Step I Kaplan Qbank

[colts]

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Can those who have taken the real test or know people who have taken the real test, chime in on this:

Are the real exam questions like Kaplan qbank? I feel most of the questions from kaplan are less clinically oriented (from the ones that I have done), and more aimed at just regurgitating facts and they seem to focus on details that are not really covered/emphasized by uworld.

Are you guys just focusing on uworld, and skipping kaplan? I got about 2 weeks left, what do you think I should do?

 

[mdeast]

Can those who have taken the real test or know people who have taken the real test, chime in on this:

Are the real exam questions like Kaplan qbank? I feel most of the questions from kaplan are less clinically oriented (from the ones that I have done), and more aimed at just regurgitating facts and they seem to focus on details that are not really covered/emphasized by uworld.

Are you guys just focusing on uworld, and skipping kaplan? I got about 2 weeks left, what do you think I should do?

I think Kaplan QBank can be good for bugs/drugs/fact memorizing. In your last 2 weeks, time crunch, I'd probably suggest just forgetting about it though.

I'd just try and get bootleg NBME exams to do practice questions + UWorld. Plus, lots and lots of time re-reading First Aid, making sure you remember facts (and maintain them) and hammering out all those incredibly detailed tables with annoying facts (i.e. viral classifications, brachial arches, stroke disorders, etc.)

 

[alternatego]

I just bought it and I like it, although I'm just 100 questions in (all of heme/lymph)

I'm doing it timed-tutor and system-wise, depending on which one I'm currently studying.

 

[shan564]

I just bought it and I like it, although I'm just 100 questions in (all of heme/lymph)

I'm doing it timed-tutor and system-wise, depending on which one I'm currently studying.

I did the first 150-200 questions from the free sample and I thought it seemed great at first.

But then I bought it and the more questions I did, the more I felt like I wasn't really learning much from it. Not sure why I felt that way - maybe I was just comparing it to UWorld, which isn't a fair comparison - but if I were starting over, I'd probably use Rx instead.

 

[alternatego]

well, my exam is on august 31st so I still have enough time to finish Qbank and start UWorld, which is what I'm planning to do.

I debated HEAVILY between URx and Qbank, but all the posts about Rx's mistakes made me decide to go with Qbank.

 

[colts]

which subjects do you guys think are the best from kaplan qbank?

 

[tundri]

From a forum friend who scored 272....the best from kaplan qbank are physio and BS.

 

[VisionaryTics]

I think the behavioral science, pharmacology, and physiology questions are Kaplan are top notch -- better than UWorld. After I finish the bank, I'm thinking about reviewing the behavioral science questions in particular.

 

[mdeast]

I think the behavioral science, pharmacology, and physiology questions are Kaplan are top notch -- better than UWorld. After I finish the bank, I'm thinking about reviewing the behavioral science questions in particular.

I'd agree on strengths.

I think the problem with Kaplan QBank is overall the questions aren't written as well as UWorldl. I've found I've gotten things wrong just because they word things poorly or aren't very clear in what they're going for. They tend to put a lot of extra answer choices that aren't necessarily things that can be ruled out, but may be less likely than the correct one. Boards questions tend to be more straightforward than that. In other words, I've found a lot of the difficulty comes from poor wording rather than understanding. I haven't found similar problems in UWorld or the NBMEs. Additionally, they test on a lot of errata (even on High Yield mode) that I could never really see being tested on boards.

Behavioral science is really good though. UWorld tends to go with easy questions about biostatistics for example. QBank's are way harder (sometimes even multiple step reasoning....i.e. what kind of study is this? Should I use relative risk or odd ratio? etc.). Lots of ethical/language/procedural questions too.

 

[missmedschool]

Yes as I've finished Kaplan and gone back to UW for a bit, the one thing that's different is that Kaplan's questions are grammatically poor. I'll sit there trying to figure out what exactly they're asking, not what the answer is. Or I'll stare at the question sometimes and my brain is in knots because I can't grammatically understand what they're trying to ask. As an English major, I find this pretty appalling. It shouldn't be difficult to write questions that are grammatically sound ...

With that being said, Kaplan was still a great learning tool for me, and I would definitely do it again. I just wish I could sit down with one of their question-writers and let them know a sentence should have a subject, noun, and verb smh