Board books? Q banks?

[SMC123]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I am a second year medical student, who is planning to start studying for boards. I have bought nothing yet, so was wondering what's a good place to start besides First Aid. I plan on taking the USMLE and Comlex. What books and Q-banks should I obtain?

I have also noticed several students using Pathoma and Gollians, should I start studying with these? Are these real helpful for boards?

Please let me know what books/flashcards/programs provide the best preparation.

 

[Rollo]

Classically, people have used the triple combo of First Aid + Goljan + UWorld. For Comlex, supplement this with the "green" book which is OMT Review by Savarese.

I also used BRS Physiology, Clinical Micro Made Simple, and Levinson's Immuno. These were for reference and I only read through these last 3 once early in my study. For the rest of the time, I just stuck with the FA, Goljan, and UWorld combo.

Oh, and also get a comlex qbank like combank because you're gonna want practice with those comlex specific questions.

 

[DrUKDO]

If you are taking both the USLME and COMLEX, I know a lot of people that took the USMLE first and then take the COMLEX 1-2 weeks later. That way you can focus the entire time on the USMLE with First-Aid and UWorld. After you take the USMLE use the entire 1-2 weeks to study OMM with Savarese. Make sure to use a COMLEX question bank like COMBANK or COMQUEST.

 

[coffeeeandtea]

First Aid + Goljan + UWorld + Savarese OMT Review + NBME/COMSAE practice tests.

I agree with taking USMLE first, but I disagree with waiting a whole week or even 2 weeks to take the COMLEX. I took COMLEX 7 days post USMLE and I was so burnt out by the USMLE that after just a few days I wanted to get the COMLEX over with. Actually I didn't even finish reading Savarese, I memorized the one page with the levels and skimmed over everything else. If you put in the time and studied hard for the USMLE, it will be good enough to get you a good score on the COMLEX, even though it might not feel that way right after you take the test because the questions are just so vague, haha..

 

[cliquesh]

I did first aid + a bunch of qbanks + saverrease. It worked well for me.

I cared more about the usmle, so i took the comlex first as a warm up. Taking the comlex first helped point out some last minute weak points.