UWorld 2x vs UWorld 1x + other Qbanks

[slowthai]

Can we attempt to settle this once and for all? Lol. One side believes in seeing as many new questions as possible. The other believes in just sticking to the one, gold standard resource, which is UWorld, obviously. I have seen many off the charts scores from both groups.

UWorld 2x
Pros: Repetition of the greatest resource that's the most similar to step
Cons: Lack of exposure to other kinds of questions that potentially may get you the harder questions on step

UWorld + other banks
Pros: You get tested in a myriad of ways, so you're theoretically prepared for any kind of question
Cons: You don't get that repetition with UWorld


I guess it comes down to doing what works for you, but how would you even know what works better for you until you actually pick one way of doing it?

For what it's worth, I'm leaning towards running it once (and redoing incorrects). But I may end up splitting the difference, like maybe running Kaplan and doing UWorld 2x.

Edit: So I've edited the poll to be more inclusive of everyone, lol. The last option was supposed to say "I'm a god", but it won't let me change it. Whatever, lol.

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[aldol16]

You're going to remember questions that you've done, whether that's consciously or not. Go through UWorld once, read every single answer explanation and make you understand the reasoning. That's plenty enough. The other QBanks can be done if you have extra time. But really all you need is UWorld. IMO, going through it more than once just offers diminishing returns.

 

[Lawpy]

How does repetition with UWorld help?

 

[Ho0v-man]

I did uworld and redid my incorrects. That was more than enough beat down .

Its nice to see different questions, but nothing on step1 is harder than uworld. I didn’t encounter a concept on step1 that wasn’t in uworld.

 

[slowthai]

How does repetition with UWorld help?

I don't know, but I just read about how one guy said he needed repetition because that's how his mind works and he scored 260+ doing UWorld 2x.

 

[slowthai]

You're going to remember questions that you've done, whether that's consciously or not. Go through UWorld once, read every single answer explanation and make you understand the reasoning. That's plenty enough. The other QBanks can be done if you have extra time. But really all you need is UWorld. IMO, going through it more than once just offers diminishing returns.

This has been my thought process. I have always thought doing one, very thorough pass will work better for me.

 

[stickgirl390]

Adding that Zanki is basically just practice questions lite-mode. If you’re maturing Zanki and doing UWorld, that’s essentially 2 question banks already.

 

[operaman]

None of the above.

I had planned on UWorld x2 plus other banks.

What actually happened was UWorld x0.75 plus some fraction of Kaplan along with classes.

Scored over 260.

In the end it’s about learning the material and I felt very well prepared after 2 years of classes and parallel boards prep. My first full length before dedicated and any serious UWorld was already in the 250s so my pre-dedicated knowledge base was very strong and there wasn’t much room to improve my score anyhow.

I don’t think there’s a right answer other than doing whatever works best for you. The key is knowing what that is, but after 2 years of classes and studying you’ll have a good sense of it.

 

[PathDoctor]

This has already been studied.
Answer is UWorld 1x plus other qbanks.
Early study, review book passes, and unique questions completed remained significant in the master model, while sex and repeat questions were not significant.

Study Behaviors and USMLE Step 1 Performance: Implications... : Academic Medicine

in 2014 and 2015 at their institution to two cohorts of medical students who had recently taken Step 1. Demographic and academic data were linked to responses. Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations, and multiple linear regression analyses were performed. Results Of 332 medical...

journals.lww.com

 

[OrgoCoop]

None of the above. Did uworld once for step 1 and step 2. Reviewed it thoroughly during my pass. Didn’t even think about redoing it. 25x step 1, 26x step 2.

 

[slowthai]

None of the above.

I had planned on UWorld x2 plus other banks.

What actually happened was UWorld x0.75 plus some fraction of Kaplan along with classes.

Scored over 260.

In the end it’s about learning the material and I felt very well prepared after 2 years of classes and parallel boards prep. My first full length before dedicated and any serious UWorld was already in the 250s so my pre-dedicated knowledge base was very strong and there wasn’t much room to improve my score anyhow.

I don’t think there’s a right answer other than doing whatever works best for you. The key is knowing what that is, but after 2 years of classes and studying you’ll have a good sense of it.

Insane. You must be a genius, lol. This won't work for mere mortals like me, lol. But thanks. Hope to figure out what works sooner rather than later, lol.

 

[WedgeDawg]

UWorld x1 + incorrects and flagged questions.
I got a lot of questions wrong multiple times so I basically just ended up doing UWorld 2.5x.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

This has already been studied.
Answer is UWorld 1x plus other qbanks.
Early study, review book passes, and unique questions completed remained significant in the master model, while sex and repeat questions were not significant.

Study Behaviors and USMLE Step 1 Performance: Implications... : Academic Medicine

in 2014 and 2015 at their institution to two cohorts of medical students who had recently taken Step 1. Demographic and academic data were linked to responses. Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations, and multiple linear regression analyses were performed. Results Of 332 medical...

journals.lww.com

You tricked me into reading this because I totally thought you meant something different by “sex” lol.

 

[AlteredScale]

UW 1.8x first (the 0.8 is incorrect and flagged)

Supplement with COMQUEST (DO QBank) 1x with incorrect.