Which QBANK to help learn during class?

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Adam638

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I am planning on saving USMLE World until the 6 weeks before Step 1, but am looking for a QBANK to use along with my 2nd year course work. Which would you all suggest? Kaplan? USMLERx? Others? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. 🙂
 
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I used usmlerx. it has 3300 questions depending on which day, they update frequently. so far it has had some similar questions to usmleworld and some to nbme. plus it helps to know first aid "cold". it can also come with flashfacts if you want. I don't know if it helped with second yr classes per se, usmle questions are different from coursework questions but as you are studying for classes, it helps to know what to expect in step 1.
 
This might be shocking to some people, but people's courses are different at different schools. I might have a professor who tests strictly off his slides. You might have specialists from all over the hospital come in and teach you. John over there in the corner might read big robbins cover to cover. Lets see if i can spin it so you can make the decision yourself.

Kaplan is strictly minutia detail. The vignettes are long and often purposefully tricksy. It gets frustrating. They have references to page number in FA and MedEssentials which makes annotating pretty cool. Their explanations often suck or are really short lived. Useful for your course? likely not. useful for studying for the Boards while in class? You decide.

USMLE world is more Step 1 style questions. The vignettes are still long but the explanations (and pictures) are smoking hot. The problem with World is that they really harp on like 10 things in each block. For example, they ask about Osteogenesis Imperfecta like 10 times in a 2000 question block. Well, if you select "Bone Diseases" and there are 50 questions, 10 of them which is Osteogenesis Imperfecta, you are not getting the full spectrum. I made up those numbers, but you get the idea.

Other qbanks i see as superfluous. To be honest, you're better off doing Robbins Question Book. The questions are hard, relevant to what youre learning, and have exceptional explanations. Leave the powerhouse Qbanks for when you are done focusing on learning new material and are able to review.

Bottom Line: You have to decide for your course, but go out and by Robbins Review.
 
wanted to see if anyone else had any input on this question.

I am also interested in using a question bank for my studying between now and May. Taking the exam in June but wanting to hold off on UW until May.

I don't want to use kaplan qbank. Wondering if anyone else has any recs on other sources.
 
Usually people have had the preference of online Q banks in this order: UW, Kaplan, USMLERx. I heard USMLEasy is bad but people may have dissenting opinions from mine.

However, you could try using stuff like Pre-Test series for questions as well however they are not as highly ranked according to First Aid appendix. Robbins Review of Path is GREAT for path as is Webpath. They are good alternatives that I've found. Pre-test is alright, certainly a good source to go to. I've finished Qbank, Robbins, and Webpath for certain topics and not starting UW until 1 month out, therefore I've resorted to Pre-Test.
 
I used usmlerx. it has 3300 questions depending on which day, they update frequently. so far it has had some similar questions to usmleworld and some to nbme. plus it helps to know first aid "cold". it can also come with flashfacts if you want. I don't know if it helped with second yr classes per se, usmle questions are different from coursework questions but as you are studying for classes, it helps to know what to expect in step 1.
....ditto
 
USMLErx was fine for 2nd year. I also used UW and found it very useful.
 
My school has a subscription to USMLEasy, so I can use it along with classes. Has anyone done that before, or any experiences with this Qbank? I will get UW closer to the test, and will likely get Qbank or USMLE Rx at some point. I am trying to decide if I should just get one of these now (I start 2nd year next week), or if USMLEasy is fine for now.
 
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