Is AMBOSS worth it?

[GoCubsGo20]

My school is running a 50% off discount on AMBOSS and I honestly have no idea what it is, why people use it, or if it is worth it. I'm hoping someone on here has a bit more experience with it and can help me out. Cheers

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[mistafab]

Nah bruh

 

[GoCubsGo20]

Save my $350 eh? What do you use, if anything, mistafab?

 

[mistafab]

Zanki step 2 ck, uworld, and (if applicable) shelf specific source.

edit: thought this was an M3/ rotations question. If it is not, i’d seek other’s opinions. The step 1 subforum has lots of great ideas for resources for that exam. Your upperclassman can help with school-specific exams if you are talking pre-clinicals.

 

[GoCubsGo20]

Thanks, its for rotation shelf exams. We operate on a 1&1/2 years of classroom stuff and 2&1/2 years of clinical.

 

[Oh_Gee]

My school is running a 50% off discount on AMBOSS and I honestly have no idea what it is, why people use it, or if it is worth it. I'm hoping someone on here has a bit more experience with it and can help me out. Cheers

would you mind sharing the code if possible?

 

[GoCubsGo20]

would you mind sharing the code if possible?

I would if I could, but it works by people mass signing up and then AMBOSS will individually refund each person.

 

[Goro]

I just checked it out and was very impressed. Kudos to segdoc for giving me the heads up.

 

[whatisthisstuff]

I used it a little bit for Step 2 (instead of renewing/repeating UWorld) and thought it was pretty good. I like all the way the information is integrated and easy to find more background info if you want.

Wouldn't recommend it over the standards at this point, but I think could be good as a 2nd qbank. Seemed like its shelf material was pretty decent. Especially for the things that UWorld was a little limited with. Don't know about for Step 1 studying.

 

[666670]

It hasnt produced on SHELF, not willing to gamble on step 2

 

[MerYangBey]

Any other opinions about it’s effectiveness as a 3rd year learning resource for shelf and wards? I did the 5 day free thing before my neurology shelf. It looked pretty good but I’m unsure how much to trust it. There are some mixed reviews online from absolutely glowing to absolutely trash.

 

[MedSchoolGurus]

I'd stick to UWorld, the practice NBMEs, and Anki for clinical year. There are a couple other resources worth mentioning such as IM essentials by ACP for internal medicine. Stick to these basics and OnlineMedEd for your clinical year and you'll be fine.

 

[segdoc]

Any other opinions about it’s effectiveness as a 3rd year learning resource for shelf and wards? I did the 5 day free thing before my neurology shelf. It looked pretty good but I’m unsure how much to trust it. There are some mixed reviews online from absolutely glowing to absolutely trash.

I guess I didn't actually answer this lol. So I've been using it for shelves and starting it for Step 2. If you're going through questions quickly and its more about volume than depth, I'd say it's not worth it. Amboss is REAALLY helpful to explore reasoning and the science behind questions. For my last shelf, psych, I did both Amboss and UWorld, and I will say I relied more on my Amboss questions than UWorld questions. But that's psych, and I know that will probably be very different for other shelves, but that's what I'm finding for now.
So my plan is, to use Amboss for long-term clerkship studying, hit UWorld closer to shelves and then review both for Step 2.

 

[MerYangBey]

Hey,
I actually really like it. I was wasting way too much time on uworld and kaplan for step 1 going back and forth between question and fa looking stuff up and trying to put it into context (i'm a very visual learner). Amboss doesn't have a lot of visual stuff (although they do have integration with Osmosis and they SAY they're getting integration with sketchy soon), BUT they do have everything kinda linked together so it's really easy to find information on any part of a question. Like if an answer choice isn't something you recognize, you can click on it, it takes to the relevant article, you can choose high yield stuff, or just the stuff on the page that is pertinent to the question itself, etc. They are a bit lack in some of the sections in terms of Q numbers, (200 for psych) but they say they're adding new stuff every day.

Anyways, they came to our school and gave us 2 week free trial codes if you want to try it out: AMBOSS-YRWJ-C801-RA79
Good luck

Hey I just wanted to thank you for the code! I figure it will give me the chance to decide if I really like it or not.
Thanks again

 

[EleanorAbernathyMD]

Any other opinions about it’s effectiveness as a 3rd year learning resource for shelf and wards? I did the 5 day free thing before my neurology shelf. It looked pretty good but I’m unsure how much to trust it. There are some mixed reviews online from absolutely glowing to absolutely trash.

Hey there, I've used it for every shelf exam this year (and our curriculum has us doing rotations without step 1 so I was particularly wet behind the ears). In preclinical, I was a pretty average student and that worried me to deviate from using what works for everyone on rotations, but using Amboss I have honored every shelf exam ranging from low 80s to upper 90s percentiles. If it didn't work well, I wouldn't have the grades to show for it because I am simply not that smart lol. I am using the step 1 qbank now until I enter dedicated for step 1 so that I can minimize cost of a longer Uworld subscription and also have a novel qbank (I'm still planning to use the 3 month Uworld subscription). Hope this helps!
Here is a code for another 2 week trial if you want to give it a go: AMBOSS-C4Z1-GFE3-9Q1J

 

[afib123]

Detailed my review in this thread: Amboss Review After Taking My Neurology and Psych Shelf

Pretty solid q-bank, I use it more than U-World. Most of my U-world review probably comes from Zanki Deck.

If you want to try it out, you can get a free 2 week trial with this code:

code: AMBOSS-XWRG-0PQH-KTC9

Can be redeemed here: go.amboss.com/now

Disclaimer: I am working with Amboss but I am not getting paid for this review. I am working with them as an ambassador from my school and getting a couple months of free subscription but that’s about it. I am also not being forced to write this review. I am genuinely writing it because it has helped me immensely on my shelf exam.

 

[takeurmeds02]

Honestly, UWorld either needs to step it up or step aside - Amboss definitely has something with their product. They came and informally spoke to our class and offered us trials and whatnot. I personally haven't switched over because I've already bought a year of UWorld but some of my classmates are definitely using it. Once Amboss wrinkles out any kinks and reliability is truly tested, it will be the next thing.

 

[Oh_Gee]

Honestly, UWorld either needs to step it up or step aside - Amboss definitely has something with their product. They came and informally spoke to our class and offered us trials and whatnot. I personally haven't switched over because I've already bought a year of UWorld but some of my classmates are definitely using it. Once Amboss wrinkles out any kinks and reliability is truly tested, it will be the next thing.

their pricing is definitely close to matching uworld

 

[takeurmeds02]

their pricing is definitely close to matching uworld

At least you'd be getting more out of the software at the same price

 

[MerYangBey]

After using it on and off for shelf exams- I can definitely say that it’s a worthwhile resource .
I plan to use the question bank in conjunction with Uworld for step 2 ck.

(I have no affiliation with the company lol)

 

[19pieces19]

To all the AMBOSS users, if you only had time for one question bank in doing the IM shelf, would you rather use UWorld or AMBOSS?

 

[y123]

I like AMBOSS
Finished Uworld half way into 3rd year so bought AMBOSS as the 2nd qbank. The explanation is good

 

[gvm17]

Heres a 2 week code: AMBOSS-P1WM-AC5W-W84R

 

[Gorne]

AMBOSS was great for the library.

 

[Rekt]

Are there any actual qbank discount codes floating around right now?

 

[7331poas]

You can easily google for AMBOSS codes. I found around 30 2-week trials out there and I just stacked them. Now I have AMBOSS for free throughout all of M1 and M2. Do not buy AMBOSS.

 

[AhmedJ]

I think stacking the 2-week codes is no longer working.

You can easily google for AMBOSS codes. I found around 30 2-week trials out there and I just stacked them. Now I have AMBOSS for free throughout all of M1 and M2. Do not buy AMBOSS.

 

[TaroMilkT]

The code stacking didn't work for me either. I liked their Q-bank and library though, so I did end up buying amboss. My 2 cents: the questions are more difficult than usmle-rx, and pretty on par with kaplan in terms of difficulty.
Here is a 10% discount code in case anyone's interested.

Friend Landing Page

 

[7331poas]

The code stacking didn't work for me either. I liked their Q-bank and library though, so I did end up buying amboss. My 2 cents: the questions are more difficult than usmle-rx, and pretty on par with kaplan in terms of difficulty.
Here is a 10% discount code in case anyone's interested.

Friend Landing Page

This post is very old. but yes, they did fix the code stacking on their site.

 

[HealthJustice4All]

Heads up: Amboss is currently offering scholarships to students who have been economically impacted by the current pandemic: AMBOSS Scholarships

U world has no intention of providing student discounts at this time.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Heads up: Amboss is currently offering scholarships to students who have been economically impacted by the current pandemic: AMBOSS Scholarships

U world has no intention of providing student discounts at this time.

They have limited scholarships. I applied for a partial one and didn’t get it. They offered me a 25% discount instead.