Product Update: Quiz Builder for USMLE, COMLEX, and PANCE

Product Update: Quiz Builder for USMLE, COMLEX, and PANCE

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No two students learn in the same way. The problem is, a lot of the time, you’re expected to! At Osmosis, our mission is to help you get the best learning experience possible so you can focus, retain, and thrive.

That’s why we’re launching a completely reimagined version of our Quiz Builder experience!

TL;DR:

  • Med students:  We’ve updated two NEW USMLE® Step 1 and Step 2 Quiz Builders with updates to over 2,300 questions and an update to the interface!
  • DO students: We’ve updated two NEW USMLE Step 1/COMLEX® Level 1 and Step 2/COMLEX Level 2 Quiz Builders with updates to 2,600 questions and an update to the interface!
  • PA students: We’ve created a NEW PANCE® Quiz Builder with 800+ new questions, all scoped and aligned to the PANCE blueprint. You can feel confident you’re studying the kind of material you’ll actually see on the exam. Plus, you’ll have access to the Preclinical and Clinical quiz builders, which include those 2,300 questions available to the medical students mentioned above.

Let’s break this down so you know exactly what to expect!

NEW for all Quiz Builders

Quiz builder with a begin quiz button.

Questions in each q-bank are linked to both the Quiz Builder and Learn Pages.

This means you’ll be able to put every question into context, gaining a much richer understanding of key concepts.

Customizable by topics, question modes, and a number of questions.

You can study the way you want to, focusing on the material you need to study the most. In particular, Question Modes are pretty handy. You can filter by Unused, Incorrect, and All. Reviewing questions in Incorrect mode is great to identify some possible gaps in your knowledge.

Customizable quiz length and time estimates help you make the most of your time

No matter how much time you have to study, you can customize your quizzes to fit your schedule. A quickie before class? Check! All night study session? Check! (But, take care of yourself!)

Not only that, but the Time Estimate feature takes out the guesswork so you know what to expect.

Better interface to make using the Quiz Builder seamless

We’ve improved the layout and filtering experience so you can focus on the material. These updates are also mobile web friendly so you can study on the go.

Categories and Questions are more closely aligned with the board exam published outlines than ever before. 

This way, when you’re in Osmosis, it will be easier for you to navigate the platform and find what you’re looking for.

What’s staying the same…

The individual questions and quizzing experience are remaining the same. You’ll see the same multiple-choice, board-style case questions with descriptive rationales for each question. You’ll still get the major takeaways for each question to help you understand how to get to the right answer! Also, you’ll see the hyperlinks in rationales leading to related videos for building your knowledge.

USMLE Step 1 and 2 Quiz Builders

We’ve reimagined the Quiz Builder experience so that it follows new USMLE guidelines (as of October 2020).

This means:

  • Any questions about the details of medical management are considered Step 2 board-style questions.
  • Board-style questions scoped for Step 1 often cover clinical evaluation up to the decision about management. (e.g., pathophysiology, physical exam, and diagnosis).

You can feel confident that what you’ll find in Osmosis Quiz Builders is putting you on the right track to study effectively for the new updates to the USMLE.

Quiz builder for USMLE Step 1.

Specific to USMLE Step 1

We’ve added over 2,000 questions to the Quiz Builder.

The keenest among you might be thinking, “Wait! that’s a lower number of questions than what’s available on the learn pages!”

Here’s why we’ve done this.

We’re working to curate a fully reviewed and scoped question bank for you. This process has involved reviewing every single question on the Osmosis platform – and, carefully tagging it to the new Quiz Builder, to most closely simulate the USMLE exams.

The questions currently in the Quiz Builder are among our newest questions created, and they have been specifically vetted for inclusive language. We are continuing this curation in the coming months to ensure that our Quiz Builder questions and learn-page questions are aligned.

NEW organization filters and how they’ll help you study smarter

We’ve re-organized how you can adjust the Quiz Builder so it’s as useful as possible for you.

You’ll see at the top, there are two main categories: Foundational Sciences and Organ Systems.

Foundational sciences.

Foundational Sciences include basic science topics like biochemistry and genetics

Organ systems

Organ Systems lets you filter by the system OR subject so you can align your quizzes with your curriculum. This section covers topics like pathology, pharmacology, anatomy, etc. Each question in this section has a Subject tag AND an Organ system tag, so you won’t miss questions in organ systems if you filter by subjects.

We’ve organized everything in these two categories so that the Quiz Builder is as flexible as possible for you. No matter how your school organizes your curriculum, you can filter information how you need it.

It also matches our library now, so finding things within the Osmosis platform is easier than ever.

How to work your way through an entire q-bank

We conducted some research to find out exactly what would best help our learners get the most out of the Quiz Builder. The main finding? You need a plan on how to approach all these questions!

Here’s our 2-step guide so you don’t miss anything and your learning follows the most logical path.

  1. Typically, start with Foundational Sciences.
  2. Then, move on to Organ Systems (which you can filter by subject or organ system).

There is no overlap between Foundational Sciences and Organ Systems. Typically, you’ll be in a class that is all under Foundational Sciences > Genetics. So, that’s the area of the q-bank you’ll be working through for that class.

Not only that, but the interface and filtering update has made it much easier to find topics for an entire class. Instead of having to click every organ system, and then click “Pharmacology” in each system, the new filtering update makes it easy to find this info without all that clicking around.

The ultimate guide to the USMLE Step 1: everything you need to know read now button.

What’s next for the USMLE Step 1 Quiz Builder?

A lot! This is only the beginning of how the Quiz Builder will help support your learning experience in Osmosis. Here’s what you can expect:

  • Hundreds of new questions will be added this year!
    • Foundational Sciences: More questions in nearly all of the topics, including microbiology.
    • Organ Systems: New questions on clinical anatomy, pharmacology, high yield pathophysiology.
  • Retiring some old questions.
    • We’ve noticed that some of our old questions didn’t meet our high diversity, equity, and inclusion standards. We believe strongly in helping you become an inclusive medical professional, so we will continue auditing all questions for sensitivity. Please flag us if you find something!
  • Revision of old questions
    • We’ll keep curating the q-bank to increase our question standards. This means we’ll include only those questions that have been intentionally scoped to the learning objectives of your board exams. Note: Non-board style questions currently in development will not live in the Quiz Builders (only on Learn Pages, e.g. “hot spot” anatomy questions)

Specific to USMLE Step 2

We’ve added over 300 questions to the first version of this Quiz Builder.

Quiz builder for USMLE Step 2.

Here’s how these new questions are organized:

Organ Systems are organized by organ system and clinical specialty (instead of a subject like in the Step 1 Quiz Builder)

You asked, we delivered! We had a LOT of requests to update the Step 2 Quiz Builder with more categories. Now you have so many more options to choose from, more closely aligned with our video library!

“I was just wondering if there was a way of studying just the MSK or rheumatological questions from the step 2 Qbank, at the moment I can only seem to filter into a large internal medicine deck (2000 questions)?” 

-Osmosis learner who is about to be super happy with this update!

Screenshot showing organ systems.
Organ systems divided into specialities and organ systems.

Since Step 2 is a much more clinically-focused exam, the Foundational Sciences section in this quiz builder will be much smaller, including only our relevant questions on Biostatistics and Epidemiology.

How to get the most out of these USMLE Step 2 Quiz Builder filters?

It’s easy!

  • When in rotations, use the clinical specialty (or a combination of specialty and organ system).
    • Meaning, if you are on a pediatric cardiology elective, you can select “Pediatrics” and “Cardiovascular” to quiz yourself on only questions that meet both of those criteria (allowing you to ace those congenital heart defects!).
  • When studying for Step 2, you can go through the q-bank either by organ system or specialty.
    • Most learners study for Step 2 organized by specialty, so they can study while on rotations. However, you might select an Organ system if that’s how you want to organize your dedicated Step 2 study plan.

What’s next for the USMLE Step 2 Quiz Builder?

  • Retiring some old questions.
    • Like in the Step 1 Quiz Builder, we’ve noticed that some of our old questions didn’t meet our high diversity, equity, and inclusion standards. We believe strongly in helping you become an inclusive medical professional, so we will continue auditing all questions for sensitivity. Please flag us if you find something!
  • Revision of old questions
    • As with the Step 1 Quiz Builder, we’ll keep curating the q-bank to increase our question standards. This means we’ll include only those questions that have been intentionally scoped to the learning objectives of your board exams. Note: Non-board style questions currently in development will not live in the Quiz Builders (only on Learn Pages, e.g. “hot spot” anatomy questions)
  • Clerkship support! We are actively developing a plan for a new clinical curriculum which will include an update to these clerkship-focused questions

COMLEX Level 1 Quiz Builder

We’ve added over 2,500 questions to this Quiz Builder, with 290 new questions on OMM content (DO only).

Yes, you might be thinking, “But, wait! That’s a lower number of questions than what’s available on the learn pages!”

You’re correct. And here’s why we’ve done that.

We’re curating a fully reviewed and scoped question bank for our learners. This process has involved reviewing every single question on the Osmosis platform and carefully tagging it to the new Quiz Builder, to most closely simulate the board exams.

The questions currently in the Quiz Builder are among our newest questions created, and they have been specifically vetted for inclusive language. We are continuing this curation in the coming months to ensure that our Quiz Builder questions and learn page questions are aligned.

How are these new questions organized?

NEW organization filters and how they’ll help you study smarter

We’ve re-organized how you can adjust the Quiz Builder so it’s as useful as possible for you.

You’ll see at the top, there are two main categories: Foundational Sciences and Organ Systems. These are organized the same way as in the USMLE Step 1 Quiz Builder, with the addition of an Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) section, organized anatomically.

This way, you can find what you need and put it into the direct context of your osteopathic studies.

How to get the most out of these filters as a DO student

Couldn’t be easier!

During your OMM class, you can focus specifically on the Foundational Sciences > OMM questions!

What’s next for the COMLEX Quiz Builders?

We are exploring integrating OMM content into our pathophysiology case presentations, so what you learn will be practical and useful in your career as a DO.

Not only that, but we’re exploring ways to integrate OMM content into our developing clinical curriculum to more closely simulate the Level 2 exam.

PANCE Quiz Builder

To create the most useful Osmosis experience for PA students, the filters for the Osmosis PANCE q-bank and Quiz Builder have been modeled after the PANCE blueprint as published by the NCCPA in 2019.

This organizational structure means that you’ll always know where to look for what you need to study, so Osmosis can support your school’s curriculum seamlessly – and help you get the insights you need to become the best PA possible.

How is this information organized, exactly?

Quiz builder for PANCE.

In your PA Quiz Builder, each question is tagged to one Medical Content category and one Task category – meaning you can go through the q-bank using either option (or both!).

The Medical Content Categories filter organizes content by systems.

Medical content categories.

The Task Categories filter organizes questions based on the clinical skills needed to treat patients.

Task categories.

The PA Quiz Builder is an excellent way to identify potential knowledge gaps. These filters follow exactly how content is categorized on the PANCE exam, so students and faculty can use the Quiz Builder to see where it might be a good idea to concentrate some more effort on.

What’s next for the PA Quiz Builder?

  • We’ll keep building on our 800+ assessment items.
  • New topics will include pharmacology, anatomy clinical correlates, and more pathology review, all tailored for PA students to become the best clinicians possible.

Your new Quiz Builder experience is just the beginning!

For more info or if you have any questions, suggestions, ideas, don’t hesitate to reach out to us! We want to make sure the entire Osmosis platform truly serves you and your unique path to becoming the medical expert we know you are destined to be.

Stay tuned for even more updates that help take the anxiety and confusion out of learning medicine. We’re by your side every step of the way, and we hope these new Quiz Builder updates are another tool you can use to keep achieving your goals!

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Want to make the most of your studying strengths? Osmosis Prime is built for healthcare students who want to reach their full potential. Join today! 

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