Should I "save" the Qbank questions for later?

[Monkeymaniac]

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Hi, I'm an uprising second year and had a question about USMLE Qbank questions.

Do you remember how when we prepared for MCAT, we're advised to "save" AAMC FL's until we had a solid understanding of the tested materials so that we would be able to best guess how we would perform on the real test?

But for STEP I, a good number of my upperclassmen have recommened that I do 1-2 UWorld question sets per day after each course in order to spread the workload throughout the year and to do the problems when things are still fresh in my memory.

Is this a good advice? I'm afraid that when I look at the questions again the second time next year, I would remember answers to a significant number of questions which would bias my performance metrics. Thanks in advance.

 

[apoptosis123]

I was wondering about this as well and did some research... My understanding is that the UWorld qbank should be left for closer to the test date (it is the most similar to the real thing) and that USMLErx or kaplan should be used throughout MS2.

 

[VisionaryTics]

UWorld is your single best learning tool, so I think going through it more than once is useful. I started doing a couple question blocks per week in January and made sure I finished it before my dedicated study time. I didn't mind recognizing questions because I treated UWorld as a learning tool, not an assessment tool. NBMEs are your assessments.

I always thought saving UWorld was analogous to not studying for an exam until a few days before because you're concerned you'll see the same material over and over (I.e. the important stuff).

 

[Slack3r]

UWorld is your single best learning tool, so I think going through it more than once is useful. I started doing a couple question blocks per week in January and made sure I finished it before my dedicated study time. I didn't mind recognizing questions because I treated UWorld as a learning tool, not an assessment tool. NBMEs are your assessments.

I always thought saving UWorld was analogous to not studying for an exam until a few days before because you're concerned you'll see the same material over and over (I.e. the important stuff).

Did you feel that you recognized and thus knew the answers simply off recall alone? The second time thru, if you're recognizing questions (and their answers) rather than figuring it out, wouldn't the second pass be a waste of time?

 

[WaylonS]

Did you feel that you recognized and thus knew the answers simply off recall alone? The second time thru, if you're recognizing questions (and their answers) rather than figuring it out, wouldn't the second pass be a waste of time?

Not necessarily, because you can still read info on the incorrect answer options.

To the OP, I used Kaplan during the year and Uworld when I started studying for step 1 (early January)

 

[yehhhboiii]

i went through the step1 thread and iirc phloston says that going through usmlerx is higher yield than doing a second pass of uworld because it's written by the folks who wrote first aid and there are a few things on there that aren't found in other places. but going through uworld incorrects is also a good use of time

 

[VisionaryTics]

i went through the step1 thread and iirc phloston says that going through usmlerx is higher yield than doing a second pass of uworld because it's written by the folks who wrote first aid and there are a few things on there that aren't found in other places. but going through uworld incorrects is also a good use of time

That guy also studied for almost a year. I find most of his advice horrible.

 

[tiedyeddog]

I wish I had budgeted in enough time to do all of the questions once and then do my incorrects. I only got through everyone question once.

I would save those questions until you're getting closer to your dedicated period. USMLErx is a great way to pound out questions if that is what you're looking for.

fyi, I only got a 242 so listen to some of the uber stars around here instead of me, but this is my two cents.

 

[yehhhboiii]

I wish I had budgeted in enough time to do all of the questions once and then do my incorrects. I only got through everyone question once.

I would save those questions until you're getting closer to your dedicated period. USMLErx is a great way to pound out questions if that is what you're looking for.

fyi, I only got a 242 so listen to some of the uber stars around here instead of me, but this is my two cents.

lol only 242 wat. that's a pretty solid score bro

 

[yesno]

It's a good idea to save until later. I think a good use of the 1st part of your 2nd year and even your 1st is to just read Goljan slowly and more than once if possible. Want to boost your path, then do Robbins Question book. I did not finish reading all of goljan or all of Robbins question book and I still did >250. You could also try some other dense review books with questions such as Lange Pharm and Lange Micro&Immun. I did not finish any of those books. I had about 5weeks of dedicated step1 studying and I planned to finish all of uworld but did not, because it's too much work. Instead I ended up covering each topic by doing x # of questions from each section such as "heart", "GI", "blood" sequentially. I also started first aid same time as uworld. Did not finish it either. But if you work like a machine you could potentially do 200q per day which would make it <2weeks.. I did about 100q per day.. And I did 3 nbme exams in the last week before the exam and that was a steep learning curve as well. I broke 250 only on the last one (the day before the exam). I think doing questions or reading is much less stressful than actually going over the questions that you doubted or that you got wrong. Save that for the last 2months.

 

[JP2740]

Hi, I'm an uprising second year and had a question about USMLE Qbank questions.

I will uprise with you

 

[tiedyeddog]

lol only 242 wat. that's a pretty solid score bro

eh

 

[tiedyeddog]

I will uprise with you

lol

 

[JP2740]

lol

I know I felt dirty after that one.

OP, just focus on your classes now. It's the best advice you're going to get.

 

[Wordead]

Use Rx throughout the year. You absolutely will recall questions on second pass. It inflated my percentages to 93%.

 

[evilbooyaa]

lol only 242 wat. that's a pretty solid score bro

Only on SDN is a 242 on step I considered 'only'.

 

[link2swim06]

Use Rx throughout the year. You absolutely will recall questions on second pass. It inflated my percentages to 93%.

Which means you learned what you were suppose to, no?

 

[Wordead]

Which means you learned what you were suppose to, no?

I suppose it depends on your goals. UWorld teaches you a discrete set of info, Rx teaches you another set. You can easily get through all of Uworld during your dedicated study time (assuming you have 5+ weeks), so I dont see the point in doing it twice.

I personally did UWorld and Rx throughout the year, and ended up quitting my 2nd pass during my dedicated. If I could've done it over, I would have done Kaplan + Rx during the year and UWorld only during dedicated.

But then again, this depends on you having the motivation to do all that. It was pretty exhausting.

 

[link2swim06]

I suppose it depends on your goals. UWorld teaches you a discrete set of info, Rx teaches you another set. You can easily get through all of Uworld during your dedicated study time (assuming you have 5+ weeks), so I dont see the point in doing it twice.

I personally did UWorld and Rx throughout the year, and ended up quitting my 2nd pass during my dedicated. If I could've done it over, I would have done Kaplan + Rx during the year and UWorld only during dedicated.

But then again, this depends on you having the motivation to do all that. It was pretty exhausting.

I guess it depends if you just do the questions or if you spend a few hours after the test analyzing the wrong answer explanations (even if you got it correct) and the explanations uworld provides.

At least for step 2, if you knew every question and the entire explanation then you would get a very high score.