07-25-2006, 09:24 PM
Hey Turtlerace....
I just started Usmlerx a few days ago....Here's what I think so far....
Let's start off with the disadvantages:
First of all, I find it easier than QBank, although to be honest, there are questions that are identical to QBank....but generally speaking I do think it's easier. Most (not all) of the questions don't have that much depth to them. The vignettes aren't as long as in QBank and therefore don't seem to really represent exam format (from what I hear people who took the test saying).
Advantages:
GREAT opportunity to master FA!! That was my motivation to do this bank to begin with. What happens is that after the question and explanation, there is a little excerpt out of FA that is relevant to the topic at hand. So you get to see FA right on your screen. The bigger advantage I found was that, let's say for example you get asked about the mech of action of a drug, and you go through the explanation and the little FA thingy and later on in some other block you get asked a question about the side effect/contraindication/interaction etc of the same drug, you get to see the same excerpt out of FA again.....so you end up memorizing it without all that much effort, you know what i mean....
The reason that was so imp for me was that everytime I wanted to study FA, I could never properly do it because I felt that it was insufficient and that my time would be better spent actually studying from Kaplan. So now I'm a month away from my exam and still haven't "memorized FA from cover to cover"...I mean, most of the concepts are there from studying in general, but I haven't memorized the book itself which is necessary for instant recall in the exam.....
Another advantage for me is that there is a great emphasis on pharmacology which is a weak subject for me, so I end up getting a lot of practice. Also, there are newer drugs that I hadn't heard of or seen in Kaplan, so that's good too....more exposure.....
That's pretty much all I've had the chance to assess since it has only been a couple of days....hope that helps.....
Best of luck!
I just started Usmlerx a few days ago....Here's what I think so far....
Let's start off with the disadvantages:
First of all, I find it easier than QBank, although to be honest, there are questions that are identical to QBank....but generally speaking I do think it's easier. Most (not all) of the questions don't have that much depth to them. The vignettes aren't as long as in QBank and therefore don't seem to really represent exam format (from what I hear people who took the test saying).
Advantages:
GREAT opportunity to master FA!! That was my motivation to do this bank to begin with. What happens is that after the question and explanation, there is a little excerpt out of FA that is relevant to the topic at hand. So you get to see FA right on your screen. The bigger advantage I found was that, let's say for example you get asked about the mech of action of a drug, and you go through the explanation and the little FA thingy and later on in some other block you get asked a question about the side effect/contraindication/interaction etc of the same drug, you get to see the same excerpt out of FA again.....so you end up memorizing it without all that much effort, you know what i mean....
The reason that was so imp for me was that everytime I wanted to study FA, I could never properly do it because I felt that it was insufficient and that my time would be better spent actually studying from Kaplan. So now I'm a month away from my exam and still haven't "memorized FA from cover to cover"...I mean, most of the concepts are there from studying in general, but I haven't memorized the book itself which is necessary for instant recall in the exam.....
Another advantage for me is that there is a great emphasis on pharmacology which is a weak subject for me, so I end up getting a lot of practice. Also, there are newer drugs that I hadn't heard of or seen in Kaplan, so that's good too....more exposure.....
That's pretty much all I've had the chance to assess since it has only been a couple of days....hope that helps.....
Best of luck!
