kaplan q-bank -- step 1

[ije]

Hi all, this is my first time posting...so, happy new years! Some questions:

1. For those that did kaplan's q-bank, did you get the 1 month, 3month, or 9 months? And what influenced your choice?

2. Does anyone know if the kaplan black homestudy review books contain the same information as their white review books which are supposed to go along with their review online lectures? (a friend gave me the white ones)

3. If you used Kaplan books, did you use it for all the subjects? If not, what did you use?

4. Also, I see from different posts that NMS question are helpful. Is this in reference ot the NMS review for USMLE Step 1, 6th edition? Or something else?

5. (Major) What suggestions can u give to a student like me who hasn't touched a board review book ever. I've only studied from our lecture notes and have rarely used any BRS books. It seems that the board study schedules are constructed with the assumption that students are already familiar with the review books or first aid -- which I'm not. What can I stary doing NOW to redeem myself? (boards prep-wise)

I know that these questions have probably been addressed at one time of the other, so I apologize for any redundancy. I just want to clear for myself.

That's it for now and thanks a lot for your anticipated responses...

Ije

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[TommyGunn04]

I can address a couple of these questions. I too never really touched a Board Review Series book until I started studying for Step 1 about a month ago. On top of that, I'm a year removed from basic science since we do our clinical rotations during 2nd year at Duke. Consequently, it definitely took me a bit longer to get through BRS Path and Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple. (in other words, I couldn't stick to this schedule: http://www.mdtool.com/step1guide.html )

That said, it's still quite manageable to get through these sources, and they're SO good that I'd really consider them absolute musts for Step 1 preparation. That said, I needed a week of full-time studying to do BRS Path plus First Aid's path section, and a good week to do Clinical Micro and the FA micro section. I also used the Costanzo soft-cover physio review book that's a more textbook-like version of the BRS Physio (personally I think BRS Physio is a bit overkill). Otherwise I'm just using First Aid and QBank.

And speaking of QBank, to answer your other question, I got 9months because I opted for QReview, which includes the Integrated Vignettes QBank as well, along with a full-length simulated exam (it was a package deal, and cheaper to get 9months). Unfortunately I've found IV QBank to be rather useless, and I wish I hadn't spent the $399 for this whole package. I'm glad I've had QBank for over 1month though, because I've been using it since day 1 of my studying and I think it's really helped with mastery of the material as well as confidence in doing board-like questions. So I'd say if you're spending 4-6weeks of full-time studying, as I think you should, then the 3month QBank is the way to go. I'm at about 4 weeks into my studying now and I'm FINALLY starting to feel like I'm comfortable with most of the QBank questions, so I think it'd really be disadvantageous to only have 4 weeks to practice.

That's my 2 cents...less than two weeks to the boards!!!

 

[ije]

Thanks Tommygunn,
I'm finally feeling comfortable with the books I've chosen to study from; although I still have questions about the Kaplan books, since, I have them and it would be a shame to waste. So far this is the list I've come up with:

*Pathology – BRS
*Micro – micro made ridic simple
*Pharm – First AID and johannsen pharm cards
*Physio – BRS
*Embryology and Anatomy and Neuro – High Yield
*Pathoophysio – brds and wards
*Biochem (cell bio and gentics) –brs, lippincott pics
*immuno – imm-def in first aid; hi yield
*behavioral – hi yield with brs questions
*bio stats – first aid and brs section

Of course, I'll be using first aid with everything.

I'm glad it's not just me to things that that 3-4 days is too short to cover such darlings as path and micro.

Thanks again and I wish you the very best as you prepare and as you take the actual test.

Still welcoming more input...