What are the best Question Banks for the MCCQE-1

[FamMed1990]

Hey,

I will be sitting the QE1 this fall and was wondering what question banks are most useful if any. I know.... I read through the forums and found that Majority of people like to use UWorld for the Step 2 to prepare. However am struggling to find which would be the most representative of the exam and the best tool to study for it. I am aiming for a higher score and have about 3.5-4 months to prepare studying the evenings as I am doing training in the UK right now.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated

Thanks!

[F508]

I personally did not find UWorld or Canadaqbanks representative of the MCCQE1. The questions/clinical scenarios of the MCCQE are much more vague vs the question banks.. So in that case, the best question bank is the question bank that'll get you to study.

I abandoned Canada qbanks pretty quickly.. only did a few questions. I didn't like this one because the scenarios were super long to read. Also I've heard that they have errors in their answers. I mainly used UWorld. The answers to each question have succinct review/summaries of relevant diseases.

The best way to get a feel for the MCCQE1 is to do the sample tests that they sell online. Pretty expensive though.. Not entirely helpful for studying, because they don't tell you the right answers for multiple choice questions. You do see the answers for clinical making decision questions though, so that's more helpful.

Best "studying" is the knowledge you've accumulated through med school.. hard to study for such a broad exam I find. I only had 1 month to prepare. Not sure to what point studying changed my score.

[Dermviser]

Canadaqbanks blows. UWorld, although completely different to the MCCQE1 is the best resource, IMO, as it prepares you the best knowledge base wise.

[FailureToThrive]

10 hours ago, Dermviser said:

Canadaqbanks blows. UWorld, although completely different to the MCCQE1 is the best resource, IMO, as it prepares you the best knowledge base wise.

When should you start UWorld (Step 2)? I was thinking of starting it in M2 as review for clerkships

[Bluberblubo]

4 hours ago, M2/4 said:

When should you start UWorld (Step 2)? I was thinking of starting it in M2 as review for clerkships

It depends on what you want to use it for. If you want uworld to study for the MCCQE then you should start it 1-2 months before you take the exam. If you want to use it to study during clerkship then it would make sense to get a 1 year subscription and do block questions as you rotate through each block. You can then get another subscription closer to the MCCQE 1 exam and review then. 

To answer the original question, I used Uworld for step 2 CK for about 1 month before writing the MCCQE 1 and did above average in almost all sections. Not top score or anything, but I was comfortable with my score. Also 2 days before writing the MCCQE1 I also wrote the step 2 Ck and passed that too with a decent margin, so it's def doable in 1 month and I don't consider myself to be particularly smart or anything. Also I only ended up going through like 1400 questions or so, so just over half the questions and I was fine. If you do 2 months and are a decent test taker you should no problem with either exams.  

[FailureToThrive]

23 hours ago, skyuppercutt said:

It depends on what you want to use it for. If you want uworld to study for the MCCQE then you should start it 1-2 months before you take the exam. If you want to use it to study during clerkship then it would make sense to get a 1 year subscription and do block questions as you rotate through each block. You can then get another subscription closer to the MCCQE 1 exam and review then. 

To answer the original question, I used Uworld for step 2 CK for about 1 month before writing the MCCQE 1 and did above average in almost all sections. Not top score or anything, but I was comfortable with my score. Also 2 days before writing the MCCQE1 I also wrote the step 2 Ck and passed that too with a decent margin, so it's def doable in 1 month and I don't consider myself to be particularly smart or anything. Also I only ended up going through like 1400 questions or so, so just over half the questions and I was fine. If you do 2 months and are a decent test taker you should no problem with either exams.  

Thanks for the advice, I was thinking more as a learning/study tool for clinical rotations!

[Wesmosis]

Best of luck !