The “2 Qbank Strategy” To Boost USMLE Success

by | Feb 18, 2023 | Uncategorized

🚀 WHY YOU NEED 2 USMLE QUESTION BANKS TO SKYROCKET YOUR EXAM SUCCESS 🚀

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At this point in time, we have 2 outstanding question banks to choose from for both the USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK exams, both with their own pros and cons, but both outstanding and invaluable tools to help you pass your Step 1 and crush your Step 2CK.

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BUT, it’s not a matter of which one to choose, you should be using both UW and Amboss. Now, more specifically, the WAY you use them is what really matters most.

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Today, I’m going to outline why it’s important that you use both UW and Amboss on your path to USMLE success and how to integrate both for maximum results.

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USMLE WORLD vs. AMBOSS: I’m not gong to go into the features of each Qbank in this post… It’s been talked about before and if you need to know why we use Amboss with our students, check out this video. 
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Amboss is our #1 choice because it does come with more robust features such as links to additional learning resources, which can really help you fine-tune any weaknesses that you might have.
But, onto the reason why you’re here, which is to better understand why you need to implement 2 question banks into your USMLE exam prep and what that’s going to look like.
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Let’s pretend we’re using Amboss as our first question bank!
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The way you’re ideally going to make your way through this is by doing full blocks in timed mode. You can do full blocks and then review everything afterwards… By doing it this way, you’ll not only get the chance to find & fix your weaknesses, you’ll also be building the stamina that’s really important for being able to go the distance on exam day.
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Now, whether your do your questions in subject-specific or mixed mode depends on how strong you are when you get started. Typically, if you’re fresh out of your basic sciences and you’ve had some sort of recent comp exam from your school, starting in mixed mode is ok. If you’re starting over after a long hiatus, consider starting with one subject or topic at a time.
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Now, as you move through your first question bank, it’s your job to make sure you’re identifying your weaknesses and taking the time to fix them. The goal with your first question bank is to identify and fix your weaknesses and start building herculean stamina!
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Once you’ve finished the first question bank, you should take an NBME to see where you’re at. At this point, you’ll identify specific weaknesses based on your NBME result and you’ll take that knowledge into your 2nd question bank. Therefore, at this point you can start using the 2nd question bank to A) work on your weaknesses and B) reinforce the stuff you’re already good at.
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QUICK SIDENOTE: DO NOT GO OVER THE SAME QUESTION BANK AGAIN… NOT EVEN YOUR “INCORRECTS”… This is a waste of time because you’ve seen these questions before… You won’t improve to your full potential by seeing the same questions again… Instead, you should have identified your mistakes as they came up… You should be fixing them, and then you need to assess whether you’re actually improving based on fresh questions that will test those concepts in a different way. Agree or disagree, we’ve been at this for fifteen years and we know what works best.
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Since its important that you work on your weaknesses more than your strengths, hit those weaknesses first after your initial NBME as hard as possible, also taking time to deep-dive into your weaknesses using additional resources, if necessary, to properly master that information.
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This is why we prefer Amboss as our students’ Qbank because Amboss gives you immediate links to all of the questions’ content, so you can fix weaknesses on-the-spot (sweet 🧁). If you work hard during your first Qbank to fix the weaknesses (yes, it takes longer), you’ll have an easier time as you move on.
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Once you’ve gone through all of the topics that your 1st NBME says are weaknesses, you can take another NBME to make sure you’ve made all of the necessary improvements… DO NOT RUSH INTO THIS STEP 🖐️
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If you’ve taken the time to address all of the weaknesses pointed out on your first NBME exam, you should be comfortably passing your next NBME… If you’ve still got weaknesses after #2, repeat the process above until you’ve eliminated all weaknesses! If you don’t rush things and put in the necessary work to fix your weaknesses, you should be hitting that coveted 75ish% by your 3rd NBME, which is going to give you that ideal 97-99% chance of passing (Step 1) if taken within 1 week.
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As you wait for exam day, you should continue to work on the topics that are weakest based on your most recent NBME and/or that you just don’t like (micro anyone?).
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Remember… At this point, nothing should actually be weak, but whatever is pulling your scores down the most should be your focus in the days leading up to your exam. You can continue to use your 2nd qbank at this point, only tackling questions that you haven’t yet seen, as repeating questions doesn’t do you any good.
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There you have it my friends… If you want to max out your Step 1 or Step 2 CK prep and position yourself to score to your full potential on exam day, then make sure you implement the “2 Qbank strategy” to make that happen.
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