Qbank/USMLEWorld for 3rd year shelf exams?

[elicash]

There must be a good thread about this on SDN somewhere, but I can't find anything decent with the search... So I'll just ask.

Did anyone use Qbank or USMLE World for their 3rd year shelf exams? Rather than having a unique "best" book for each rotation, I was thinking that it might be useful to have a solid question bank for everything, whether it is my main source, or just supplement to the "best" book for that rotation.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

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[MonkeyRalph]

I'm pretty sure I read a question like this in another thread. Maybe if you try searching again, you can get more answers, but in case you can't find it...
IMO, it seems like it would be pretty expensive to pay for USMLEworld all year long. And if I remember correctly, there's less than 200 peds questions, less than 200 OB/GYN questions, less than 200 surgery questions. So the only rotation where there's enough material is Medicine. I would just go with the books that others recommend in the other threads. Sorry I can't be of more help.

 

[jmelan]

i posted a thread about this somewhere else as well. one of the 4th year students at my school recommended UW for the medicine shelf test, so i'm going to try it out for the first shelf and see how it goes.

 

[rhino305]

i'd like to know more about this too. anyone else have any experience with shelf exams and usmleworld?

 

[lord_jeebus]

I didn't do this, but in retrospect I should have. The shelf exams are buzz-word heavy and aren't that bad if you trust your knowledge and don't over think things. I think USMLEWorld would be great preparation; better than Pretest books for sure.

My only concern would be "saving" USMLEWorld for Step II if you're going to take it early. You might want to use QBank instead during 3rd year if that is the case.

 

[Reborn07]

The only drawback is that it's really costly

 

[surprisedgirl]

unless you work for kaplan and get step 2 qbank for free

 

[Roy7]

But do people feel that USMLE World is as hard/similar to the shelf exams in terms of difficulty?

 

[diosa428]

Bump... does anyone else have any opinions on using USMLEWorld for the shelf exams? It's $400 for the year, which is pretty expensive, and the shelf exams aren't even worth that much for most of our rotations here... but I know that a good score on the shelves can sometimes bump your grade up a little...

 

[Kazema]

I got the year subscription, did about 200 or so questions to prep for the family med shelf. I really liked it, learned a lot, and felt it was pretty comparable to the actual shelf.

Haven't gotten my score back though so I guess I can't really say for sure yet.

 

[domer621]

I got the year subscription, did about 200 or so questions to prep for the family med shelf.

They have a family med section in UWorld?

 

[Kazema]

No I just did internal medicine and a few peds and ob questions.

 

[Encantada]

Used USMLEWorld to help study for my psych shelf this week, found it *very* helpful for what it did cover but it left out a few topics, which were filled in by PreTest. Interestingly, one shelf question was practically VERBATIM from USMLEWorld, a situation I also saw on Step 1. Coincidence? I think not...