Step I biochem and immuno

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soxman

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20+ Year Member
Are biochem and Immuno concepts high yield on the USMLE? I've been going over RR for biochem and FA for immuno and I was wondering if that should be good.
Thanks!
 
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soxman said:
Are biochem and Immuno concepts high yield on the USMLE? I've been going over RR for biochem and FA for immuno and I was wondering if that should be good.
Thanks!
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I think that should be good. In general, they aren't too high yield from what I have heard. Essentially Step I is all second year material, and the highest yield subjects out of all the basic sciences are microbiology and biochem. It does vary from test to test, though. I think the resources you have should prepare you well.
 
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MudPhudHopeful said:
I think that should be good. In general, they aren't too high yield from what I have heard. Essentially Step I is all second year material, and the highest yield subjects out of all the basic sciences are microbiology and biochem. It does vary from test to test, though. I think the resources you have should prepare you well.
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uhh you just said they werent high yield and then said the most high yield basic sciences were micro and biochem? 😕


You can't possibly understand microbiology w/o first understanding immunology. If you want to talk about how your body defends against microbial pathogens or if you want to talk about the pathology of a lot of the disease, or if you want to talk about susceptibility to certain disease (all of these sound HY too me), you have to talk about your IMMUNE SYSTEM. This maaay be why you will often times see textbooks titled "Microbiology and Immunology." In this regard, immuno is pretty important to understand.

Speaking of which, Lange's book is pretty aweesome for review of immunology. I annotated it into my first aid. The immuno section is only 70 pages and is a quick read. I highly recommend!

In terms of biochem i've actually heard the opposite, thats its pretty HY and that for the most party the questions are pretty straight forward so definitely worth knowing well.
 
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Agreed about how important immuno is for basic understanding of disease. I had forgotten even the basics of cell vs. humoral immunity; hypersensitivity reactions, etc. It made learning about micro pretty confusing until I went back and did immuno. Do yourself a favor and learn it well.

I had trouble getting through FA's immuno section, but then watched Kaplan's immuno lecture vids which helped a lot.



RySerr21 said:
uhh you just said they werent high yield and then said the most high yield basic sciences were micro and biochem? 😕


You can't possibly understand microbiology w/o first understanding immunology. If you want to talk about how your body defends against microbial pathogens or if you want to talk about the pathology of a lot of the disease, or if you want to talk about susceptibility to certain disease (all of these sound HY too me), you have to talk about your IMMUNE SYSTEM. This maaay be why you will often times see textbooks titled "Microbiology and Immunology." In this regard, immuno is pretty important to understand.

Speaking of which, Lange's book is pretty aweesome for review of immunology. I annotated it into my first aid. The immuno section is only 70 pages and is a quick read. I highly recommend!

In terms of biochem i've actually heard the opposite, thats its pretty HY and that for the most party the questions are pretty straight forward so definitely worth knowing well.
Click to expand...
 
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RySerr21 said:
uhh you just said they werent high yield and then said the most high yield basic sciences were micro and biochem? 😕


You can't possibly understand microbiology w/o first understanding immunology. If you want to talk about how your body defends against microbial pathogens or if you want to talk about the pathology of a lot of the disease, or if you want to talk about susceptibility to certain disease (all of these sound HY too me), you have to talk about your IMMUNE SYSTEM. This maaay be why you will often times see textbooks titled "Microbiology and Immunology." In this regard, immuno is pretty important to understand.

Speaking of which, Lange's book is pretty aweesome for review of immunology. I annotated it into my first aid. The immuno section is only 70 pages and is a quick read. I highly recommend!

In terms of biochem i've actually heard the opposite, thats its pretty HY and that for the most party the questions are pretty straight forward so definitely worth knowing well.
Click to expand...


Which Lange book is this you're referring to? I'm looking for a good immuno review....
 
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nev said:
Do you think it should be good enough for step I?
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It gives you a very good understanding of the big picture. Then you use First Aid to fill in the technical details. It's a forest view that purposely leaves out a lot of technical details (eg: the names of the cytokines) so you walk away with an actual understanding.

So you should read it if you have the time. Plus I'm seeing some threads on here about immuno taking a bigger role on Step 1.
 
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I would keep in mind too that someone posted a link not too long ago by the NBME stating specifically that more immuno would be on the test this year.

I wouldn't neglect it and yes, Levinson's review (the Lange book) is solid gold.
 
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