USMLERX Down...again

[Houmd]

*Sigh*...............I bought to zip through and supplement before making my 2nd pass through UWorld but all the technical problems I keep getting are so frustrating.....

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[Phloston]

*Sigh*...............I bought to zip through and supplement before making my 2nd pass through UWorld but all the technical problems I keep getting are so frustrating.....

I just encountered the same problem, so you're not alone. It's especially frustrating because, yes, we're all operating on time-constrained schedules.

I decided to take a quick break, but I'm going to go over some questions here before going back to Rx again:

http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/webpath.html

 

[Houmd]

yeah I emailed them about it and they emailed back saying that their whole server was down and that any downtime would be added to my account, but that doesn't help too much since my step date is sooner than my expiration date. Just like you I'll just study other stuff in the meantime

 

[Dr.CCM]

They are down again...wtf! This sucks. I'm almost done with this damn qbank.

 

[Phloston]

USMLE Rx is back up, just fyi.

 

[Houmd]

Kinda funny, I guess RX felt bad or something, it was only down less than one day and I complained, and I just noticed today that they added like an extra 5 days to my subscription instead of just one...kinda cool I guess

 

[Phloston]

Kinda funny, I guess RX felt bad or something, it was only down less than one day and I complained, and I just noticed today that they added like an extra 5 days to my subscription instead of just one...kinda cool I guess

Yeah. It's worth it to them to give us an extra week vs single day just so that we won't continue ranting about their technical problems.

 

[auburnO5]

I seriously hate USMLERx. It's always having problems. They did automatically add a week to my subs though.

 

[Phloston]

I seriously hate USMLERx. It's always having problems. They did automatically add a week to my subs though.

They just sent me a $45 Amazon gift certificate by email for some of the errors I've pointed out, so for the moment I'm more than on good terms with them. Considering it's $10/error found though, I don't understand the $5.

 

[missmedschool]

Hmmm extra time from them would be great if my prescription didn't end 2 days before my exam, & I have no plans at all of extending my test date. Both Kaplan and USMLERx are always crashing for me and it's highly annoying. With Kaplan it takes 5 years to load a question ... & then they count those five years against your time. WTF? UWorld is the only one that hasn't given me problems.

 

[Phloston]

To be honest, the specific "down moment" that the OP is referring to is actually the only limiting technical problem I've ever experienced with Rx (i.e. where I actually couldn't access it; this was for ~6 hours).

On the other hand, in terms of non-limiting technical issues, I've found that after doing a long block in tutor mode, the system automatically logs me out, so whenever I hit "end block," it makes me log back in before having to end the block a second time.

I've only been using Rx since the beginning of March and it's been fairly reliable. But on the flip side, I agree, if the system were to be down while I'm in crunch time, I probably would give them a mouthful.

 

[Houmd]

To be honest, the specific "down moment" that the OP is referring to is actually the only limiting technical problem I've ever experienced with Rx (i.e. where I actually couldn't access it; this was for ~6 hours).

On the other hand, in terms of non-limiting technical issues, I've found that after doing a long block in tutor mode, the system automatically logs me out, so whenever I hit "end block," it makes me log back in before having to end the block a second time.

I've only been using Rx since the beginning of March and it's been fairly reliable. But on the flip side, I agree, if the system were to be down while I'm in crunch time, I probably would give them a mouthful.

Yes, this is my biggest/only real problem with RX. I do most of my blocks in tutor mode 48Qs and this happens EVERY TIME. I emailed about this as well but I received no response. Although it is quite annoying it isn't really too big of a problem in the long run. All in all I like RX because it reminds me of the nitpicky things I wouldn't have remembered otherwise but UWorld is way better for conceptual learning.

 

[Houmd]

Btw anyone else notice a huge drop in your predicted score if you suspend an exam? When it logs me out and i have to log back in my score is always dropped drastically until I go in and submit the block. Then it bumps right back up. Just kinda thought that was odd.

 

[Houmd]

They just sent me a $45 Amazon gift certificate by email for some of the errors I've pointed out, so for the moment I'm more than on good terms with them. Considering it's $10/error found though, I don't understand the $5.

The $5 is definitely weird....maybe it's handled by the same people who add up the answer choice percentages? lol I kid I kid....

Anyway how long were you submitting errors before you received anything. Jw because I have found several that I submitted to them and was wondering around how long I should be crossing my fingers for an email before I lose hope of any financial incentive.

 

[Phloston]

The $5 is definitely weird....maybe it's handled by the same people who add up the answer choice percentages? lol I kid I kid....

Anyway how long were you submitting errors before you received anything. Jw because I have found several that I submitted to them and was wondering around how long I should be crossing my fingers for an email before I lose hope of any financial incentive.

I know this might sound a bit ridiculous, but I had typically been very unnecessarily condescending with a lot of my comments toward them (e.g. "This is what the answer explanation should say for choice D. Who is writing these questions? A first-year med student? Either that or you're up at 3am smoking crack.") because I had repeatedly lost my patience with some of the egregious errors that I'd find. What happened? For about the first 100 errors I had pointed out that I'm confident were true ones, I received no responses. Keep in mind, they only give you $10/error if you're the FIRST person to have reported it, and they very likely get lots of emails about them before they can update their system and confirm that the errors are in fact true. Anyway, I was experimental the other day (and also in a good, relaxed mood), and decided to modify my approach with them (e.g. "I really liked this question, although here is a suggestion for how Choice B could be improved. I hope that helps."), and literally the next day got an Amazon card. Another thing: they're very subjective with the explanations. Many times I had written ways to merely improve upon what they already had, but received no responses. I've also received no responses for correcting their grammar or spelling.

 

[Houmd]

I know this might sound a bit ridiculous, but I had typically been very unnecessarily condescending with a lot of my comments toward them (e.g. "This is what the answer explanation should say for choice D. Who is writing these questions? A first-year med student? Either that or you're up at 3am smoking crack.") because I had repeatedly lost my patience with some of the egregious errors that I'd find. What happened? For about the first 100 errors I had pointed out that I'm confident were true ones, I received no responses. Keep in mind, they only give you $10/error if you're the FIRST person to have reported it, and they very likely get lots of emails about them before they can update their system and confirm that the errors are in fact true. Anyway, I was experimental the other day (and also in a good, relaxed mood), and decided to modify my approach with them (e.g. "I really liked this question, although here is a suggestion for how Choice B could be improved. I hope that helps."), and literally the next day got an Amazon card. Another thing: they're very subjective with the explanations. Many times I had written ways to merely improve upon what they already had, but received no responses. I've also received no responses for correcting their grammar or spelling.

Thx good to know. I saw several errors and was like "daddy needs a new pair of shoes!"

But yeah, maybe I should have been a little nicer in my emails as well....

 

[Dr.CCM]

It's down again. DAMN IT!!! I only have 1,000 questions left. I'm gonna finish this POS by Sunday.