UW vs USMLERx vs Kaplan Qbank

[afterwords]

I was wondering if anyone who has taken the exam and has used these would be able to compare these three q banks for me and comment on which one is the best resource.

Time to exam = 1.5mths.

Thank you!

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[dhoonlee]

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[Law2Doc]

Use the search function. Or here, I'll summarize for you:

UW >>> USMLERx ~ Qbank

On this site certainly World is most popular. Certainly looks most like the real test in screen layout. And it's dirt cheap.
Qbank is the oldest of the bunch and it's hard to know how many of the loyalists liked it for historic success reasons versus current utility. It has more questions than world. Costs several times more.
It cannot be denied that people have done well with all of these. All of them seem to focus on what has been highest yield in past years. How much you get from the various question banks depends a lot on the user, I suspect.

 

[afterwords]

Thanks for your help!

 

[treasurefull2]

I just took USMLE I.....

I used both USMLE World and Kaplan QBank... and I have to to say that they are both QUITE different from each other...

As far as which one is more similar to the actual exam, i would have to say Qbank. DEFINITELY. I'm not sure how people came up with the idea that UR is like the actual thing.

HOWEVER!!!! UR is a GREAT RESOURCE.... The questions are very difficult and up to 3rd or 4th order thinking... (The actual exam is not---> perhaps 3rd order at the most) This makes you really think, and the explanations are SUPERB, much better than Qbank, and you will learn alot this way....

Personally, what I would do is as many UR Q's at the begining of my studying because the explanations are so thorough and will supplement your learning....

THEN, I would use QBANK on RANDOM MODE!!! If you do QBank on Random mode, you will practically be taking the actual exam, IN MY OPINION.... Of course, when you select random mode, you wont get the actually porportion of questions from the different subjects.

USMLEWORLD: More concept based and less fact based questions.

Kaplan QBanks: More fact based questions and concept based questions.

Either way, get your studying done early and do many many questions... During the exam, there were some questions that I only KNEW and REMEMBER because of the questions I did.

 

[SoCuteMD]

I just took USMLE I.....

I used both USMLE World and Kaplan QBank... and I have to to say that they are both QUITE different from each other...

As far as which one is more similar to the actual exam, i would have to say Qbank. DEFINITELY. I'm not sure how people came up with the idea that UR is like the actual thing.

HOWEVER!!!! UR is a GREAT RESOURCE.... The questions are very difficult and up to 3rd or 4th order thinking... (The actual exam is not---> perhaps 3rd order at the most) This makes you really think, and the explanations are SUPERB, much better than Qbank, and you will learn alot this way....

Personally, what I would do is as many UR Q's at the begining of my studying because the explanations are so thorough and will supplement your learning....

THEN, I would use QBANK on RANDOM MODE!!! If you do QBank on Random mode, you will practically be taking the actual exam, IN MY OPINION.... Of course, when you select random mode, you wont get the actually porportion of questions from the different subjects.

USMLEWORLD: More concept based and less fact based questions.

Kaplan QBanks: More fact based questions and concept based questions.

Either way, get your studying done early and do many many questions... During the exam, there were some questions that I only KNEW and REMEMBER because of the questions I did.

You refer to "USMLEWORLD" and then "UR."

Are you using "UR" to refer to USMLEWORLD? Or are you referencing USMLERx?? It's a bit unclear from your post.

 

[treasurefull2]

You refer to "USMLEWORLD" and then "UR."

Are you using "UR" to refer to USMLEWORLD? Or are you referencing USMLERx?? It's a bit unclear from your post.

Sorry, after taking the test my brain's not in full force... i meant USMLE WORLD... UW not UR.

 

[cdql]

I was wondering if anyone who has taken the exam and has used these would be able to compare these three q banks for me and comment on which one is the best resource.

Time to exam = 1.5mths.

Thank you!

If you have that much time, I'd use all three. Maybe do 50 from each question bank each evening. In roughly six weeks, I was able to fit in both Qbank and UW and I felt they both were quite helpful. (If I were to choose just one, it would be UW though)

 

[afterwords]

Thank you!

 

[notJD]

Use the search function. Or here, I'll summarize for you:

UW >>> USMLERx ~ Qbank

I totally disagree. I used both and UW is nothing like the real exam. It will help you prepare for the few "outer space" questions you will get. Qbank is much better balanced and closer to the exam. When I took UW they had like 37 really crappy behavioral questions, but I got 4 or 5 BS on each block on test day.

 

[dhoonlee]

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[txguy]

Hey, your opinion is appreciated and well noted.

However, if I were reading this thread for advice, I would pay attention to the contributor's post-count.

And the date they joined the forum.

lol agreed

-tx

 

[notJD]

Hey, your opinion is appreciated and well noted.

However, if I were reading this thread for advice, I would pay attention to the contributor's post-count.

And the date they joined the forum.

I fail to see why *your* opinion trumps mine because you have posted many times. I spent my time studying rather than chatting, but I just don't agree with the UW "buzz" on this board. I was trying to be helpful because I think most of the exam was way different from UW questions.

 

[dhoonlee]

.

 

[afterwords]

Dhoonlee, NotJD, thank you for sharing your views about this. I appreciate your help!