Just started 2nd year, should I start doing UWorld/Kaplan Qbank questions?

[johnmiller]

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I'm just starting 2nd year and was wondering if I should start doing UWorld or Kaplan questions now? If so, what would that look like - should I take a set every weekend? What would you guys recommend?

 

[jsong812]

I'm just starting 2nd year and was wondering if I should start doing UWorld or Kaplan questions now? If so, what would that look like - should I take a set every weekend? What would you guys recommend?

You may get mixed responses depending on who you ask but i'm in the camp where I believe that there is no better way to study for the step than to do study hard and do well in your pre-clinicals. If doing questions helps you learn the material, then by all means do them. You can choose from various question books like pre-test, Robbins Review of Pathology (which i would highly recommend) but I would hold off using Qbanks this early because one, you still don't have a solid understanding of the material and thus, would just waste those valuable questions, and two, a year subscription is really $$. Some people may tell you that you need to start doing Qbank style questions so that you can get used to the way the USMLE asks questions but in all honesty, it shouldn't take you more than a few weeks to adjust.

 

[a winner is you]

Quite unnecessary and you'll end up spending a lot of money doing it if you do since you'd need to get the qbank for the whole year. Most second year curriculums cover step 1 material very well and doing well in class gives you the foundation you need when you start intense studying.