Anatomy on the USMLE

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RadOncRocks

RadOncRocks

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Alright, lets get a central location for this. From scouring SDN it seems that everyone agrees that FA and Uworld is perfect for everything but Anatomy. (There are some people who suggest augmenting with other things, but we'll focus on Anatomy in this thread.)

So, the question is, what resource is needed to best supplement? It would be amazing if people who have taken the test could weigh in with some thoughts. There is no shortage of resources, but it would be great to know which seem to focus the most on material that you personally saw on the Step!

Thanks!
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upperclassmen from my school have said that HY or Kaplan has it all. I used Kaplan. We also have a really strong anatomy dept so its possible that whatever gaps were there were filled in with anatomy knowledge from first year.
 
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i think def pelvis and maybe some other stuff.. i dont knwo how long it will take me to get through it but i think ill put in maybe 2-3 hours...
we had good anatomy in first year but i jjust dont rememeber it hahaha :(
 
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IDK what's best, but HY Gross Anatomy has so few pictures it's making me regret having bought it. I also have Netter's Clinical Anatomy which I enjoy more (lots of great drawings) but I am not sure if it's sufficient.
 
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ar2388 said:
i think def pelvis and maybe some other stuff.. i dont knwo how long it will take me to get through it but i think ill put in maybe 2-3 hours...
we had good anatomy in first year but i jjust dont rememeber it hahaha :(
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Totally the same. I tried reading through HY anatomy and realized it may take some time to get through. I'm going to give it half a day (but not now because I'll just forget it all again :laugh:)
 
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On a related note, how much time do people recommend dedicating to anatomy (beyond what is covered in FA and the various question banks)? My impression was that anatomy as a whole wasn't terribly high yield, save for a few key topics (e.g. neuroanatomy).
 
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Mellow Monster said:
On a related note, how much time do people recommend dedicating to anatomy (beyond what is covered in FA and the various question banks)? My impression was that anatomy as a whole wasn't terribly high yield, save for a few key topics (e.g. neuroanatomy).
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Good thoughts everyone. Hopefully someone who knows more than us will chime in too!

As far as how high yield it is, I think it seems to vary a lot. In the 2011 experiences thread it seems like whenever someone reports back they keep mentioning how much anatomy was on their test and how it was difficult. Hmmm...
 
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RadOncRocks said:
Good thoughts everyone. Hopefully someone who knows more than us will chime in too!

As far as how high yield it is, I think it seems to vary a lot. In the 2011 experiences thread it seems like whenever someone reports back they keep mentioning how much anatomy was on their test and how it was difficult. Hmmm...
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yeah and the uworld anatomy gets to me sometimes too which makes me want to study it more...
 
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johnwall11 said:
Anyone that has recently taken the exam have any advice?
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I just recently took the exam. My advice would be to definitely supplement firstaid/usmleworld with an anatomy text. I had some anatomy questions that I did not see in either of those resources. I have no idea which resource is the best though. I like HY but any basic review would be sufficient. And I definitely wouldn't spend a lot of time on it. Oh yeah, get the oldest and cheapest version they have...unless they've discovered some new organs
 
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mednsports said:
I just recently took the exam. My advice would be to definitely supplement firstaid/usmleworld with an anatomy text. I had some anatomy questions that I did not see in either of those resources. I have no idea which resource is the best though. I like HY but any basic review would be sufficient. And I definitely wouldn't spend a lot of time on it. Oh yeah, get the oldest and cheapest version they have...unless they've discovered some new organs
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OK wonderful, thank you! I was worried about HY gross anatomy because it seems too detailed.
 
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Certain subjects in anatomy aren't well covered in First Aid in my opinion:

- Leg musculature/innervation/arterial supply etc - which I found to be pretty high yield so far on all these question banks
- Pelvic anatomy in general is kinda weak (though I always struggled with that nonsense when learning it too)

Arm/brachial plexus is covered very well though it's probably helpful to review what muscles are innervated by what.

On the other hand, FA and UW have VERY good Neuroanatomy coverage, though not much about the brainstem - that being said you'd probably just need to review those chapters in HY Neuro for clarification, they don't tend to test ridiculous minutiae (this or that blithering flatulus nucleus) and more like specific strokes or large lesions (Wallenberg or Weber syndrome, acoustic neuromas, etc).

And like someone said... anatomy is not super high yield, though they do ask a number of neuroanatomy questions (many of which are also pathology intermixed). I would focus on neuroanatomy in that instance.
 
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I just finished Kaplan anatomy video lectures. They didn't cover pelvic anatomy. Even the guy in it says to focus on whatever he covered as the stuff he skipped is low yield.. So... can anyone comment more on the approach to pelvic anatomy? I have a copy of Roadmap and I might just go with that..
 
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RadOncRocks said:
Alright, lets get a central location for this. From scouring SDN it seems that everyone agrees that FA and Uworld is perfect for everything but Anatomy. (There are some people who suggest augmenting with other things, but we'll focus on Anatomy in this thread.)

So, the question is, what resource is needed to best supplement? It would be amazing if people who have taken the test could weigh in with some thoughts. There is no shortage of resources, but it would be great to know which seem to focus the most on material that you personally saw on the Step!

Thanks!
Click to expand...

My anatomy professor just wrote this book. The upperclassmen that reviewed it said that it was incredible, and they got a lot of pathology/embryo correct because of it. He also did an end-of-the-semester review for anatomy that included quite a few of the questions from the book, and I left the shelf exam thinking, "Did he write the questions for the USMLE?!"

If I'm going to supplement anatomy or embryo, that's what I'm using.
 
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tco said:
My anatomy professor just wrote this book. The upperclassmen that reviewed it said that it was incredible, and they got a lot of pathology/embryo correct because of it. He also did an end-of-the-semester review for anatomy that included quite a few of the questions from the book, and I left the shelf exam thinking, "Did he write the questions for the USMLE?!"

If I'm going to supplement anatomy or embryo, that's what I'm using.
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book has some nice reviews. how long would you think it would take to get through?
 
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Day man said:
book has some nice reviews. how long would you think it would take to get through?
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I have a friend that is casually going through it right now, and it's taken her about 4 days and she's not done.

It's rather in depth. The questions are pretty darn tough. Maybe even harder than the real deal. I don't think there are any first order questions. The explanations are also HIGHLY detailed, and I think that's where the money is. I just looked at a few questions before starting my review this summer and said, "Woah, maybe at the end when I remember this stuff..." It looks to be good for anatomy, embryo, and maybe even some path.

So, I guess, to answer your question, it depends on how good your anatomy is. If you have a good background in anatomy/embryo, probably 3-5 days of dedicated studying.
 
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does anyone know of any good resources for those MRIs of the lower leg and abdominal CTs? I get almost all of them wrong on UWorld.... and dunno how/where to begin to improve in that. Thanks
 
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hi guys!

Does anyone have any experience with RR Gross & Developmental Anatomy?
Would you recommend it for step 1?
 
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Do not waste any time using another resource for anatomy (if anything, use a non FA/UW resource for biochem). From my experience, and from talking to others, it seems as though there is a high focus on neuroanatomy, pelvic anatomy and musculoskeletal anatomy. FA is great for neuro and MK. Just keep doing questions and you'll be fine. I got 258 w/o outside anatomy resources.
 
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