usmle step 1

[eljefe]

what are the best practicing questions? and how long is reasonable to do questions before one takes the test....any input is greatly appreciated.

[BTH]

Salutations "eljefe":

I can't tell you what the "best" practicing questions are but I can however tell you what I thought were very excellent and detailed questions. USMLEWorld has an excellent question bank with very detailed explanations. Do not get discouraged when you do them since they are pretty tough (at least I thought so).

I also liked USMLERx. I have heard mixed reviews about their questions but I decided to subscribe to their question banks anyways and I thought they were fairly decent. A lot of the questions on the USMLE were similar in nature to their questions. They FRED software that USMLERx uses is also very similar to that of the USMLE exam. I found their questions to be easier than USMLEWorld but then again many questions on the USMLE are straight-forward. As an added bonus, they have a section at the end of their explanation where they try to correlate it to First Aid. And since many people like using First Aid, this may be helpful.

Some people suggested doing questions the moment you enter medical school. Ideally, this would be the way to go so try to do this if you can. Anyways, after you graduate from basic sciences, the average time frame would be about 1-1.5 months of doing questions. Some won't take as long and others may take more time off. It all depends on how prepared you feel.

Hope that answers your questions. Ciao.

[lobotomy_man]

Left the island 1.5 years ago and have not posted in a while. My studying consisted mostly of doing questions.

NBME.org "self assessment" x4 = BEST & most representative
KAPLAN - good practice but not as representative
FRED/USMLE.ORG released questions - somewhat representative
EXAM MASTER - useless
Medrevu - picky & not representative

I found the 4 NBME.org "Self assessment" the most representative and my step 1 score was very close to my average on the 4 NBME tests. They don't release the answers but there are keys floating around the internets. Though it would be more educational for you to look up the answers yourself.

Caution... don't only do these questions.... do as many as you can.

Me.

[wolfvgang22]

USMLEWorld.com worked for me. 4 questions were almost word for word on test. Don't forget to look at MRI's, CT's, x-rays for anatomy and also look at lots of path pictures, in retrospect I could have done more of that. Know your biostats cold. Peace out.

[Privilege]

Hey! Does anybody know about " USMLE Preparation Secrets Study Guides"? Is it good or not?Your opinions,please!!

[MilanM.D]

regarding USMLE does anyone know if Falcon is better than PASS Program or vice-versa???? PLEASE someone answer me

[IMG SURVIVOR]

regarding USMLE does anyone know if Falcon is better than PASS Program or vice-versa???? PLEASE someone answer me

It depends
Some people tend to have borderline personality disorders with this 2 programs. Either they love it or they hate it.
So it depends in your learning style

I will not endorse any of them, because both have some strengths and weakness.
People that do bad in general principles have the tendency to do better after the pass program. On the other hand I heard that the physiology and anatomy of falcon was very good.
AGAIN I WILL REPEAT
I will not endorse any of them, because both have some strengths and weakness.People either like it or hate it.

[mat09]

USMLE123 is also pretty good practice and some people like it more than the kaplan. If you have time for only one q-bank go for USMLE World.