Scoring horrible on USMLE World compared to Kaplan

[harv1212]

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hi all,

been studying a month and have a little under a month to go ...

i did 50% of kaplan so far and am now averaging low 70's on each block of 46 i take

i just now switched over to usmle world and after doing a number of blocks i'm averaging 50%!!!!

I thought most people said that it's world is easier but I am not finidng that to be the case ...

also when i was doing kaplan I'd have like 2 or 3 correct to incorrect but with world I'm getting like 14 correct to incorrects ... i can't figure out how my guessing between two choices is so dramatically different between the two banks

anyone else expereince this change in averages when shifting from one bank to another .... my confidence is crushed 🙁 hahahaha ... ugh ... hate this test so much haha

 

[username456789]

Nah you're not out of the ordinary. Lots of people have a pretty noticeable change in scores from one to the other. They're somewhat different style questions, and require different types of thinking.

Use UW for its true purpose - a learning tool. I started UW about a month ago after working on Kaplan for a couple months slowly, and at first I wasn't doing particularly great on UW (I had been averaging mid 60's in Kaplan for a while and was trending upward in the low 70's).

Now that I'm fully immersed in UW, not only have my UW scores increased a good bit, but my Kaplan scores are great. When I go back to Kaplan and take a block of Q's every now and then, I generally end up tearing them apart.

Consider UW the difficult training you need in order to sharpen your test taking skills and, probably more importantly, expand your knowledge base and/or make those connections you never made in class.

 

[InTheMaking]

I believe people consider UWorld the hardest of the questions and the ones that put in the most thought. Consistent 2nd 3rd and even 4th order questions. Great training to get yourself to actually UNDERSTAND whats going on rather than just memorize facts. Although memorizing is just as important.

 

[MedMan25]

I thought most people said that it's world is easier but I am not finidng that to be the case ...

I've heard from most people that have used both kaplan and world that world was much harder. I have only used world so I can't speak for kaplan but my averages have roughly been in that same range.