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My last post got deleted as spam, so let me explain myself a little more.
I took the Step 1 boards last summer and was seriously disappointed with the disparity between what I expected and what was actually on the exam. I received a decent score, but I have always performed in the top percentile on standardized tests and my boards score was not even in the top ten. So I began thinking about all of the issues contributing to my not-so-stellar performance. Moreover, I set out to see what other students thought too. Here are the results:
I surveyed 393 medical students from 40 institutions:
But what if you make the service free? What if the only stipulation for a student using a free resource is that he has to write a question when he is done? With 20,000 students, if only 10% wrote a question, the databank would already rival QBank/USMLEWorld in size. Of course there needs to be considerable oversight (from students and faculty) and it needs to have all the perks of a test prep resource (ability to take tests, gauge your perfomance, flag questions). Could it work?
That's what I'm hoping for. I, along with my peers and faculty members, have created a novel test prep resource that is based on the wiki-model and best of all, it's free. I hope you'll use it to prepare and then contribute to it when you're done. You'll be a part of creating a serious alternative to the hegemony of Kaplan. The resource is available here: http://www.wikitestprep.org/
Good luck with your studying,
Abhas Gupta
MD/PhD Student (Year 3)
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
I took the Step 1 boards last summer and was seriously disappointed with the disparity between what I expected and what was actually on the exam. I received a decent score, but I have always performed in the top percentile on standardized tests and my boards score was not even in the top ten. So I began thinking about all of the issues contributing to my not-so-stellar performance. Moreover, I set out to see what other students thought too. Here are the results:
I surveyed 393 medical students from 40 institutions:
- 96% used Kaplan QBank
- 76% expressed dissatisfaction with the price of Kaplan QBank
- 46% did not believe that Kaplan QBank questions were sufficiently relevant to the actual exam
- 71% wished for access to practice questions throughout their first two years of medical school
- Ready for the shocker? The average respondent spent $330 simply preparing for the exam!
But what if you make the service free? What if the only stipulation for a student using a free resource is that he has to write a question when he is done? With 20,000 students, if only 10% wrote a question, the databank would already rival QBank/USMLEWorld in size. Of course there needs to be considerable oversight (from students and faculty) and it needs to have all the perks of a test prep resource (ability to take tests, gauge your perfomance, flag questions). Could it work?
That's what I'm hoping for. I, along with my peers and faculty members, have created a novel test prep resource that is based on the wiki-model and best of all, it's free. I hope you'll use it to prepare and then contribute to it when you're done. You'll be a part of creating a serious alternative to the hegemony of Kaplan. The resource is available here: http://www.wikitestprep.org/
Good luck with your studying,
Abhas Gupta
MD/PhD Student (Year 3)
Mount Sinai School of Medicine