Q Bank Plan

[318038]

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Hey guys, I am currently into my second month of MS2 using a systems based curriculum. Our school is offering a 9 month Kaplan Q Bank at a discounted rate of $120. I have heard from everyone that USMLE World is the tool to use for boards. I basically have two options as to how to go about using Q banks and I was curious as to which you all would use.

Option 1: 9 mo Kaplan + 3 mo USMLE World (close to board date)

Option 2: 12 mo USMLE World (possibly completing it more than once)

Which of these would you suggest for a student who is not on a traditional curriculum trying to make the most out of questions? Keep in mind cost is not really a factor as the difference in price is minimal.

 

[Rollo]

Definitely option 2.

 

[318038]

Definitely option 2.

Any reason as to why? Thanks for the reply!

 

[Rollo]

From what I hear, Uworld's explanation are top-notch and most people seem to learn a significant amount from their explanations alone. Some of Uworld's questions also are supposed to be tougher than the real thing.

I just figured that if you can get through all 2000+ Uworld questions with paying attention to all the explanations....possibly 2 or 3 times, you would be in very good shape.

Also, Kaplan tends to focus too much on the details whereas Uworld integrates concepts in a nice big picture.

My personal learning style is to understand the concepts/integration inside and out, and then fill in the picture with little details. That is why I would probably go with Uworld for the entire year.

 

[Encephalectomy]

I'm currently doing option 1 and finding that it is good so far. I haven't tried UW yet, so I don't have a real basis for comparison, but the explanations in kaplan have been good so far and while there are definitely some very nitpicky questions, they seem to be a minority of the questions and I don't mind it because we have lots of nitpicky stuff for class so it is usually stuff I need to learn anyways.

My thoughts were the more questions the better and I wanted to save Uworld for closer to my study date. Don't think you can go terribly wrong either way.

 

[318038]

Any additional help on this issue would be great! I need to make a decision within the next few days in order to get the deal through the school. If you have advice, I would love to hear it! 🙂

 

[physics junkie]

Option 1.

Or better yet: UsmleRX 9mo + Uworld 3 mo.

Repeating question banks is a great way to convince yourself you know stuff when you don't. Uworld is great but it's not the 10 commandments.

I did RX first and loved it. The questions are challenging but obviously not as tough as uworld. It's also a great way to get acquainted with First Aid. For each question they show the relevant page in first aid. If you read the explanation + FA page every time you will be very, very familiar with first aid.

Kaplan is pretty good as well and the explanations are shorter..which I enjoy.

Uworld definitely has the best explanations but its not reasonable to attempt uworld so early because of difficulty. You would be "wasting it" to do it so early.

If you are someone who can remember answer choices then you definitely shouldn't do it. I stopped repeating incorrect questions in RX after a while because I would know the correct answer choice from scanning the question. It didn't leave much room for interpreting the stem, ruling in and ruling out possibilities, etc. I felt like I got a lot less from each question that was repeated. Plus, as I got closer to 50% done with RX I was very annoyed that 10-15 out of 48 questions in each block I had seen before.

 

[SB100]

I'm trying to decide on this as well. My school is going to get a group discount on USMLE World later on, and suggested to us that if we want to get started on using Kaplan's QBank to do some light review of systems we are learning in class that it's a good idea.