USMLE World won't let you print screen

[78222]

ok, I am posting this here mainly on the hopes that someone from USMLE World will read it and realize how dumb this is.

USMLE World is using a proprietary software for people using their qbank now (apparently they weren't before according to some people who took it last year). Anyhow, the software they are using pretty much eliminates the ability to use the print screen function. If you press Prnt Scrn, it asks if you want to log out. If you change the Prnt Scrn key, it does the same thing. If you attempt to use any sort of printscreen software, it closes the test and gives you this message:

Obviously they are trying to discourage people from pirating their intellectual property, but the way they are going about it is only hurting people who actually paid to use it. Personally, when I am going through the explanation for a problem I missed, and see a particulary helpful chart or picture, I like to make a copy of it so that I can put in my notes for review. With Kaplan QBank I could do this or I could mark the question for review. With USMLE World I can do neither - which means if I want to see that explanation again, I am going to have to remember exactly what question it was in and in what test!

The level of security USMLE has used to try to protect their images is ridiculous considering:
A) Most people are going to buy this even if they can easily get their hands on a pirated copy (finding a pirated copy is about as hard as finding pirated Goljan) because they want the percentage, timer, ability to create tests and other functions you just cant get out of a pirated version.
B) Each question displays your unique user ID. So if they found a pirated version floating around they could just trace it back to whoever pirated it to begin with.
C) If someone can find a way to crack Vista, Adobe, et cetera they will find a way to crack this - this won't deter pirates just paying customers.

All this function does is annoy the hell out of people like me who actually paid for it and want to copy a graph or chart here and there to review later without having to go back and try to wade through the questions and find the one with it. It's the test prep equivalent of those CD's Sony installed spyware on to stop pirating.

*Update*

Here's what happens when you DO manage to take a screenshot.

Hi,

Our software has detected screen capturing tools active on your machine while the USMLEWORLD Qbank software is in use. Please note that simultaneous use of such software (intentionally or unintentionally) with Qbank software is a violation of terms and conditions of the Agreement (found at http://www.usmleworld.com/terms.asp). Some examples of common screen capturing tools include Snagit32, Screenshot, etc. The account will be disabled automatically if you attempt more than 3-times to
use Qbank while any screen capturing tools are ON.

USMLEWORLD LLC also reserves the right to pursue the course of law in the event of any violations. Feel free to contact us if you need further assistance or clarification.

Thank you,
Usmleworld Support

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[joe6102]

If it doesn't violate the TOS, try a digital camera. No way they can disable that.

 

[smq123]

USMLE World is using a proprietary software for people using their qbank now (apparently they weren't before according to some people who took it last year).

No, they were doing this last year when I bought USMLE World.

Yeah, it is pretty annoying - although not any different from any of the other annoying hoops that the NBME makes you jump through.

* Those NBME tests that cost you $40 each? The computer just scores them - they don't give you a friggin' answer key so you have no clue which questions you got wrong!

* When you actually take Step 1, every time you want to go to the bathroom, you need to show your approved form of ID and sign in and out.

* No personal watches allowed. No scrap paper. No pencils. Just you and that stupid dry-erase board.

* When you take your specialty licensing boards, they may fingerprint you and I've heard stories of people getting patted down. These are full-fledged, practicing physicians by the way, who are being treated like (basically) criminals.

USMLE World is just demonstrating a kind of paranoia that is very similar to the kind of paranoia that the NBME demonstrates on a regular basis. This kind of high anal sphincter tone is just a fact of life when it comes to medical licensing exams, I guess. 🙁

 

[78222]

No, they were doing this last year when I bought USMLE World.

Yeah, it is pretty annoying - although not any different from any of the other annoying hoops that the NBME makes you jump through.

* Those NBME tests that cost you $40 each? The computer just scores them - they don't give you a friggin' answer key so you have no clue which questions you got wrong!

* When you actually take Step 1, every time you want to go to the bathroom, you need to show your approved form of ID and sign in and out.

* No personal watches allowed. No scrap paper. No pencils. Just you and that stupid dry-erase board.

* When you take your specialty licensing boards, they may fingerprint you and I've heard stories of people getting patted down. These are full-fledged, practicing physicians by the way, who are being treated like (basically) criminals.

USMLE World is just demonstrating a kind of paranoia that is very similar to the kind of paranoia that the NBME demonstrates on a regular basis. This kind of high anal sphincter tone is just a fact of life when it comes to medical school exams, I guess. 🙁

I could somewhat understand it if this were an actual test - BUT IT'S A QBank which I'd purchased with the hope of learning. Maybe I should have stuck with Kaplan.

 

[smq123]

I could somewhat understand it if this were an actual test - BUT IT'S A QBank which I'd purchased with the hope of learning. Maybe I should have stuck with Kaplan.

Despite the drawbacks, I still truly feel like UWorld is better than Kaplan. UWorld's interface is perfect - exactly like the boards. And I felt like the questions were better.

And I don't totally agree with the idea that less-stringent anti-piracy measures would not stop people from buying UWorld. You or I might still buy UWorld because of the additional features - but there are many, many people who just want the questions. There are websites out there where you can get Kaplan QBank questions for free (most of those websites seem to cater to FMGs). I doubt that those questions would be as widely distributed if those people were still willing to buy QBank.

 

[bbpiano1]

Why don't you use the little checkmark button to tag all the questions you want to revisit? You should have that option. If not, maybe you need to download a newer version of the software.

 

[Reimat]

I could somewhat understand it if this were an actual test - BUT IT'S A QBank which I'd purchased with the hope of learning. Maybe I should have stuck with Kaplan.

The thing is if print screen was available, how long do you think it would take for the questions to pop up on ebay (for $20 on CD)? I'm guessing 48 hours, maybe a week max. They're just protecting the hundreds of hours they spent writing the questions from pirates.

What stops you from typing/handwriting out the main concept portion of the question you missed anyways?

 

[78222]

The thing is if print screen was available, how long do you think it would take for the questions to pop up on ebay (for $20 on CD)? I'm guessing 48 hours, maybe a week max. They're just protecting the hundreds of hours they spent writing the questions from pirates.

What stops you from typing/handwriting out the main concept portion of the question you missed anyways?

The questions are already available online. It took me 5 minutes on google to find a hacked 2007 USMLE World (I didn't download it, I just wanted to see how easy it would be to find). That's really my point, they aren't stopping pirates anymore than the RIAA is stopping people from downloading music - they are just causing a hassle for the people who are actually paying for the product.
And I can't really see why anyone would want to take a whole test using screen shots of questions with the answer already filled in. My guess is that 90% of the medical literature that is pirated occurs outside the US and is consumed by people who otherwise wouldn't buy the product anyway.

As for handwriting/typing, I could but it's just not as efficient as dumping a screenshot into Word and cropping out the parts I dont want.

 

[78222]

Why don't you use the little checkmark button to tag all the questions you want to revisit? You should have that option. If not, maybe you need to download a newer version of the software.

I see the checkmark, but I dont see anyway to only review check marked questions - I'll look into it.

 

[registered user]

I see the checkmark, but I dont see anyway to only review check marked questions - I'll look into it.

When you create a test you have to select "marked" questions. That's the only way to do it.

 

[medhacker]

Surebrec


The ones you can find online are outdated, they are version 1 and they are incomplete, this year they are version 2.

They can still be printed though, believe me. UW don't hate me, maybe you should hire me UW or should have given me a free trial in exchange 🙄 .

 

[bgreet]

The questions are already available online. It took me 5 minutes on google to find a hacked 2007 USMLE World (I didn't download it, I just wanted to see how easy it would be to find). That's really my point, they aren't stopping pirates anymore than the RIAA is stopping people from downloading music - they are just causing a hassle for the people who are actually paying for the product.
And I can't really see why anyone would want to take a whole test using screen shots of questions with the answer already filled in. My guess is that 90% of the medical literature that is pirated occurs outside the US and is consumed by people who otherwise wouldn't buy the product anyway.

As for handwriting/typing, I could but it's just not as efficient as dumping a screenshot into Word and cropping out the parts I dont want.

I really don't get the argument. They were pretty upfront in the tos about not allowing screen capture, you agreed to it and now you're not happy. If you wanted screen capture, why did you buy it in the first place?

 

[ertugrul]

Their attitude is meaningless, there are "other" programs (don't ask 🙂 ) that you can easily capture the screen.
I don't think they would lost too many customers even they provide their questions in, say, word format. I bought it mainly to see my progression, and to have a chance to review my past wrong questions etc.

 

[mudphudwannabe]

I can understand how this is annoying, but I don't really understand the lengthy tirade. If your business was to sell practice test questions, you would probably do the same thing. They are just trying to keep it from being easy to copy the questions to prevent people from stealing the information they have probably invested a lot of time and money in developing. It is not your right to be able to take screenshots of the program - as bgreet said, you agreed to the terms of use when you bought the program. It's not their fault you didn't take the time to read those terms.

USMLE World User Agreement

The USMLEWORLD Qbank software is designed to access your computer system's clipboard during use of the USMLEWORLD Qbank software. While a test is in progress, the USMLEWORLD Qbank software shall disable all clipboard functions of your computer system (including, but not limited to, copy-paste-print, save-to-disk functions). Furthermore, the USMLEWORLD Qbank software shall monitor all processes on your computer to determine if there exists any applications that could be used (intentionally or unintentionally) to copy Qbank contents. Simultaneous use of such applications (hereafter referred to as "dubious applications") with the USMLEWORLD Qbank software constitutes violation of this Agreement.

ETA: Sorry for the redundancy, I didn't see that the original post was updated.

 

[78222]

I understand it's part of their TOS and I think as a business it's within their legal rights to do so. The point of my tirade is mainly that regardless of whether they are able to stop a user like me from getting a screen shot for review purposes, someone will be able to crack it and will probably distribute it over the internet just like they did for Kaplan qbank and the 2007 edition of USMLE World. I think their material is excellant, I just don't like it when a business treats all the consumers like criminals.

 

[Law2Doc]

The point of my tirade is mainly that regardless of whether they are able to stop a user like me from getting a screen shot for review purposes, someone will be able to crack it and will probably distribute it over the internet just like they did for Kaplan qbank and the 2007 edition of USMLE World.

The fact that a determined criminal is still able to break in doesn't make it a bad idea to lock your doors. Copyright infringers are all over the internet. But why have 90% of your potential customers stealing from you when you can limit it to a determined 10%. They created the questions, and they are licensing you to use them in the manner they prescribed (not the manner you find most useful). There are other games in town if you don't like the way they run their business.

 

[78222]

The fact that a determined criminal is still able to break in doesn't make it a bad idea to lock your doors. Copyright infringers are all over the internet. But why have 90% of your potential customers stealing from you when you can limit it to a determined 10%. They created the questions, and they are licensing you to use them in the manner they prescribed (not the manner you find most useful). There are other games in town if you don't like the way they run their business.

Why are 90% of your customers going to be stealing from you if you allow screenshots? Kaplan allows screenshots and I dont see them going out of business.

Also, as someone pointed out, to bypass the print screen all you have to do is get your digital camera. If I was going to pirate it, thats what I'd do - it would probably be a lot faster than screen saving if you were copying a large number of questions (no need to do anything other than press a button).

Yes, I could go to another qbank, but I think USMLE Worlds content is the best. That doesn't mean I can't criticize the way they run things.

 

[riverie]

you could check mark the questions you want and review each test with "checked items only." (i think that's an option; it's been a month since i took the step and clearly, memory purging has already taken place. even if you can't block out the non-checked ones, you can still access each checked item separately.) i'd planned to do that, but never did have the time go back and review them. or you can make a new test with checked items only, but you'd get them in random order and there's no guarantee of no overlap.

 

[Mr. Freeze]

The idea of feeling like I might need to screen capture something hadn't even crossed my mind. I am 3 months out, today, and shopping for my bank of choice. Anyone know if OS X's Grab is detectable?

 

[ertugrul]

The idea of feeling like I might need to screen capture something hadn't even crossed my mind. I am 3 months out, today, and shopping for my bank of choice. Anyone know if OS X's Grab is detectable?

Does UW work on mac 😉

 

[bkflaneur]

Anyone know if OS X's Grab is detectable?

Yeah, Grab is detected and blocked. I tried to grab a screenshot on my Mac the other day and got the same annoying message posted earlier. I had to quit Grab before I could do anything else.

I wish I could do a screenshot occasionally too. But after doing more and more questions, there are so many that I get wrong that I've realized I'll never have time to review them all. So I just try to process it in the review and move on. I do make notes on what I've gotten wrong. But those are getting so long, I'm not sure how much time I'll spend reviewing them.


The screenshot thing is annoying. But overall, their explanations are really helpful (when I have the patience to read them).

 

[Law2Doc]

Why are 90% of your customers going to be stealing from you if you allow screenshots? Kaplan allows screenshots and I dont see them going out of business.

Kaplan counters by charging a LOT more money for their resource, to defray the losses they have due to rampant copyright infringement. World is cheap -- they cannot afford to open up the flood gates.

 

[78222]

Kaplan counters by charging a LOT more money for their resource, to defray the losses they have due to rampant copyright infringement. World is cheap -- they cannot afford to open up the flood gates.

Kaplan charges a lot of money because of name recognition and the fact that they aren't used to having competition. People are flocking in droves to USMLE World, even though they could easily get Kaplan QBank for free because it's becoming well known that USMLE World has a better product (our school surveyed last years class and nearly everyone said they used both and preferred USMLEWorld or wishes they'd used USMLE World). The business Kaplan is losing due to pirates is nothing in comparison to the money they are losing to USMLE World.

I really think companies get all worked up over pirating, even though the majority of people who pirate their goods wouldn't have bought it to begin with (at least in the US, this is different in other parts of the world where pirated commodities are freely bought and sold).

 

[StevenRF]

Can they pursue legal action anyway even if you do copy it? I thought the law specifically had an exception for "educational purposes" among other things. Fair use and all that jazz? Or is this another one of those great gifts of the DMCA?

Here's to hoping someone makes it pirate'able just to spite them, signed "we are anonymous." And yes, I already paid for a 3 month subscription...

 

[Law2Doc]

Can they pursue legal action anyway even if you do copy it? I thought the law specifically had an exception for "educational purposes" among other things. Fair use and all that jazz? Or is this another one of those great gifts of the DMCA?.

You would still be violating your license to use it, so they could sue you even if it wasn't a criminal violation under copyright law. So yes, they can pursue legal action. Has nothing to do with the DMCA, it has to do with the agreement you clicked on and agreed to when you signed on to their service.

Folks, While it's fine to debate or complain about copyright protections on SDN, Please don't give advice on SDN on how (or where to go) to actually breach a copyright protection.