Should I "save" the USMLE Qbank questions for later?

[Monkeymaniac]

---

Members don't see this ad.

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.

 

[saalik786]

USMLE World q bank is by far the best question bank/learning tool. In my opinion, it should be done as soon as possible (ie during second year) and as many times as possible. The more you take from this question bank, the better it will be. Why save it to the end and limit how much you can benefit from it? Rather, I think students should go over the q bank 1-2 times during the academic year and then an additional ~2 times during the dedicated study time. Not only will each pass strengthen what you have learned but you will also pick up new things as well. There are plenty of NBME practice tests available to gauge your performance towards the end. Just some thoughts...