Books for step 1

[Diesel Mind]

I'm trying to get most of my books bought so I will have everything ready when it is time to start studying. Goal would be to hit around the 240 range.

First Aid
BRS or RR path
Microbio made ridiculously simple
pharmcards
BRS physio
BRS biochem

Seem reasonable? Too much? Too little? Thanks for the help

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[katarina90]

I'm just a second year beginning but if you're debating on RR Path vs BRS Path, go for the Goljan Rapid Review.

I have both and the BRS book is relatively useless unless you heavily annotate it from Robbins...it has the clinical presentation but lacks any explanation of the mechanism of a lot of diseases; it also lacks the histologic characteristic giveaways (ie., Langhans giant cell in chronic granulomatous inflammation). And the pics are not as nice as in Goljan's.

 

[DrMattOglesby]

I used First Aid as laid out by DoctorsInTraining.
I don't know my score though--comes out next week at the latest, I will find out then if that was sufficient.

 

[DrBowtie]

Ditch BRS Biochem and use BRS physio only if you need clarification. Other than that, solid list.

 

[hrandani]

In my opinion USMLE Secrets is one of the most underrated prep books out there.

It's a ridiculous name; I wish they had named it clinical pathophysiology, or cases for the USMLE Step I so I wouldn't feel so silly reading it. My roommate bought it and I picked it up one day off the coffee table. Didn't put it down for almost two weeks. It's really amazing how much I learned from that, a lot of context and explanations that helped me connect the dots from all the other sources.

RR path was very, very difficult to go through for me until I had pretty much learned all the material from somewhere else. It is advertised as a review book though...

 

[neulite30]

In my opinion USMLE Secrets is one of the most underrated prep books out there.

It's a ridiculous name; I wish they had named it clinical pathophysiology, or cases for the USMLE Step I so I wouldn't feel so silly reading it. My roommate bought it and I picked it up one day off the coffee table. Didn't put it down for almost two weeks. It's really amazing how much I learned from that, a lot of context and explanations that helped me connect the dots from all the other sources.

RR path was very, very difficult to go through for me until I had pretty much learned all the material from somewhere else. It is advertised as a review book though...

I agree with this post. While doing my elective in Tokyo I found USMLE secrets at a bookstore and used it all through 2nd year. It's a fantastic book and very high yield.

Regarding the name, if you don't like the name then you will definitely hate the name of the other 10+ books in the Secrets series. It's a series of high yield books for many of the medical areas for rotations, exams, etc. They are hit and miss but the three that you want:

-USMLE Step 1 Secrets
-USMLE Step 2 Secrets
-Abernathy's Surgical Secrets (a well-written, witty text)

 

[DrMattOglesby]

my bad. I forgot to mention that I used USMLE Step 1 Secrets as well. It was a GREAT book. I used it more throughout the year as I went through PBL cases. I only briefly referenced it during my Step 1 studies; during which time I focused more on mastering the content within First Aid.

 

[Elbowstoopointy]

I'm just a second year beginning but if you're debating on RR Path vs BRS Path, go for the Goljan Rapid Review.

I have both and the BRS book is relatively useless unless you heavily annotate it from Robbins...it has the clinical presentation but lacks any explanation of the mechanism of a lot of diseases; it also lacks the histologic characteristic giveaways (ie., Langhans giant cell in chronic granulomatous inflammation). And the pics are not as nice as in Goljan's.

BRS Path is hardly "useless"...goljan goes far overboard with stuff that isn't even pathology.

 

[mrcmedman]

I'm just a second year beginning but if you're debating on RR Path vs BRS Path, go for the Goljan Rapid Review.

I have both and the BRS book is relatively useless unless you heavily annotate it from Robbins...it has the clinical presentation but lacks any explanation of the mechanism of a lot of diseases; it also lacks the histologic characteristic giveaways (ie., Langhans giant cell in chronic granulomatous inflammation). And the pics are not as nice as in Goljan's.

Have you looked into using Pathoma instead of Golgian? It's more to the point and the lecturer does a great job of saying and illustrating things in a way that just click into your head. Golgian was just too dense for me.

 

[Elbowstoopointy]

Have you looked into using Pathoma instead of Golgian? It's more to the point and the lecturer does a great job of saying and illustrating things in a way that just click into your head. Golgian was just too dense for me.

Pathoma makes path really easy imo

 

[Elbowstoopointy]

I'm trying to get most of my books bought so I will have everything ready when it is time to start studying. Goal would be to hit around the 240 range.

First Aid
BRS or RR path
Microbio made ridiculously simple
pharmcards
BRS physio
BRS biochem

Seem reasonable? Too much? Too little? Thanks for the help

Maybe add high yield neuro if you aren't up on it