2012: Books/What to buy for Step 1

[medstud87]

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For those who successfully completed Step 1, what books (list form) would you recommend as must haves for those who will be taking the test in 2012? If there is already a thread for this, could someone kindly point me in the direction with a link?

Also, is it necessary to buy the big Robbin's book?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Lizloveslilies]

Wow, this post has been up for 2 hours and it hasn't been mobbed by SDN Step-1-er's yet? 😀

Here is my list of must-have books in my opinion for studying for Step 1:

- First Aid - latest edition (2011)
- Goljan Rapid Review Pathology (3rd edition)
- Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews: Pharmacology (4th edition)
- Clinical Microbiology made ridiculously simple
- BRS Physiology
- BRS Physiology cases
- BRS/HY Gross anatomy + a good atlas (Netter's) + source for CTs, MRIs, XRs, ...
- BRS/HY Neuroanatomy + a good neuro atlas (Nolte?, Haines?, ...)
- Robbins review of pathology (Question book)

Non-book must-haves in my opinion:
- Question banks (duh) - UW > Kaplan > USMLErx > ...
- Lange Pharmacology flash cards
- Webpath - if you have time

Otherwise, I don't think you need much more to succeed in your Step 1 preparation. May be a little simplistic, but these are the sources on which I relied on 100%. I referred to other sources as well, but I don't count them as must-haves.

Regarding big-Robbins: I like it, I read it, you don't need it to prepare for step 1. I used it alongside my pathology class-lecture notes and Goljan during the semester, but it was just a personal preference. I like reading every little detail and big Robbins was great for that. It also doubles as a potent narcoleptic and doorstop! 🙂

 

[MossPoh]

I used the USMLE Secrets book in conjunction with a lot of those and enjoyed it a lot. It is a nice read at the beginning of each system or for a quick refresher in whatever subject area while keeping it in mostly paragraph format.

Lippincott's can be a little cumbersome for step 1 review pharm. I had that, pharm recall and katzung's exam review. I liked the focused questions with Katzung and the drug toxicities. I liked the brevity of pharm recall though.

I liked Rapid review biochem as well. That book makes so much more sense after you've had pathology.

 

[tech2doc]

Wow, this post has been up for 2 hours and it hasn't been mobbed by SDN Step-1-er's yet? 😀

Here is my list of must-have books in my opinion for studying for Step 1:

- First Aid - latest edition (2011)
- Goljan Rapid Review Pathology (3rd edition)
- Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews: Pharmacology (4th edition)
- Clinical Microbiology made ridiculously simple
- BRS Physiology
- BRS Physiology cases
- BRS/HY Gross anatomy + a good atlas (Netter's) + source for CTs, MRIs, XRs, ...
- BRS/HY Neuroanatomy + a good neuro atlas (Nolte?, Haines?, ...)
- Robbins review of pathology (Question book)

Non-book must-haves in my opinion:
- Question banks (duh) - UW > Kaplan > USMLErx > ...
- Lange Pharmacology flash cards
- Webpath - if you have time

Otherwise, I don't think you need much more to succeed in your Step 1 preparation. May be a little simplistic, but these are the sources on which I relied on 100%. I referred to other sources as well, but I don't count them as must-haves.

Regarding big-Robbins: I like it, I read it, you don't need it to prepare for step 1. I used it alongside my pathology class-lecture notes and Goljan during the semester, but it was just a personal preference. I like reading every little detail and big Robbins was great for that. It also doubles as a potent narcoleptic and doorstop! 🙂

I don't disagree, but I want to elaborate on some of these suggestions. The only must have books for actual Step1 studying are First Aid and RR Path (Goljan). When it comes down to the nose-to-the-grind Step1 studying, there's just not enough time for many resources. The others are important however, but I would classify them as must have books if you want to rock your courses (which is indirectly studying for Step1). For each system in path, read the Goljan chapters and do the Robbins and Webpath questions. If you're a textbook guy (like me), big Robbins is awesome. It's actually one of the only books I plan on keeping. It really helps out if you want more detail, if your teachers didn't do a very good of explaining a topic, or if they didn't explain it at all.

For Micro, CMMRS is money.

I used BRS Phys and BRS Phys Cases during my first year physiology course, but I don't think I picked them up more than twice during step1 studying and that was just for a few topics. Other people on here swear by these books though.

In my opinion though, you can't do enough questions. If I could do it all over again, I would try to get through all three of the big question banks (UWorld, Kaplan, and Rx). Each bank has a slightly different style of asking the question, and as Goljan says in one of his lectures, there's only so many ways they can ask the questions. So, just by the laws of probability, if you do 8000 questions in preparation, most of the questions on the real thing will be similar to a question you've already had. Just my opinion though.

Good luck!

 

[Lizloveslilies]

I don't disagree, but I want to elaborate on some of these suggestions. The only must have books for actual Step1 studying are First Aid and RR Path (Goljan). When it comes down to the nose-to-the-grind Step1 studying, there's just not enough time for many resources. The others are important however, but I would classify them as must have books if you want to rock your courses (which is indirectly studying for Step1). For each system in path, read the Goljan chapters and do the Robbins and Webpath questions. If you're a textbook guy (like me), big Robbins is awesome. It's actually one of the only books I plan on keeping. It really helps out if you want more detail, if your teachers didn't do a very good of explaining a topic, or if they didn't explain it at all.

For Micro, CMMRS is money.

I used BRS Phys and BRS Phys Cases during my first year physiology course, but I don't think I picked them up more than twice during step1 studying and that was just for a few topics. Other people on here swear by these books though.

In my opinion though, you can't do enough questions. If I could do it all over again, I would try to get through all three of the big question banks (UWorld, Kaplan, and Rx). Each bank has a slightly different style of asking the question, and as Goljan says in one of his lectures, there's only so many ways they can ask the questions. So, just by the laws of probability, if you do 8000 questions in preparation, most of the questions on the real thing will be similar to a question you've already had. Just my opinion though.

Good luck!

Honestly, I can't disagree with you either. Out of the numerous books I purchased for my medical school courses, I found the ones I listed to be indispensable in my step 1 studying. If the OP has the usual library that is associated going through the first 2 years or so of medical school, then yes, FA and RR is where the lion's share of the preparation is (as far as books go).

I also can't agree with you more that doing well in your medical school courses gives you a leg-up as far as step 1 studying. If you have prepared well, then you have a good arsenal of review books, text books, and most importantly study habits, that you can rely upon when you're studying for your boards.

 

[fahimaz7]

These guys are nuts on here.

First Aid
Goljan Path RR if you're gunning (do it during the school year along with the audio)
HY B/S (takes 2-3 hours to read)
Kaplan Qbank or USMLERx during the year
Uworld in the last month


That's it. You don't need 30 sources to do well on this test.

 

[chiz2kul]

These guys are nuts on here.

First Aid
Goljan Path RR if you're gunning (do it during the school year along with the audio)
HY B/S (takes 2-3 hours to read)
Kaplan Qbank or USMLERx during the year
Uworld in the last month


That's it. You don't need 30 sources to do well on this test.

Havent taken my test yet, but I agree with you mostly. There is just not enough time to go over all the resources out there (unless you have >5 wks of dedicated study)...plus you dont want to get overwhelmed.

FA + Uworld +/- RR/BRS phys = money

 

[hyrule]

Useful:
First Aid
Kaplan Biochemistry **** --> wish I used this for school as well.. amazing book
BRS Behavioral Science
BRS Physiology (as a reference)
Goljan (as a reference)
HY Neuroanatomy (as a reference)
Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple (as a reference)


Useless
Katzung's Pharm - totally useless. First Aid is much better... even for during the year studying.
Any kind of pharm textbook - not worth buying, Pharm is generally easy on Step I and should be easy points. Simple memorization.
Lippincott's Biochem - no point using for board prep. Buy Kaplan Biochem
Robbins

 

[JKGable]

You're going way overboard. Too many resources are just as bad as too few. It's better to know FA really well than to kind of know 10 resources. I'm assuming you're going into 2nd year, so here's what worked for me: Goljan and BRS during the year, but don't bother using that as review during USMLE review. Use First Aid, a q-bank, and a review course for USMLE review. Know FA inside-out; that's the highest yield info. I used Uworld during the year then switched to USMLE-Rx for test prep. I liked the way U-Rx shows the FA page and section info (that saves a lot of time looking up missed questions). I also used Doctors in Training. They send out 15 free-answer, multiple part questions twice weekly beginning in January. That helps make sure you're at least reviewing a little every week (it took me about 2-3 hours per 15 questions). The actual DIT review was pretty good too. Talking with some classmates who did the Kaplan review, DIT is more focused on high-yield info whereas Kaplan gives more complete review. That's what worked for me, but then again I haven't got my score back, so we'll see.

 

[medstud87]

Thanks guys, this was really helpful.

I'll try to stick to fewer resources as I don't want to spread myself thin struggling to go through every review book I can.

Does anyone else think that doing multiple question banks multiple times (if such a Godly feat can be done?) would be helpful/doable?

 

[Lizloveslilies]

Thanks guys, this was really helpful.

I'll try to stick to fewer resources as I don't want to spread myself thin struggling to go through every review book I can.

Does anyone else think that doing multiple question banks multiple times (if such a Godly feat can be done?) would be helpful/doable?

Doing multiple question banks multiple times is really time consuming. Depends on how much time you have set aside for studying. There's no substitution for doing questions but doing questions just to do them is kind of a waste.

I think, if you have 2 months or more to prepare it is do-able, but you should definitely start out with one question bank and stick with it. Just make sure you take notes on your questions, answers, explanations, ... --> this helped me out quite a bit on test day!
If you have extra time (and financial resources) you can try doing two, but make sure you make every question count.