UWorld again or Kaplan Bank

[drmedstudent]

I have 4 weeks before my Step 2ck. I am done with UWorld once. Got score of 62% (60th percentile). Now I am wondering if I should either

1. redo the entire UWorld
OR
2. do Kaplan qbank (1st time) + only questions I got wrong on UWorld

What do you recommend would be the best strategy to maximize my score??

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[PokerDoc]

My entire life I've always been anti-repeat and do something new. I like you did UW over the school year and was considering just getting kaplan this month. My first pass avg was about 64%.

I'm finding myself fluctuating between 80% and some 65% blocks still. There is still A LOT to learn by doing UW again, and I have reversed course and now feel doing UW twice is extremely beneficial. You'll def remember some questions, but the stuff you don't know well (which will be a lot as it was for me), you will still struggle with.

I also think it sticks better when you do it twice.

 

[drmedstudent]

thanks for the reply...

I actually started Uworld since April, have done each question thoroughly (reading everything, instead of just the ones I got right) and have been writing notes. I will be reading these notes in the next few days. So my concern is that since a lot of these questions/concepts will be fresh (hopefully) in my mind, dont you think I will be better served with another question bank since re-doing UWorld will just be a rehash of my short term memory instead of my actual mastery over the subject?
Not to mention I will still redo the 800ish questions that I got wrong in UWorld despite doing kaplan qbank.

 

[Salpingo]

thanks for the reply...

I actually started Uworld since April, have done each question thoroughly (reading everything, instead of just the ones I got right) and have been writing notes. I will be reading these notes in the next few days. So my concern is that since a lot of these questions/concepts will be fresh (hopefully) in my mind, dont you think I will be better served with another question bank since re-doing UWorld will just be a rehash of my short term memory instead of my actual mastery over the subject?
Not to mention I will still redo the 800ish questions that I got wrong in UWorld despite doing kaplan qbank.

I was in the same position. I ended up just re-doing UWorld. It worked out well for the Shelf's, so I treated the QBank like I would a good study review book. Instead of taking my chance with a new book, I'm re-reading one that I know is good. Sometimes I have to catch myself if I'm just answering a question based on familiarity, but I try to read those explanations even closer to reaffirm the takeaway point. Haven't taken the actual Step yet, so I guess I'll see if the theory works out in practice.

 

[Zaina11]

Hi,
Great info u guys. My exam is in 3 weeks, I finished UW 69% and reviewed it once. Started kaplan qbank 4 days ago and having my butt kicked! av 65%. Having read ur posts now im reconsidering going over UW again (redoing the wrong ones only). What would u recommend? all the best

And by redoing wrong questions do u mean solving them again? thanks!

 

[Green Grass]

I would redo UWorld. That question bank is awesome.

 

[MossPoh]

This debate kind of hinges on whether you use the qbank for learning or assessment. If you want to use it for assessment, then yes, another one would be good because you don't want to potentially skew your results.

I prefer to use it for learning. If you truly remember the answer and reason behind the answer for that many questions, then you probably don't need to be doing much studying in the first place. If you really really want more questions, I'd just pick up the Kaplan question book or something cheap to throw a few extras in on a budget.

 

[vicinihil]

I would redo UWorld and do random once more. The reason I say this is because I started my 3rd year using Kaplan and it truly sucked. The quality of the questions were not up to par being too specific, too picky, or too easy. Every time I did the question bank I questioned the question's validity. However, this issue doesn't come up with uWorld knowing it is the highest standard of qbanks.

60th percentile on Uworld isn't great. There is definitely holes in your knowledge. I would go through the sections that you are the weakest on, study it, and retry the questions. I wouldn't just read the answers you wrote down. You could even try doing practice questions just in those topics via pretest since you have SO MUCH time left.

 

[SlaveOfTCMC]

My final verdict on Step 2 uWorld vs Kaplan after doing both through once

Final UWorld% 78%

Final Kaplan 65%


The BIGGEST differences I have noticed is the nature of the answer choices and the possible confounders within the question stems.

UWorld tends to be a bit more straight up. It focuses more on core concepts. This is why it is such a great tool.

Kaplan tends to focus more on your differential diagnosis skills and ability to see through confounders and traps. Moreover, the answer choices often are of the same variety and require intricate knowledge of the differences between subtypes of the same disease process. While this is excellent for being a real doctor, it may be very frustrating for someone who just wants to get by doing "well" on Step 2.

The extra knowledge may come in handy for Shelf examinations (but I have yet to test this theory)