Doctors In Training (DIT) - Recommended?

[DocYuki]

Hey SDN,
It's been a long, long time since my last post, haha. I've been busy with the notorious pre-clinical years.

I am preparing for Step I, which I am scheduled to take on June 3rd, 2009. I have the essentials ready to go once finals are over on May 8th:

-First Aid 2009
-Goljan Audio and RR Book
-USMLE World
-Clinical Micro Made Ridiculously Simple
-BRS Physio, Path

But there's one major detail. I am the kind of guy who, when it comes to things like preparing for Step I, needs something structured; a push, if you will. I'm not confident I can get up every morning and cover all I need to by myself.

I wouldn't consider a KAPLAN course because they are too expensive and I know that company doesn't bode well with me from previous experience. I was considering this little company: http://doctorsintraining.com/

I have zero knowledge of how they are. Noone at my med-school has an opinion, except for the fact that noone was impressed when they came and spoke to us. But has anyone on here tried them out? They offer, for $600, a series of lectures spanning 15 straight days, each day being 5-6 hours of lecture. The lectures are meant to be active-learning and they use First Aid 2009 as the text book. I don't see how this could go wrong, but the guy who lectures kind of creeps me out. I don't know if I trust him...he might just read straight off of First Aid and waste my $600.

So money, and more importantly, good test prep technique is at stake. I'm the kind of person who needs the push of watching daily lectures, but is this worth the cost?

Anyone with first-hand experience or any idea beyond what I know (which is just what DIT says) is invited to offer an opinion. It would greatly help me out. Thanks!

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[YellowEmu]

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[shnuffles]

I did the Taus method starting in 1st week of February (not completely step by step by at least most of the major books) and I finished DIT 8 days or so before the real Step 1 2nd week of June. I finished 2nd year the 2nd week of may so I had about 4 weeks of free time before I took my Step 1.

That being said, I got a 264 on my real thing, with my highest NBME score being a 255 about 2-3 weeks before my test. (my other NBME's were 238 about 2 months prior, and 249 about a week and a half before my test)

Personally, I think you need a solid BASE before you start DIT. I did the whole thing on double speed and finished 1 day early (I forget how many lectures there are, 17 right?).

DIT was basically a REVIEW for me. There were definite points that were HAMMERED into me such as behavioral sciences and some of the random research stuff. There will definitely be random points you will pick up here and there as well. And yes...it is a GREAT motivator to do work. I'm the same way in that I need to be DOING something in order to be motivated to study, I can't just sit down and read First Aid from cover to cover (which I never did).

By the time I was going to take my test, USMLE World, DIT, and the Tau books had pretty much taken me through the entire First AID even though I did not "read it" straight through.

If you use DIT as your main source, I don't think you'll score higher than a 240 or so. Maybe even not higher than a 230.

If you use it as a good last SPRINT before the test with a solid base, IMO you'll be doing high 230's and beyond.

Congrats, YellowEmu! Although I'm just starting out, I think that a method similar to yours would be ideal for me (broad Tausesque base + DIT high yield, motivating push near the end). Would you be able to give us an idea of about how much time you put into to boards studying during the school year and about how many "run throughs" you did before doing DIT? Also, what did you do for the last 8 days after finishing DIT? Thank you, and again, congrats!

 

[futuredoctor10]

Any updates on the Doctors in Training course? I noticed 1 or 2 posts earlier praising the course are from users with only a handful of posts, and some of these users stopped posting on SDN altogether soon after summer 2009. So, I think we need to be careful in assessing their comments on the course. That being said, it seemed to work for some folks (that have long post history/are legit) so I think it is definitely worth considering.

 

[USMLE01]

Any updates on the Doctors in Training course? I noticed 1 or 2 posts earlier praising the course are from users with only a handful of posts, and some of these users stopped posting on SDN altogether soon after summer 2009. So, I think we need to be careful in assessing their comments on the course. That being said, it seemed to work for some folks (that have long post history/are legit) so I think it is definitely worth considering.

DIT update http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=778880 .

 

[futuredoctor10]

DIT update http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=778880 .

Thanks for the link. I am a little uncertain and slightly skeptical about the success of DIT and whether it really improves people's scores from baseline significantly more than they would have gained self-studying. (I do understand that it can provide an interactive audiovisual way to learn First Aid, which for some may be very useful). Some posters mentioned it's probably good for people scoring 190-220 and looking for a score boost, and not worth it for those scoring above or below that range.

In any event, their website says:
"Doctors In Training Student Mean = 230s"

"This graph is an actual representation of Doctors In Training students' Step 1 scores."

So no direct false advertising, but it is definitely not the mean of all their students (based on the emails posted in the above linked thread), and I am curious what percentage of DIT course takers actually respond to their surveys requesting their Step 1 scores. If a substantial percentage, perhaps the DIT program's success is underappreciated. If not, they are using good marketing techniques to rope in more students into their program that perhaps doesn't always yield what it claims!

 

[gisela]

I paid the cost of a 1 week extension in addition to the course fee, and in exchange they made up a deal for me where they gave me the full 2009 course starting immediately (what I just did) as well as the full 2010 course that starts April 1. Also apparently someone on SDN read my study plan because when I called the sales woman she said other students had started calling asking for the same thing. I have no idea if they'd offer the same deal again.

Do you find the 2009 and 2010 course quite different?

 

[MossPoh]

I've listened to some of the DIT stuff now and have been doing the worksheets with friends that get them and I think it does prompt a nice little review. I do agree with studying in some way and going over the stuff before hand. He talks REAL fast and for most things, it isn't really in any depth. Some parts he just reads and other parts he does go on and say more. You do a lot of jumping around.

Things that I LIKE about it are that it is very no frills and that it does force you to go over stuff you'd normally glaze over otherwise. Some parts he does seem to just read from FA but depending on the person, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The program is getting ridiculously expensive though. With that program, test banks, a few books and registration fees, step 1 is quickly becoming a $1500+ test.

 

[JimmyChitwood]

Bumping this bad boy because we just had a presentation today and wondered what the feedback was for the latest round of test-takers. I'm slightly intrigued, but 800 clams (thank you, Boardwalk Empire) seems really really steep for a course that doesn't offer you a Qbank (I know you get the weekly questions) and a couple-week cram session at the end.

There seems to be a particular crowd that swears by it, but I'm wondering if it is worth its weight in gold.

Thoughts?

 

[jfgavina]

I did see my 20 score improvement they claim and besides the classes that are good you get a study guide that points out the highest yield stuff on FA and makes you to work and learn the stuff. Also, he cuts some things that are lowest yield from FA. I've red that people who took the test say that what he emphasizes is HY

 

[chet]

Just purchased DIT and have a quick question,

I will be starting the program in Jan. 2012, any advice as to how to prepare prior to that in order to get the most out of the program? Or is just following their schedule, which would mean do basically nothing until January, suffice?

 

[1892]

I am one of the lucky students from Dr. Jenkins school, UTMB. My experience was driving 10 min along the beach, to his lectures personally The daily schedule was strict and down to the minute, so online lectures are likely similar. Dr. Jenkins in down to business and wastes no time. No questions during lectures. You could go up and ask him questions during breaks.

The DIT course connected the dots for me. I learn things slowly so I studied more than my peers..that said....in the backstretch of studying for step 1, everyone gets burned out. So many times during lecture, I thought to myself, geez....ugh...stop pushing so hard already! Just when you want to daydream, BOOM, he grills you with another quiz.

But it paid off. I scored a 250. That says lots, coming from someone who had to take the MCAT 3 times to get a great score. A few legends from my school made the 270's. Take the course. I am a cheapskate but this course was worth whatever he's charging for it.

 

[1892]

Bumping this bad boy because we just had a presentation today and wondered what the feedback was for the latest round of test-takers. I'm slightly intrigued, but 800 clams (thank you, Boardwalk Empire) seems really really steep for a course that doesn't offer you a Qbank (I know you get the weekly questions) and a couple-week cram session at the end.

There seems to be a particular crowd that swears by it, but I'm wondering if it is worth its weight in gold.

Thoughts?

See my previous post. Yes, you have to buy QBank also. He said to go thru it twice. I tried but could only make like 1.5 times thru. I broke the rules and would often do QBank limited to "pharmacology" etc, to reinforce my current study topic. My friends (who obvi took the course), who were able to get thru QBank twice scored 260-270's. Granted, they were already brilliant students, but these were peeps I talked to often at the gym, out at the bar, etc... Hard to believe, but true- the cool guy wearing the afro wig at the keg party scored a 279. I digress, maybe it's UTMB, something in the water, DIT or whatever. It works.

 

[stepvictory]

See my previous post. Yes, you have to buy QBank also. He said to go thru it twice. I tried but could only make like 1.5 times thru. I broke the rules and would often do QBank limited to "pharmacology" etc, to reinforce my current study topic. My friends (who obvi took the course), who were able to get thru QBank twice scored 260-270's. Granted, they were already brilliant students, but these were peeps I talked to often at the gym, out at the bar, etc... Hard to believe, but true- the cool guy wearing the afro wig at the keg party scored a 279. I digress, maybe it's UTMB, something in the water, DIT or whatever. It works.

hey i m an img.i m doing dit these days .m on 7th day lecture.

Qbank u mean kaplan qbank .i will do uworld (2nd time) for 3 weeks after dit ,then i will take exam .i have done uworld once before dit.and i did UWSA1 10 days back got 220

will i see improvement ? thanks a lot.

 

[CuriousGeorge2]

...

 

[CBG23]

I used this program during my Step I study period. This program is a complete waste of money; despite the claims that the lecturers don't just read from FA, >>90% of the lecture time is spent reading straight from first aid. The questions and schedule they give you are OK, but certainly NOT worth the amount of money they charge.

After getting through about 60% of the program, I stopped because I wasn't getting much out of it.

 

[Transposony]

I used this program during my Step I study period. This program is a complete waste of money; despite the claims that the lecturers don't just read from FA, >>90% of the lecture time is spent reading straight from first aid. The questions and schedule they give you are OK, but certainly NOT worth the amount of money they charge.

After getting through about 60% of the program, I stopped because I wasn't getting much out of it.

It's not a complete waste of money but is helpful if you need motivation to read FA in fixed amount of time as it acts as a "study partner"...........and I really don't understand all that HY stuff talk etc. If you already have done the preparations before doing the DIT (which you are recommended to do) then it is nothing but a review of FA with Brian Jenkins for more $$$ in his pocket. Hat's off to him for such a great business idea .....like "Groupon" of the USMLE.

 

[littlejuan]

For those of you who have gone through the program, when did you schedule your Step 1 in relation to your last day of class? Right now I scheduled my exam to be about 32 days after I take my last final, but I recently spoke with a DIT representative that told me they suggest starting the program at least 5 weeks before the exam. What do you guys think?

 

[stepvictory]

after i finish dit .i will take exam in 4 weeks.my exam is on 8th feb.after dit i will do uworld second pass to reconsolidate everything.today i finished 10th day.i found dit very good but it emphasize too much on learning and cramming stuff .i needed that cramming actually (i forget stuff).

 

[7atem]

one of the great philosophers was asked sometimes knowledge cost

he answered : "wait until you see how much Ignorance will cost "

 

[Brigade4Radiant]

http://med.uth.tmc.edu/students-current/SCAIP/USMLEStep1survey10.pdf


Survey from a texas medical school where a good portion of the students do DIT (nearly 75%). So this is a good survey to see what they truly think about DIT.


Many of them don't have very good things to say about the course.

Also the Falcon online review course First Aid is about $400 dollars.

 

[sleepyMDstudent]

So this is a very late response to the questions and comments posted above about DIT but I'd like to share since I'm currently enrolled in their program. I truly believe that DIT is a scam. The program has two parts. Part one is during the spring semester with two sets of 15 questions sent out to students on Mondays and Thursdays. Part two is the actual review (and by review, they mean that they will read FA to you). I'm doing part one right now. I get 15 open-ended questions that refer me to First AID. The questions are not clinical vignettes and they're not multiple choice which is what Step 1 will be like! The questions are super boring like "what 5 classes of drugs are used to treat glaucoma?" I don't learn this way and most people I know don't either. Then there's a short video that goes over the answers. The doctors verbatim will read the FA section pertaining to the questions. There's no further elaboration or explanation. There's no teaching or review. They might as well hire high school students to read FA to you...it would save them money because a doctor reading FA to you isn't going to make the info stick more so than it would otherwise! When I spoke to the representatives at DIT, they said (and I quote) that "part one is not meant to be a teaching tool." Are you kidding me?! Then why am I wasting my time?! Their response: "to get you to open your FA." Well, I already open my FA and dont need to pay a company $800 to tell me to do that.

For some annoying reason, my school pushes DIT on us. I signed up trusting the DIT reps that came to our school. But they're god awful. Their customer service is the worse I've ever experienced. They will not refund you your money if you're not happy. The reps repeat themselves like robots and don't care how unhappy you are. I was on the phone with them for almost 2 hours one day only to be told that a supervisor would call me the next day. The supervisor was just as awful and said the same things for another 30 mins. I can't believe they're surviving because this is not how you do good business. I imagine that overtime they will quickly lose appeal with med students because word will get around that they pretty much read FA to you. It's boring, you don't learn anything, and you can very well read FA on your own! I would have much rather gotten Kaplan. It's half the price as DIT and you get access to a massive word bank with over 2000 questions. Also, Kaplan gives a huge discount if you're a member of AMA!

So if you're looking into a Step 1 program, DONT GET DIT. I would hate for you to go through what I am going through along with almost half my classmates. In fact, most people have gone ahead and bought Kaplan because we know DIT is a waste of time.

Good luck studying!

 

[sleepyMDstudent]

Also, they claim that the course only takes 15 days. LIES. Everyone I've spoken to could not complete it in that time frame. Give yourself at least 3 weeks.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Better yet, give yourself 3 weeks of doing something else entirely to prepare for Step 1. You've had high school, college, and the first half of med school. You don't need to shell out $700 to have someone read a book to you.

 

[absolutdokta]

Better yet, give yourself 3 weeks of doing something else entirely to prepare for Step 1. You've had high school, college, and the first half of med school. You don't need to shell out $700 to have someone read a book to you.

seriously, I was sorta kinda stressing out early in january thinking, "OMG! OMF'ingG! I HAVE to have a program for boards!!!".

then I realized I made it through all this without having anyone tell me what to study, when to study it and for how long. saved myself several 100 dollars and I'm doing fine with a few books, FA and a qbank

 

[DOMan79]

I did DIT, and I agree that the DIT guy is a total jackass, and a little bit creepy.

that's just out of line man....yea, he's no Goljan, but he does a pretty good job IMO..

 

[dukejen04]

I'll agree to that- I did DIT and feel like I got a lot out of it. Finished it with 5 weeks to go before my exam and at a sense of at least having seen everything once and had a lot of the really important stuff really hammered in.

Maybe it isn't for everyone, but I am definitely glad I did it- and my shelf score 5 weeks out was pretty damn good, so that made me feel even better about it.

 

[dyeguy21]

Just thought I'd add my two cents here for future DIT takers.

Personally, I love the program. The first half is a pain and I doubt most will take the time two times a week to do random questions, but I can definitely see how that can help.

The second half is amazing. The first few lectures (5-10) take a while to get through just due to their length, but totally worth it.

I love repetition as much as the next guy, but what they force you to do is actively read alongside them, adding in extra information, as well as taking quizzes which genuinely help solidify the information. Plus, they give you information such as "this is basically useless" so for people who are just looking to do well (not astronomical) can just skip things that would normally freak us out (biochem for me as he pointed out stuff that matters vs. what "might" show up). It's a nice, calming, and constantly cross-referenced look at first aid with recall and repetition built in.

So basically can you do it without DIT? Obviously you can as many have before. However, for people like me feeling like I had no idea where to start, how to organize the topics/systems/freaked out about having to know the entire mechanisms of PPP, TCA, Glycolysis, etc., it's nice to have people take your hand and walk you through the world of FA's seemingly random bolding and mnemonics and showing you that it's not as bad as the 250+ or bust crowd makes it out to be.

 

[SOCDOC2BE]

I did 2011 DIT and have a 2011 FA...Does it make sense for me to buy a new first aid and do 2012 all over again? Is there that much of a difference between material?

 

[phoenix89]

Just tell me one thing please. I listened to the first lecture and Dr Jenkins WONT SHUT UP about those frickin Fundamental Stakeholders of Life BS.

Please tell me that this is the only lecture where he mentions them because my brain seriously doesnt need to be filled with such useless rubbish when it's already struggling to get the high yield points in.

 

[jhamaican]

...

 

[thecalccobra]

I'm 12 lectures in and deciding whether i should continue. The handouts are good imo but it's taking way too long. I feel like i can cover some sections in 1/3 the time that it takes him to go over it. uhh

 

[phoenix89]

One more thing that's annoying me; he hasnt seen the first aid errata :facepalm

The mistakes in the First Aid, he just tries to go on and explain them; without knowing it's an error and should be corrected!

 

[Chaoticsheath]

I don't know WHY it is never obvious before you take STEP 1, but after taking step 1, it becomes really clear that there are just a million companies out there trying to get your money however they can. Uworld and FA are the only products that I still respect after crossing the step 1 bridge. EVERYTHING ELSE, including DIT, nbmes, some stupid qbank called usmleWEAPON, and everything else is all crap meant to rip you the **** off.

BASICALLY, don't buy DIT unless you DO NOT think you are the kind of person that can sit still and read first aid for at least 4 hrs a day. I know some people like that. It is OK to be that way. But most people that are in med school are not like that. So don't waste your freaking time and money.

Right about now I feel like quitting med school and starting a step 1 prep program. I'll tell everyone, "hey, I got a 252, I'll show you how its done" and then I'll read you FA for 300 hrs and charge you $1000. Oh yeah I'll throw in some "usmle-like" questions that look nothing like usmle questions for free. I'll do this all from my yacht in the cayman islands in between massage sessions and martinis that you dumbazzes (self-included) helped me pay for.

 

[Chaoticsheath]

This thread=OVER. DONT BUY DIT (unless you can't read to yourself for at least 4 hrs a day).

[THREAD ENDED. NO MORE RESPONSES REQUIRED]

 

[DOMan79]

i think that's what comes down for most of us....can we read FA ourselves or have someone else read it to us in an organized manner....i prefer the latter

 

[longquy02]

Hi Everyone,

I'm selling the DIT program 2013 for Step 1 that I bought for $650 (original is $800) because I need the money for my mission trip which costs $1800. Please email me at [email protected] if interested.

The DIT program includes everything that you need to get your peak score on STEP 1. It has Primer (series of 25 videos on HY topics), Part 1 questions and Video Answers every week starting next semester, Part 2 videos of all principles and topics that you need to get your peak score. It walks you through first aid and give you questions for each page. It includes HY study guide corresponding to videos, contains study questions, notes, diagrams, study hints, and daily quizzes.