PasTest Online Revision

**Deltoid** · 15-02-2008, 08:55 PM

Hey everyone,

I've been debating for a while whether to fork out £25 for the PasTest Online Revision service. I finally decided to bite the bullet about week ago and I've been playing with the website ever since.

Does anybody else find the questions ridiculously hard? I still think it's decent value for money, but I think a lot of the questions are aimed at MRCP level rather than medical finals.

**addy1** · 15-02-2008, 09:06 PM

I like onexamination.com personally, it is about the same price, but I use the pastest books.
We do modular finals at Brum so I have sat my Med and Surg finals already (just got O&G and paeds to go) and I found the fact that the questions are hard was a good thing, cos it made the exam easier. It is better than something that lulls you into a false sense of security. I was getting around 55-70% on the website and got over 70 in my finals so they do tend to be harder on the websites.

**Deltoid** · 16-02-2008, 12:24 AM

Onexamination? Last time I checked it was a whopping £80. Bout the same price as this Ask Doctor Clarke weekend that I'll be going to tomorrow and Sunday. Hopefully this course'll be worth my time and money.

**addy1** · 16-02-2008, 12:31 AM

Originally Posted by Deltoid

Onexamination? Last time I checked it was a whopping £80. Bout the same price as this Ask Doctor Clarke weekend that I'll be going to tomorrow and Sunday. Hopefully this course'll be worth my time and money.

I only did the 4 month sign up, which was £24 (was £40 plus MDU discount)

The courses are no good for Birmingham students cos of our modular finals!

**rjm** · 16-02-2008, 02:51 AM

I used onexamination.com for both finals and MRCPCH part 1. have only used pastest online for MRCPCH part 1. Thought was set at right level for both.

**Deltoid** · 09-04-2008, 08:39 PM

Thought I should write a follow-up post:

Following the recommendation of older friend of mine, I've shelled out the whopping £47 (and that's with MDU discount) for onexamination online revision. I was getting increasing discouraged by PasTest's often ridiculously high level of difficulty, but really wanted to continue with the online revision because I think it's a really good idea.

After using the site for a week, I'm glad I spent the extra money on onexamination. The level of difficulty in the questions is far more reasonable. I still get plenty of questions wrong when I do the questions, but it's on conditions I have actually heard of before (or know I should've heard of before).

The interface in onexamination is better, and as a small point it's nicer looking at warm cream colours for hours, rather than PasTest's drab depressing blue-grey. The EMQ's in onexamination's give you the actual answers on the drop-down list (acute MI, pneumothorax, angina, etc.) instead of option A, B or C, in PasTest (thereby forcing you to constantly scroll up and down to read the answers and questions).

Another big plus for onexamination is how I feel the "score analysis" is far more responsive and accurate than PasTest's equivalent. I did loads of questions on PasTest, but it kept telling me my strength and questions were in strange places. When I specifically spent time tackling my weakest topics, I didn't really see any change in my bar charts. In onexamination, I can readily see my efforts increasing (or decreasing

) my percentages in the score analysis.

Other features (like mock exams) on PasTest and onexamination are pretty much the same. PasTest does have a few other features like online lectures on mnemonics or disease overviews and articles on how to give a good presentation. I've found these extra bits helpful, but not that all that great. The University of Aberdeen podcasts are better for learning I think.

One unique feature to onexamination is it's news-roundup of the latest medical news (changes in NICE guidelines, recently published Cochrane reviews, etc). According to Bob Clarke (of AskDoctorClarke fame) it's good to read up on the latest medical issues for your clinical finals so you can impress your examinors with the latest affairs. I guess onexamination's news roundup will help as far as this goes.

Anyhow, onexamination really ought to pay me commission for writing this review. As far as I'm aware this is the only direct comparision on the web for PasTest and onexamination's online revision services, and I'm putting their service in a very positive light.

**rjm** · 09-04-2008, 09:28 PM

I dont think £47 is unreasonable, you'd probably pay £20-25 for a book which wouldnt have anywhere near as many questions.

**addy1** · 09-04-2008, 10:05 PM

Originally Posted by rjm

I dont think £47 is unreasonable, you'd probably pay £20-25 for a book which wouldnt have anywhere near as many questions.

Also, when are your finals?

Because I just signed up for the 2 month subscription, which is about £27

**Deltoid** · 10-04-2008, 01:34 PM

My finals are in June, so I needed 4 months to cover my remaining 3 months.

**Gearoi** · 11-02-2009, 09:15 PM

I've been using onexamination.com, but getting frustrated since I can't choose what types of questions NOT to do. In our finals we have already done our paeds and O&G, but I can't avoid questions on tetralogy of fallot and hormones to do with babies... even if I am doing e.g. cardiology / endocrine questions (NOT paeds/OG...)

Anybody know how to get around that? Anybody from onexamination ever got back to you about a query?