Some questions would be very simple and just test your basic knowledge, whereas other questions were actually quite difficult and made you think hard. I recommend using QMax from the first day of medical school for everyone because it really makes sure you understand the material thoroughly. The explanations are great and not too lengthy, so that doing the questions does not feel intimidating at all.
I used this question bank during my dedicated study period too, and I really enjoyed having an extra set of questions with explanations straight from First Aid! I used it to test specific organ systems and closer to my test date, I used it for immunology and microbiology. I love that the questions show where that information can be found in First Aid.
I really enjoyed the search function where you can find questions that feature a specific phrase or disease. Many of my questions on my Step 1 exam came straight out of First Aid. That being said, Rx Qmax is a good way to make sure you know all of the First Aid content well since it references the FA page number.
I would say my one regret of medical school class time was not using Rx and First Aid even more consistently because they were the 1 resource that prepared me for Step 1. Qmax was my number 1 QBank during my dedicated test prep.
The questions were pretty well written…and the explanations were very thorough. One of the best things about them is the bottom line at the end which gave the educational objective and then the links to the resources you could use to find further info…. I would definitely recommend using it in the beginning of your study journey. These questions were so helpful as they were very similar to actual test questions.
I also appreciated the fact that when I got questions wrong I was able to understand why. This is my favorite question bank resource to use. The difficulty of these questions is appropriate. I feel like the content does a really good job of preparing me for exams.
I really learn a lot from the explanations. They do a good job of explaining why the other options are wrong. This was a wonderful and essential Qbank over the course of my first two years in medical school.
I used this Qbank to prepare for medical school exams. The nice thing about this system is that you can select questions by category such as cardiology vs neurology, etc. The questions tend to underrepresent the difficulty level of actual USMLE questions and are somewhat simplistic.
The same can be said about their question explanations which are not as in depth or thorough as those of Kaplan Qbank or UWorld. Overall, we recommend this question bank if you want additional practice before starting UWorld or during your pre-clinical years or if you plan to purchase some of their other products.
While the questions cover high yield material, the delivery is often very simplistic and not as similar to actual NBME style questions as those of Kaplan Qbank or UWorld question bank.
First order questions are very prevalent and the use of visual elements is also somewhat rare. The fact that this question bank borrows the illustrations of the First Aid Step 1 textbook makes this question bank unique.
While the illustrations of the First Aid textbook series are certainly impressive, we feel that they are not on par with those of UWorld Step 1 question bank.
Mainly because there are significantly fewer illustrations and images by virtue of this being a shorter question bank. The explanations in this question bank are not as in depth as those seen Kaplan Qbank and UWorld.
They tend to be more simplistic and short. In our experience, we felt that more information could have been provided in the question explanations. To mitigate this weakness, is the ability to pull up screenshots from the First Aid Step 1 textbook series. This question bank is shorter when compared to Kaplan Qbank and UWorld so naturally, there is going to be less opportunity to cover the wide breadth of topics required.
However, we do appreciate that they focus on very high yield topics and avoid esoteric and uncommon Step 1 topics. That being said, some topics are frequently repeated while others are underrepresented. Note to Readers: All of the products described here are of excellent quality and value. We encourage you to try every one of them for yourself and pick the product which best suites your personal needs and style of learning. The statements made here are only the subjective opinion of the Med-Ace authors.
Pricing Options:. Average Time to Complete:. Final Recommendation: We give this resource our highest level of recommendation. You should start doing UWorld Step 1 at least 4 months before exam date in order to be able to complete it all before your exam.
Consider starting this resource as early as possible, before starting any other resource. We recommend daily questions in tutor mode. Avoid doing more than 60 questions in a single day as this is very mentally demanding.
We recommend untimed tutor mode with all subjects and systems selected. Its generous day free trial makes this one resource to try out if you have some time before your exams. Mnemonics are a fantastic way to remember information. Typically, mnemonics encode important information with retrieval cues that may be verbal eg: acronyms or visual images eg: story method, memory palace. Turning abstract or tedious information into fun and easy-to-remember mnemonics is a great way to commit to memory!
Osmosis has a robust mnemonics system in its videos. This offers a whimsical way of learning through mnemonics and mind maps for many of the subjects they cover. Kaplan offers a medical mnemonics book that makes it easy for the professional to learn mnemonics and remember things efficiently. They have also introduced a system of highlighting the important points automatically.
Firecracker also helps students learn with the assistance of visual mnemonics. Picmonic supplements BoardVitals practice questions in the best ways to help you get even more prepared to take exams. They take mnemonics and combine them with memorable pictures to turn them into videos. Lecturio, Archer Review, and Medbullets also offer mnemonics to increase student learning efficiency.
For the most comprehensive medical mnemonics creation and evidence-based learning guidance, try the Medical Mnemonist podcast! All the available q-banks focus on high yield topics and carry out their educational pedagogy in a multi-step fashion to enhance critical thinking.
The exact method for determining which questions are high-yield varies per company. All of the q-banks provide 3D images that are rotatable and help trainee visual learning. Strong mental representations of material are considered one way to differentiate novice and mastery level of material.
A non-exhaustive review of PubMed and Google Scholar did not turn up significant research regarding comparisons of different companies and student exam scores. Although company-funded research may exist, it must be viewed with appropriate caution.
We have listed some of the best question banks above, but this is not a comprehensive list. We caution against any Qbank not on this list. Newer or smaller systems are often complicated with errors or duplicate questions to boost their numbers.
Their question vignettes are often outsourced and do not go through a rigorous vetting process. This can lead to factual errors, outdated information, and inadequate answer descriptions. If you have run across these issues and wish to report your experience, let us know! Busy medical students often approach their dedicated board exam study time in complicated and inefficient ways.
This can include failure to properly schedule their time, using too many resources, or even denying themselves social support and self-care. Doing so can impede learning and increase stress. Here are a few tips to boost your academic performance while staying sane! With these tools and strategies, we know you will be able to vastly improve your academic standing on your board exams! But also keep in mind that life is more than your grades or exam scores.
Yes, there are absolutely benefits to proving your knowledge to residency directors. Chase DiMarco May 18, Review of 11 Top Step 1 Q-banks. Find U. Clinical Experiences. Track Your Step 1 Study Progress. Feedback and Customer Service. Feedback can also be given within the Qbank using a small window that appears on a side of the screen In USMLE-Rx , you can contact customer support via their Contact page or by emailing info usmle-rx.
Find Clinical Rotations. What Content is Covered in Step 1 Qbanks? Find Clinical Externships. How Much do Step 1 Qbanks Cost? Before purchasing a Step 1 Qbank, determine:. How far out is my test date? How long it will take to complete each? How much can I spend now? What am I paying for brand name, of questions, features, etc.
How much will it cost if I fail the Step 1? Final Recommendations. Aim for Mastery : It can be tempting to utilize multiple qbanks in order to, theoretically, gain more practice and question insights. However, this is not always wise or necessary. Although you may start off testing a few different Step 1 resources initially, limit these as you get closer to your test date.
Quality over quantity.
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