Question Banks

[Ko8e24]

For those who have been utilizing external question banks, I have a few questions:

1. Which sources do you recommend? (I am currently using USMLE-Rx and then plan on using Kaplan Qbanks, saving UWorld for dedicated.)
2. If you are tracking your questions, what is the most effective way of doing so? I want to take notes on the questions/concepts I got wrong to reinforce them better and am curious about the most efficient and effective way of doing so.
3. How are you incorporating question banks into your daily or weekly study schedule?

Thanks!

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[deleted870424]

UWorld, always UWorld. Do it after review. Have 1 pass done by dedicated. Do second pass in dedicated. Also, USMLE-Rx is okay to use in lieu of reviewing First Aid in dedicated.

 

[Type2Fiber]

1. rx subject specific and do Kaplan random on all subjects you've covered so far. Seems like this is basically what you're doing

2. Anki cards of misses or new concepts/information

3. Get thru pathoma/costanzo/Sketchy for each block, then rx afterwards before nbme final. Work Kaplan in as time permits

Also, 2 passes of any question bank is probably low yield. Go through them deliberately once, seeing as many unique questions as possible is a better goal than 2 passes of uworld

 

[SeitenKishi]

I see that you're only a M1 based on signature, and so you just started med school? I personally would not start Q-banks this early. Not enough foundational knowledge to fully take advantage of the Q-banks, wait until you start organ systems (unless your curriculum is different and you're doing organ systems already). I started Q-banks around summer between M1 and M2.

 

[Gilakend]

1. rx subject specific and do Kaplan random on all subjects you've covered so far. Seems like this is basically what you're doing

2. Anki cards of misses or new concepts/information

3. Get thru pathoma/costanzo/Sketchy for each block, then rx afterwards before nbme final. Work Kaplan in as time permits

Also, 2 passes of any question bank is probably low yield. Go through them deliberately once, seeing as many unique questions as possible is a better goal than 2 passes of uworld

So say I'm in a block, should I wait until I've learned all of the material for that block (i.e. the last week of the block before the final) to do the questions? or sprinkle them throughout the block?

 

[Type2Fiber]

So say I'm in a block, should I wait until I've learned all of the material for that block (i.e. the last week of the block before the final) to do the questions? or sprinkle them throughout the block?

I think it's probably better to wait until you've seen all the material, that's what I do. Don't think there's much benefit in doing questions on material you've not covered, or doing questions on really specific areas

For example, doing questions on just nephrotic syndromes isn't as useful as waiting until you've also covered nephritic syndromes because differentiation of those obviously requires a deeper understanding of both processes

 

[jhamaican]

UWorld over and over again.

Disagree with 2nd pass being low yield.

Do UWorld until you can recognize the question, answer and why the wrong answers are wrong just by reading the first sentence of the question...

 

[deleted870424]

I literally talked to a person who scored >265 on step. They explicitly said 2 passes of UWorld is fine (even a necessity). Since the first and second passes are spread out time wise you won’t remember >90% of questions.
So do UWorld at the end of every block, and then again during dedicated. Don’t underestimate the power of UWorld.

 

[slowthai]

I literally talked to a person who scored >265 on step. They explicitly said 2 passes of UWorld is fine (even a necessity). Since the first and second passes are spread out time wise you won’t remember >90% of questions.

So do UWorld at the end of every block, and then again during dedicated. Don’t underestimate the power of UWorld.

There are plenty of people on both sides of the UWorld 2x vs UWorld 1x +/- incorrects that scored just as well. I think it comes down to what a person thinks works better for him/her.