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[Levrone]

I'm also on a 1.5 yr pre clinical curriculum. Our tests are nbme so I've been using all the Qbanks from day one and it's Been very helpful. My school has very high board averages and I'm only doing this bc all the upperclassmen said how helpful it is and will be for boards

And I also really like FC

Are your exams in house? How are you doing grade wise in your classes

 

[TheIllusionist]

In my experience:

Start RX rightaway but do it on subject and tutor mode. Read all explanations for corrects and incorrects and annotate first aid with it, while you are going through that specific subject in school.

I would start Kaplan during summer post M1 along with a run through of pathoma/goljan. Put it on random tutor mode and learn as much as you can from the explanations. Make sure to annotate first aid along with it, except for maybe some of the extremely esoteric things this qbank tests (granted it's hard to distinguish what is and what isn't esoteric as a med student).

I personally didn't use firecracker, but those that did tended to have much higher baseline STEP1 scores, as per the results of an in house administration of a practice test at the beginning of our dedicated study period.

During dedicated, you should have a strong foundation to UFAP your way to victory. Put goljan on in the car or at the gym too from some real gems. Good luck!

 

[GoljansRightBicep]

+1 for Goljan if you learn well by listening to things. His lectures may be old, but they still have a lot of gems in them and are worth your time since you're starting so early

 

[TheOneAndOnlyJamesFranco]

Hey I’m an M1 doing pretty much the same but also working in some ZAnki/Bros.. I was wondering though what’s your workflow like? And how have you been dealing with lectures that don’t really match up to anything in boards review?


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[DrDazl]

Does anybody find Osmosis useful?

 

[TheIllusionist]

Does anybody find Osmosis useful?

The following advice is what I have seen work for dozens of high scorers. Please take into consideration that it's entirely anecdotal.:

Osmosis has some great pathophys explanations. It's a good learning tool to get a baseline understanding or to do use as a major refresher. It's not as overarching conceptually as Pathoma nor as filled with high yield connections among various subjects like Goljan, but it is good for topic specific review. However, the bulk of your learning should be based on a spaced repetition modality for long term retention (Memorang, Firecracker, Picmonic, etc) along with a Qbank or two.

 

[arcus]

+1 for Goljan if you learn well by listening to things. His lectures may be old, but they still have a lot of gems in them and are worth your time since you're starting so early

Great pic of Goljan. Why does he call himself “Papi” when he should be using “Abuelo” considering his grandchildren are his point of reference?

His lectures were so so. He was condescending, bragged a lot about his colleagues (e.g. Biochemistry professor), it was irritating to hear him say often, “huh, huh, huh?!?!”. It may have been a generational thing but other than hearing his audio lectures on drives to visiting family in Florida, I preferred Dr Sattar immensely. Plug my iPad to the car USB port and partly watched Pathoma videos as I drove but listened carefully over car audio system

 

[intubesteak]

Make it your goal to do all the questions in your bank, for a given subject, before you take each test. Doing questions is helpful but it also keeps you ahead of schedule on your studying. Do them all!!!

 

[lagbydesign]

His lectures were so so. He was condescending, bragged a lot about his colleagues (e.g. Biochemistry professor), it was irritating to hear him say often, “huh, huh, huh?!?!”. It may have been a generational thing but other than hearing his audio lectures on drives to visiting family in Florida, I preferred Dr Sattar immensely. Plug my iPad to the car USB port and partly watched Pathoma videos as I drove but listened carefully over car audio system

Hmm, different strokes for different folks. To me, he's incredibly funny and engaging. I also listen to him for integration across multiple disciplines. I do it while commuting.

And Pathoma is Pathoma. Nothing more needs to be said tbh. Okay, I'll say a bit more. Pathoma is gold for learning high yield path. Goljan is great for integrative review of path.

 

[TheIllusionist]

I'm also on a 1.5 yr pre clinical curriculum. Our tests are nbme so I've been using all the Qbanks from day one and it's Been very helpful. My school has very high board averages and I'm only doing this bc all the upperclassmen said how helpful it is and will be for boards

And I also really like FC

Are your exams in house? How are you doing grade wise in your classes

lucky to go to BCM. Also, I'm partial to Flex Wheeler 😉 aka current Sultan of Synthol

 

[GoljansRightBicep]

His lectures were so so. He was condescending, bragged a lot about his colleagues (e.g. Biochemistry professor), it was irritating to hear him say often, “huh, huh, huh?!?!”. It may have been a generational thing but other than hearing his audio lectures on drives to visiting family in Florida, I preferred Dr Sattar immensely. Plug my iPad to the car USB port and partly watched Pathoma videos as I drove but listened carefully over car audio system

You're not the first person to make those comments about Dr. Goljan's lectures, he's not for everyone; it's funny that the things that annoy some people about Dr. Goljan are the same things that endear him to others and make his lectures so memorable.

I do want to clarify that I think Goljan is complementary and separate from Pathoma - they don't necessarily teach the same things. As stated by Fracture, Goljan is very integrative and his explanations are stellar for going into the mechanisms of pathology, often in subjects Dr. Sattar doesn't go into as much. And of course there are times when Dr. Sattar far outshines Dr. Goljan. Hence, complementary.

At the end of the day, everyone will do what works best for them. I just want to make sure people know about Dr. Goljan and at least give him a listen, because I think his lectures are pure gold and are often overlooked.

 

[GoljansRightBicep]

Should pathoma be completed and mastered before delving into Goljan?

I think it can be, but I don't think it's necessary. I often started with Goljan first thing, then Pathoma + other resources, then returned to Goljan one or two more times near the end of the semester once my understanding had grown. First pass of Goljan I'd get maybe like 50-60% of the info, but the concepts were nailed down pretty well. Second pass, all the little details (from Pathoma, my other studies, and Goljan) began to fit into the framework Goljan had laid down.

 

[TheIllusionist]

Pathoma is organized well. That's its key strength. It's a great place to start to give yourself a conceptual framework to build upon, especially for organ systems.

The first three chapters of Pathoma are the exception. Those chapters are filled with way too much high yield information to merely be considered a conceptual framework. For those, the money is also largely in the details, insofar as those types of details that apply to broad processes, such as inflammation, are tested at a relatively disproportionately high frequency on STEP1.

IMO, Goljan is best done after learning the relevant information about an organ system. I personally derived the most benefit from Goljan right before an exam on a certain topic. I used a mix of pathoma, good textbooks (ie. Costanzo), and lectures to learn the major concepts and discrete facts. Goljan would then help me take that topic (ie. cardiovascular system) and contextualize it within the body as a whole. He would also tie in a lot of physiology, pharmacology, and management to help one understand a disease process from diagnosis to treatment. While his jokes were corny at best and crass at worst, his analogies were golden. I still remember that Becker vs. Duchenne is analogous to alpha1-antitrypsin deficieny in kids vs. adults. I still remember normal pressure hydrocephalus because of a story Goljan told about his mother.

 

[arcus]

Should pathoma be completed and mastered before delving into Goljan?

Read all of Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease (the big book) first, then watch Pathoma videos as a review. Pathoma makes much more sense after having read RC. Then jump to UW.

Come Step 1 RC will serve as a solid foundation for you. It is a text I cherish more than any other from preclinical years..worth every penny.

 

[GoljansRightBicep]

Read all of Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease (the big book) first, then watch Pathoma videos as a review.

Oh my God, no. This is terrible advice. The smartest people in my class and the class above me have tried, and failed to read through Big Robbins. Our current MS3s jokingly signed a death pact that they'd kill themselves if they didn't finish the whole book before step - no one even came close, in either regard.

Small Robbins is pretty good, but realistically too much of a time commitment for most people. It's a good go-to resource if you want more depth for a particular disease though. OP, you're probably beginning to see a general trend here with Step 1: there are a lot of good resources to use, but not enough time to use them all. It's also not necessary to use all of them to score well. Choose a few resources wisely, and devote your time to mastering those vs. scattering your most precious resource (time) all over the place. My $0.02.

 

[SIGINT]

How should I approach reading Robbins? Start from chapter 1 and bang through it all?

I tried doing this and failed miserably. I wish I had actually studied using Goljan Pathology Review. I don't think it is a smart use of your time to read Robbins. It is much better to get a review book and start doing questions early.

 

[arcus]

Oh my God, no. This is terrible advice..

I failed to mention that using Robbins and Cotran Review of Pathology
(author Dr Edward Klatt) in conjunction with the Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease textbook is extremely beneficial. The Klatt review book had wonderful slides / figures that I used in tandem with UW for board prep. I used the medical school library edition for the Klatt book; older but still very helpful.
Reading the former once through as I did, and studying the latter, sure beat spending countless and precious hours on the internet researching images and concepts. Then again if you are one to use Wikipedia for your knowledge source, then you really shouldnt be in medicine.

You are in luck. Elsevier, publisher of Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease text and the RC Review by Klatt, is running a holiday sale: 25% off. Good bang for your buck.

As for not having enough time to read golden resources like Robbins and Cotran, if it is true then you are doing something wrong in time management. When you hit clinical years, you wont have time to read foundational texts like Robbins. You will be playing catch up and it will show.

good luck

 

[GoljansRightBicep]

I failed to mention that using Robbins and Cotran Review of Pathology
(author Dr Edward Klatt) in conjunction with the Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease textbook is extremely beneficial.

I can vouch for this book, but then again it's literally just a Q&A book, not a true textbook. It has so-so questions (in that they are not very "board-style"), but it does have excellent explanations and images, as stated.

You are in luck. Elsevier, publisher of Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease text and the RC Review by Klatt, is running a holiday sale: 25% off. Good bang for your buck.

You just recommended 3+ textbooks to learn physio in another thread, and now you are recommending even more unreasonable texts to read, cover-to-cover, to study for Step 1. If you hadn't recommended texts from differing publishers, I'd swear you're a salesman for one of them. Right now I'm debating whether you're a troll, a speed-reader, or just some disgruntled medical school professor who is put out because all your students are turning to more efficient/well-vetted resources than an ill-prepared school lecture.

As for not having enough time to read golden resources like Robbins and Cotran, if it is true then you are doing something wrong in time management. When you hit clinical years, you wont have time to read foundational texts like Robbins. You will be playing catch up and it will show.

Then again if you are one to use Wikipedia for your knowledge source, then you really shouldnt be in medicine.

I find it ironic that you're questioning my time management, yet you're the one who has recommended thousands of pages of dry text to read through and you think people who read Wikipedia don't belong in medicine. Your recommendations keep making me think you're either a troll, or you're extremely disconnected with the whole process (either being a professor, or a very non-traditional learner who doesn't realize their an exception). I know I'm slamming on your posts, but I want you to know that it's not a personal attack. I just think your advice is terrible, and I don't want people to be lead astray who are just perusing this thread for good advice. However, I also acknowledge that people learn differently and this truly may have worked for you. Personally, I've tried to read all the texts you've recommended (and more), but right now I find that they are much better kept as references than primary learning sources. I'd recommend that each student at least check out a copy from their library and give it a shot - but please, report back to this thread and let me know how that's going for you. Who knows, maybe the hundreds of students before me at my school were just the exception.

As for my own time management, I'm scoring at the very top of my class, I get excellent marks in my clinical rotations (we have an integrated cirriculum), and my Qbank/NBME scores indicate that I'm poised very well for Step 1. All that to say I think your accusations of me having to play "catch-up" during my clinical years are entirely baseless. Good day to you, sir.

Edit: OP, I'm sorry if I derailed your thread. You asked for advice on how to streamline your studying for boards - I just want to make sure you're given good advice.

 

[GoljansRightBicep]

OP, to answer your original question: I wouldn't start Qbanks until you're about halfway there to your Step 1 date. If you want questions for your first year, there's the Robbins Review book mentioned above, B&B quizzes, BRS questions, and FA Q&A that might be more appropriate for Y1 material. If you're gunning as hard as you seem to be by your thread, you will have enough time during Y2 to knock out FA Qmax, Kaplan, and UW no problem.

 

[lagbydesign]

If you're gunning as hard as you seem to be by your thread, you will have enough time during Y2 to knock out FA Qmax, Kaplan, and UW no problem.

That's one thing I'm still unsure about. I've heard multiple people say to just do UWorld 2x, but I've also heard many say you should do USMLERx, Kaplan, and UWorld. What do you think?

 

[GoljansRightBicep]

1) The answers were either extremely obvious

I personally like USMLE-Rx Qmax, but I certainly agree that most answers are very obvious. I use it as my first Qbank because I see it as just testing facts straight out of FA.

2) We had not covered that material yet (e.g. very in depth neurology/reproductive/GI questions that were falling under the "Anatomy" block of questions that should most likely be in organ system blocks instead)

This is an obnoxious occurrence with starting Qbanks before dedicated. No perfect way to get around it - just try to be really strict with which organ systems and disciplines you select. I feel like a few biostats questions always seem to slip through for me regardless, and it's just like "wtf?" when you get them. I just flag questions like that and move on. Either later on in the year or during dedicated I plan to hit all these questions I flagged so that I complete the Qbank.

That's one thing I'm still unsure about. I've heard multiple people say to just do UWorld 2x, but I've also heard many say you should do USMLERx, Kaplan, and UWorld. What do you think?

Advice I wish I had been given earlier would be to not make checklists/goals. As in, don't make it your goal to finish 3 qbanks. This may sound very counterintuitive, but here's why I do it: there is just way too much good material out there to do it all, and you don't need to do it all to score extremely well on step. Better than making checklists/unrealistic goals for everything is to put your head down, get off the internet, and just grind it out. At the end of the day ask yourself if you worked hard and were efficient, or if you goofed around. If you worked hard, mission successful. Count that day as a job well done. The next day will begin with a feeling of accomplishment and you can keep grinding it out. Checklists always have a tendency of being overly optimistic, which leads to incomplete results, and feelings of failure. Cue the negative death spiral of studying for boards - you will lose motivation, fast.

When the time comes, grab a Qbank and grind through it. Stop asking if you have enough time, because you just have the time you have (and you operate at the efficiency that you do), and just do it. Once you finish that Qbank, reach for the next. And then the next. Just make sure you budget enough time to get through UWorld at least once.

Factors you can't change: how much time you have (varies by school), your own intelligence, the specific Step 1 test you'll get
Factors you can: your work efficiency, your sense of accomplishment (which then feeds back into your efficiency)

Don't buy into the lie that you have to do every Qbank, or reach Robbins cover-to-cover (*cough cough*) to succeed. At the end of the day, you're just going to do what you do, with the time you were allotted. Just make sure you used that time well.

 

[Jesus1]

Do not read Robbins. Huge waste of time. If you're looking for a pathology textbook, read Goljan's Rapid review of pathology. I would not even recommend doing that. Combo of Pathoma/Goljan audio worked like a charm during my preclinical years.

 

[intubesteak]

+1 for Robbins. People give it a bad rap because they read like 10 pages in the cancer chapter and then give up.

The way to use Robbins is to read 10 pages a day in the chapter(s) for whatever block you are on. Takes less than an hour even if you are a slow reader. It should reinforce and build on what you learn in class. Then before your test do the Robbins review questions to review. Takes maybe 2 hours to do the chapter questions. When you read Robbins, you are not trying to absorb or memorize details. You are soaking in the "why" behind stuff. Minimize memorization and maximize your understanding of pathophysiology.

Goljan, while an excellent resource, does not give the why behind everything the way that Robbins does. But Goljan is gold because you can read through an entire section in like an hour if you a solid foundation or have been through it before. Goljan is great for refreshing what you have learned elsewhere, and for being as close to complete as any review book can be. It has essentially all of Robbins in bullet point form (like FA).