So I'm going through the Kaplan Qbank right now, subject wise, and am wondering how to pick out relevant details to consolidate into FA. A lot of their conceptual explanations seem solid, so there's no confusion there. But then there's stuff like this question on the composition of semen where Kaplan started talking about all its components along with 5+ functions of each. Ended up being a full 2 pages, and I can't imagine all of that being relevant to the USMLE.
Another example: FA lists a short explanation of pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency. Kaplan mentions pyruvate decarboxylase deficiency in some of their answer explanations, but then goes onto list its 3 subtypes and their specifics.
How do I go about choosing what I consolidate into FA? I'm particularly curious what guys who used Kaplan and scored well on the exam have to say about this. Did you guys write in everything? Or did you focus more on conceptual clues or completely new disease conditions etc, and leave out extra symptoms to diseases already well covered in FA?
@Phloston
@plasmodium
thanks!
Kaplan QBank was the first QBank that I completed, along with USMLE Rx (which I didn't complete because it was absolute garbage and I found it to be a waste of money after completing ~60% of the QBank). I primarily used PDFs and digital annotation techniques, and I would usually annotate most of the main explanation into First Aid (to save time I rarely read the wrong answer explanations). Many of Kaplan's explanations overlapped with UWorld, so by the time I began UWorld there were certain topics that I didn't have to annotate more than a line or two into FA since I had already covered it with Kaplan.
I think it is a farce that students are running around the internet saying that Kaplan QBank is full of "minutiae" and unimportant. I loved this QBank and considered it to be a great "warmup" to UWorld, so to speak. It is a shame that so many people hopped on this anti-Kaplan bandwagon because there are certain sections that are quite impressively covered by Kaplan. My step 1 form had plenty of questions covering "minutiae," some of which weren't covered by the review books. The more adapt you become with handling seemingly foreign questions on topics you've never seen before, the better prepared you will be to answer these types of questions when they appear on step 1 (because they
do appear on step 1). In other words, on step 1 you will see questions on topics you've never seen before. The same goes for Kaplan QBank and, in my experience, Kaplan prepares you quite well for these types of questions. Whether or not the "minutiae" and low-yield detail covered in Kaplan shows up on the real exam is irrelevant; preparing students to tackle seemingly alien questions is where Kaplan excels.
As far as "what" to annotate, that is completely up to you. Some people don't annotate at all and still receive great scores. I'm personally the type of student who likes to read and become familiar with as much material as possible, and so I never discriminated between concepts and facts based on whether they were "high-" or "low-yield". I think this "high-yield" notion is a silly trend, and more geared toward students who are worried about passing, rather than achieving scores on the higher end of the spectrum. Therefore, I might not be the best person to ask if you are one who prefers to keep their knowledge base concise. If you are trying to score >96th percentile on an exam like step 1, all of the information that is presented during MS1/MS2 and dedicated is important in one way or another.
The only section in Kaplan QBank that I would say that turned out to be "low-yield" was the Public Health section. However, this section was added after I had already completed the QBank, and so once I discovered that these questions had been added I was merely doing a few questions from this section per night leading up to my exam. Yet, nothing I saw in these questions (i.e. medical errors) showed up on my exam. Take what I say with a grain of salt, however, as every step 1 exam form is different and you may get questions on this topic.
Kaplan is very low-yield compared to UWorld. I wouldn't consolidate anything that isn't big picture from it and instead focus on UWorld, Pathoma, Goljan, and Sketchy for your consolidation efforts.
Step 1 has become quite a "low-yield" exam if you are aiming to score >260. Unless you've taken the exam I would advise that you be very careful telling others to avoid "low-yield" topics. Plenty of concepts that weren't in any review sources showed up on my exam. In my opinion, it certainly takes more than Sketchy and Pathoma to secure a strong
probability (there are no certainties with step 1) of being in the >260 range.
There is no "right" or "wrong" way to study for step 1. Everyone has to create and follow their own unique path for their own journey. You must discover what works best for you and commit to it. Don't worry yourself too much with what others have done, how they annotated, or what resources they found worked for them. Take everything you read with a grain of salt and devise your own strategy. After completing ~50% of Kaplan QBank you should have a good idea of what is important for you to take out of each question and what isn't.
