Clinical Key Question Bank Review
Clinical Key is a subscription based website which contains helpful information for medical students residents and doctors. In addition to having helpful articles and videos they also contain a question bank for the USMLE exam. What thing that has to be asked is how good is the ClinicalKey question bank for the step 1 exam. In this article I will be giving an objective review of the Clinicalkey question bank.
Price:
The prices are as follows
- $249.00 for 6 month
- $209.00 for 3 months
- $159.00 for 1 month
How do you create your own tests?
To create your own test you go to the box which says Crate a test which is colored in blue
This will then take you to an individual page which has all of the organ systems. You can the choose which subjects that you want to include
Pros
- Ability to pause exam, and then re enter at any moment
- Easy to navigate through due to small number of widgets
- There are a Large number of questions for each organ system
- Explanations are through and in depth
- Study mode which allows you to take custom tests untimed. This is ideal because it allows you to learn as you go along
- The system tracks how well you performed on a question in comparison
- Performance dashboard shows you what all of your weak areas are allowing you to know which areas you need to put your focus in
- Exam mode for the Elsevier question bank resembles step 1 interface
- Interface has an explainer saver which allows you to save the question and answer explanations to certain questions.
Cons
- I would say that one of the major cons of this is that the questions are slightly on the easier side the questions
- No ability to filter for specific topics past the level of organ system
- Finally, I think the biggest con is the price. While I do believe this is a quality resource, you can get other resources near the same quality for cheaper.
- There is no spaced repetition feature. It would be nice to see this implemented as it would help users to be more efficient in their studies
- The interface does not allow you to view the results of all of your test attempts. Although you can schedule a re take exam as mentioned before, this is only for incorrect questions. There is no way to
- The system does not show the percentage of people who chose a wrong answer. it only shows the percentage of people that chose a right question
- The system does not show your percentile test performance compared to other users.
Question Types
- The Questions in the Clinical Key Question Bank are all formatted in the same style as the USMLE exams. They are long clinical vignettes and every question is multiple choice just like what would be expected on the USMLE exam
How is the interface?
- The interface for the Clinical Key Question bank does resemble step 1 if you choose to use the exam mode. If you choose the study mode then the interface has a different look to it that does not look like the USMLE step 1 exam.
Spaced Repetition Feature
- Every time you take a test the platform keeps track of your performance, and gives you options of when to re schedule a re take of the test of only the answers that you got wrong. This reminder of when you are going to re take your test shows up any time you go to the testing dashboard. This is a great feature for medical students who like strucuture and like planning their study sessions.
What Question Banks is the Clinical Key Question Bank similar to
- TrueLearn: Similarly to True Learn, the Clinical Key step 1 question bank does not allow you to type into the search bar and create a custom quiz on a very specific topic. For example if I go to create a custom quiz in the Clinical Key question bank quiz creator I cannot make a quiz on something such as “congenital Heart diseases” or “valvular heart diseases.” I would only be able to create a quiz on the discipline which int this case would be pathology or organ system, which in this case would be the Cardiovascular System.
When should you use it?
- At the end of second year would be the best time to purchase this resource.
- I don’t think it is a good resource for targeted studying because it is hard to filter through the questions. The Create a quiz function only allows you to create quizzes based off organ system or discipline.
- Given the price, I would only use it if you have run out of other question banks, and do not want to use your best questions yet (ie: NBME exams, and World). I especially think you should buy it if you are still far out from your exam. If that is the case then this is definitely a good resource to use as you transition into your higher quality resources. Overall It is lower in quality to a question bank such as Lecturio but much cheaper.
How to use Clinical Key question bank with other other resources
- Use it with Picmonic: Picmonic contains mini video lessons that use visual mnemonic device to help with learning and memory. You could use it the Clinical Key question Bank as an assessment tool, then use Picmonic to fill in the knowledge gaps and weaknesses.
- Use it with Stat pearls for more targeted research: The stat pearls question bank is a comprehensive platform which contains thousands of articles and practice questions. You can read more about it here. You can use the stat pearls question bank for more targeted practice, because statpearls allows you to search up questions for specific topics
- Use it along with a clinical key subscription: becoming a subscriber to the clinical key gives you access to a variety online textbooks, articles, and helpful videos. This can be used to help fill in content and knowledge gaps.
In Conclusion
As you can see The Clinical Key USMLE question bank has many unique features. personally I think it is a worthwhile purchase if you are a medical student, but it does definitely have some noticeable shortcomings. Whether or not you decide to buy it depends on your personal preference, budget, and stage in medical school. If you found this article helpful then you might find one of the following articles helpful as well.
