Does anyone else think Goljan for step I is overrated?

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i iniitally started out thinking goljan for path was the only way to go. I listened to his audio and transcibed everything into his rapid review while studying path in school one year before the step. But when it came down to actually studying for the step I never got around to using his book or notes because i felt like it was way too much material. And listening to his audio just bombarded me with info and scared me but i wasnt able to retain anything. I stuck to kaplan, UW, and first aid and i was very happy with my score. Did anyone else have a similiar experience? In fact i wasted the couple days before trying to learn his 100 p. high yield notes which i found to be a complete waste of my time and it wasnt high yeild at all and all it did was once a gain scare me and waste the precious couple days i had before the exam.
anyone agree?

 

[humabot]

i iniitally started out thinking goljan for path was the only way to go. I listened to his audio and transcibed everything into his rapid review while studying path in school one year before the step. But when it came down to actually studying for the step I never got around to using his book or notes because i felt like it was way too much material. And listening to his audio just bombarded me with info and scared me but i wasnt able to retain anything. I stuck to kaplan, UW, and first aid and i was very happy with my score. Did anyone else have a similiar experience? In fact i wasted the couple days before trying to learn his 100 p. high yield notes which i found to be a complete waste of my time and it wasnt high yeild at all and all it did was once a gain scare me and waste the precious couple days i had before the exam.
anyone agree?

I think goljan is a good teacher and thus people like him. One is coughing up nearly 40-60 thousand a year, and 20-30 teachers cannot do the job one man easily does in about 40 hours or less. I highly doubt that he is overrated. People seek a bang for there buck, goljan, uw, and first aid do the job. one kaplan book probably cost more than these three sources combined. The solution is simple: pass the basic sciences, then use a book with a framework of usmle items (fa);one book to fill in the gaps (goljan), and a question bank (uw) to practice and fill in more gaps. All other stuff, well, it keeps the economy going and feeds the type a personality that is the medical student.

physicians think they are smart, but the business and publishing guys and gals are a whole lot smarter....

 

[Deferoxamine]

Goljan is likely a very good teacher. However, the obsession / stiffy my classmates had with his audio was nauseating at best.

I used the Path review book. It was an ingredient in my MS2 studies and Step 1 prep. It was one of many sources that allowed me to put pieces together and get a nice overall big picture of systems pathology.

However, was Goljan the ONLY reason I reached my Step 1 goal? No. Do I owe Dr. Goljan my life savings, car, and firstborn child? No. Is this the best review book ever written? No.

Still a worthy investment, though.

 

[hateroftheyear]

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[Doctor4Life1769]

Never went to class (Yale System). Ever.
Stopped reading Big Robbins once I got to systems.
Used Goljan RR + Wikipedia and Webpath throughout second year, solely.
267, best subject was path (asterisk, no dash marks to the left)
the man is a God.

I'm not so sure that stat can easily be replicated by others who didnt attend classes. Yale MSTP is nothin to sneeze at.

 

[Captopril]

If you aren't reading Rapid Review Pathology for Step 1, you are seriously doing yourself a great disservice.

 

[scube]

i think goljan is a good teacher and thus people like him. One is coughing up nearly 40-60 thousand a year, and 20-30 teachers cannot do the job one man easily does in about 40 hours or less. I highly doubt that he is overrated. People seek a bang for there buck, goljan, uw, and first aid do the job. One kaplan book probably cost more than these three sources combined. The solution is simple: Pass the basic sciences, then use a book with a framework of usmle items (fa);one book to fill in the gaps (goljan), and a question bank (uw) to practice and fill in more gaps. All other stuff, well, it keeps the economy going and feeds the type a personality that is the medical student.

Physicians think they are smart, but the business and publishing guys and gals are a whole lot smarter....

all bang no buck>

 

[psammomabody]

I stuck to kaplan, UW, and first aid and i was very happy with my score. Did anyone else have a similiar experience? In fact i wasted the couple days before trying to learn his 100 p. high yield notes which i found to be a complete waste of my time and it wasnt high yeild at all and all it did was once a gain scare me and waste the precious couple days i had before the exam.
anyone agree?

This sounds EXACTLY like what I did. I got through like 3 pages of his HY crap and could not read it...they are horrible. The book is decent but it's just entirely too long. It was helpful during the year but not during step 1 studying.

I did listen to Goljan one time through but it was during 2nd as we were learning the stuff in path. I think it maybe helped slightly in terms of keeping things straight, hearing the stuff one more time, but does NOT help you memorize!! People say to listen to Goljan as your "break" while you work out, but I cannot pay attention to that man while I am on the treadmill - I need my tunes!

 

[doogoshly]

nothing is really overrated. people learn differently or have different needs. if you don't need to relearn anything, understand topics quickly and just need to refresh and remember, goljan isn't for you.

 

[SeminoleFan3]

Once I got a few chapters in, I found the greatness that is Goljan. Aside from that, I used FA, HY Neuro & BS, and BRS Phys. Aside from FA, Rapid Review was the best thing.

 

[flyingdutchman]

I definitely would not have done as well without the Goljan audio, although the book is a little overrated just because it contains way more information than you need to know. His audio taught me a lot about how to think about step questions, and I used FA to focus the info in RR.

Step 1 Score: 255

 

[Pinkertinkle]

I definitely would not have done as well without the Goljan audio, although the book is a little overrated just because it contains way more information than you need to know. His audio taught me a lot about how to think about step questions, and I used FA to focus the info in RR.

Step 1 Score: 255

r u just looking for an excuse to post your score on here?

 

[Futuredoctr]

NO!, Hand's down, THE BEST SOURCE I used while studying. I got the MP3 files and his high yield notes. I made it through the MP3s twice, and the notes 3-4 times, and once again the week before the exam. I owe him an above average score, so THANK YOU Goljan if he is reading this! 🙂

 

[kryptik]

listening to golijan has gotten me a point or two more on every test i have taken so far in path so no hes not overrated

 

[tpw2k]

not doing RR goljan is such academic suicide

the book is simply amazing for path. I never did the audio but i hear its good too.

Not only will this book help you master path, but it will also help you in physio and micro!

First aid, RR goljan, + UW == receipes for success

 

[Ms MD]

i iniitally started out thinking goljan for path was the only way to go. I listened to his audio and transcibed everything into his rapid review while studying path in school one year before the step. But when it came down to actually studying for the step I never got around to using his book or notes because i felt like it was way too much material. And listening to his audio just bombarded me with info and scared me but i wasnt able to retain anything. I stuck to kaplan, UW, and first aid and i was very happy with my score. Did anyone else have a similiar experience? In fact i wasted the couple days before trying to learn his 100 p. high yield notes which i found to be a complete waste of my time and it wasnt high yeild at all and all it did was once a gain scare me and waste the precious couple days i had before the exam.
anyone agree?

Everybody studies differently. You obviously did well, so don't worry! Goljan works for some people, and not for everyone.
Some topics do have more info than is needed for Step 1 ... for some ppl that's ok, for others it's overwhelming. That's the way it goes and there's nothing wrong with that!! So don't worry!

I for one, used the book but not the audio - it just didn't do it for me. Everyone has different learning styles.

 

[Abilene85]

I for one, used the book but not the audio - it just didn't do it for me. Everyone has different learning styles.

And I didn't use his book, but loved his audio (listened for the first few days of my studying). Helped me see how seemingly distant subjects could be integrated and gave me a look into the minds of test-writers when they create those multi-step questions.

 

[Whats_up_doc]

Everybody studies differently. You obviously did well, so don't worry! Goljan works for some people, and not for everyone.
Some topics do have more info than is needed for Step 1 ... for some ppl that's ok, for others it's overwhelming. That's the way it goes and there's nothing wrong with that!! So don't worry!

I for one, used the book but not the audio - it just didn't do it for me. Everyone has different learning styles.

Exactly. As for me I read BRS throughout 2nd year and "supplemented" it (call me crazy) with RR path (not exactly read it all, I don't like the format). When Boards time arrived, I had half of the battle won. I listened to his Audio along 2nd year AND during board prep. Let's see how it works out.

 

[ZagDoc]

The one thing that Goljan does vastly superior to all the other Step 1 path books is that he pounds mechanisms. There isn't a damn disease in the book which doesn't have a listed mechanism. Mechanism of pathology. How that produces clinical manifestations. He also stresses mechanisms of common diagnostic tests.

Those subjects were HUGE on my Step 1. Almost all my path questions dealt with mechanism of disease or mechanism of diagnostic tests, often at the molecular bio level. Yes, its easy to beg bogged down in the details of the RR book. But if you're looking for a Step 1 path book and want to be sure that pretty much any path question you could possibly get is present in some form in that book, but you can still read it in a couple days, RR is it.

 

[neil100]

Yup. Agree with the above poster. And he also makes you realize unifying concepts.

Like aneurysm, bronchiectasis, diverticulum and on and on and on.

He integrates everything. That's what you have to do as a scientist and a physician.

 

[Proverbs31]

Really should be studying for my other boards in <10d but I really wanted to post here! I listened to all his audio...and went thru almost ALL of the book ~90% or so and took way too many notes at end of 2nd yr...Got scared to death of the boards and ended up pushing them back and back and back until finally I was at the deadline for my school.....I prob studied.......I wont even go there...Everyone's different - but I am not any top of my class kid and I didn't even finish 30% of UW by the time I took my COMLEX....I had read the book months prior by the time my actual exam date came and listened to the audio again sporadically the week leading up to my test....BUT I read and annotated the hell out of my FA and I listened to Golijan and I swear to god (* sorry lord 🙂 * )...at least for my test...I cant tell you how many questions verbatim he said ON HIS AUDIO were going to be on it that I specifically saw during my exam and I did very well on my test. I even remember thanking God in the middle of my test for Dr Golijan. 🙂 I swear at least 20 questions I had on my test that were verbatim answers he said on his CDs. SO....to that effect I will forever recommend him.....
I have def found that what works for some does not work for everyone and we all get diff tests...so who knows....But thats my 2 cents. 🙂 Glad you did well on your boards anyway! YEAH!

 

[Lamborghini1315]

Not overrated if you use it during school year but def hard to incorporate into your short term studying. Also on boards there's more than just pathophys, so unless you like to take a chance by missing some points on micro, pharm, biostats and molecular lets say than it would be a fine option. However, its better if you stick to using a few resources and know them well.

 

[TexasTriathlete]

I'm a rising MS2 at GA-PCOM in Atlanta. This summer, I am doing some research with Emory Emergency Medicine, and I have about an hour commute to Grady every day. During that commute, I am listening to Goljan audio.

I haven't even had half the stuff he's talking about yet, but I am learning a ton. I have gotten through 27 lectures 3x each, and I am listening to one right now, while I'm typing this in my office at the hospital.

The guy can flat out teach. He is a very engaging speaker, and he makes a potentially very boring subject pretty entertaining. I don't even feel like I'm studying. Hell, I'm not studying. I'm just listening. Then I'll go in and hear them talking about something I had just heard on my Goljan audio, and it will click with me.

 

[bola]

I love how what was supposed to be a Goljan "bashing" thread has become one essentially honoring him lol.

OP, there are many ppl on these boards that didn't use Goljan materials and did pretty well on their boards. In many cases, the hardest part seems to be coming to terms with the fact that you actually aren't using something that everyone googoos and gagas about so much. But once you do and find something that works, you'll be fine.

I'm personally a huge Goljan fan - the connections he forced me to make in my head are probably going to be useful way beyond the boards - even the random spider section of his audio has been useful on the wards for me.

 

[bola]

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[Lala0429]

If I were to use the Goljan lectures, his notes and the RR, would i be able to learn the material well enough to not have to look at any other book?I read the Robbins, but only for general topics, i dont want to have to go to it for systems pathology also.

 

[flyingdutchman]

r u just looking for an excuse to post your score on here?

I am actually normally very apprehensive about telling people my score, but in the SDN environment I feel that advice is not heeded unless a score is posted to accompany it. And my score is low compared to a lot of SDNers!!

 

[prn2oblivion]

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[DoctaJay]

I love how what was supposed to be a Goljan "bashing" thread has become one essentially honoring him lol.

OP, there are many ppl on these boards that didn't use Goljan materials and did pretty well on their boards. In many cases, the hardest part seems to be coming to terms with the fact that you actually aren't using something that everyone googoos and gagas about so much. But once you do and find something that works, you'll be fine.

I'm personally a huge Goljan fan - the connections he forced me to make in my head are probably going to be useful way beyond the boards - even the random spider section of his audio has been useful on the wards for me.

I totally agree. I myself tried to join the Goljan orgy and I really did think that his stuff was good, but the format of the book really didn't work with my learning style. So after agonizing for about 2 weeks, I decided to buy BRS Path (4th ed.) and use that instead. I also did all of the UWorld questions on tutor mode so i figured that whatever Path I didn't learn throughout my school year and in BRS Path that I would learn it in the UWorld explanations. Every now and then I got anxiety attacks because I wasn't using Goljan and all my friends were but it turned out just fine for me (240+).

Rather than arbitrarily saying that Goljan is good or not good, I think it is better to see if using his materials fits your learning style. Maybe the book doesn't but maybe the audio does. You must do what works best for you; don't use a resource that just fit just because everyone else it. So yeah, that is my .02.

 

[a winner is you]

I bought his book, but didn't read it (used it mostly as a reference). I did listen to his audio because it was highly recommended by many upperclassmen. However, I found much of his audio to be outdated and very few questions pertinent to the particular exam that I had. For instance, he spent 8(!) lectures on hematology, and there were very few questions on those topics on my exam. If I had to do it over, I'd probably skip his audio. With that said, he's a great lecturer and if there was a recording of a more up-to-date lecture series, it might be a lot better.

 

[Captopril]

Goljan Audio makes me want to kill myself

 

[Disinence2]

Overrated?

I don't think so. RR path + audio lectures are where I learned the bulk of my path for step 1 and for my school classes and i did fine.

His Rapid Review Biochemistry book is also more than enough for the biochem questions on step 1.

I probably got at least 5-10 questions correct on step 1 due to his fast "High Yield" 30 page print out. I read it the night before step 1.

 

[pseudoknot]

I generally hate outlines with a passion. I tried to read RR Path a number of times during M2, but just couldn't get through even one chapter in a reasonable amount of time. During the year I also listened to about half of the audio and felt like it was good for what it covered, but not necessarily helpful for class since classes emphasize such minute details.

During my review month for Step I, I ended up succumbing to fear and using RR Path instead of BRS. I'm glad I did. I do think there is a bit of a cult around him that is excessive, but it's true that there is no better summary of second year material than that book. However, I think a strong student could do just as well with BRS Path and a good background from class.

Also it's simply not true that he gives mechanisms for all or even most diseases. In a lot of cases the mechanisms aren't known yet. Most of path, in my opinion, is still memorization.

 

[Disinence2]

As an aside, I think the new edition of RR Path coming out later this year will be pretty amazing. So anyone thinking about buying it for their classes during 2nd year should hold off till its out.

I like bullets so it was perfect for me.

For some sections I read through BRS and annotated anything extra into RR path, but eventually found it to be too redundant. Using either book is sufficient to do well. Its all about how much of it you can really understand. I think that's why people like the audio so much, if you learn from listening its great.

 

[a winner is you]

I definitely would not have done as well without the Goljan audio, although the book is a little overrated just because it contains way more information than you need to know. His audio taught me a lot about how to think about step questions, and I used FA to focus the info in RR.

Step 1 Score: 255

Doing UW questions teach you how to think about step questions just as well if not better. I'm obviously in the minority here it looks like, but Goljan was a waste of my time. FA covers almost all the path you need to know and UW fills in the rest. The only areas I think FA is weak with are physiology (however, it's strong with pathophys) and microbio.

 

[ENThopeful]

Overrated?

I don't think so. RR path + audio lectures are where I learned the bulk of my path for step 1 and for my school classes and i did fine.

His Rapid Review Biochemistry book is also more than enough for the biochem questions on step 1.

I probably got at least 5-10 questions correct on step 1 due to his fast "High Yield" 30 page print out. I read it the night before step 1.

you better hope the facts are right. i found 4 errors in the first 10 pages and threw it right over my shoulder, hard enough so the pages that were stapled together tore apart. I was livid when i missed a question on my practice exams as a direct result of those high yield notes.