has a good outcome.

 

[Jesus1]

In the current climate? There really isn't any other point. Especially at pass/fail schools, the only significant measure of your entire MS1-MS2 time is your Step1 score.

I'll encourage you to do your own informal study to answer this question..How many people do you know that focused solely on boards without paying any attention to class material that ultimately crushed Step 1. I suspect the answer will be "not many". For every 1 person that does this, there's at least 10-20 people that end up not being successful at this. Class material is a foundation. You can't build a good foundation from review resources.

 

[FindersFee5]

I'll encourage you to do your own informal study to answer this question..How many people do you know that focused solely on boards without paying any attention to class material that ultimately crushed Step 1. I suspect the answer will be "not many". For every 1 person that does this, there's at least 10-20 people that end up not being successful at this. Class material is a foundation. You can't build a good foundation from review resources.

You absolutely can build a strong base from "review materials." Assuming you include things like pathoma, boards and beyond, and the qbanks as "review resources," and not just looking at FA. 95% of things necessary for step 1 are in those sources and many of them teach the concepts better than all but your best professors.

 

[efle]

I suspect the answer will be "not many".

You suspect wrong. Every single person I know that hit 250+ did their learning from Pathoma, Boards&Beyond, First Aid, Qbanks and Anki decks instead of the school lectures.

In fact, up until 2-3 years ago, my school had a 235 step 1 median (very close to national average) despite being a perennial "top 5" with one of the highest GPA/MCAT scores in the country.

Sometimes, school curriculums simply don't line up well with boards. If your school's does, good for you, glad that y'all are able to focus on your lectures and still be in a good place when you get to dedicated. Others have a different experience.

 

[Jesus1]

Most of these people with solid scores that also used those resources likely were doing very well with coursework. What I am saying is how many people have you seen be in the bottom quartile of class AND then crush Step 1??

 

[efle]

Most of these people with solid scores that also used those resources likely were doing very well with coursework. What I am saying is how many people have you seen be in the bottom quartile of class AND then crush Step 1??

Well, I really only know in detail the grades of myself and my roommate, and both of us did regularly come within a few points of failing the curricular exams. The other folks I have no idea because our school is unranked Pass/Fail. Literally the only thing a PD can see about our performance in MS1-MS2 is our Step1 score.

This can't be news to you, dude. There are a lot of schools out there with curriculums that miss huge swaths of boards material and instead teach whatever esoteric niche the professor is into.

 

[slowthai]

I'll encourage you to do your own informal study to answer this question..How many people do you know that focused solely on boards without paying any attention to class material that ultimately crushed Step 1. I suspect the answer will be "not many". For every 1 person that does this, there's at least 10-20 people that end up not being successful at this. Class material is a foundation. You can't build a good foundation from review resources.

I hear what you're saying, but like others have said, everything you need is in board review sources/qbanks. Mastering that is hard enough. Class material may or may not line up with what you're learning. It also depends on how good the professors/curriculum is. I'd take my chances with ignoring school stuff until the last minute and prioritizing step studying.

Instead of being the foundation, I think class material complements boards studying more than anything. This is the case granted that your studying is boards focused. If you focus only or mainly on class and supplement with FA on the side, then your statement of class being the foundation makes total sense.

 

[CherryRedDracul]

As a comparison, I plan to do that many questions starting 6 months out from the radiology CORE exam.

That's a **** ton though.