Can Goljan give you that boost?

[okt3]

I am currently hovering borderline..Just took NBME2 and with only 19 days left. I am scratching my head. I am 80% done with First Aid and still have 50% of usmle world to go through.

Can I boost my grade with Goljan;s RR book? Is Book better or audio? I know everyone has their own comfort as I see from reading other people's posts. But now push is coming to shove and with less than 3 weeks left - I am getting palpitations.

Am i even thinking realistic about starting Goljan now? I have not done this before. Only listened to about 20% (Only Day 1) long time back.

Please Please advise. is 19 days enough to boost my grade to above 215?

Thank you all in advance.

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[badasshairday]

Yes. RRpathology covers like 70% of what is in FA, except in much better detail. Pathophysiology is key. Plus you will get exposure to bugs, drugs, biochem, genetics, immuno, physical diagnoses, all in that book. Highly recommended.

 

[okt3]

Do his audios also cover this 70% material with all the micro, genetics, biochem, immuno etc tied in. The only reason I ask is because I am assuming listening will be faster than reading or will you recommend to suck it up and read it for better learning?
Also is it really realistic to be able to finish this in say around 5 - 6 days out of the 19 days I have left.

I thank you so much for your advise on this!

Yes. RRpathology covers like 70% of what is in FA, except in much better detail. Pathophysiology is key. Plus you will get exposure to bugs, drugs, biochem, genetics, immuno, physical diagnoses, all in that book. Highly recommended.

 

[hartbot]

His audios are essenitally the most impt topics he covers in RR- he wrote the RR book after he made these lectures and they RR basically just adds on top of what he says.

RR is dense. I cant imagine myself getting thru it in 6 days. For me, 8 mins a page is about average since it's so dense

 

[okt3]

So stick to his audio only then?

His audios are essenitally the most impt topics he covers in RR- he wrote the RR book after he made these lectures and they RR basically just adds on top of what he says.

RR is dense. I cant imagine myself getting thru it in 6 days. For me, 8 mins a page is about average since it's so dense

 

[HTxFrog]

RR is awesome for sure. One time through with the audio and one read through would probably really help your score a lot. 18 days is not a lot though so it depends how fast you read and how long it takes you to pick up concepts. The book is like 600 pages long, and the audio is probably about 35 hours or so, so it would take up a good portion of your remaining time. I figured out that if I read RR at my maximum speed (about 20 pgs/hr for that book), I would finish the book in 30 hours of pure non-stop hard core reading as fast as I can. Probably 40 hours is more likely b/c nobody really can read non-stop for more than a few hours. As to which is better, audio or book I'd say maybe do the audio. Its kind of hard to say though. Audio is really good for understanding things and you can follow along in the book to a certain extent, but he doesn't cover everything thats in the book in the audio. For your goal score I would say audio is better b/c you will understand more important things about how things actually work and stuff. There are also lecture notes that you can google and download that basically distill what he says into 100 pages or so and it includes most of the points he makes in the lectures, so theoretically you could get most everything from reading that. Ok well thats all I got, but I would definitely highly recommend RR and I think using it in at least some form would probably be beneficial. If pushing your test date back is an option you could consider that too if you really wanted more time to ready/listen to it.

 

[HTxFrog]

Also, reading the charts is high yield for micro and cancers and stuff, and the margin notes might be good too since you are pressed for time.

 

[okt3]

Thx Htx and Hartbot for your input. I guess with 50% of Usmle world still left. I unfortunately do not have an option to read this huge book. I will stick with his audios and cross my fingers. I just hope, listening to his audios boosts me up on my score atleast by 30 points. I hope I am thinking realistic.

 

[ChimpanzeeMinky]

Thx Htx and Hartbot for your input. I guess with 50% of Usmle world still left. I unfortunately do not have an option to read this huge book. I will stick with his audios and cross my fingers. I just hope, listening to his audios boosts me up on my score atleast by 30 points. I hope I am thinking realistic.

What else are you planning to do in the next 19 days? I am taking the test on the 1st of July, and I am currently reading RR Path. I'm at 200/600, doing 100 pages a day. After this book I have Behavioral to read, Immuno/Micro, neuroanatomy, the remainder of FA, and a majority of the UW questions to do. Granted, I have 14 days more than you to prepare, but I will be done with goljan in 4 days. You could knock this thing out in 6 days, and still have 13 days for any other sources, wrap-up, and questions.

I've listened to about 25% of the audio. Having read 1/3 of this book, I'd say that the book is far superior. Some of that depends on how you learn best, but the book is far more comprehensive, but not with extraneous stuff you don't need to know. Reading it will give you the best odds of a significant score improvement, I would estimate.

 

[okt3]

How long does it take to cover 100 pages approximately? Also, with extraneous stuff, are you implying that the book doesn't have extra stuff not needed or I shouldn't pay attention to the extra stuff in the book. Sorry misunderstanding you here a bit!!

What else are you planning to do in the next 19 days? I am taking the test on the 1st of July, and I am currently reading RR Path. I'm at 200/600, doing 100 pages a day. After this book I have Behavioral to read, Immuno/Micro, neuroanatomy, the remainder of FA, and a majority of the UW questions to do. Granted, I have 14 days more than you to prepare, but I will be done with goljan in 4 days. You could knock this thing out in 6 days, and still have 13 days for any other sources, wrap-up, and questions.

I've listened to about 25% of the audio. Having read 1/3 of this book, I'd say that the book is far superior. Some of that depends on how you learn best, but the book is far more comprehensive, but not with extraneous stuff you don't need to know. Reading it will give you the best odds of a significant score improvement, I would estimate.

 

[ChimpanzeeMinky]

How long does it take to cover 100 pages approximately? Also, with extraneous stuff, are you implying that the book doesn't have extra stuff not needed or I shouldn't pay attention to the extra stuff in the book. Sorry misunderstanding you here a bit!!

I'm getting through 100 pages in about 6 hours a day, I would estimate. I am technically on 11 hour days, with 8 of reading and 3 of questions, but I'm really only putting in 9. One thing about goljan is that it is extremely dense and requires tremendous concentration, so it's pretty easy to fatigue before reading it for 8 hours.

The book doesn't have any extra material that you don't need to know, that I can tell. There probably are some things that are low yield, but I can't think of many other review books that cover virtually everything you need from one subject but in which 90% of the material is high yield.

Hope that clarifies.

 

[badasshairday]

. One thing about goljan is that it is extremely dense and requires tremendous concentration, so it's pretty easy to fatigue before reading it for 8 hours.

The book doesn't have any extra material that you don't need to know, that I can tell. There probably are some things that are low yield, but I can't think of many other review books that cover virtually everything you need from one subject but in which 90% of the material is high yield.

Hope that clarifies.

Exactly. That is the truth about Goljan. It is hard to read because every single line is important.

ChimpanzeeMinky, is this your first pass on it? I can't imagine it being, since you can get through 100 pages in 6 hours. I am planning on blowing through it at that rate in a week, 6 hours a day at approximately 100 pages. However, it will be my 3rd pass on the book.

 

[okt3]

Thanks for the clarification there Minky. I just found out about some transcripts as well that could be substituted for audio. Any idea if its a good substitute for RR path book?

 

[ChimpanzeeMinky]

Exactly. That is the truth about Goljan. It is hard to read because every single line is important.

ChimpanzeeMinky, is this your first pass on it? I can't imagine it being, since you can get through 100 pages in 6 hours. I am planning on blowing through it at that rate in a week, 6 hours a day at approximately 100 pages. However, it will be my 3rd pass on the book.

It is my first pass on it, actually. I just started crunch month last Saturday, and have already gotten through gross, embryo, and phys. I may be moving too quickly through Goljan, but it doesn't feel like I am. I tend to be a quick reader, but reading this book has tested that skill. I will probably go through it again quickly, reviewing important diagrams and tables during wrap-up, but I think I have already seen a measurable improvement on UWorld from the reading I've done in it so far.

Thanks for the clarification there Minky. I just found out about some transcripts as well that could be substituted for audio. Any idea if its a good substitute for RR path book?

I'm guessing those are transcripts of the audio? That'll just end up being the same as the audio, but better for you if you're a visual learner vs. an audio learner. I would still go for the book. Have you run the numbers? Unless you have something else scheduled for the next 19 days that's competing for your time besides UWorld, I can't see why you can't get through goljan.

 

[okt3]

You are right. I just need to make a decision and stick with it. The only reason i was flip flopping was because I thought, it may be better to review First Aid a few additional times however, after reading everyone's comments, I feel Goljan RR book shouldn't be ignored. I guess, No shortcuts especially for this exam. Time to suck it up. Phew!
Thanks so much for your help there.

May 29th - June 6th - Wrap up First Aid + Uworld
June 7 - June 12th Read Goljan RR (6 days) + Review Uworld
June 13 - June 14th - First Aid + Uworld

June 15 - Hit high yield stuff

June 16 - real deal.

Am I overshooting with the above schedule?

 

[StereoSanctity]

Am I overshooting with the above schedule?

Nope, just do what you've got to do. Stop doubting yourself, stop checking SDN/Facebook/etc, and work harder than you've ever worked in your life, and you'll do great.

No regrets, make this count!

(at least, this is what I tried to tell myself this time last week... I took it on Wednesday)

Good luck!

 

[okt3]

Thanks for the motivation there! I am buckled down. just wanted an opinion on it since i am tight on time. Just realized, I didn't even factor in UWSA1 and UWSA2 in the schedule. thats probably 2 days extra with review of the corresponding questions.
Oh Gosh! So much to do an so little time.

Oh and Good luck to you. I hope you get a score you desire!

 

[coldweatherblue]

RR pathology is a great book for the reasons listed above.

I read it in 3 days before the path shelf and it really wasn't bad. For whatever reason it actually didn't seem heavy at all to me; I'd already been through UWorld and FA so I'd seen most of the content before and since it's in outline form could get through it at about 1-2 minutes per page.

 

[ChimpanzeeMinky]

You are right. I just need to make a decision and stick with it. The only reason i was flip flopping was because I thought, it may be better to review First Aid a few additional times however, after reading everyone's comments, I feel Goljan RR book shouldn't be ignored. I guess, No shortcuts especially for this exam. Time to suck it up. Phew!
Thanks so much for your help there.

May 29th - June 6th - Wrap up First Aid + Uworld
June 7 - June 12th Read Goljan RR (6 days) + Review Uworld
June 13 - June 14th - First Aid + Uworld

June 15 - Hit high yield stuff

June 16 - real deal.

Am I overshooting with the above schedule?

I think that's a great schedule. Now hit it!

Good luck!

 

[killinsound]

I guess I'll be the only one to say that RR can't really give you that boost. Don't get me wrong, I love the book, and there are lots of high-yield things in the book, but it seems like it has gotten to idol worshipping around here.

Having said that, I have read through it almost twice, but I don't even try to pretend that I have it memorized. I honestly doubt people could memorize every single line. I think the book is more useful in cohesion of processes that a person scoring really highly usually already can accomplish on their own.

 

[okt3]

Thank you all for your advise. I do definitely regret not starting Goljan early! Its truly an awesome book.