usmleword

[ThankGod]

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Hi everyone,

I wanted to know if USMLEWorld refers to First Aid pages in its explanations of questions? I think Kaplan and USLMERx do?

Anyhow, your input would be appreciated.

 

[OveractiveBrain]

UWorld does not, Kaplan does, and USMLERx isnt worth your time

As far as I could tell (i used both World and Kaplan for Step 1) the only advantage Kaplan has is the Re-Kaps and references to First Aid (And MedEssentials).

In general, the style of questions, difficulty of questions, and even the very interface is most like the real deal with UWorld. If you are training for the test, train like athletes do for the big game. You do the thing most like the competitive event. Thusly, use UWorld.

Kaplan is more difficult, requires more detailed knowledge to get their questions right, but has a heap more information when it comes to the content. If you were going to use a Qbank to learn (as opposed to reading First Aid or other review books), Kaplan is better.

If you are going to choose one for Step 1, pick Uworld.

If you are going to prepare hardcore, do Kaplan FIRST during your second year or towards the learning portion of Step Studying, then switch to UWorld to train for the big day.

If one Qbank use UWorld.
If two Qbanks use Kaplan First, then UWorld
Kaplan has reKaps and references, but UWorldhas interface and question quality.

For Step 2 the answer is obvious, UWorld the whole way

 

[Mr hawkings]

UWorld does not, Kaplan does, and USMLERx isnt worth your time

As far as I could tell (i used both World and Kaplan for Step 1) the only advantage Kaplan has is the Re-Kaps and references to First Aid (And MedEssentials).

Kaplan is more difficult, requires more detailed knowledge to get their questions right, but has a heap more information when it comes to the content. If you were going to use a Qbank to learn (as opposed to reading First Aid or other review books), Kaplan is better.

If you are going to choose one for Step 1, pick Uworld.

USLMERx references first aid as well.
As far as difficulty, i have not used kaplan but uworld seems pretty tough to me

 

[ArcGurren]

I've actually used UWorld all through second year to prepare for classes. I found Kaplan to be irritating and testing details which didn't help me understand the process of it and instead was pure memorization as opposed to 3 or 4 step questions. I can definitely see how it would help with facts though.

I've heard USMLERx isn't that bad either but from my personal experience using UWorld + First Aid I've done pretty well in class and using it as a good basis for Step 1 study.

 

[MossPoh]

I have Uworld, but have done questions in both. I found there were fewer "WTF?" questions in Uworld. You know, those questions you get wrong and then go over the answer and realize that it wasn't because you made a mistake in reasoning, but rather you just would have never gotten it.

FA references would be nice, but it isn't that hard either way and the explanations are about as detailed as one could ask for with most things.

 

[buckeye12]

Not sure why FA page references are so nice. If you want to read what FA says on the subject, it has a table of contents and an index.

My entire goal in using UW was to get exposure to more material presented in a different manner. Kaplan offers that as well, but don't choose it over UW just because it references FA pages.

And certainly don't choose USMLERx. Most of its questions are drawn from FA. If you're OK with just passing, that's fine. If you want to cover more material and shoot higher, get UW or Kaplan.

UW was my choice, and I'm happy with how it turned out.

 

[MossPoh]

The references are nice because you can annotate easier. I actually had the binding stripped on my first aid and put it in a big binder. If it is a concept I seem to miss more than I'd like, I usually write out or draw something that makes sense for me and put it in that spot. It is nice that way because I have more space to write stuff and I don't have tons of random scribbles that made sense at the time and are just words to me now.

 

[DrDrToBe]

Yeah I have Kaplan and I really like the references, plus it has been an excellent resource so far for my second year classes. It might be a bit detailed as other people say, but i am not aware of that as it often reflects the type of things they test at school. I am planning on getting UWorld the month before my test and using that to really prepare as it's pretty universal advice from the third years at my school that we should use it.