Mosby's Rapid Review vs. NBME "practice" exam

[Willamette]

Recently, our class was required to take a 175 MCQ practice exam put out by the NBME. Coincidentally, I had recently purchased the "USMLE Step-1" review book (a 1400 question review book & CD-ROM actually) put out by Mosby and edited by Dr. Goljan. It seems to me that the question content/difficulty contained in each of these sources were about equal. I did a search for "rapid review" and it appears that some members believe that the Mosby questions are too easy. Would anyone care to comment, or to elaborate on any of their previous statements?

Thanks,
Willamette

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[Idiopathic]

I keep saying that I am planning on asking Dr. Goljan if he feels that the Mosby questions are representative of the test (he is the editor but didnt contribute the Q's, apparently). I will make it a point to tend to that this week. They look far too easy to me...I missed like three of the first 100 and didnt even really have to stew over any of them.

 

[Willamette]

Wow, that's fantastic! If we are indeed talking about the same text, missing 3 of the first 30 would have been great in my opinion. Just to make sure that we ARE talking about the same text, it's the "squarish" text copyrighted in 2002 by Mosby and made up of purely questions and explanations, right? It also received an "A-" in the most current edition of First Aid. I'm hoping that, if we're talking apples and apples, Dr. G. thinks that they're good questions and that you are just REALLY ready for Step 1!! I'll be eagerly awaiting your reply.

Willamette

 

[Willamette]

Here's an update...
We just received our scores for the practice NBME exam and, according to the their prognostications, had I taken the exam that day I would have passed easily. This said, I certainly did NOT blow the socks off of the exam, but I've still got three more months to try and do that. Anyway, although I am quite interested in what Dr. G has to say about the quality of the questions in Mosby's Rapid Review, I am confident that they are indeed a good source of MCQ's (coupled with thorough explanations).

Willamette

 

[Idiopathic]

I asked him today: "Do you feel that the Q's in the RR series are representative of the Q's on USMLE?"

In classic Goljan fashion, he replied: "Of course they are...I'm the editor."

Following that, he did remark that he thinks this series blows away BRS, since they lost their editor (who is now part of the RR series) and the questions are better.

So, there you have it, straight from the horses mouth.

 

[Idiopathic]

Originally posted by Willamette
Wow, that's fantastic! If we are indeed talking about the same text, missing 3 of the first 30 would have been great in my opinion. Just to make sure that we ARE talking about the same text, it's the "squarish" text copyrighted in 2002 by Mosby and made up of purely questions and explanations, right? It also received an "A-" in the most current edition of First Aid. I'm hoping that, if we're talking apples and apples, Dr. G. thinks that they're good questions and that you are just REALLY ready for Step 1!! I'll be eagerly awaiting your reply.

Willamette

My fear in taking these questions (and BSS) is that they are designed by our instructors, and there might be some sort of bias, since we have seen similar questions on exams. That is something I worry about. Kind of like the "re-take" effect of QBank.

 

[Willamette]

Hey, thanks Idiopathic! I'd actually been checking every day to see if you'd had a chance to ask Dr. G. yet. It's gratifying to know that by now I can at least point and say "I think that's a pretty good question. The answer? Now, that's a different story! " I know what you mean by "re-take phenomena." My guess is though, that Dr. G. makes darn sure you guys're ready. Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to ask and post!

Willamette