Kaplan books and Kaplan Qbank

[leagall]

I have been given the Kaplan books and Kaplan Qbank from my school. I just started first year. How should I use it to prep?

Thanks!

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[mmmcdowe]

I have been given the Kaplan books and Kaplan Qbank from my school. I just started first year. How should I use it to prep?

Thanks!

Throw them away and buy USMLEWorld instead.

Only mostly kidding. The Kaplan books aren't all that worthwhile, however many people choose to use First aid with or without a Qbank while going through their pre-clinical years. Each block, read first aid once at the beginning and then again near the exam. Some people like to annotate their first aids, but if you do this, I would recommend NOT expecting to use that first aid for the actual step 1 (I am of the opinion that 50% of first aid's value is in annotating during your dedicated study period). You can use the Qbank to study for each exam as you take it, though the questions may or may not accurately represent what your exam will show. A set of 40 questions a night starting early enough to get through all of them within a given block (highly variable) is a good way to do it, just make sure to review all answer both correct and incorrect.

 

[san2]

I have been given the Kaplan books and Kaplan Qbank from my school. I just started first year. How should I use it to prep?

Thanks!

thats excellent!! a lot of american med students dont use kaplan because they simply dont have the time to go through those books. but that doesnt mean these books arent great. Did the school give you Kaplan MedEssentials as well? If they did, you will see that this book is a very high yield sum up of all the 7 lecture series books, and it wouldnt be a bad idea annotating stuff from the lecture series books into Kaplan ME. Use it alongside your courses.

Kaplan Qbank is okay. thats more just for reinforncing memory and adding random facts. Uworld is def the far better Qbank, but Kaplan Qbank is a good way to drill those miniscule facts into your head

 

[leagall]

thats excellent!! a lot of american med students dont use kaplan because they simply dont have the time to go through those books. but that doesnt mean these books arent great. Did the school give you Kaplan MedEssentials as well? If they did, you will see that this book is a very high yield sum up of all the 7 lecture series books, and it wouldnt be a bad idea annotating stuff from the lecture series books into Kaplan ME. Use it alongside your courses.

Kaplan Qbank is okay. thats more just for reinforncing memory and adding random facts. Uworld is def the far better Qbank, but Kaplan Qbank is a good way to drill those miniscule facts into your head

So it would be beneficial to start using Kaplan as a first year med student?

 

[g8orlife]

Throw them away and buy USMLEWorld instead.

Only mostly kidding. The Kaplan books aren't all that worthwhile, however many people choose to use First aid with or without a Qbank while going through their pre-clinical years. Each block, read first aid once at the beginning and then again near the exam. Some people like to annotate their first aids, but if you do this, I would recommend NOT expecting to use that first aid for the actual step 1 (I am of the opinion that 50% of first aid's value is in annotating during your dedicated study period). You can use the Qbank to study for each exam as you take it, though the questions may or may not accurately represent what your exam will show. A set of 40 questions a night starting early enough to get through all of them within a given block (highly variable) is a good way to do it, just make sure to review all answer both correct and incorrect.

Umm... Remember that he/she's a first year...

thats excellent!! a lot of american med students dont use kaplan because they simply dont have the time to go through those books. but that doesnt mean these books arent great. Did the school give you Kaplan MedEssentials as well? If they did, you will see that this book is a very high yield sum up of all the 7 lecture series books, and it wouldnt be a bad idea annotating stuff from the lecture series books into Kaplan ME. Use it alongside your courses.

Kaplan Qbank is okay. thats more just for reinforncing memory and adding random facts. Uworld is def the far better Qbank, but Kaplan Qbank is a good way to drill those miniscule facts into your head

Umm... Remember that he/she's a first year...

So it would be beneficial to start using Kaplan as a first year med student?

No.
Next year.
Or Maybe use the ME book after you've read over a topic at the end of your day/week in order to review/summarize the key points that you've learned for that day/week.

 

[NewYorkDoctors]

Find the corresponding kaplan VIDEOS.

This is the ultimate shortcut to understanding things from scratch.

(Not that the Kaplan videos are perfect... but better than your school's lectures for most topics)


I would disagree with some points made above:


Learning the basic physiology, embryology, and anatomy from the videos + notes sure beats going it in alone into that thick textbook.

Just don't expect the Kap videos to give you 100% on your school's tests, which will stress little details.