Best Textbooks for Pharm and Micro

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LoneSEAL

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People have made many suggestions as to the best REVIEW books for pharm and micro. However, I'm looking for a textbook on these two subjects to get a firm base on the material. Suggestions on what are the best texts?

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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0838505988/qid=1024047686/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_2/104-1621603-0905545" target="_blank">Katzung</a> for pharm is popular.
 
i would probably stick with lippincott as a primary text for pharm. anything else is too long to read cover-to-cover... as for micro, appleton and lang is pretty solid. it has enough detail to satisfy most med students.
 
i used katzung and trevor's exam. and review for pharm by appleton and lange (6th ed.)--it's much smaller than the big tome by katzung. for micro, yes, go with jawetz and levinson's exam. and review also by appleton and lange (6th ed.). both these texts have a nice mix between text, review questions, and tables.

some use lippincott for pharm, which i heard was decent. micro made ridiculously simple is also popular but i can't comment on it. there are also bug cards and pharm cards...wait for them to be updated.
-s.
 
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I used BRS Pharm and the pharm sections of the Kaplan home study program. I felt well prepared for the pharm questions. In fact, there were very few that I had to guess on (I wish that were true for the other disciplines!).

Katzung's review book is excellent and concise. I used it as a supplement to his text for school. You're welcome to my copy if you want it. PM me your snail mail address.
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by dingiswayo:
•as for micro, appleton and lang is pretty solid. it has enough detail to satisfy most med students.•••••boy, appleton and lang's micro is DRY, DRY, and DRY. I don't see how it can be a good book for beginners. Micro made ridiculously simple book is better...
 
I'm a firm believer in the High Yield series - unless you're studying for months for Step 1, I think the retention rate for reading through something like Lippincott is very low. Honestly, between High Yield Pharm and First Aid, I don't think there were more than a handful (literally) of questions on QBank or the actual USMLE that couldn't be answered with those two sources alone. Personally, I think going through something like High Yield Pharm 3 or 4 times will yield you a higher score than going through Lippincott once. But then again, people have their own study style. If you feel like you need the context provided by a larger book, by all means, use something more exhaustive. Although I only used High Yield Micro and Bug Cards for microbiology, I would recommend using Clinical Micro Made Rediculously Simple because it's easy reading and those crazy diagrams/cartoons are cheesy, but you'll never forget them. When it comes to Board studying, knowing the basics very well is far better than knowing everything semi-well.
 
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