Usmlerx > Qbank

[Kashue]

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Anyone else feel the same? The more questions I do from FA's Bank the more I realise this is the way to go. Anyone with USMLERX and QBank feel the same?

This is the only bank where the answers require tertiary thinking. Even their answers are like: You need to go through 3 pathways of reasoning to get at the answer.

Ie they show a picture of a Reed Sternberg cell and ask what type of microogranism is associated with it.

So

1. You had to recognize it's a Reed SternBerg Cell 2. You had to know that it's arises from a Bcell 3. You had to associate the class HerpesVirus(ie Epstein Barr Virus) to B-cells.

Overall, I'm impressed with USMLERX. An excellent product by First Aid 👍. I totally recommend it and those who are strugging w/ Qbank, convert! or finish up Qbank and start UsmleRx.

 

[BDylan]

I agree. At the very least, I thought USMLERx was a closer representation of the NBME assessments than Qbank.

 

[lord_jeebus]

I haven't used usmlerx but regarding QBank:

I had about 20 questions on the real thing that were essentially the same as QBank, but phrased a little differently. Same scenario, same kinds of answer choices.

But there are a lot of QBank questions that were nothing like anything I saw on the real thing.

 

[woowoo]

Anyone else feel the same? The more questions I do from FA's Bank the more I realise this is the way to go. Anyone with USMLERX and QBank feel the same?

This is the only bank where the answers require tertiary thinking. Even their answers are like: You need to go through 3 pathways of reasoning to get at the answer.

Ie they show a picture of a Reed Sternberg cell and ask what type of microogranism is associated with it.

So

1. You had to recognize it's a Reed SternBerg Cell 2. You had to know that it's arises from a Bcell 3. You had to associate the class HerpesVirus(ie Epstein Barr Virus) to B-cells.

Overall, I'm impressed with USMLERX. An excellent product by First Aid 👍. I totally recommend it and those who are strugging w/ Qbank, convert! or finish up Qbank and start UsmleRx.

i would recommend using usmlerx, but doing so cautiously. i had both qbank and usmlerx. i found usmlerx to be very helpful, but at the same time i felt that some of the questions were written by some bonehead who had a first aid sitting in front of him, but other than that the dude didn't know anything about the step. and i also encountered several great tertiary questions. i backed off it some, when i continued to find errors. i found three and reported them, but then kept finding them in other stems and was tired of taking the time to report them.

as one of the other posters said, i had several step questions that seemed to be verbatim from qbank, and made me wonder what kind of kickback kaplan gives to the NBME.

the trend right now on this board seems to be to bash qbank, but i have to say that i found it very helpful for learnign the content. the nbme exams are definitely the way to go if you want to experience actual step 1 questions, but kaplan is great for learning the material. it has worked well for several years worth of test takers, and i'm sure will prove again this year to be the way to go after we get our scores.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Yeah, taking the boards made me suspect that Kaplan gets students to "remember" questions and reconstruct them. However, sometimes I think that people remember strange wrong answer choices or just a few extraordinarily difficult questions, which leads to QBank's obsession with HLA or its obscure questions about the innervation of the external auditory canal.

 

[gourman]

Be warned that USMLErx freezes up (@ least on me) a lot. The first two times I had to close my IE window bc it wasn't responding; when I opened it back up, it kept whatever answers I had down (probably 25/50) but immediately said I had run out of time on the test. The last time it happened, my answers were still down & it gave me the full 60 minutes to complete the 30 I had not gotten to. The price is right though. I haven't taken the test, but they are closer to the NBME's that I have seen than are the minutia-filled Q-bank questions.

NOTE: When I used firefox, all of these problems (including highlighting problems) vanished.

 

[Kashue]

Be warned that USMLErx freezes up (@ least on me) a lot. The first two times I had to close my IE window bc it wasn't responding; when I opened it back up, it kept whatever answers I had down (probably 25/50) but immediately said I had run out of time on the test. The last time it happened, my answers were still down & it gave me the full 60 minutes to complete the 30 I had not gotten to. The price is right though. I haven't taken the test, but they are closer to the NBME's that I have seen than are the minutia-filled Q-bank questions.

I took NBME 2 last night and at least 20 questions from USMLERX or close to it showed up verbatim on NBME 2. Anyone else feel that the FA authors went through the NBME and made questions based on them? I even got a question on USMLERX - what drug causes myrdriasis without cycloplegia which was one of the practice NBME, but they changed the choice from phenylephrine to epinephrine?

 

[Reborn24]

I took NBME 2 last night and at least 20 questions from USMLERX or close to it showed up verbatim on NBME 2. Anyone else feel that the FA authors went through the NBME and made questions based on them? I even got a question on USMLERX - what drug causes myrdriasis without cycloplegia which was one of the practice NBME, but they changed the choice from phenylephrine to epinephrine?

What is USLMErx and how do I get it

 

[Mamu]

I Personally Think Usmlerx Is Better Than Qbank, I Have FinishED About 1000 Questions And Still Doing Them, You Might Encounter Some Problems With Their Website But That’s Very Rare , Other Than That It's Great, I Highly Recommend This Product.. Trust Me It’s Worth It.. Good Luck…

 

[(nicedream)]

I Personally Think Usmlerx Is Better Than Qbank, I Have FinishED About 1000 Questions And Still Doing Them, You Might Encounter Some Problems With Their Website But That’s Very Rare , Other Than That It's Great, I Highly Recommend This Product.. Trust Me It’s Worth It.. Good Luck…

Its Hard Capitalizing Every Word You Type, Isn't It?

 

[(nicedream)]

I think it's easier than Qbank actually. Maybe that's because FA is my primary study source though, I don't know. Does anyone know the track record of students that have used USMLERx this year, ie what the score correlation seems to be between USMLERx scores and USMLE scores?

 

[gourman]

I don't know how I did on the USMLE yet, but the USMLErx questions were quite similar in style to those on the actual test. Unfortunately, they were much more limited in scope than the actual test. I did about half of usmleRx & given another opportunity (which I hopefully won't be given), I would probably not do any. It's not that they aren't good, it's just my problem on the real test was more lack of knowledge scope than being uncomfortable with the question style. I would probably just stick with Kaplan or Robbins or Webpath. One of my classmates was especially weak in pharm & he just did the USMLErx pharm questions (which are slightly harder than the real thing). This might be a good strategy as FA pharm is "all you need" for the test.

On a related note, know immuno cold. Not necessarily really detailed immuno (like kaplan); know how to apply simple knowledge to complex problems. Anatomy was the toughest section on the test, but I don't have any tips for preparing. I hit HY pretty hard & it didn't really help.

 

[(nicedream)]

I've done 200 questions and have found 5 or 6 mistakes already. And the pictures are too small. I'd only recommend this if you have the $99 to spend and the extra time.

Also, the questions are indexed with relevant pages from FA, which are included in image form in the answer explinations. Problem is, half the time the answer is not in FA - it's like they're pointing out their own omissions.

 

[CanIMakeIt]

What is USLMErx and how do I get it

http://www.usmlerx.com/USMLEFlash/Login.aspx

 

[Mamu]

Use Usmlerx or Qbank as a tool to study, what i have heard from people who took the exam is different than how these q banks are.. get something what you think is good for you.. thats all i can say..
good luck...

 

[SoulRFlare]

Be warned that USMLErx freezes up (@ least on me) a lot. The first two times I had to close my IE window bc it wasn't responding; when I opened it back up, it kept whatever answers I had down (probably 25/50) but immediately said I had run out of time on the test. The last time it happened, my answers were still down & it gave me the full 60 minutes to complete the 30 I had not gotten to. The price is right though. I haven't taken the test, but they are closer to the NBME's that I have seen than are the minutia-filled Q-bank questions.

NOTE: When I used firefox, all of these problems (including highlighting problems) vanished.

there were certain questions (always ones with pictures) where it wouldn't register my response--and then would freeze.
also, when I got through about 72 % of the questions, it wouldn't let me make any more exams of unused questions (it'd say "not enough unused available") I probably wrote to them five or six times, and I was hoping i could finish those unused 570 questions before boards, but no go. The good thing is they sent me a ten dollar gift certificate for my "comments"
all in all, bood questions but tricky. the pictures are terrible though. there will be questions where it just says "what is the structure?" and you can barely make out what they are pointing at. you can "zoom" on the pics by right clicking, but they become too pixelated

 

[Llenroc]

Is USMLErx any good if you just get the basic $99 package, or do you have to get one of the more expensive ones?

 

[SoulRFlare]

Is USMLErx any good if you just get the basic $99 package, or do you have to get one of the more expensive ones?

when i got it it was 60 bucks...must have been a special offer.

 

[(nicedream)]

Is USMLErx any good if you just get the basic $99 package, or do you have to get one of the more expensive ones?

As far as I know the only options are how long you want it for. $99 is for a month.

 

[(nicedream)]

What have y'all been scoring on this? I'm interested to hear score interpretations on this, like there are for qbank.

 

[Mamu]

What have y'all been scoring on this? I'm interested to hear score interpretations on this, like there are for qbank.

low 60