Are third-party resources a necessity?

[deleted895369]

Hey guys, incoming MS1 here.

I hear so many people swear by third-party resources during the preclinical years and was wondering if these are essential to do well in classes. With STEP 1 going pass/fail, I don't just want to focus on the high-yield content which may have been more useful in years past. Also, I would like to do well on my school's in-house exams.

That being said, I'm not a huge fan of watching videos and would rather spend my time actively learning content via flashcards or practice questions. If I watch my school's lecture, do you think that it is mandatory that I view the same content as presented by a third-party source, or is the lecture sufficient?

I'm just trying to gauge if re-seeing the material as presented by someone else is worth the time and $$$, or if I should just stick to third-party Q-banks to solidify the material I learned my school's lecture.

Thanks for any guidance you can provide!

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[ciestar]

UWorld is essential. I liked Sketchy Micro. You’ll want Pathoma as well.

OME is free and good for clerkship years.

 

[GreenDuck12]

You should connect with your schools upperclassmen to ask this as the answer is going to be highly variable based on the strength and relevance of your schools preclinical curriculum - they can give you much better insight to what is helpful to succeed at your program than the experiences of others at other programs. From my perspective, based on my program, 3rd party resources are useful to help cut through the noise of what is / is not important and makes it easier to use thinks like Anking and Lightyear on Anki. Personally, I don't get much out of making cards so being able to use a premade deck is really helpful. Others in my program really only use lecture material and do just fine. I would not purchase any materials prior to connecting with your classmates and the class above you - there may be some in your class that will share resources with others as well.

3rd party question banks, IMO, are incredibly useful especially if your program does not provide many practice questions. Hold off on UWorld until step but investing in USMLERx or Amboss could be worthwhile. Both of those products tend do go on sale at a significant discount around Thanksgiving and Amboss usually does a group discount based on the size of the group purchasing their products (note it actually is based off the number who sign up to buy but not necessarily who complete the purchase).

 

[Vyzzle]

To echo what others have said - 100% depends on your school's curriculum and how it works for you.

1st year I used solely class lectures, I thought they were sufficient and was able to be in the top of the class with that alone
2nd year, by the recommendation of my peers who liked the 1st year lectures but despised the 2nd year lectures, I used solely Sketchy Micro/Pharm + Pathoma and still maintained top of the class.

The only wrong move is using too many resources.

Then for Step 1 it was the usual stuff you see around here, but with Step 1 going P/F I'd say staying on top of your classwork + UWorld is far more than sufficient.

 

[calivianya]

Step 2 isn’t p/f yet, so I would still use the third party materials instead of (or as a supplement to) your class lectures. Step 2 is cumulative of third year plus the stuff you learned in preclinicals… had genetic diseases, immunodeficiencies, metabolism disorders, straight up anatomy questions, i.e. things considered “step 1” material on my step 2 exam. A lot of them I hadn’t seen since I studied for step 1, but I studied hard for step 1 so I still remembered them.

If everyone else studies with board materials through the first two years and knows what’s HY for boards and you don’t, you‘re going to have a mountain to climb when you start prepping for step 2 since you will be well behind the curve. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[Vyzzle]

Step 2 isn’t p/f yet, so I would still use the third party materials instead of (or as a supplement to) your class lectures. Step 2 is cumulative of third year plus the stuff you learned in preclinicals… had genetic diseases, immunodeficiencies, metabolism disorders, straight up anatomy questions, i.e. things considered “step 1” material on my step 2 exam. A lot of them I hadn’t seen since I studied for step 1, but I studied hard for step 1 so I still remembered them.

If everyone else studies with board materials through the first two years and knows what’s HY for boards and you don’t, you‘re going to have to have a mountain to climb when you start prepping for step 2 since you will be well behind the curve. Just something to keep in mind.

All those things ( genetic diseases, immunodeficiencies, metabolism disorders, straight up anatomy questions) were revised during clinical year material, though. At least with the resources I used and at my institution

 

[calivianya]

All those things ( genetic diseases, immunodeficiencies, metabolism disorders, straight up anatomy questions) were revised during clinical year material, though. At least with the resources I used and at my institution

Depends on your school. The only thing my school offered was online modules you clicked through (doubtful anyone read them tbh). We had no teaching other than whatever our preceptors decided to mention… and since that weirdo stuff is pretty rare, it didn’t come up bc most of my preceptors wanted to make sure I knew how to handle the bread and butter things of the specialty. Diabetes/COPD/HTN for IM, gallbladders for surgery, things like that. I didn’t finish UWorld either, so it’s entirely possible some of that stuff was on UW for step 2, but I didn’t see it.

 

[ChymeofPassion]

Used no 3rd party first year. However, lots of people in my class use it for 2nd year, which I'll probably use for step studying too. Ask your upperclassman.

I did bulldoze through pharm and micro, whereas sketchy may have been more efficient.

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

Only paid 3rd party I ever really used was UWorld, I've done well with that. It's doable, but as others have said highly dependent on what you get from your school and how you study well. I do think that you're gonna want at least one big Qbank at minimum, but I don't think extra video subscriptions are 100% necessary for everyone if you are someone who can study in other ways

 

[jdp207]

A lot of the 3rd party resources don't just cover the high yield material, but rather cover just about everything a medical student could be expected to know but in a much better organized and systematic way with built in work flows. I'm a huge fan of Anking, Amboss, pathoma, sketchy (micro and pharm only), boards and beyond and uworld. Rather than JUST cover the high yield they draw your attention to what is high yield and what you should know at the least but aren't lacking in details. Anking+amboss add on is pretty amazing.

 

[NickNaylor]

Really depends on the quality of your pre-clinical teaching and how "mature" your school's pre-clinical curriculum is. If nothing else, 3rd party resources will offer another perspective on the same content, which I think is valuable. Sometimes content might be presented in a slightly different way that is easier for you to understand.

I think just about everyone in my medical school class used 3rd party resources both for studying in class and for standardized exams.

 

[Wolvvs]

I think the truth is not everyone's a great teacher, and no matter what school you're at, some lecturers will be better than others.

I highly recommend Boards and Beyond. The videos are relatively short and to the point, and if you watch them first they'll help you understand the overall topic so when you go to your school's lecture you can focus on the details they want you to know.

Also something like Sketchy or Physeo image mnemonics for micro and pharm can be really helpful because it's really just a lot of memorization.

 

[deleted1079620]

3rd party resources helped me see that the knowledge I need for boards is finite and manageable, not infinite and overwhelming like my in house curriculum felt. I use them before watching school lectures so I get the big picture. I highly recommend Boards & Beyond, Sketchy, Pathoma, and a large Qbank if your school doesn’t provide one.

 

[operaman]

I would strongly recommend third party sources, especially the ones that get consistently high marks from students.

Teaching is hard and many faculty aren’t that good at it. The good third party products survive because the teaching is so good. I found many of them invaluable and used them from day one of ms1 just to offer a different perspective from my professors. Often the boards source would explain things in a much easier way that suddenly made the class lecture make sense. Pathoma on the coagulation cascade was the first one that really blew me away at the start of second year. I had just listened to our official lecture and felt lost. Pathoma made it crystal clear in a few minutes. Then when I re watched the lecture it made so much more sense and was actually a really good lecture once I understood the underlying concepts better.

So even with p/f, you still need the knowledge. I used step one knowledge on ALL my shelf exams, steps 2 and 3, all my ent inservice exams, and even on my written specialty board exams. Anyone who phones it in because it’s pass fail is setting themselves up for trouble.

Do remember that all the scaling for the shelves and step 2 are based off a time period when everyone studied hard for step 1. All those shelf honors cutoffs are based on a certain level of performance and it will take a long time for things to re-center.

 

[deleted895369]

Thank you all for imparting your wisdom, venerable SDNers! I did reach out to a current student for more info on my school's lectures, but all of your recommendations have given me a better idea of what studying with third party resources will look like. I appreciate y'all!

 

[Goro]

Hey guys, incoming MS1 here.

I hear so many people swear by third-party resources during the preclinical years and was wondering if these are essential to do well in classes. With STEP 1 going pass/fail, I don't just want to focus on the high-yield content which may have been more useful in years past. Also, I would like to do well on my school's in-house exams.

That being said, I'm not a huge fan of watching videos and would rather spend my time actively learning content via flashcards or practice questions. If I watch my school's lecture, do you think that it is mandatory that I view the same content as presented by a third-party source, or is the lecture sufficient?

I'm just trying to gauge if re-seeing the material as presented by someone else is worth the time and $$$, or if I should just stick to third-party Q-banks to solidify the material I learned my school's lecture.

Thanks for any guidance you can provide!

Surveys of people who do well on Boards show that students use a variety of resources, so the answer is yes.

The answer is especially yes when your faulty teach minutiae, their own research or are bad at teaching.

The real art of being a student is figuring out which resource is best for you.

 

[aldol16]

It depends. If your school is teaching a curriculum that is preparing you well for the boards, then sure, the lecture material should be plenty sufficient. But most people use the third party resources to get material that is on the boards that they would otherwise not be exposed to given the wide variation in med school curricula. So you should take a look at some resources (at least First Aid) and see if there is good overlap (and this may vary from organ block to organ block). If the overlap is good, then your lectures may be enough. If your lectures are veering off in other directions, then your time might be better spent getting the fundamentals down using the third party resources (e.g., Costanzo, Goljan, etc.).

 

[ExplodingUlcers]

BNB has great videos but also a decent qbank so it's like a two for one type of resource.

Amboss has a lifetime membership that will carry you through step 1, step 2 and shelf studying along with having an amazing library to reference while on rotations. Not to mention the robust anki add on.

I would at the very least consider investing in these two resources during your preclinical years despite step 1 being p/f.

 

[Billiam95]

BNB has great videos but also a decent qbank so it's like a two for one type of resource.

Amboss has a lifetime membership that will carry you through step 1, step 2 and shelf studying along with having an amazing library to reference while on rotations. Not to mention the robust anki add on.

I would at the very least consider investing in these two resources during your preclinical years despite step 1 being p/f.

IMO, BnB is pretty limited as a Q bank, with only 3-5 questions per topic, but the videos are all top notch. Amboss has a pretty extensive Q bank, and second the utility of the emboss Anki add-on. Both are worth-while investments- if I could only pick 2 resources, I'd choose these 2.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

IMO, BnB is pretty limited as a Q bank, with only 3-5 questions per topic, but the videos are all top notch. Amboss has a pretty extensive Q bank, and second the utility of the emboss Anki add-on. Both are worth-while investments- if I could only pick 2 resources, I'd choose these 2.

The amboss library is also clutch.

 

[deleted895369]

Awesome, thank you all for the info. I have definitely been looking into Amboss for preclinical as I recently stumbled across an Amboss article and was very impressed by the way they organized the information to make it easy to understand. Not to mention that the Qbank would be a major plus as well.

Our school does give us a "free" subscription to Osmosis but I'll check with upperclassmen to see if BnB videos may be a worthwhile investment because I keep hearing people mention that it is a great resource.

Thanks again guys!

 

[Elite Medical Prep]

I would highly advise using external resources. Most of them (e.g., BnB, Pathoma, pre-made anki decks) are better teachers than the faculty at your school. Being a good doctor and matching is more than doing well on Step 1! Plus, a solid foundation of basic science is needed for Step 2 CK and your clinical rotations. It's worth the money and the effort now, even though Step 1 is P/F.

 

[Billiam95]

Awesome, thank you all for the info. I have definitely been looking into Amboss for preclinical as I recently stumbled across an Amboss article and was very impressed by the way they organized the information to make it easy to understand. Not to mention that the Qbank would be a major plus as well.

Our school does give us a "free" subscription to Osmosis but I'll check with upperclassmen to see if BnB videos may be a worthwhile investment because I keep hearing people mention that it is a great resource.

Thanks again guys!

Osmosis videos are generally very good - the Amboss library links to them from time to time, and I'll watch them if need a better understanding of a subject. The only downside is, if you become an Anki user, the osmosis tags are very limited in AnKing.

Whatever you do end up doing, I'd recommend just being flexible in trying different approaches until you find one that works for you. I'm a MS2 now and am still fine tuning my approach with each different organ system. To quote Dr. Ryan (of BnB):

Every year, tens of thousands of students prepare for the Step 1 exam. If studying from certain resources in a certain way guaranteed a 270, it would have been figured out long ago and everyone would be doing it. There simply is no guaranteed path to a top score. If one student gets a 260 and ten students follow the same study plan exactly, not all 10 will get a similar score, at most just one or two.

When I was in medical school none of the currently available resources except for First Aid existed. Despite that, students achieved scores of 250 and above. I have seen current students use all available resources—Boards and Beyond, UWorld, Sketchy, Pathoma, Anki—and still wind up disappointed in their score. This is a cliché, but it’s not the resource that matters, it’s how you use it.

Because there is no recipe for success, you should never feel compelled to use any particular resource. Use only what works for you. It's fine to explore resources based on suggestions of other students, but don't feel compelled to use them. Since nothing guarantees success, skipping a resource doesn’t guarantee failure. Some students feel they must use particular resources because “everyone is using it.” Don’t do this. No resource holds secrets to answering questions. Choose what works for you.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Awesome, thank you all for the info. I have definitely been looking into Amboss for preclinical as I recently stumbled across an Amboss article and was very impressed by the way they organized the information to make it easy to understand. Not to mention that the Qbank would be a major plus as well.

Our school does give us a "free" subscription to Osmosis but I'll check with upperclassmen to see if BnB videos may be a worthwhile investment because I keep hearing people mention that it is a great resource.

Thanks again guys!

If you get a free osmosis subscription, I would use their qbank to supplement amboss and use the organization tools. The high yield path videos for step 1 and the clinical reasoning videos are pretty good too. But I would probably still get BnB.

 

[JVVV]

IMO, BnB is pretty limited as a Q bank, with only 3-5 questions per topic, but the videos are all top notch. Amboss has a pretty extensive Q bank, and second the utility of the emboss Anki add-on. Both are worth-while investments- if I could only pick 2 resources, I'd choose these 2.
依我看，BnB 作为一个 q 银行是相当有限的，每个话题只有3-5个问题，但是视频都是一流的。Amboss 有一个相当广泛的 q 银行，其次是浮雕 Anki 附加功能。两者都值得投资——如果我只能选择两种资源，我会选择这两种。

thanks！

 

[Phloston]

Hey guys, incoming MS1 here.

I hear so many people swear by third-party resources during the preclinical years and was wondering if these are essential to do well in classes. With STEP 1 going pass/fail, I don't just want to focus on the high-yield content which may have been more useful in years past. Also, I would like to do well on my school's in-house exams.

That being said, I'm not a huge fan of watching videos and would rather spend my time actively learning content via flashcards or practice questions. If I watch my school's lecture, do you think that it is mandatory that I view the same content as presented by a third-party source, or is the lecture sufficient?

I'm just trying to gauge if re-seeing the material as presented by someone else is worth the time and $$$, or if I should just stick to third-party Q-banks to solidify the material I learned my school's lecture.

Thanks for any guidance you can provide!

Go over your school's slides/class material to make sure you do well in class. But also hardcore go through Step 1 Qbank material *because good Step 1 prep is the best prep for Step 2.*

My prediction is we'll see a few years of students panicking about 2CK because they slacked on Step 1 stuff, since they only needed to pass and didn't put in effort.

 

[frosted2]

If your professors are as awful as mine then yes.

 

[Goro]

Hey guys, incoming MS1 here.

I hear so many people swear by third-party resources during the preclinical years and was wondering if these are essential to do well in classes. With STEP 1 going pass/fail, I don't just want to focus on the high-yield content which may have been more useful in years past. Also, I would like to do well on my school's in-house exams.

That being said, I'm not a huge fan of watching videos and would rather spend my time actively learning content via flashcards or practice questions. If I watch my school's lecture, do you think that it is mandatory that I view the same content as presented by a third-party source, or is the lecture sufficient?

I'm just trying to gauge if re-seeing the material as presented by someone else is worth the time and $$$, or if I should just stick to third-party Q-banks to solidify the material I learned my school's lecture.

Thanks for any guidance you can provide!

You can never do enough practice questions, so yes.

Outside resources are also necessary if you have professors that only teach about their research, or are just lousy and who teach you about minutiae and not about the really important stuff.

The real trick is finding out the right resource for you. Some people swear by Anki, but others feel it's a waste of time.

 

[YCAGA]

A question bank for dedicated. The rest are just examples of work harder not smarter. Like multiple times as efficient as going to class and taking notes. 15 hours a week of studying versus 60 hours no joke.

 

[FutureSurgical]

3rd party Qbank? Absolutely.

3rd party videos/tips/etc. (B&B/Sketchy/Pathoma/etc.)? Technically, no. I know of a few people in my class that just use professor's slides + pre-made anki decks. That's it. And they consistently make A's on the exam. To be fair, our school gave use USMLE-Rx as a Qbank, so that's taken care of for them.

 

[ciestar]

For step3 a new third party resource makes a name for itself… it never ends

 

[Phloston]

Hey guys, incoming MS1 here.

I hear so many people swear by third-party resources during the preclinical years and was wondering if these are essential to do well in classes. With STEP 1 going pass/fail, I don't just want to focus on the high-yield content which may have been more useful in years past. Also, I would like to do well on my school's in-house exams.

That being said, I'm not a huge fan of watching videos and would rather spend my time actively learning content via flashcards or practice questions. If I watch my school's lecture, do you think that it is mandatory that I view the same content as presented by a third-party source, or is the lecture sufficient?

I'm just trying to gauge if re-seeing the material as presented by someone else is worth the time and $$$, or if I should just stick to third-party Q-banks to solidify the material I learned my school's lecture.

Thanks for any guidance you can provide!

The reason Step 1 went to P/F was because you have admin who yearn for the days where people actually cared/went to their med school lectures, as opposed to just focusing on UWorld, etc. When you're trying to do well in school, it can help to have someone with knowledge guide you through your school material.