book titled, "USMLE Step 1 Secrets"??

[Zummy]

Hi all,
Has anyone used or heard anything about the book, USMLE Step 1 Secrets?

I saw it in the bookstore- I liked the format, but havent heard if it's any good for board study.

I'll be grateful for feedback. Thanks!

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[Yosh]

I would stick with First Aid and BRS...they got me through just fine...
....I never used Secrets...

 

[greatdane]

i would take a good look at it.....i had not heard of it when i took step I so i used first aid....i did use step II secrets and loved it....and i did well on step I, but went up significantly on step II ....not recommending it for step I only because I havent seen it, but if it is by the same author, Bruchard (sp?), for sure take a good look...(note that is is the same author of crush the boards)

 

[Zummy]

thanks for the replies-
I believe the author is by Thomas Brown (??) Don't know who he is or even if he's a MD.

 

[Zummy]

oops, sorry, having problems with English

 

[NebelDO]

thomas brown was a fourth year at WVA
dave brown the co author is from AZCOM

DO+MD working together..pretty cool

ive read a few chapters from this and i think its really good.its a good supplement to the other books

 

[invitro]

Careful-

While the format of this book is okay, it misses QUITE A FEW things highlighted in 1st aid.

first of all, the pharm it covers is very spotty. Second there is practically NO embryo.

I noticed that they did NOT mention CLASSES for viruses (like what's in picornavirus, etc.)

I guess as a supplement it is okay, but if you are paranoid (since this is the FIRST year the book has been out....no peer reviews) I would stick to 1st aid.

 

[jed2023]

Originally posted by invitro
Careful-

While the format of this book is okay, it misses QUITE A FEW things highlighted in 1st aid.

This book isn't meant to be a comprehensive review of details in the same sense that First Aid is. It's meant to be a conceptual review of major topics with a systems based organization. And (this is it's strong point), it's organized around clinical vignettes w/ a series of questions that follow. It then answers these questions with fairly detailed explanations, detailed enough, anyways, for Step 1, I imagine. For this purpose the book seems solid and I haven't seen anything like it. Step Up to the Bedside is somewhat similar but isn't organized around systems.

I'm in the same boat everyone else is in, though, concerning my thoughts using it. It hasn't been field-tested like most of the other step 1 books. So, if you use it, you kind of feel like you are going out a limb.

 

[FarEastGrapplr2]

i would say it's not similar to FA, more comparable to Buzzwords for the Boards. Q&A, recall stuff. maybe read FA, do secrets or buzzwords, then qBank. might be the natural progression of a step1 review.

how does it compare to buzzwords?

 

[jed2023]

Originally posted by FarEastGrapplr2
i would say it's not similar to FA, more comparable to Buzzwords for the Boards. Q&A, recall stuff. maybe read FA, do secrets or buzzwords, then qBank. might be the natural progression of a step1 review.

how does it compare to buzzwords?

It seems far removed to me from Buzzwords for the Boards, which presents questions in a helter-skelter, random fashion. The secrets book is tightly organized and all the questions are directly relevant to the preceding clinical vignette. (Also, the answers aren't one-liners but fairly complete explanations.)

So, when you review/learn 5 or 6 major points about, say, upper and lower neurons in reference to Lou Gehrig's disease, the concepts are logically organized in your mind. Random questions, a la Buzzwords, might be semi-helpful after you've studied a lot, but at the beginning of preparation, they are more probably more annoying than helpful. For me anyways.