Dit 2012
 

I ordered DIT and I'm so confused by the way the lectures are organized. They're not in any kind of linear fashion. Like you have Neuro 1, 2, and 3, and then you have two pharm lectures, followed by endocrine, then more pharm, then GI 1, then more endocrine, then immunology, then biochem, immuno, micro, and finally more GI, basically you finish about 20 more modules before you ever get to Neuro again.

I don't learn like that. Does anyone? Do you guys listen to all the lectures in order? I know they recommend you do, but they've designed it in such a counter-productive way that I could never learn the material the way they suggest.

I think it forces you to learn everything collectively at once and see the connections. Remember, Step 1 is just a set of random questions from any organ system in any order.

I don't have DIT, so can't comment on how well it is.

It's also meant to be done after you've been through First Aid at least once. So it's more of an integrative review than a "teach me what neuro is" review.

Its random, just like the exam.

Not sure why you think studying should be like the exam. Who here studies a few pages of cardio, then a few pages of neuro, then a few pages of GI, then a few pages of renal? Most people studying study systems in their entirety to learn. Otherwise, doing qbanks are pointless since you've essentially not finished a single subject for a month.

Also, DIT may be better after you've finished FA once, but that certainly isn't how it's advertised. I haven't used it yet, but I know many who use it for their first pass through FA and nowhere on the DIT website or promotion materials does it say not to do that or that it's meant to be done for a second pass.

They were pretty clear about it when they did their presentation at my school. There are two parts of DIT. Part I is the questions they send out starting in January. These help you finish FA once before starting Part II which is what everyone considers the DIT course.

Yes, the questions are supposed to make you start thinking in terms of board questions, but I honestly don't remember anyone saying that Part II should be used only after you finish your first run of First Aid. Frankly, I'm not sure that many people would spend the money on it to make a second pass. In my experience, it's the first pass that's daunting because if you have gaps in your knowledge, First Aid isn't going to fill them in. It's a review book. It's my understanding that DIT is meant to close those gaps.

Again though, I haven't started DIT yet.

Anyway, I don't think this is all that relevant to the OP's overall point. I don't think splitting up the systems in that way is all that productive to learning. JMO.

http://www.doctorsintraining.com/usmle-step-1/study-p


yeah they do. They used to have a more detailed schedule but if you look you arent supposed to start DIT until you have a decent grasp of First aid.

No, they don't. The link you provided is one option of a study plan specifically "geared towards students who just need a quick recap before their exam." Nowhere does it say that all their study plans are like that nor does it say that the course is like that for all. It doesn't even say that those with 6 weeks need to know First Aid. It just says that it's for students who need a quick recap. Recap of the first two years? Recap of the important concepts? It doesn't say recap of First Aid. I maintain that someone not familiar with the videos, who has 10 weeks to study, would have no idea that they need to know First Aid first.

I started DIT on Tuesday and currently averaging the minimum 5 per day. The order appears random, but it makes sense once you start. A lot of times the random next video is there because it expands on a topic in the last lecture or in preparation for the next lecture. It's not random for the sake of being random.

Of course I'm also over 1000 questions into the USMLE Weapon Qbank (the one that was free with DIT, switching to UWorld on Monday) and already did a pass through FA, so your millage may vary.

I'm just trying to trust the process. I haven't done much before this because my school emphasized learning 2nd year well - and thats what most 3rd years who did well also suggested. I'm doing DIT now (just started on thursday) - I'm about 26 lectures in and its making sense the way they go. Mostly because they do make connections from one lec to another. For example - today we are doing GI system and then after that we do endocrine which expands on the pancreas from GI...
we learned the embryology of the nervous system from one section of first aid, then went to neuro in first aid to finish that out...
so yes it jumps but there tends to be SOME correlation to most of the jumping. sometimes there isn't but hey - who can do a full day of immuno...

I don't think they advertise it because they are probably afraid if students go through it once by themselves they will realize they don't need somebody reading it to them.

They used to have a 20 week and 12 week study plan online that clearly showed that FA was supposed to be read at least once before starting. Of course sense then DIT has gone from a 2 week to 4 week course and they realized that they can charge for making personalized study plans.

However, through the magic of the Wayback Machine (www.archive.org), here they are:

20 week plan

12 week plan

I attended one of their webinars a few weeks ago and they did say to do a first pass of FA from Jan - before you start the dedicated study period with Part 1 questions.

Part 1 questions begin in January.

yea i know - sorry there should've been a comma -
i wrote that last night after studying for 12 hours which is why me write no good.

to clarify - you start your first pass with FA in jan WITH part 1 study questions - and this should all be done before the dedicated study period when you watch the videos (part 2). got it? they said this in the webinar - and i have no idea if they said it when they came to my school becuase that was almost a year ago, and i really wasn't considering DIT at the time and only went for the free food... :/


also - if you get DIT right before your dedicated study period and after they've already started sending out part 1 stuff- they just give you all the part 1 questions that have been sent out thus far - i dunno who would have time to do them especially because they aren't by topic but maybe its helpful if you have time before ur study period. during the study period though i'd thing its better to use that time for uworld.

you know before i decided to go with DIT i was turned off by so many posts saying "DIT just reads FA to you" - but that is certainly not the case with DIT 2012 - i can't comment on any other version of DIT but had i known that it was going to be this well taught I wouldn't have spent so much time on SDN searching reviews and trying to decide if i want it or not.

the sample lecture on their website is very well representative of what the course is like. ironically when I asked the webinar leader if it was - he said he couldn't comment because that lecture was from their "medicine series" and not actually from their DIT step 1 course - but I had that same exact lecture for cardio. ANd with only about 20ish videos left - I can say that it more than lives up to what people say about it - if not more.

I don't work for DIT by the way (cuz i know SOMEONE is going to say that... )

Well, it is true that a lot of DIT is them reading FA2012 to you verbatim. However, that's like saying Med School lectures are just reading Harrisons or Robbins and Coltran to you. What makes, at least to me, DIT seem worth it is the order (it's not just straight through), how they augment the material, and the quizzes (3 Question Warm-up, Quick Quiz, and End-Of-Session Quiz) that comes with each video.

Yeah, a lot of people have the same response. The people who make negative comments about DIT are usually the people who haven't actually tried it yet.

Doing DIT 2012 right now and it's great. The skipping around is a GOOD thing not a bad thing. It forces you to integrate material and finish the boring sections from FA. The guy does not just simply read FA to you and he adds a lot of material from other sources. I don't even have to use pathoma or goljan's anymore. I'm going ~7 lectures per day, will be done in 21 days. I read all of FA 2012 once before I started and yes, they do recommend you do this (I went to the info. session before I purchased it). The cool thing is that he starts with the stuff that most people ignore like embryo, behavioral, etc. Then leaves systems for last.

why does everyone say he's reading it verbatim? He's not reading it verbatim!

and if it feels like it its because its all standard info for the boards - there's no other way to say "FF = GFR/RPF" than "FF = GFR/RPF"

i'm just saying - when people say that it makes people who are thinking about buying it question the utility of the resource - "well i'm getting the same thing out of this that i would if i were to read FA on my own" which is simply not true. I'm not saying everyone should get it - but he does TEACH it (if you feel you need a better depth of understanding). If you dont need that then don't buy it.

just trying to save those who are on the fence some time. cuz i was on the fence from october - may.

If you only had access to DIT 2011, would you guys still recommend doing it?

A lot of things have changed from the 2011. They have revamped the course, added and subtracted things. If you have no course preparation at all, then it doesn't hurt to use the 2011 version.

Do you guys think its too late to do DIT 2012, my test is June 22 and I just realized how disorganized I am. If i start tomorrow, I will be done on June 9th giving me just a little over a week to go over my weak points before taking the exam.

Any thoughts?

Thanks shadowfox for the reply

A lot of people who have done it said that 15 days is not feasible to get through DIT and it takes more like 21 days or so. I haven't done DIT but just by looking through their workbook, the 21 days sounds more reasonable.

I may prolong it to 18 days, giving me 10 days to review till my test on the 22nd. The question is, is the program worth it? Hoping I could get an answer from someone on this, especially considering how poorly structured my studying schedule is nowadays.

do it like TOMORROW. im doing the 19 day plan and its about 8 lectures a day plus a block of 46 questions. definately doable. just do it NOW. it will leave you a couple of days before your test to go through FA AGAIN!

I'm starting right now. Now the question is how to balance Combank and Uworld questions..

how many days are leaving between your last day of DIT till test day?

...because on more than one occasion I've been reading along with him in FA2012. Is it always verbatim? No, but it does happen, especially with Jenkins. Lewis is a much better lecturer and generally covers the same material without covering it word for word out of FA.
Except there's also order, word choice. Yes, FF=GFR/RPF, but the key is the words that leads up to and away from that bit of trivia.
The method that information is being transmitted (in this case, active learning via the quizzes, as well as including audio while also keying in other key points) and being forced to cover everything instead of skipping what might be mistaken as low yield is what is being bought. I'm not arguing not to buy it as I'm finding it to be very helpful. However I also prefer calling a spade a spade. The fact that Jenkins does read straight from FA doesn't necessarily weaken the usefulness of DIT.

ok yea you're rite about jenkins doing that - I guess what i mean is Lewis and McInnis rarely do that and they give a lot of the lectures too. Especially in the middle.

The program is definitely worth it.

They recommend taking two days off every week for break/catch-up/review, so 21 days is the optimal plan. But I did it in about 15 total days, minus a 2-3 mental health days off in between.

Good to hear. Now I have to bank on those final 10 days to review FA hopefully 1.5 times... the .5 times being all my weak areas.

Will DIT cover all the relevant Path? Or should I try to squeeze in Goljan/Pathoma?

if you're that short on time i'd use DIT for the high yield path and whatever you come across on uworld. don't waste the small amt of time you have on MORE lectures and videos that will mostly like be redundant.

hey guys - what should we go by for the CYP 450 induces and inhibitors? FA (post errata check) has one list but DIT's list is shorter but has a few different ones...

Coincidentally I made this P-450 chart (compiled from FA [corrected for errata] and GT)

http://i.imgur.com/FMk5O.jpg

thank you thank you thank you - may you ace your step and more Brotato. :)

Well that list just annoyed me lol, basically DIT gave us a mnemonic for inducers that included a Q for quinidine, which ends up is really an inhibitor....oh well can just change it to an E for ethosuximide.

Why didnt' anyone warn me Dougie Howser was doing the Repro lectures?! aaah this is soo cool.

Oh, something to look forward to. I got to see Dr. Lewis ripping on Twilight yesterday in one of his openings.

yea that was hilarious - one of my favorite Dr. Lewis intro speeches. He's so awesome.

Are these Doctors actual lecturers at med schools? If not they should be - they're so good at explaining everything.

I'd almost say that I'm excited to start DIT for Step 2...

*bump* did anyone take the predictive exam? how "predictive" is it really (under or over estimate?).

anyways - i finished dit 2 weeks ago but my access expires tomorrow so I just took the exam to not waste it. just wondering what u guys though about how well it actually predicts scores.

I'm taking an NBME on sunday so i guess I'll find the answer to my own question (and post about it) then

but just wanted to open the floor to talk about this predictive exam to advise other DITers about it as well.... and also if someone can give me an idea of how predictive it is before I take my NBME i might not freak out for the next two days...


thanks! :)

I did it yesterday as my access period expired and it only gave me a percent correct, not a 3 digit score. I felt the exam was poorly written with really bad explinations and it focused on whether you remembered some of the specific details they covered vs actually simulating exam questions.

Are the 2010 DIT videos different from the 2012 videos? If yes how so?

2012 videos go along with FA 2012 page numbers, have different lecturers for certain topics and throw in these "truths of life" which are a waste of time.
When it comes to core material probably >90% is the same (its all based on first aid and FA hasn't changed much in these last two years)

i used the "chat with customer service rep" to get my 3 digit prediction.

anyways - yea i figured nbme is a better way to go in terms of guaging my score... i'll report back on sundayish to let u guys know the comparison.

I finished dit and thought it was a great review.

I took nbme 7 a while ago and got a 240. I then did all uw questions and my second pass of FA and took 11 and got a repeat 240. I was expecting an increase but oh well. Just finished dit yesterday and took nbme 13 today and got a 250. I am hoping for a 240 on the real thing and I think dit hammered in enough to solidify that.

How long did it take you to do DIT? I did it once prior of first pass of FA and it was a disaster. But i was able to annotate most of the stuff into FA so hopefully i will be able to go through it a little faster this time.

I know you didnt ask me, but heres my take. I used DIT as a tool to get thru FA as my first pass, and it was horrible as well. I stopped, did a bunch of Uworld questions/read some parts of FA, and then went back to DIT (2012, which imo is way better than any of the older DITs) and just finished it yesterday in 15 days. It was long, hard and draining but totally worth it. I had to do it in 15 days bc i have less than 2 weeks till my exam so I wanted time to review my weaknesses and do tons of questions. Definetly doable in 15 days, but 18 would be just right i think.

I dont understand the DIT hate. I guess i understand when people say its for 'slackers' but the worksheets/repetition were great for me. Forces you to get thru parts of FA you never knew existed.

hope that helps

Thanks for the response. If you think about you are getting 3 exposures a day via DIT. 1st one is via listening, 2nd via answering questions during the DIT course. 3rd via spending 2-3 hours reviewing that day's material AND doing questions at the end of the day. All of that in 2 weeks is alot of repetition. I just did not want to "waste" another 2 weeks like i did early on. I guess because everyone was doing DIT but no one told me that i should do atleast a pass or two of FA before starting the program. But i was able to annotate most of it so hopefully that can speed it up.

I did it in 15 days... It wouldn't have been bad but my wife decided to go into labor the 3rd day in so I ended up doing 13 videos a day for a few days to catch up (i was needing to do 10/day but got behind). I had done 2 passes of FA before doing it, one pass with my classes and one pass with UW.

While doing it I did about 150 questions a day out of Combank since I had finished Rx and UW already.