I just started studying for boards this week (exam is in 6 weeks) and I decided, after some research, to buy access to USMLE Rx. At first I enjoyed it, but I'm really becoming annoyed with it and am curious what other people think. Seems like the tests I create oscillate between have several "easy" questions that I can get a 70% on, and a block of just ridiculous questions that I pull a 30% or 40% on. Granted, it's early on and I haven't reviewed a whole lot yet, but I feel like Rx is geared solely towards FA and that it really stresses some minutia within FA. I guess what I'm saying is I'm beginning to feel like Rx isn't an accurate assessment or simulation and that my money might be better spent on uWorld instead. Thoughts?
Thoughts on Rx?
- Thread starter adoniah
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Buddy of mine at Colorado just got a 258 after doing nothing but RX and First aid. Took 4 weeks to prep.
I did 1200 RX questions on random and liked the way it was teaching First aid. I have since changed to Uworld for the main test prep period (not sure why.. but whatever). I averaged 68% through those questions, with my lowest being 54% in blocks of 50.
I did 1200 RX questions on random and liked the way it was teaching First aid. I have since changed to Uworld for the main test prep period (not sure why.. but whatever). I averaged 68% through those questions, with my lowest being 54% in blocks of 50.
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definitely go for uworld.rx is a good supplement.
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RX is good as a supplement but I would caution against using it as the primary Qbank. You can get a good number of the RX questions in the First Aid Q&A books and I found it useful to do as I was going through the First Aid chapters at the beginning of my studying.
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Actually bought rx after finishing a run of uworld. A friend did the reverse and her scores were better than mine by a decent amount by the time she got to uworld Qs
Its a decent step up from 0...which is where everyone starts at
but with 6 weeks left; I'd recc you start uworld as well now. Uworld should take priority and judging from how long it takes to analyze each block, you dont want to be caught short on time if you start it too late. Doubly so if you intend to do all the Qs (or atleast the wrong ones) twice.
What rx does well at however, is cement the basic knowledge you pick up from FA. I was surprised how much I missed when I merely "read" FA.
Its a decent step up from 0...which is where everyone starts at
but with 6 weeks left; I'd recc you start uworld as well now. Uworld should take priority and judging from how long it takes to analyze each block, you dont want to be caught short on time if you start it too late. Doubly so if you intend to do all the Qs (or atleast the wrong ones) twice.What rx does well at however, is cement the basic knowledge you pick up from FA. I was surprised how much I missed when I merely "read" FA.
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I got tired of Rx early on in my studying, although I liked their "create a test" feature, because as said, the questions very often test ridiculous minutiae that they wrote somewhere in First Aid... like there were at least 10 questions I remember being about the "ABVD regimen" for Hodgkin's Disease (I think)... which honestly is as low yield as it gets, because the exam rarely tests straightforward "drugs" except usually the antibiotics, or it gives you hints via the adverse effects, mechanism of action, etc.
I switched to Kaplan and although some of the questions are still ridiculously detailed I found that a greater proportion of the questions are better; they also have the "high yield" option to choose only those questions likely to be tested on the USMLE.
This is secondary however to using USMLE World as your primary qbank for actual learning of the high yield material. That's an absolute must, in my opinion.
I switched to Kaplan and although some of the questions are still ridiculously detailed I found that a greater proportion of the questions are better; they also have the "high yield" option to choose only those questions likely to be tested on the USMLE.
This is secondary however to using USMLE World as your primary qbank for actual learning of the high yield material. That's an absolute must, in my opinion.
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I also beg to differ on the comments about Rx big on FA minuate. That is a contradiction.
FA is the bare minimum. In my opinion NOTHING in FA is "minuate"
FA is the bare minimum. In my opinion NOTHING in FA is "minuate"
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I wouldnt call anything in FA minutia. Take a look at kaplan notes. You'll see what minutia looks like. FA is pretty good at giving you only the highest yeild stuff. if anything a lot of people complain at the end that FA is not deep enough to get you those genius level step 1 scores
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Personally I used all the question banks and I foud the Rx/World combo to be most helpful.
Rx to strengthen fundamental concepts from First Aid
World to strengthen reasoning abilities
The Kaplan QBank was well.. helpful in some regards... I'll leave it at that.
The USMLEasy Qbank was a terrible waste of time. Good thing my school had a subscription.
Rx to strengthen fundamental concepts from First Aid
World to strengthen reasoning abilities
The Kaplan QBank was well.. helpful in some regards... I'll leave it at that.
The USMLEasy Qbank was a terrible waste of time. Good thing my school had a subscription.
