Pathoma --> Performance on UWorld/real deal

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Evil_Abed

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Hey guys,

I've tried searching around for this, and while I found occasional posts in various threads, there was nothing really in one place. I apologize in advance if there was a thread regarding this and I missed it.

How are people performing on UWorld and Step 1 using Pathoma as their primary (sole?) source for pathology?

I've been pretty much using only Pathoma and rarely using RR during the school year -- I've done pretty well our path/pathophys class (borderline Honors so far) all year, so I never needed an incentive to use RR in more detail. However, now that I'm less than 3 months away from taking Step 1, I'm starting to get nervous about whether Pathoma alone will be sufficient to do well. It's a little scary for me to be considering dropping RR completely at this point (though it's been of little use so far) because it's been the "gold standard" for so many years -- any reassurance that Pathoma alone is solid enough for UW and Step 1? I've been doing mainly Rx and WebPath questions so far and have been doing fine on those. Will be starting UW soon. Is it worth starting to read through RR at this point? Or will I be fine sticking to reading only the chapters that Pathoma doesn't really cover (ex. nutrition, genetics, etc)? Thanks!

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Hey guys,

I've tried searching around for this, and while I found occasional posts in various threads, there was nothing really in one place. I apologize in advance if there was a thread regarding this and I missed it.

How are people performing on UWorld and Step 1 using Pathoma as their primary (sole?) source for pathology?

I've been pretty much using only Pathoma and rarely using RR during the school year -- I've done pretty well our path/pathophys class (borderline Honors so far) all year, so I never needed an incentive to use RR in more detail. However, now that I'm less than 3 months away from taking Step 1, I'm starting to get nervous about whether Pathoma alone will be sufficient to do well. It's a little scary for me to be considering dropping RR completely at this point (though it's been of little use so far) because it's been the "gold standard" for so many years -- any reassurance that Pathoma alone is solid enough for UW and Step 1? I've been doing mainly Rx and WebPath questions so far and have been doing fine on those. Will be starting UW soon. Is it worth starting to read through RR at this point? Or will I be fine sticking to reading only the chapters that Pathoma doesn't really cover (ex. nutrition, genetics, etc)? Thanks!

you could probably do without it, but i personally find it to be a fantastic book that integrates the basic sciences incredibly well and has a lot of really nice images. i'm 3 months out and i'm using it, if that helps you any in your decision.
 
Hey guys,

I've tried searching around for this, and while I found occasional posts in various threads, there was nothing really in one place. I apologize in advance if there was a thread regarding this and I missed it.

How are people performing on UWorld and Step 1 using Pathoma as their primary (sole?) source for pathology?

I've been pretty much using only Pathoma and rarely using RR during the school year -- I've done pretty well our path/pathophys class (borderline Honors so far) all year, so I never needed an incentive to use RR in more detail. However, now that I'm less than 3 months away from taking Step 1, I'm starting to get nervous about whether Pathoma alone will be sufficient to do well. It's a little scary for me to be considering dropping RR completely at this point (though it's been of little use so far) because it's been the "gold standard" for so many years -- any reassurance that Pathoma alone is solid enough for UW and Step 1? I've been doing mainly Rx and WebPath questions so far and have been doing fine on those. Will be starting UW soon. Is it worth starting to read through RR at this point? Or will I be fine sticking to reading only the chapters that Pathoma doesn't really cover (ex. nutrition, genetics, etc)? Thanks!

So I'm using Pathoma as my primary source. I am integrating the RR blue comments into Pathoma, either through underlining things included in Pathoma, or notating any details that are missing. Once I'm done with this process, my sole source will be Pathoma. I'm three months out...
 
you could probably do without it, but i personally find it to be a fantastic book that integrates the basic sciences incredibly well and has a lot of really nice images. i'm 3 months out and i'm using it, if that helps you any in your decision.

Thanks for the advice. The thing is, the sheer thought of going through RR is demoralizing -- I've already gone through a few chapters recently (multiple times) and I still feel like I can't remember much regarding what I read. I'm thinking of just sticking it out with Pathoma (ended up talking with a few people who did just that and did very well on Step 1) and read the blue margins/boxes/look at pictures in RR.

So I'm using Pathoma as my primary source. I am integrating the RR blue comments into Pathoma, either through underlining things included in Pathoma, or notating any details that are missing. Once I'm done with this process, my sole source will be Pathoma. I'm three months out...

Thanks for the input. Yea, this is what I'm thinking of doing as well -- use Pathoma as my primary source and read the blue margins/boxes in RR, along with looking at all the images in there. Hopefully, that's good enough!

Any other suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks guys! :)
 
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Pathoma in my opinion is super awesome. I find it to be very high yield. Some sections could be more in depth (neuro), but heme, immune, repro are exceptionally well done. His little drawings and explanations are very easy to remember. Hussain Sattar = Baller
 
Pathoma in my opinion is super awesome. I find it to be very high yield. Some sections could be more in depth (neuro), but heme, immune, repro are exceptionally well done. His little drawings and explanations are very easy to remember. Hussain Sattar = Baller

immune is a bit lacking, imo. you need to supplement with goljan. i also think you should take a look at the heme chapter in goljan since it actually talks about lead poisoning and has good diagrams for the biochemistry. the leukemia and lymphoma chapters in goljan were trash, though (IMO) and I would stick with pathoma for that. another thing i like about goljan is all the tables and diagrams as well as the insane amount of integration; it really helps the material stick.
 
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Pathoma teaches you path. I wouldn't expect to be integrating Immuno and stuff. Pathoma also mentions stuff out of the blue then finishes it 15 seconds later. You're expected to either annotate the hell out of it or use it as a succinct guide to organize the additional integrative stuff you already knew (which, if you didn't know, you could go learn from Goljan or your Path/pathophys class).
 
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