when to start working on qbank?

[Bevo]

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Im aiming to take step 1 in late feb. I was thinking of working on qbank/iv bank now. My subscription would run out in the end of december? around then I'l be starting my review course which has its own question bank.

Too early to start? or good to start now and start seeing anyareas of weakness and making notes on topics I'll need to cover.

 

[IlianaSedai]

I think it really depends on the person. If you're taking a review course with questions, then yeah, I guess it would be reasonable to set a goal to finish Qbank before the review course. In that case, I don't think it's too early if you are one of those people who learns a lot directly from questions.

For me on the other hand, it was useless to do questions until I'd read something, because I learn more by reading and using the questions to reinforce than by doing the questions straight off. So I really didn't need to start doing questions so early, and if I had the kind of time you have, I'd prolly read and go through the questions in Robbins Review of Pathology for the next three months, then get a three-month subscription to Qbank after that. In three months, if you do one 50 question block per day, you'll finish all 2200 questions in plenty of time.

 

[Dukes]

If you're going to start qbank this early and really want to get something out of it make sure you study the answers carefully and do additional reading on the the topics presented. Really take your time with it and use the questions to develop an overall understanding of the major topics while trying to memorize the details (as much as possible). Throughout the semester before I took the boards I spent close to an hour a day doing Appleton and Lange questions. It was a great book but I really didn't apply myself as much as I could have and considering it was so far removed from when I took step I it turned out to be a bit of a waste of time. So basically if you're going to do questions this early make sure you really study up on the answers or else you'll forget them and you'll realize your wasting your time and money.

 

[bigfrank]

Hi, I took the test in June and started studying those two QBanks (IV and regular) in about November so I wouldn't say its too early.

However, I think that you might be discouraged if you do too many questions too early, because of the amount of material you will learn over the months leading up to the exam.

I saved at least 50% of the regular QBank questions for the last 2 months.

If you wanted to do all of IV QBank now, however, that might actually be a very good idea. These questions are good from which to study, because they ask several questions about a subject.

Best,

 

[Bevo]

I was planning on doing the iv q bank first. and leaving the qbank when I have complete free time.

ive still got a few weeks left in 2nd semester though. figure its a good way to review for my final exams as well.

thanks for the replies.