Kaplan QBank

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May3Exam

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Two questions:

1. I have my exam coming up in about 4 weeks. I study first aid, BRS path, BRS phys durring the day then do Kaplan QBank at nite. Many of the Qbank questions ask about things not mentioned in any of these books. Thoughts on those questions from which the material is not mentioned anywhere else? How well should I study that info?


2. Do you think getting USMLE world in addition to kaplan is a good idea? I think I'll have the time later to do more questions. ANy thoughts about USMLE world in general?

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I'd also like to hear about the 2nd question. Also, not to hijack, but does anyone think that Qbank, UW, and the NBME's is too many questions in ~4 weeks? Or is it doable.

Thanks.
 
QBank doesn't have a great reputation on this forum but bear in mind that just 12 months ago it was the only worthwhile question bank on the market. Lots of people were getting amazing scores with it. So if you already have it, it is not necessary to supplement it with UW. I don't think Step 1 has changed much in a year. Of course, if you have the time, doing more unique questions could lead to a higher score.

This whole idea of doing 5000+ questions is very new and I don't think anyone should feel obligated to do that many.

As far as QBank material that isn't in review books, it's pretty low yield. However in subjects where you are using only FA (eg. biochem, anatomy) there is some good info that FA is missing. There is some really random stuff in there (5-10% of questions), so if you think "why would they expect me to know that" you're probably right. It also depends on your target score. If you're just looking to pass, you should focus on knowing high-yield material cold. If you're looking for a higher score, you need to add on to it material of lesser yield, with a diminishing return on your memorization effort. At some point, the limiting factor becomes recognition of clinical presentation and critical reasoning skills, for which the key is the volume of practice questions you do and not memorization.

As for doing QBank + UW + NBME in 4 weeks, I think it can be done (but this depends highly on how fast you are, which only you can figure out), but it isn't necessary for a great score. If you look through the archives many people have broken 260 with just QBank, and some of them didn't even use the NBMEs (although I think you should do at least one).
 
I have been doing both Qbank and USMLEWorld for my review of shelf exams (NBME subject exams which are our finals).

Personal opinion: USMLEWorld is harder.

I like both of them though and plan to pick up another Qbank from another provider. Both qbanks have some pretty random questions/facts. I have also been doing the Q&A book from the makers of first aid (which has 1000 questions from USMLERx), Qbook from Kaplan as well as the Appleton and Lange series and RR questions on individual topics.
 
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Sounds like UWorld is a great bank... I just don't think I'll be able to get through QBank and UWorld during my studies, so I'm going to stick with the tried and true QBank.
 
The more questions you do the better. These types of tests are all about pattern recognition. I am working through smashstep1.com -- 750-questions with really good explanations.. I have been doing questions from multiple different sources.
 
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