blowing off Derm for the boards

[mountaindew2006]

just wondering....we've winded down to the last unit (it's about one week long) and its Dermatology (the path , etc). Would it be better for me to sorta 'take it easy on the derm' ? I know that i have to know some stuff here and there, however, isnt derm a pretty low yield topic for the boards, so wouldnt it be better I start doing my 'studying for the boards now' and forget about trying to do well in derm ?

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[Stinger86]

Whatever floats your boat. I would personally focus on the hard facts and pathognomonic characteristics for each type of skin pathology and not worry so much about the histology (which ironically IS skin pathology). That ought to cut your studying for it (in your course) down substantially. I wouldn't just blow it off though. Skin path questions are easy, easy points and I've seen about five skin questions per 125 total questions on each of my path nbme, intro to clin. diagnosis nbme, and comp. basic sci. nbme exams. That's at LEAST five extra points added to your raw grade that will help make up for some of that ridiculously hard crap you might find sprinkled on the usmle.

 

[GeddyLee]

Speaking from my own step I experience, i think you can safely ignore dermatology. However, I would not ignore dermatologic manifestations of systemic diseases.