Best Pharm Resources for Step 1

[jhrugger]

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naturally a lot of variablity as to who prefers what, but does anyone have advice as to what sources were "best" for pharm, like which sources were most comprehensive in scope and best simulated knowledge needed for pharm questions on boards?

Thanks!

 

[etudiante04]

I am a second year also. I have heard that First AID pharm is sufficient. Some people rave about Pharm recall (now they even have an audio version). So I would like an answer too.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Our school gave us a board review from the people in the class ahead of us who did especially well on the boards. Every single one of them said they didn't need to buy anything extra for pharm. First Aid plus recall from the class itself was enough.

 

[MaxMoonMD]

At least for my test, First Aid was more than enough.
Only two drugs where mentioned which are not in First Aid (one MS drug, the other one I forgot)

Had no question on Antiarrhthymics. 👍

Made my own flash cards with the bare facts from First aid, which I found more comfortable to learn from.

 

[rox]

I'm using FA alone. I compared the pharmacodynamics/kinetics & autonomic nervous system chapters to lippincott's and found FA to be as equal.

 

[JDWflash44]

I'm curious about the pharmacology recall audio, anyone have any experience with it?

 

[DragonWell]

I'm curious about the pharmacology recall audio, anyone have any experience with it?

I've been listening to it. I have a long commute, and I find that I learn well from audio sources, so it was worth it for me. It's no Goljan, but it does help reinforce some of the details. It's probably best used along with the book as another way to slowly drill the info into your head. Just don't expect to listen to it once or twice and know pharm, or you will be disapointed...

 

[HunterGatherer]

I've been listening to it. I have a long commute, and I find that I learn well from audio sources, so it was worth it for me. It's no Goljan, but it does help reinforce some of the details. It's probably best used along with the book as another way to slowly drill the info into your head. Just don't expect to listen to it once or twice and know pharm, or you will be disapointed...

is it in Q&A format like the book?

 

[DragonWell]

is it in Q&A format like the book?

Yeah, it pretty much follows the exact text of the book, except they don't go through any of the charts. A woman's voice reads the question, and a man's voice answers it. They murder a couple pronunciations, but it's not too bad.

I don't think there's a sample of Pharm Recall online, but there is one for the Path questions that come with the Rubin textbook. The format and production is the same as Pharm Recall, so it might give you some idea of if it would work for you : Download link.

 

[pocketknife52]

i th

 

[DragonWell]

i thought pharm was vastly underemphasized on step one, big time, it is definitely not one of the big three anymore, study hard for pharm second year, and go over pharm cards like once, at the most........but your biggest goal should be to learn the drugs for the class...... very very insignificant amount of questions on step one, maybe like 6 on my test

This is probably the first time I've heard pharm being classified as low-yield.

As far as resources go, I think the general consensus is that First Aid is plenty of info for the pharm on Step I. The only reason I can see to seek out other resources is for convenience. I kind of like the way recall breaks the info down and some of the associations they include.

 

[gdk]

i took step 1 last year and most people in my class all agreed that the stuff in FA was all you needed. i had one question about a new HIV drug that wasn't in FA (enfuvirtide, i think), but you could answer the question as long as you knew the role of gp41 and never heard of the drug.
also, most of the Qbank pharm questions are really too hard. for example, step 1 will ask about what drug for malaria but there will only be one on the list... i had a Qbank question that asked *which* anti-malaria drug to give

 

[DreamRavyn]

I used Pharm Recall and First Aid when I studied. I liked Pharm Recall because it had some more of the newer drugs in it. I also used Lange cards. I believe that the Lange cards were great to give cases that went along with the drugs, BUT obviously FA needs to be known as well. So, in summary:
FA needs to be known. Cards to keep them separate in your head with some cases to go along with them. Pharm Recall for some newer drugs!

 

[jhrugger]

I went ahead and got the Lippincott's because it looked like it might help with learning first time round. Seems like FA is the way to go... Thanks for the advice.

I may start a new thread for this but I'll ask here hoping for a response since you're advice has been on point. What about First Aid for Biochem? Is that sufficient, or is there another review source that is high yield that is also not a giant text book.

 

[mm3781]

I remember pharm being a larger part of my test. I would not skimp on the pharmacology, at least not if you are going for a big score. Lippincott is a really good pharm book and will pretty much cover everything you need to know. And know the autonomic drugs inside out and backwards. I don't know who didn't get much pharm, but there were about 5 questions in each block on my exam, probably more in some.

 

[mm3781]

First Aid pharm is about as basic as it gets, which isn't quite enough to do well. Granted, you don't need to know every single antiretroviral drug there is, but you had better know the side effects of the major ones. Anti-cancer drugs were big on my test as well.

 

[DragonWell]

I'm curious about the pharmacology recall audio, anyone have any experience with it?

I'm not trying to sell the audio, since obviously different resources work for different folks, but on a whim I checked out the "Power Review" chapter of the audio today and was kind of impressed. 2.5 hours and they pretty much seemed to hit most of the hi-points...

As test time approaches, I could see this being a real handy way to power through a cumulative pharm review in a short amount of time...

 

[predodoc]

Pharm questions arnt hard on either usmle or comlex. I think If you want to learn everything well but not totally waste time do what I did. I used lippincott along with my first pass through the Lange pharm cards, just so I knew that I really did understand each drug the first time I learned them. I did this probably around febuarary/march. And then I would break out the Lange pharm cards(with some notes I wrote on them)when ever I felt I was getting a little rusty. I separated the cards by systems and used rubber bands and kept them in a shoebox.
I would cover the pharm cards again when I went through BRS Phys.(march/april). This was really good for me because the first time was just memorization and using the physiology while reviewing again really made some connections.
After that I didnt really have to cover pharm again until the week of the test when I ran through FA pharm 1X well. Dont have my USMLE report in front of me but Im pretty sure I did well on the pharm section.
Good luck

PS. I felt like usmle focused on more mechinisms and pathophys tie ins while comlex was more side effects(cough for ACE inhib) and what drug would you use for this patient Q's(kid with strep throat).

 

[pocketknife52]

yojk

 

[SoCuteMD]

At least for my test, First Aid was more than enough.
Only two drugs where mentioned which are not in First Aid (one MS drug, the other one I forgot)

Had no question on Antiarrhthymics. 👍

Made my own flash cards with the bare facts from First aid, which I found more comfortable to learn from.

I second this!

 

[BabyPsychDoc]

I second this!

I second your seconding! Pharm was a big thing on my test, but there was no single question I remember about stuff that was NOT in FA. I used HY as well, but in retrospect it was pretty useless: FA has it all.👍

 

[CanIMakeIt]

Most of the pharm questions I had were straight up from FA, except for 2-3 but if you did UW or QB then they were covered in there. So know FA pharm well.