Qbank for the year

[Fleur de Me]

OK- I'm really stuck, starting M2 in a few weeks and want to do a Qbank along with my courses.

I've heard some people say do Uworld during the year and then go through it again in your dedicated study time. I've heard other people say to save it and do Kaplan during the year.

Anyone have insight? I think I learn very well doing questions and want to rock Step I to the best of my ability....

Which Qbank should I do along with my classes?

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[Aclamity]

I was planning to do robbins review along with courses, just to hammer in the path. I've heard that a lot of people do that, and then wait until hardcore study time to do the qbanks. but a veteran step1-er might have more insight

 

[Fleur de Me]

I was planning to do robbins review along with courses, just to hammer in the path. I've heard that a lot of people do that, and then wait until hardcore study time to do the qbanks. but a veteran step1-er might have more insight

I'm definitely doing Robbins review- it's pretty good (we touched on a few 2nd year concepts last year), but that's why I'd like to do a Q-bank, because that really worked for me, and it seems like the people who really kill Step 1 do multiple q-banks multiple times. Not sure I'll have time or patience to do 5 qbanks 3 times each, but I think it is reasonable to think I could do at least 2- 1 during the year, and 1 during dedicated study time.

 

[neuromaniac]

Hey I was wondering if someone else was going to go through some questions this fall, too! I'm glad you are. I will be using U-World and Kaplan.

My overall plan is to go through the questions and answers (even the ones I got right) and jot down the main topic (i.e. Hurler's Syndrome) and details behind that topic (symptoms of Hurler's, signs, etc.) on printer paper. I have an old hand me down FA 2010 that I will not use because I know the FA 2012 will be updated, so I will transfer what I have written down on my printer paper into FA 2012 (when I get the book in January 2012). Most importantly, I will go through the questions based on what organ system I'm studying in Pathology. For example, say I'm studying Cardiology for Path and I have an exam in 2 weeks. I will read my RR Path by Goljan and do 46 U-World questions on a Saturday (and go through the right and wrong answers and put information on my printer paper--I do this because it helps with organization). If RR Path is missing something important that U-world thinks is important, I might jot this down in RR Path as well as my printer paper. The whole idea behind the printer paper is to create a database of knowledge that is high yield for USMLE Step I. When my FA 2012 comes in, I will transfer all that data into FA IF needed! Once I finally have my FA 2012 and everything transferred from printer paper to FA, I can throw that database away and focus on FA and U-World.

My question to you all: what is your schedule like in the fall? The Saturday "only" plan is okay because we'll be so busy but what else should we do? I'm glad you're a fellow gunner like me

 

[Fleur de Me]

Hey I was wondering if someone else was going to go through some questions this fall, too! I'm glad you are. I will be using U-World and Kaplan.

Your plan seems ambitious but thorough I think I'll probably only attempt one q-bank during the year, not sure when I'll do it.

I think I started out a little too strong- reading Big Robbins, doing Robbins questions, reading RR Path, and listening to Goljan, but I did nail the first exam, but I feel like I spent too much time and wasn't efficient enough. Pretty sure it is Big Robbins that's going to go since that was the biggest time spender.

I'm thinking of scaling it back somehow with the reading, and focusing more on Robbins questions, since that really hammered the material home. Q-bank wise, I will have to feel it out before I make a plan, I don't want to burn out, just keep a nice pace through the year.

Kaplan or UWorld....that is the question.

 

[neuromaniac]

No doubt, U-World is the gold standard. Toughest practice exam out there. Gunners unite!! haha

 

[da8s0859q]

OK- I'm really stuck, starting M2 in a few weeks and want to do a Qbank along with my courses.

I've heard some people say do Uworld during the year and then go through it again in your dedicated study time. I've heard other people say to save it and do Kaplan during the year.

Anyone have insight? I think I learn very well doing questions and want to rock Step I to the best of my ability....

Which Qbank should I do along with my classes?

Six vs. half-dozen. UW >> Rx ~ Kaplan >> GT (question bank). Just depends on how many unique questions you want to have.

I used GT and Rx along the way in M2. Switched to UW in March or so. Landed >240 on Step, so it worked well enough for me, but it's really up to you. Good arguments for either approach, the whole UW vs. something-else-vs.-UW thing.

Though I will say that if you were to learn things in M2 as best you can the first time around, AND use First Aid pretty regularly, AND make it through UW and actually learn from it, you should be sitting pretty for Step with or without anything else.

 

[Brewmeister]

Kaplan during year, Uworld during study time

 

[neuromaniac]

Six vs. half-dozen. UW >> Rx ~ Kaplan >> GT (question bank). Just depends on how many unique questions you want to have.

I used GT and Rx along the way in M2. Switched to UW in March or so. Landed >240 on Step, so it worked well enough for me, but it's really up to you. Good arguments for either approach, the whole UW vs. something-else-vs.-UW thing.

Though I will say that if you were to learn things in M2 as best you can the first time around, AND use First Aid pretty regularly, AND make it through UW and actually learn from it, you should be sitting pretty for Step with or without anything else.

I hope you're right

 

[Shadowmoses]

When you do your Q bank throughout second year (whichever qbank you choose), I was wondering if it is possible to narrow the questions you get from the qbank down specifically to what you know so far about the specific body system you are studying. Can the questions be broken down further by subtopics within a body system for any particular subject?

As an example, lets say you want to do qbank questions on cardiac physiology, but you didnt cover the whole system yet. Can you go a level deeper, and choose a subtopic within cardiovascular physio such as 'cardiac cycle' or 'ECG' so you can be sure you only get questions on material you have covered?

 

[neuromaniac]

Great question shadowmoses...I think the only way to go deeper into a topic is to take the exam and review it afterwards. The practice test makers always let you know what specific topic you got right or wrong after you take the test. I do not think they let you know what specific topics are going to be covered prior to the taking the practice exam. I have seen some free trials and that's how I got my information. I hope this helps you.

 

[secants]

So I know about the three main Qbanks: Uworld, Rx and Kaplan. For the ambitious students, is there any others in addition to those that you recommend trying IF one has time after doing those three? The only other one I can find is usmle consult, not sure how useful it is though. Any thoughts?

 

[Shadowmoses]

Great question shadowmoses...I think the only way to go deeper into a topic is to take the exam and review it afterwards. The practice test makers always let you know what specific topic you got right or wrong after you take the test. I do not think they let you know what specific topics are going to be covered prior to the taking the practice exam. I have seen some free trials and that's how I got my information. I hope this helps you.

I'm not sure if I am understanding you correctly, but I assume when you say 'take the exam' you mean doing a block of qbank questions for a body system for a particular subject.

I hear how M2 students do qbanks along with the courses, but if they get questions on materials within the body system they know they havent covered yet, then it seems like a wasted question because they havent even studied the material in the first place. Does this mean that M2 students wait until they know most of the subject material (like about 75%-80%) they are studying before they start the qbank questions? I'm just trying to best understand how to utilize the qbanks to go along with schoolwork, sorry if this is going off topic.

 

[neuromaniac]

Take the exam means "take the 46 question q-bank practice exam" from kaplan and/or u-world. Now, I will take the practice questions each saturday (46 questions each) so there's no overkill. Also, I will do it by system. Question selection will NOT be randomized during these sessions for I will have knowingly selected a certain topic (e.g. Cardiology, or respiratory, etc.) to test myself. I am doing this to 1) learn the material 2) do well in my classes and 3) get familiar with the board style questions. The critical part to my success will be going through all of my "used" (in the fall) questions during winter break to reinforce what I already know. For example, if I don't cover reproductive pathology in the fall, but will cover it in february, I will not do practice questions over reproductive pathology during the fall, or winter break since I haven't covered it yet! I will take reproductive pathology questions in February.There would be no point in taking a test over something you haven't covered. Hope this is clear lol

 

[seira]

I have heard from some upperclassmen that good way to use Q-bank with M2 course work is to do a topic after you finish that topic in your school. For instance, when you finish the cardiology section and have entered microbiology, then you should do Q-bank questions for cardiology. I was told that this is to prevent overinflation of your awareness of how much you understand certain things.

I think my plan right now is GT with course everyday + Rx blocks after the module is done but during M2 + UWorld in March

 

[Aclamity]

I was thinking of starting a qbank in january or something. I feel like it would be a lot more useful then because that's when the panic starts to hit for many MS2s and they're really motivated to start doing X number of questions per day. Any reason why this might be a bad idea? Is it not feasible to finish 2 qbanks between jan and june-ish test time?

 

[da8s0859q]

So I know about the three main Qbanks: Uworld, Rx and Kaplan. For the ambitious students, is there any others in addition to those that you recommend trying IF one has time after doing those three? The only other one I can find is usmle consult, not sure how useful it is though. Any thoughts?

GT's questions maybe. But after the first few thousand questions, the phrase "point of diminishing returns" comes to mind.

I have heard from some upperclassmen that good way to use Q-bank with M2 course work is to do a topic after you finish that topic in your school. For instance, when you finish the cardiology section and have entered microbiology, then you should do Q-bank questions for cardiology. I was told that this is to prevent overinflation of your awareness of how much you understand certain things.

I think my plan right now is GT with course everyday + Rx blocks after the module is done but during M2 + UWorld in March

Not a bad idea, but for me, everything in M2 was about efficiency. If I'm gonna do questions, I want to do them in context of everything else I'm doing. Yeah, performance is going to be skewed a little upward, but those question banks are for learning first, benchmarking second. I'm on internal medicine right now -- I'm not going to wait until OB/Gyn to do some of those imed questions in UWorld.