USMLERx v. Kaplan Qbank

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This topic has already been covered but the threads are from 2009 and I wanted to see if the trend has changed.

Which qbank should one get 6 months from exam time to do along with course work? The threads from 2007-2009 favor kaplan Qbank but usmlerx has come a long way since and I was wondering which one is a better prep/learning tool in recent times. Both are currently about the same price.

Saving UW for the last month or so before the exam.
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I received free 6 months of USMLERx so I will be starting that over the Christmas Holiday through boards in May. I've heard more negative things about Kaplan lately, but who knows.

Needless to say I have USMLERx done by March and switch over to UWorld.
 
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If case you guys didn't know, both Kaplan and USMLErx have a year long subscription available that seems cheaper than their prices last year. You also get a decent discount if you're an AMA or AMSA member. I plan on using both and they costed about $150 each.
 
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I did usmlerx, kaplan q bank, and usmle world. Usmlerx is probably too easy and some of the answers are wrong, but it goes over everything in first aid, so it is a great way to cover first aid for the first time. Kaplan q back does well with physiology and some other topics, but it is often too specific and has random questions that will unlikely show up on the usmle. Uworld was just like my usmle. If you have to pick between kaplan or Rx, I guess I would go with Kaplan. I thought it was harder than my usmle and uworld. I got in the 250's
 
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I have used USMLERx (halfway through 2010) and Qbank (since Dec 2011). Things may have chnaged since last year, but I found so many mistakes in USMLERx that I bought a bunch of stuff off Amazon with the gift certificates they give you. Some of them were horrendous mistakes. Plus, I found that most of the questions were very short and specific. Most of them were way too easy, even specifically selecting the Hard ones. OTOH, I have only been able to find a few (2-3) possible mistakes in Qbank, reported them to Kaplan, and they have replied with reasonable explanations as to why they aren't really mistakes.

I have enjoyed Qbank so far, especially because it was a heck of a lot cheaper than UW. I don't think that they focus on useless specific details, like other people do. In fact, I kind of like that the occasional question tests a random factoid that may or may not show up on the exam (keeps me on my toes).

I can only compare Qbank to UW offline (2007 pirated version), and I find the difficulty to be fairly similar to that, although the style of question and answer choices is a bit different (slightly more similar to NBMEs, but the difference is really small). I don't know how the updated UW is.

But then again, I haven't taken my exam, although I have gotten 590, 570 and 590 on NBME forms 6, 7 and 11.
 
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I will be taking my exam in June and I am having a difficult time choosing between USMLERx and Kaplan for my first question bank. I was leaning towards Rx because I have not opened first aid, so I thought it might help with getting acquainted with it, but then I read Kaplan also has FA pg. # references in each question. I've read that Rx has poor questions, but also that Kaplan has ridiculously detailed questions.

Ideally, I will be able to do Rx and Kaplan both from now until May, and then focus on Uworld during dedicated time, so does anyone have an opinion on which bank (Rx or Kaplan) would be better to do first or if it makes a difference?

Thanks to everyone
 
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i m going to start a qbank in a week.my exam in jan end.have done uworld once.want to get hold of FA.so have chosen rx . i hope its right choice.i saw offline rx Qs.they r not bad.they r def less twisted than uworld.

but they r really good to remember FA.even if some Qs are easy then i think easy Qs def show up in exam so we shld practice of all kind of Qs.its def worth it i guess.

ppl say some Qs are poorly written i think every bank have some Qs poorly written.but 3000qs will be a good practice.FA is kind of a book cannot know it cold by bare ready n memorizing.Qs is what reinforces memory. good luck everyone
 
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If you're looking for something to use during the year I would recommend kaplan. People say it's ridiculously detailed--which is true--but that really only matters when doing your intensive 4-6 week endgame studying. While you're actually covering stuff in school (i.e. when it's fresh in your mind) the detailed nature of the kaplan questions will be helpful. Other qbanks will be too easy at that point, but kaplan will hammer in a lot of the minutiae that you may just breeze over during your intensive studying
 
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Sorry if this is off topic but does Kaplan and USMLERX have some sort of annotation note box to record stuff in and then later print out all on one page like Uworld? Or do I have to make my own word document on all my wrongs?
 
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lakerfan38 said:
I totally agree on Qbank being harder than usmlerx.
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Been doing Qbank, almost done so i switched over to RX since they have the same deal like 199 until the test. While i like the fact that Rx puts small details of FA into their questions - does anyone find that their questions are a bit umm less precise then qbank and fairly inconsistent in terms of quality? Most of the time with qbank, once i read the answer i understand why the correct answer is so - but with Rx every once in awhile ill get an answer that isn't really convincing - even if i do further research into the topic on uptodate or robins. Anyone else have a smiliar experience? I'm wondering if i should just chalk those up as bad questions and move on...
 
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i have started rx ,done with 10 blocks .i m sure atleast 2 questions in every block has structural error.i guess they wanted to make questions tricky but ended up by making mistakes in question or answer choices.
one or two qs in every block is still a small fraction.i still like Rx ,its making me memorize first aid.
 
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I recommend USMLEWORLD. Stay away from question banks with too many errors, especially if you are not able to pick them up. Also, try to crossreference the information you are getting for the question bank you are using (i.e. confirm the information you are reading)
 
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Still don't take boards until June - i would think uworld might be a little early? Was thinking starting in april so i would have a full 2 months with it? Would it be worth it to use it for even longer?
 
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I just started studying for step 1 yesterday and my plan is getting through FA and all of usmlerx in about 2.5 weeks then switching over to world for the last 3 weeks.

I agree rx'r is easier and more straightforward - but it really is helpful for me in that it forces me to learn first aid and not just glance over things and say 'oh, i know that'.

I'm basically using FA, RR (reading through applicable sections) and Rx'r the first pass (first 2.5 weeks). Last 3 weeks and change will be FA again, RR audio lectures at 1.75x speed while following along in respectve chapters and random blocks of 46 in world. Also, I plan on doing forms 7, 11 and 12 during an 'off day' each week after my first pass..

I take the exam on march 2nd.

Comments?
 
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I like the combo of Gunner training and Kaplan, with Uworld being saved for my dedicated study time.

Gunner training is purely for learning/memorizing information with 1st degree factual questions that are very rapid. Kaplan is for integration/more test like format, and honestly I've found the questions to be pretty solid.

GT takes a lot of time commitment though, so I wouldn't recommend starting unless you're ~6mo or more from the test.
 
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Hey guys,

I'm bringing back an old thread to ask: Did you annotate from Rx as well as Kaplan into FA? I'm planning on annotating from Kaplan (probably just the high yield stuff) and definitely UW, but I'm wondering whether Rx needs annotations or not so much since it's supposedly directly from FA? This is helping me decide whether or not I'll have time for it, because I'm so much faster without annotations haha...

Thanks!
 
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I started annotating Kaplan but stopped. It takes a loottttt more time to annotate (well). Conveniently, I started Kaplan with phys, which they're supposed to rock at. I'll prob also annotate a bit for behavioral science, but that's it. Won't annotate anything from rx. Will annotate like mad from UW
 
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Thanks, Phloston and loveoforganic. I've actually read that post before, and I definitely think it's really helpful...just went through it again to make sure.

I know that I'll be doing Kaplan. I'm about 300 questions in so far. My issue is that doing the questions and reading the reviews doesn't take too long for me, but actually annotating takes forever.

I'm also considering doing Rx before I start UW...do you think it would be better to do both Rx and Kaplan while simply reading and making sure to understand the explanations, or to just get through Kaplan and not Rx before heading forward into UW? (I'll definitely be annotating UW, of course).

Thanks again!
 
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I'll also be doing Rx (starting in ~2 weeks after I finish up what I want to for the time being with Kaplan). I don't plan on annotating anything from Rx, unless I happen to come across an explanation that just completely elucidates a previously confusing concept. If you're an AMG (I am), there's only so much time you can put toward this. Knocking out 3 qbanks is wayyy more than most do (even if you're not annotating 2 of those qbanks). I'd rather just get the review of as many q's as possible over taking the time for low yield annotations
 
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You're going to encounter small details on your USMLE. Get through all three QBanks. Appreciate them. Annotate from them. Learn them.

Plateauing is normal, so you'll find that while the same number of months/hours early in your prep may have earned you 40 additional points on your USMLE, they'll only get you a few questions later on. That's okay. It just depends on how much you want those last few questions. On my exam, although there were definitely some questions I missed that I should have gotten right, there were also several low-yield ones where I was immensely thankful I had spent the additional hours prepping.
 
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Phloston said:
You're going to encounter small details on your USMLE. Get through all three QBanks. Appreciate them. Annotate from them. Learn them.

Plateauing is normal, so you'll find that while the same number of months/hours early in your prep may have earned you 40 additional points on your USMLE, they'll only get you a few questions later on. That's okay. It just depends on how much you want those last few questions. On my exam, although there were definitely some questions I missed that I should have gotten right, there were also several low-yield ones where I was immensely thankful I had spent the additional hours prepping.
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I'm not picking on the amount of time you spent prepping, but for those of us without that time, it should be noted the pace you went through Rx at would take 2-3 months of school time, assuming we can only put in ~3 hours/day of step prep. Obviously it would be ideal to annotate everything from 3 qbanks and reread it 5x, but that luxury isn't there for everyone.
 
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loveoforganic2 said:
I'm not picking on the amount of time you spent prepping, but for those of us without that time, it should be noted the pace you went through Rx at would take 2-3 months of school time, assuming we can only put in ~3 hours/day of step prep. Obviously it would be ideal to annotate everything from 3 qbanks and reread it 5x, but that luxury isn't there for everyone.
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Yeah, I don't have time for annotating anything but Uworld. Most people don't do 3 qbanks and still do just fine, so I don't think it matters.
 
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I think you'd be surprised how much time you actually have lying around during MS2. I personally never found med school lectures helpful and just spent most of my time at home staying up all night reading Robbin's and BRS. I never touched lecture slides or prac notes. Once again, I hadn't started my USMLE prep until after MS2, but there are quite a few AMGs who don't go to lecture and just do GT or QBanks around the clock day and night. We all have the time, it's just a matter of how we prioritize. Truth.
 
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Phloston said:
I think you'd be surprised how much time you actually have lying around during MS2. I personally never found med school lectures helpful and just spent most of my time at home staying up all night reading Robbin's and BRS. I never touched lecture slides or prac notes. Once again, I hadn't started my USMLE prep until after MS2, but there are quite a few AMGs who don't go to lecture and just do GT or QBanks around the clock day and night. We all have the time, it's just a matter of how we prioritize. Truth.
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Depends on the school and how much extracurriculars / clinical duties you have. You wouldn't pass some of my classes just with review books.

But I agree that there is lots of time, enough to do well.
 
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Phloston said:
I think you'd be surprised how much time you actually have lying around during MS2. I personally never found med school lectures helpful and just spent most of my time at home staying up all night reading Robbin's and BRS. I never touched lecture slides or prac notes. Once again, I hadn't started my USMLE prep until after MS2, but there are quite a few AMGs who don't go to lecture and just do GT or QBanks around the clock day and night. We all have the time, it's just a matter of how we prioritize. Truth.
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During 2nd year, we get ~6000 pages of written notes, not counting gross/microscopic images, and the tests heavily represent minutiae from those notes/images. Review books don't reliably get you into passing territory. If we all have the time, you should have prioritized your own time a little better and saved yourself the year of agony ;)

OneMoreRound said:
Depends on the school and how much extracurriculars / clinical duties you have. You wouldn't pass some of my classes just with review books.

But I agree that there is lots of time, enough to do well.
Click to expand...

Agree on both, but enough to do well is markedly less than what Phloston put in (not that I think you're arguing that point)
 
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I purchased USMLERx a couple days ago and started a block of 48 questions on random, tutor mode but it's taking me like 2 hours to get through just ~10 questions. I've already forgotten so much of what was covered in the past 3 semesters that I have to do an in-depth review for almost every single question. Is that normal? For the topics that our school hasn't covered yet (ie: pharmacology), it kinda feels like I'm wasting the questions as I just make a blind guess on them and try to move on. It would seem to make more sense to do some kind of a rapid review on each topic before starting a Qbank, no?
 
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minwoo said:
I purchased USMLERx a couple days ago and started a block of 48 questions on random, tutor mode but it's taking me like 2 hours to get through just ~10 questions. I've already forgotten so much of what was covered in the past 3 semesters that I have to do an in-depth review for almost every single question. Is that normal? For the topics that our school hasn't covered yet (ie: pharmacology), it kinda feels like I'm wasting the questions as I just make a blind guess on them and try to move on. It would seem to make more sense to do some kind of a rapid review on each topic before starting a Qbank, no?
Click to expand...

Maybe take a week to read FA before diving in? I think it makes sense to have done some sort of review on your background knowledge if you feel like you have no idea what anatomy is anymore because it's been so long. I used GT to learn and keep stuff fresh, but FA and Rx are a natural fit. Additionally, no one's making you do random. I see random as a good opportunity to test your breadth of knowledge, but if you have no pharm/other knowledge, you're going to waste time trying to learn whole new sets of information fresh and without context the first time you see a question about it. It simply doesn't make sense to try to "learn" pharm or pharm concepts by getting questions and trying to research the background. Read the pharm section in FA, and then you'll at least have a basis for how all the pieces fit together so that when you see words, you're not reading a foreign language.
 
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Phloston said:
I think you'd be surprised how much time you actually have lying around during MS2. I personally never found med school lectures helpful and just spent most of my time at home staying up all night reading Robbin's and BRS. I never touched lecture slides or prac notes. Once again, I hadn't started my USMLE prep until after MS2, but there are quite a few AMGs who don't go to lecture and just do GT or QBanks around the clock day and night. We all have the time, it's just a matter of how we prioritize. Truth.
Click to expand...

Yep. This is me. My school's preclinical tests are 100% from NBME question pools, so I skip all the lectures and have spent all of M2 learning from GT, Kaplan QBank, and Rx, and a few other resources. Funny, but I'm also pulling some of the highest preclinical grades in the class with this strategy...
 
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Suncrusher said:
Yep. This is me. My school's preclinical tests are 100% from NBME question pools, so I skip all the lectures and have spent all of M2 learning from GT, Kaplan QBank, and Rx, and a few other resources. Funny, but I'm also pulling some of the highest preclinical grades in the class with this strategy...
Click to expand...

Wow, I wish that were me. Unfortunately, a lot of our test questions are directly out of lectures (and not in review books/GT). Moreover, I have at least 14 (usually more) mandatory class hours per week, plus mandatory hospitalist and preceptor 3+ times per month. On top of that, usually 10 hours of nonmandatory lecture, which I normally watch on like 2x speed from home. Not a whole lot of days where I can stay home and just get work done / focus on board prep, sadly.

Edit: Despite all this, I think I would still have a decent amount of time (in the vein of what Suncrusher and Phloston are saying) if I weren't living with my girlfriend, two puppies, and a cat that take up a good amount of my time when I'm off of school. After all, I'm still home by around 5pm every day (some days earlier), and that would leave me plenty of time to get through GT and Qbanks and start on FA with time leftover if I weren't trying to relax with them for far too many nights...
 
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Suncrusher said:
Yep. This is me. My school's preclinical tests are 100% from NBME question pools, so I skip all the lectures and have spent all of M2 learning from GT, Kaplan QBank, and Rx, and a few other resources. Funny, but I'm also pulling some of the highest preclinical grades in the class with this strategy...
Click to expand...

Lol, well yeah. If your Q's come from NBMEs using the best resources will get you more questions right. Lots of questions on our exams are not even in First Aid, GT, or the high yield review sources - I literally would be on the cusp of failure (or actually failing) if I didn't use school notes.

Curriculums are vastly different. This is why it's very dumb to assume an approach @ one school could work for them all. Also, no wonder some schools outperform others @ Step 1.

hrain said:
Wow, I wish that were me. Unfortunately, a lot of our test questions are directly out of lectures (and not in review books/GT). Moreover, I have at least 14 (usually more) mandatory class hours per week, plus mandatory hospitalist and preceptor 3+ times per month. On top of that, usually 10 hours of nonmandatory lecture, which I normally watch on like 2x speed from home. Not a whole lot of days where I can stay home and just get work done / focus on board prep, sadly.

Edit: Despite all this, I think I would still have a decent amount of time (in the vein of what Suncrusher and Phloston are saying) if I weren't living with my girlfriend, two puppies, and a cat that take up a good amount of my time when I'm off of school. After all, I'm still home by around 5pm every day (some days earlier), and that would leave me plenty of time to get through GT and Qbanks and start on FA with time leftover if I weren't trying to relax with them for far too many nights...
Click to expand...

This sounds closer to my class schedule. Btw, the girlfriend/puppies aren't huge factors. Without them, It's not like you would just study every minute that they occupy... we're all human and need breaks.
 
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Suncrusher said:
Yep. This is me. My school's preclinical tests are 100% from NBME question pools, so I skip all the lectures and have spent all of M2 learning from GT, Kaplan QBank, and Rx, and a few other resources. Funny, but I'm also pulling some of the highest preclinical grades in the class with this strategy...
Click to expand...

lucky SOB...
 
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OneMoreRound said:
This sounds closer to my class schedule. Btw, the girlfriend/puppies aren't huge factors. Without them, It's not like you would just study every minute that they occupy... we're all human and need breaks.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I suppose it's a personal thing. For me, they are a huge factor, and they do take up much of my time...I know for a fact that I get significantly more done when out of town or when my girlfriend is working, for instance. I'm sure I wouldn't just study every minute, but significantly more, definitely.

Breaks are always necessary, though, you're right about that.
 
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Suncrusher said:
heheh. well, I knew my school "teaches to step1" before I matriculated. And unlike, say, Vanderbilt, my school doesn't have a big reputation to go along with its high average step1 scores
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my school doesn't have a big reputation and teaches/tests on useless minutiae
 
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minwoo said:
I purchased USMLERx a couple days ago and started a block of 48 questions on random, tutor mode but it's taking me like 2 hours to get through just ~10 questions. I've already forgotten so much of what was covered in the past 3 semesters that I have to do an in-depth review for almost every single question. Is that normal? For the topics that our school hasn't covered yet (ie: pharmacology), it kinda feels like I'm wasting the questions as I just make a blind guess on them and try to move on. It would seem to make more sense to do some kind of a rapid review on each topic before starting a Qbank, no?
Click to expand...

I'm kind of in a similar situation, but I find it easier to do a specific block of questions and not random. Like right now, I've gotten through endocrine and respiratory because those were our last two blocks in classes. Starting out it took me a long time, but the more you do-the quicker you become. If it's totally new to you, just recognize that you may be have to go back through a second or third time to really start picking up the info. Just my thoughts.
 
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wtf.

usmlerx says viral meningitis is more common than bacterial in a 6 yr old.
 
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remember the table in FA pg 197(2012) that says S.pneumo>Neisseria>Enterovirus>HSV for 6yr-60y

:(
 
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it seems to be in order for everything else 0-6m,6m-6y etc., dont you think?

damn FA is frustrating.
 
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USMLE-Rx is better in my opinion. Although both are pretty mediocre compared to uworld.
 
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USMLErx is great, but kaplan has way more things you won't see in FA (obviously). Also they have a link to the (med essentials page that deal with their question). There's been a few times I print screen that **** and put it in my FA. Also Kaplan has superior anatomy and cell bio and biochem. Thats not to say USMLErx doesn't have its advantages: Behavioral science/stats, psychiatry.
 
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Modeselektor said:
USMLErx is great, but kaplan has way more things you won't see in FA (obviously). Also they have a link to the (med essentials page that deal with their question). There's been a few times I print screen that **** and put it in my FA. Also Kaplan has superior anatomy and cell bio and biochem. Thats not to say USMLErx doesn't have its advantages: Behavioral science/stats, psychiatry.
Click to expand...
Dude, teach us your pdf editing skills. I still don't understand how you used Foxit to alter your copy of FA seen in the Step 1 thread.
 
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Foxit reader. With a scanned book run through an OCR software so that I can highlight/copy paste info from it.

On the edit menu is the option to add images/videos and web links. On the comments menu is your note tool for annotations, and a variety of highlight/underline draw/markup tools. :)
 
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