Step 2 - What is Q-bank and Q-book?

[GeneGoddess]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I'm going to admit some age and ignorance here: when I took Step 1, it was a two day paper exam. I've been holed up in a lab for quite a few years and am starting back to my fourth year rotations (FINALLY) in a week. I'm planning to take Step 2 probably in March. I've been lurking around this board and I keep hearing things about Q-book and Q-bank. I googled it, and they are available for certain subscription prices ($30/mo, whatever). Are the subscriptions worth it? Is it something you do for a month previous? And are they just practice exams or what? I'm much more used to the "read the review book, take a Pre-test, and the sit for the exam" style. Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[Scooby Moo]

Qbank and Qbook are basically just practice questions put out by Kaplan Medical. Step 2 Qbank consists of ~1,250 questions which you have online access to throughout the length of your subscription...the questions can grouped into blocks for self-testing or they can be used individually. I have heard from many of my classmates (as well as folks here) that Qbank questions are definitely worth going through at least once before taking Step 2.

About the cost, it's a little pricey... $150 for one month, $250 for three. IMHO as a user of Qbank for Step 1, one month seems to be plenty of time to comfortably get through all of the questions and answer choice explanations. I'm taking Step 2 in December myself, so I'm doing some other review now and waiting until the month before to do Qbank.

As for Qbook, it is simply an additional source of questions (850 I believe?) in hard copy format. There is a new edition due out in September according to Amazon.

Good luck with fourth-year! I have one more week in my vacation block before I start too, which is good since I'm bored out of my mind. 👍

 

[Blade28]

I'm also using QBank, as I've found it's a great way to consolidate your learning and test your knowledge and recall. I'm taking Step 2 this Saturday. Yikes!

 

[GeneGoddess]

OK, so QBank is just a computer program that you have to pay for! I have plenty of books, so I won't need QBook, then. I don't feel as dumb now! Out of curiosity, does anyone ever "share" the subscription?

And good luck Blade!

 

[Scooby Moo]

Quite a few people share the subscription and split the cost amongst themselves. The only "disadvantage" seems to be that the tracking of right-versus-wrong responses doesn't mean anything anymore since it is cumulative.

Good luck on Saturday, Blade28! 😀