UWorld easier..?

[MJ is KING]

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Hey guys,

I finished Kaplan Q BANK (did them all by whatever topic was getting covered in school, non-random, all timed 70% average), and just started UWorld today. I just did two sets of 30 questions Randomized and Timed and was shocked to get 86%. I felt like the questions were much shorter and less detailed than Kaplan. I'm wondering if that was a fluke or if I can trust that score?

Thanks - MJ

 

[hyrule]

The questions are shorter. But I felt as though the Kaplan Qbank was easier. Finished half of it. I just started UW, and I also just started studying.

 

[ArcGurren]

Kaplan's questions were more about rote memorization when I tried some. UW is more about trying to make connections and the Qs are evidently much more similar to those on the real exam.

So yeah, possibly a fluke. I've gotten that before on UW before.

 

[MJ is KING]

thanks for your reply, I did 150 more questions and am running 78% so far. I guess the question style is just different - more big picture than Kaplan. Anybody have an idea of what that translates into score wise? I remember seeing a formula on sdn somewhere...

 

[MossPoh]

You primed yourself by answering all the Kaplan questions. I recently picked up the Kaplan Qbank because I was going through uworld questions like crazy, liked the iphone app and the FA page reference and wanted more detail oriented questions. I've found that the details are the part that ellude me usually. I got a 75% average on my first little quiz to test it out on subjects I am currently studying or in the process of and most of the questions I missed were because I was so tired I couldn't think.

Despite no having covered all the stuff there, I was able to do relatively well because of my practice with uworld.

I actually think the two question banks seem to be somewhat syngergistic. There is just enough difference in feel and focus for me.

Things I like about Kaplan: The iphone app, the references, the pharm video lecture I encountered, the med essentials charts, the initial login analysis screen and options to select easy -> hard questions.

What I like about uworld: Questions feel more clinical overall, the interface is MUCH better during the actual tests, I don't have to click around for everything and don't get weird formatting issues. I also like that it tells you the percentage that picked each answer choice. Oftentimes, there will be a pretty even split between 2 or 3 answers and that makes me take a mental note that those things can be confused, so look into them more.

I think that no matter what you do, the second question bank will seem easier if you've worked through a lot of the other one beforehand.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

You primed yourself by answering all the Kaplan questions. I recently picked up the Kaplan Qbank because I was going through uworld questions like crazy, liked the iphone app and the FA page reference and wanted more detail oriented questions. I've found that the details are the part that ellude me usually. I got a 75% average on my first little quiz to test it out on subjects I am currently studying or in the process of and most of the questions I missed were because I was so tired I couldn't think.

Despite no having covered all the stuff there, I was able to do relatively well because of my practice with uworld.

I actually think the two question banks seem to be somewhat syngergistic. There is just enough difference in feel and focus for me.

Things I like about Kaplan: The iphone app, the references, the pharm video lecture I encountered, the med essentials charts, the initial login analysis screen and options to select easy -> hard questions.

What I like about uworld: Questions feel more clinical overall, the interface is MUCH better during the actual tests, I don't have to click around for everything and don't get weird formatting issues. I also like that it tells you the percentage that picked each answer choice. Oftentimes, there will be a pretty even split between 2 or 3 answers and that makes me take a mental note that those things can be confused, so look into them more.

I think that no matter what you do, the second question bank will seem easier if you've worked through a lot of the other one beforehand.

Totally agree with this. I'm halfway through qbank and 1/5 of the way thru UW at this point, and I think the 2 question banks complement each other nicely. The Kaplan qbank has better anatomy, path, and perhaps even pharm coverage; it's also more detail-oriented. UW has much better conceptual questions, however, and seems to follow the style of the real USMLE questions more faithfully. I think qbank is worth doing first to get the details from FA down.

(And I agree with the qbank formatting bit - I hate that I can't increase the size of the "window" the qbank applet runs in, so I have to squint to read the letters because I'm using a fairly high-res screen. I also hate that the applet regularly crashes in Firefox, Chrome, Safari and every other non-IE browser I've tried, forcing me to use IE to run it...)