Hey Coleman,
I have used both first aid and crush the boards and haven't heard of prescription for the boards. I have to agree with you about first aid, it was really, really superficial. It seemed like they covered only a few topics per field (surg, med, peds...) and what they did cover was lacking a bit.
With that said....I read it twice.
I also read crush the boards twice. Crush is good, but damn it is just paragraph after paragraph. At least throw in a picture or two to amuse me (exaggerated of course). I remember that it seemed that crush, although it had tons of great info, didn't stress anything as really important. Like...HEY, if you are gonna know anything about this disease, know _________.
One little book that is a quick read is USMLE step 2 secrets. Great book as a companion to crush the boards. I liked this book the best.
Most importantly though, I did a ton of questions. I did all of Q Bank and lots of NMS questions (super hard) and some other question book too.
My plan was just like step 1. I read a section in first aid, then the corresponding section in crush, and then did the questions for that same section in Q bank. I would take notes in the books from the answers in the questions (right and wrong answers).
Anyway, I didn't particularly like any ONE book for step 2, but if used in combination, they work pretty well together. I would definately do tons and tons of questions. I think I did about 2000 by test day. (1000 from q bank alone and those 150 q sets in the books add up quickly).
The above worked for me..... I got a 245. (i guess the force was with me. I somehow managed to not think of Quinn's picture during the exam
)
I hope this helps and was the info you were looking for.
Path