Kaplan Classroom Anywhere vs High Yield

[Old Style Nanny]

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Greetings all!

I am posting this for a friend and any input would be greatly appreciated.

If you had two months to prepare for the CK with an aim of 250+ and had unlimited financial resources (I know!), which of the two methods below would you prefer and why:

1. MTB 2 (I.M.) + MTB 3 (Rest) + Uworld + USMLE Step 2 CK Classroom Anywhere

(or)

2. MTB 2 (I.M.) + MTB 3 (Rest) + Uworld + Kaplan's Step 2 CK High Yield

Thank you.

 

[Qester]

I think both would have their benefits, and a lot would depend on your particular learning style and learning needs.

With 'unlimited' financial resources why not go for both? If you have the resources to shell out 4k for class-room anywhere another 500 for 3 months of high yield doesn't seem atrocious.

 

[Old Style Nanny]

I think both would have their benefits, and a lot would depend on your particular learning style and learning needs.

With 'unlimited' financial resources why not go for both? If you have the resources to shell out 4k for class-room anywhere another 500 for 3 months of high yield doesn't seem atrocious.

Well, clearly, time is the major limiting factor (2 months).

Then of course there are the issues of redundancy and overkill. 😉

 

[katarina90]

Can't speak for classroom anywhere, as i haven't done it, but I've been seeing reassuring results from doing Kaplan High Yield so far. My question bank scores (using USMLE Rx right now) have gone from being 4-6% below the average to being 10-12% above the average.

Of course I am also studying FA for the Step 2 along with the videos, so I'm sure it's multifactorial.

One thing I will say is that just the High Yield course is a pretty significant time commitment (not sure how many hours, but I can't get through more than one section in a day, and this is currently my vacation month with no other academic responsibilities). I can't imagine listening to lectures much longer than this and staying focused. But, that's just me.

I imagine the other course is much more comprehensive and may help if someone seems completely lost on where to start, or is far removed from their core rotations, or had trouble passing the shelf exams. But I think for an average to above average student (I'm certainly NOT a stellar student, but I'd consider myself slightly above average) this is more than enough.

So, to summarize, I'd go with the High Yield. Spend the time you save on listening to more lectures on doing more questions--I think you'll get more results from doing more q's than listening to expanded lectures.

 

[Old Style Nanny]

Can't speak for classroom anywhere, as i haven't done it, but I've been seeing reassuring results from doing Kaplan High Yield so far. My question bank scores (using USMLE Rx right now) have gone from being 4-6% below the average to being 10-12% above the average.

Of course I am also studying FA for the Step 2 along with the videos, so I'm sure it's multifactorial.

One thing I will say is that just the High Yield course is a pretty significant time commitment (not sure how many hours, but I can't get through more than one section in a day, and this is currently my vacation month with no other academic responsibilities). I can't imagine listening to lectures much longer than this and staying focused. But, that's just me.

I imagine the other course is much more comprehensive and may help if someone seems completely lost on where to start, or is far removed from their core rotations, or had trouble passing the shelf exams. But I think for an average to above average student (I'm certainly NOT a stellar student, but I'd consider myself slightly above average) this is more than enough.

So, to summarize, I'd go with the High Yield. Spend the time you save on listening to more lectures on doing more questions--I think you'll get more results from doing more q's than listening to expanded lectures.

Brilliant. Will pass it on. Thank you.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

Can't speak for classroom anywhere, as i haven't done it, but I've been seeing reassuring results from doing Kaplan High Yield so far. My question bank scores (using USMLE Rx right now) have gone from being 4-6% below the average to being 10-12% above the average.

Are you planning to use Kaplan qbank or just stick to USMLErx and then uworld? If no, then why not? I ask because i am thinking about going with Kaplan HY and may be Usmlerx instead of kaplan.

Why FA over Step up to step 2? I have FA but been thinking about getting Step up to step 2 because DIT uses it. Even though i hated DIT for step 1, i will most likely end up using it again so there is no point in annotating things into two different books (FA and Step up to step 2)

 

[katarina90]

I'm going to try and do Kaplan (I'm set to finish USMLE Rx by the end of this month, and my test is in June) however if I run out of time, I'll drop it and just stick with World. My plan is finish Rx by end of January, then use Kaplan until April, then switch to World for the remaining time until the end of June.

I've always felt the more questions the better, especially when it comes to details like "what is the best initial test" or presenting a case with a well-known treatment for a disease (eg doxycycline for Lyme) but then gives you a CI to that treatment (pregnant, child, etc.) and forces you to come up with an alternative. That's kind of an easy example but hopefully makes sense. So if I can do Kaplan, I will, but I often end up having less time than I'd hope.

The reason I'm using FA for the Step 2 is I prefer the paragraph format to outline format pretty much. And I'm familiar with the overall 'look' of First Aid and how they organize things by system, so even though the index is bad I can pretty much guess that otitis media will be in the Peds chapter instead of Infectious Disease, or Varicella will be in the Derm chapter, but infectious Hepatitis is in GI. The organization is pretty wacky, but I'm used to it and I don't really want to switch over to anything else at this point. I've been using this book since last July. I might supplement with Step Up to Medicine if I have time, because it outlines diagnostic and treatment modalities in a much more precise manner.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

I'm going to try and do Kaplan (I'm set to finish USMLE Rx by the end of this month, and my test is in June) however if I run out of time, I'll drop it and just stick with World. My plan is finish Rx by end of January, then use Kaplan until April, then switch to World for the remaining time until the end of June.

I've always felt the more questions the better, especially when it comes to details like "what is the best initial test" or presenting a case with a well-known treatment for a disease (eg doxycycline for Lyme) but then gives you a CI to that treatment (pregnant, child, etc.) and forces you to come up with an alternative. That's kind of an easy example but hopefully makes sense. So if I can do Kaplan, I will, but I often end up having less time than I'd hope.

The reason I'm using FA for the Step 2 is I prefer the paragraph format to outline format pretty much. And I'm familiar with the overall 'look' of First Aid and how they organize things by system, so even though the index is bad I can pretty much guess that otitis media will be in the Peds chapter instead of Infectious Disease, or Varicella will be in the Derm chapter, but infectious Hepatitis is in GI. The organization is pretty wacky, but I'm used to it and I don't really want to switch over to anything else at this point. I've been using this book since last July. I might supplement with Step Up to Medicine if I have time, because it outlines diagnostic and treatment modalities in a much more precise manner.

Thank You!