Appleton and Lange Question book

[tanu6784]

Just a few q's about the different versions of this book out:

1) Appleton & Lange Review for the USMLE Step 1 by king is praised highly by many step 1 takers. Regardless of editions since a new one just came out do they all have the same questions +/- a few?

2) No one ever talks about Appleton & Lange Practice Tests for the USMLE Step 1 by goldberg. Is this one to stay away from?

3) Finally, what is this ALERT cd program by appleton and Lange containing roughly 2500 questions. Does it contain the same q's as either of the other two sources or is it old and not worth getting.

Thanks again everyone. you guys rock

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[carrigallen]

I bought the ~1000 Q Appleton & Lange book for my review, and I recommend NOT buying it. The purchase was a mild embarrassment for me. The explanations are wordy or inconsistent, and it is poorly edited. About every 15th question is incorrectly coded. The content of the questions can be inconsistent, varying between very easy and absurdly obscure. Worst of all, the explanations often just read like they are cut & pasted from a textbook paragraph - yet they might not address to the import of the question. Ie, they don't always explain WHY the answer is right - they'll just make an unrelated statement. The book is so poorly edited that sometimes the questions stop in mid-senten (<- like that)
My suggestion is to do Robbins Q book progressively during the year, and then Qbank. Do the relevant q's in the BRS chapters as you go along. Do the 150 q's put out for free by the NBME. For most people, the other questions books (NMS, Appleton&Lange, etc) are not particularly helpful.

 

[Pollicis]

Hi, would you mind posting the ISBN of the robbins q book? thanks

My suggestion is to do Robbins Q book progressively during the year, and then Qbank. Do the relevant q's in the BRS chapters as you go along. Do the 150 q's put out for free by the NBME. For most people, the other questions books (NMS, Appleton&Lange, etc) are not particularly helpful.

 

[DOCTORSAIB]

I bought the ~1000 Q Appleton & Lange book for my review, and I recommend NOT buying it. The purchase was a mild embarrassment for me. The explanations are wordy or inconsistent, and it is poorly edited. About every 15th question is incorrectly coded. The content of the questions can be inconsistent, varying between very easy and absurdly obscure. Worst of all, the explanations often just read like they are cut & pasted from a textbook paragraph - yet they might not address to the import of the question. Ie, they don't always explain WHY the answer is right - they'll just make an unrelated statement. The book is so poorly edited that sometimes the questions stop in mid-senten (<- like that)
My suggestion is to do Robbins Q book progressively during the year, and then Qbank. Do the relevant q's in the BRS chapters as you go along. Do the 150 q's put out for free by the NBME. For most people, the other questions books (NMS, Appleton&Lange, etc) are not particularly helpful.

Strange, I heard exactly the opposite from several posters. You are talking about the A&L Q/A book, right?