Best way to get through FA...UsmleRx or DIT?

[namethatsmell]

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I'm a second year and I take step 1 this coming June. At this point, I'm set on FA/RR/UW as my main sources. I'm going to do a Taus-style review starting this winter and my 6 months of UW starts in Jan. However, I'm looking for a second "active" adjunct other than UW--specifically, one that will help me get the most out of First Aid.

I'd like to have at least one solid pass through FA by May, and Rx and DIT seem to be the main ways to get through FA without glazing over anything (I have this super power of not being able to absorb information after 8-10 pages of reading unless I get up and move around...which becomes time consuming). Does anybody have any insight as to which one might be best? Or, even better, is there anybody who used DIT and UsmleRx and can comment on which one they would pick if they could only have one?

I understand the difference between the two products (Rx being board style with FA page references and DIT having open ended questions with FA page references and online videos at the end) and I also know that DIT is about 2x the cost of UsmleRx...but I'm not too concerned about the cost difference since this is friggin' step 1 (although I do think it's crap that DIT is now over $700). So with all this in mind I'd love to hear whatever suggestions you all may have...thank ya!

 

[hyrule]

yeah I'm wondering what others think of DIT as well. I could not find a link on here in the stickies or anything to a "DIT review" page or anything of that sort.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Lectures kill me inside, and I know far more people who were quite unsatisfied with DIT than people who liked it. Rx is a decent-ish question bank that you can look through as many times as you like, unlike DIT. Rx is also a hell of a lot cheaper, so go with that.

 

[IMGUSMLEStep1]

I think it depends more on your learning style. Do you learn better by listening to questions or answering questions and reading the explanations?

 

[hyrule]

Has anyone been able to do Kaplan, Rx, AND UW. I have Kaplan for during the year, but is Rx worth it?

 

[USMLE01]

Lectures kill me inside, and I know far more people who were quite unsatisfied with DIT than people who liked it. Rx is a decent-ish question bank that you can look through as many times as you like, unlike DIT. Rx is also a hell of a lot cheaper, so go with that.

great question (op). that's why i hope that DIT folks answer my question as to how they calculate the "236 average". i have been mostly hearing that DIT is very boring and not very useful and that the guy is pretty much reading you the FA (and that they stopped midway through the course) although two (2 of about 50-60 upperclassmen i talked to!) thought it helped them to stay course.... my research shows that at some point the DIT people used fictitious accounts on sdn for postings such as "i got a 265 only because of DIT" and were banned... so it has become really hard to decide whether to take the class or not ($850 is not too much for the step, but the time invested is...). i do hope that they clarify how they calculate the average and if not i hope that those who took the course share whether they actually shared their scores with the DIT. i might have to put up a poll if DIT does not get back...

i used pretty much all of kaplan videos and that was a very good way of studying for me but not the most high yield, so IDEALLY going over the FA with DIT should be useful. I thought of doing RX after that... if i have time... or doing rx together with DIT... but only after the FA2011 comes out... ... well, and assuming that the 236 average is not bogus...

 

[Rollo]

great question (op). that's why i hope that DIT folks answer my question as to how they calculate the "236 average". i have been mostly hearing that DIT is very boring and not very useful and that the guy is pretty much reading you the FA (and that they stopped midway through the course) although two (2 of about 50-60 upperclassmen i talked to!) thought it helped them to stay course.... my research shows that at some point the DIT people used fictitious accounts on sdn for postings such as "i got a 265 only because of DIT" and were banned... so it has become really hard to decide whether to take the class or not ($850 is not too much for the step, but the time invested is...). i do hope that they clarify how they calculate the average and if not i hope that those who took the course share whether they actually shared their scores with the DIT. i might have to put up a poll if DIT does not get back...

i used pretty much all of kaplan videos and that was a very good way of studying for me but not the most high yield, so IDEALLY going over the FA with DIT should be useful. I thought of doing RX after that... if i have time... or doing rx together with DIT... but only after the FA2011 comes out... ... well, and assuming that the 236 average is not bogus...

$850 isn't a lot?

I don't know, that's a LOT of money. You can probably get Rx + Kaplan + UW for whole year for that price.

But hey, if listening helps you learn then by all means...

 

[USMLE01]

$850 isn't a lot?

I don't know, that's a LOT of money. You can probably get Rx + Kaplan + UW for whole year for that price.

But hey, if listening helps you learn then by all means...

i am not saying it is not a lot of money. it certainly is. however, it is a fraction of what most med students would pay for the guarantee that they would get a decent step1 score. 75 HOURS OF WATCHING VIDEOS (given my experience with Kaplan videos that would be more like 200 hours... i am PAINFULLY SLOW) that is wasted, on the other hand, is not something i would be willing to do.

 

[C5toC9]

Can't comment on DIT, but for those who are using Kaplan Qbank, are you doing questions after you finish your block, right before the finals for that block, or something else?

Ideally, I would like to do questions based on the specific topics I've covered in the block so I can do questions as I progress in the term. That way, I don't have hundreds of questions to do right before the final. What's the best way to do this?

 

[sumyounguy]

i used dit about 2.5x more or less and did get a 266 although i had a good foundation before starting by doing well in classes. since 90% of step 1 is covered in first aid and the rest you can glean from uworld...dit/fa/uworld is the magic formula IMO

 

[karizma098]

Using DIT without already having a very solid understanding of FA is useless...he goes pretty fast and you don't have time to sit and memorize or do anything. I would complete first AID and usmlerx in entirety, do the first aid section and then the corresponding usmleRX and goljan path.

at the end, re-do FA with DIT and do USMLE world.. if you stick with this plan there is no way you wont be scoring 230+ on step 1.

 

[Rollo]

Can't comment on DIT, but for those who are using Kaplan Qbank, are you doing questions after you finish your block, right before the finals for that block, or something else?

Ideally, I would like to do questions based on the specific topics I've covered in the block so I can do questions as I progress in the term. That way, I don't have hundreds of questions to do right before the final. What's the best way to do this?

I'm using Rx and we're on systems-based with our exams comprehensive for the subjects but only specific to the system we cover.

So I generally wait till we have fully covered one subject in the system to use Rx....so for example, we usually get done with Physio pretty early in the block so I go ahead and do Physio > System (example: Endocrine) questions. We'll be done with path next week so I'll be hitting up Path > Endocrine questions next week sometimes.

My goal is to do all the system specific questions before we have our actual exam.

 

[USMLE01]

i used dit about 2.5x more or less and did get a 266 although i had a good foundation before starting by doing well in classes. since 90% of step 1 is covered in first aid and the rest you can glean from uworld...dit/fa/uworld is the magic formula IMO

in my post above i only mentioned that dit people were caught using factitious accounts on this forum where they claimed that they were getting 265+. it is not my assumption. it is what you too would find if you look into this. i did not intend to mean it as nobody who used dit got a 265+.

i dont know if you are n=1, but given that i do have time on my hands, i would like to know how the average was calculated. most people who take review courses are those who are not superstars such as yourself. covering goljan completely is a feat in itself.

 

[sumyounguy]

in my post above i only mentioned that dit people were caught using factitious accounts on this forum where they claimed that they were getting 265+. it is not my assumption. it is what you too would find if you look into this. i did not intend to mean it as nobody who used dit got a 265+.

i dont know if you are n=1, but given that i do have time on my hands, i would like to know how the average was calculated. most people who take review courses are those who are not superstars such as yourself. covering goljan completely is a feat in itself.

I do remember about the fake accounts and such...just wanted to give my experience. DIT has worked out really well for a bunch of my classmates as well although some of those people did kaplan too. I don't know how they calculate the average, I didn't actually "buy" the course, but I guess they ask people to report their scores to dit and they take an average of that.

 

[DRJJ1]

I do remember about the fake accounts and such...just wanted to give my experience. DIT has worked out really well for a bunch of my classmates as well although some of those people did kaplan too. I don't know how they calculate the average, I didn't actually "buy" the course, but I guess they ask people to report their scores to dit and they take an average of that.

took both and id say if I had to choose one now dit would be more cost time productive than say kaplan kaplan is actually better for class subjects since they go over a lot of minutia and maybe it was the SOURCE back in the day fa dit any ques bank is the plan of the man imo,,,,do anything else after that if time permits