Just took the MOC 10 year exam, my third one.
I didn't study for the first two, but my score did drop enough the second time that I thought best to prepare.
I feel pretty confident I passed, who knows what the score will be.
Thought I'd share my experience with questions banks, a popular question here.
Overall, I'd say if you have an average knowledge base going into board prep, I'd spend at least six months studying approx 30-60 minutes daily.
It depends what type of learner you are, but I love question banks as a way to test practical situations like seen with face to face patient encounters. With in person lectures, my attention span plummets after 40 minutes, so mega review classes (passive learning) aren't for me. Also with question banks, you are training yourself how to approach questions on the real exam. You get into a mindset.
The key with question banks is to read the full explanation even with questions you got right. Understand more of the right answer in depth along with ALL the wrong answers. Find something about it that interests you and look it up in UpToDate.
Use AnkiDroid/Anki to make any necessary flash cards as you go along with the questions. They don't expire like flash cards in the question banks, can be combined with other learning materials, and are highly customized since you make them. Take turns going through the question bank by organ system/discipline, and then batch set of flash cards from prior material. I wound up with 1063 flash cards over a one year time frame, and could go through a batch of one specialty flash cards (50-150 cards) fairly quickly after a while.
So, this is a fairly active process. With this approach, one is not simply going through the question banks, reviewing the answer and moving on. It is much more involved than that. Some nights after work I might only get through 10-15 questions, then review a batch of previously created flash cards.
I went through two different question banks fully, NEJM starting 1.5 years ago, and UWorld starting 8 months ago, once. I did a little of MedStudy. I also found an EKG question bank on the googleplay store (can't recall the name) that had probably 100 EKGs, highly detailed with great explanations. The EKGs I spent reviewing over several nights a couple weeks before the exam. I breezed through Board Basics a little bit, probably 60% of the book. I didn't bother with MKSAP questions based on average reviews here and the available alternatives mentioned above.
Every question you get wrong studying, is one you'll get right on the real exam. So focus where you are scoring the worst. That's your highest yield even if it doesn't feel good at the time.
NEJM knowledge plus
Well written questions of moderate to high complexity
Good explanation of right and wrong answers
Nice that it recycles your incorrect answers until you get it right. (But this memory did not persist - hence Flashcards!)
Has two high quality practice exams.
You can reshuffle your questions to review again, but not by organ system.
You can't reset the question bank in order to focus on areas you have the least knowledge.
CME/MOC included
UWorld
Well written questions of moderate to high complexity
Good explanation of right and wrong answers
Some answers have wonderful algorithms, flow diagrams, tables. These are amazing.
For some reason despite the complexity of questions, I felt they had a bit more real world value to my practice for infrequent but expected scenarios. I liked that.
You can review all your questions, albeit answers marked, by organ system.
You can reset the question bank once. Since there are no separate practice exams, this provides an opportunity for practice exams or reviewing all the material once more.
The visual format is the same as the exam. I felt comfortable with it on exam day.
No CME/MOC
Medstudy
Significant number of questions seemed poorly written or with silly scenarios in order to get you to the question at hand.
Some questions seemed overly simple, some oddly complex.
Still had learning value though.
Answers less detailed
I stopped using it. Maybe you'll like it more than I did. That is when I reset my UWorld bank to review some of my worst performance areas.
Looking back, I'd just use UWorld and Board Basics. Start a minimum of 6 months out (I recommend 8-12 months).
The key is how you use them. Don't just consume the questions, make studying an active process.
Key ways to use the materials
Make flash cards (AnkiDroid) and review them often. It gets faster as you retain more.
EKG test bank for free in App stores
Read all answers for every question in the question bank, even if you get it right
Explore topics of interest in UpToDate to expand and solidify your knowledge. Also take note of UpToDate's differential diagnosis section.
Alternate flash cards with question banks to improve your attention span.
Repetition with the flash cards to ensure you remember the answers come exam time.
Focus on your worst areas, but rationally balanced by their percent representation on the ABIM topic breakdown.
Take practice exams to learn how to time yourself.
Consider adding NEJM if your base knowledge is poor as noted by your UWorld score ( <55-60%???)
Consider going deeper into Board basics if your knowledge base could be better.
Good luck!
Might be down?
