UWorld and Consult both offer 2- and 3-month subscriptions on a similarly increasing scale with UWorld also offering 6- and 12-month options. Most question banks offer a monthly option and, at this level, the Big Four run about $99 for the first month ($75 for Consult). Price: This may be the first thing most people consider, but it is certainly not the most important. They are presented in no particular order. The qualities I consider here can be useful for comparing any question bank during your selection process. Choosing among them, you probably can’t go wrong. Once again, we’ll just focus on the “Big Four”: USMLE-Rx Qmax (Qmax), USMLE World Qbank (UWorld), USMLE Consult (Consult), and Kaplan Qbank (Kaplan). Furthermore, you’ll be more likely to get through a significant portion of the sample questions offered, and the best deals offered are for long-term use. It’ll serve as an excellent resource to give you an idea as to what material is important on Step 1 as you learn the material for the first time. I think early in your 2 nd year would be a good time to start using a Step 1 question bank as you study. Typically, 2 nd year is the time you start focusing on systems pathophysiology.

Ideally, as you are proceeding through your preclinical classes, you will be using resources to cue you in as to which topics are important for Step 1 and, therefore, will make an effort to really learn these topics. I’ll include this advice again below however, instead of talking about why you should choose a question bank, I’d like to briefly address the question of when you should start using one. In a post this past January, I highlighted some important reasons to use a question bank to study for Step 1 and gave my advice for selecting a question bank.

Usmle world step 1 question bank book