Finished both HY and BRS Behavioral Science - my brief thoughts on them

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Phloston

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BRS Behavioral Science:

The only reason I read the book was because behavioral science, psychiatry and biostats were my worst three areas in USMLE Rx.

I very much hate everything about behavioral science but tried to just man up and deal with this inevitable subject area.

The best thing about this book is that the chapters are literally no more than 4-5 pages-long, at the most, followed by ~15-30 questions. Now, if you're like me, you probably get ADD with stuff you're not interested in. I was so glad these chapters were short. I made it a commitment to just read a chapter a day (26 total) over this past month before starting my other material. This made the read quite manageable.

The book has ~650 questions, which is a plus. Most of them are fairly weak (as are BRS Pathology's as well), however they do serve to just reinforce, in a very one-step fashion, the material over any chapter's previous 4-5 pages. At the end of the book, there is a 132-question exam. The explanations for the questions, however, are very poor- mostly one-liners for the correct answer or simply just lack of acknowledgement for incorrect answers, that were also seemingly true, for which I wanted more discussion.

I would say that although the questions were fairly lame, maybe one out of every 15 or so hit a concept/topic that taught me something new. In other words, I have by no means come out from having read this book feeling like I've gained a thorough, comprehensive foundation in behavioral science as much as I feel as though I've learned probably 60-80 tidbits that merely complement the info in FA/QBanks.

There are some topics such as abortion, euthanasia, abuse, sex/sleep problems that are covered fairly well. I even learned a little about different health insurance plans, which was a nice change.

The book is also good for giving you an idea of some of the ambiguous wtf-question stuff, such as when to call hospital security vs merely trying to calm the patient down, or how to address an upset patient (when the answer choices are all similar). I've read some people's posts on this forum about encountering behavioral science questions that "did not have an answer." This book helps clear things up.

There was also a little pharmacology reinforcement that was good, in a way that touched upon specific benefits/cons that are not in FA, such as TCAs being the best for immediate relief bc they're fastest acting, or escitalopram being the most specific of the SSRIs, or fluoxetine being the only SSRI that causes weight loss, not gain (a vignette of a depressed pt worried about putting on more weight), etc. So yeah, there was definitely some helpful pharm in there that was both reinforcement / new for me.

---


High-Yield Behavioral Science:

I read about half of this book during my second year of med and about half within the last month. Quite frankly, I don't know how FA2012 rates this as "A." It's terrible. Why do I say that? Although it covers a good breadth of material as a succinct package, it fails to mention tons of important details; even for the important details that it does mention, I found that it doesn't emphasize them enough. There were many times that I would pass over a particular topic and think, "dude, they should say this," or "they should have said this," or "this is really important to know; I'm glad they touched upon it, but why are they not emphasizing it?" In general, now that I've done probably 6-7000 practice questions so far and am fairly familiar with FA, HY Behavioral is just way to vague to be truly effective. It doesn't help with answering board questions. I can just feel that, and effectively so. It helps with building an initial foundation if you're in first-year med and haven't seen the info at all previously. So if you're in first-year, HY Behavioral could be a possibility for a quick read at times when you don't feel like doing real studying, but for the sake of actual Step1 prep, BRS Behavioral is much better. There were also no questions in the book and the chapters were long and dry.

---


Bottom line: I believe that if I encounter 30 behavioral science questions on my future USMLE, based on having read BRS, I might get 2-3 additional ones correct that I may not have relative to just having gone through FA / the QBank questions I've done so far. HY Behavioral was generally worthless and it earned me zero additional questions on my future exam. It's appalling that FA lists this latter resource as an A. I would give BRS Behavioral A- (bc of its weak explanations) and HY a B. In terms of FA though, the only reason BRS might earn an A is bc those resources are relative, not absolute, grades, so they have to recommend at least one top resource.

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BRS Behavioral Science:

The only reason I read the book was because behavioral science, psychiatry and biostats were my worst three areas in USMLE Rx.

I very much hate everything about behavioral science but tried to just man up and deal with this inevitable subject area.

The best thing about this book is that the chapters are literally no more than 4-5 pages-long, at the most, followed by ~15-30 questions. Now, if you're like me, you probably get ADD with stuff you're not interested in. I was so glad these chapters were short. I made it a commitment to just read a chapter a day (26 total) over this past month before starting my other material. This made the read quite manageable.

The book has ~650 questions, which is a plus. Most of them are fairly weak (as are BRS Pathology's as well), however they do serve to just reinforce, in a very one-step fashion, the material over any chapter's previous 4-5 pages. At the end of the book, there is a 132-question exam. The explanations for the questions, however, are very poor- mostly one-liners for the correct answer or simply just lack of acknowledgement for incorrect answers, that were also seemingly true, for which I wanted more discussion.

I would say that although the questions were fairly lame, maybe one out of every 15 or so hit a concept/topic that taught me something new. In other words, I have by no means come out from having read this book feeling like I've gained a thorough, comprehensive foundation in behavioral science as much as I feel as though I've learned probably 60-80 tidbits that merely complement the info in FA/QBanks.

There are some topics such as abortion, euthanasia, abuse, sex/sleep problems that are covered fairly well. I even learned a little about different health insurance plans, which was a nice change.

The book is also is good for giving you an idea of some of the ambiguous wtf-question stuff, such as when to call hospital security vs merely trying to calm the patient down, or how to address an upset patient (when the answer choices are all similar). I've read some people's posts on this forum about encountering behavioral science questions that "did not have an answer." This book helps clear things up.

There was also a little pharmacology reinforcement that was good, in a way that touched upon specific benefits/cons that are not in FA, such as TCAs being the best for immediate relief bc they're fastest acting, or escitalopram being the most specific of the SSRIs, or fluoxetine being the only SSRI that causes weight loss, not gain (a vignette of a depressed pt worried about putting on more weight), etc. So yeah, there was definitely some helpful pharm in there that was both reinforcement / new for me.

---


High-Yield Behavioral Science:

I read about half of this book during my second year of med and about half within the last month. Quite frankly, I don't know how FA2012 rates this as "A." It's terrible. Why do I say that? Although it covers a good breadth of material as a succinct package, it fails to mention tons of important details; even for the important details that it does mention, I found that it doesn't emphasize them enough. There were many times that I would pass over a particular topic and think, "dude, they should say this," or "they should have said this," or "this is really important to know; I'm glad they touched upon it, but why are they not emphasizing it?" In general, now that I've done probably 6-7000 practice questions so far and am fairly familiar with FA, HY Behavioral is just way to vague to be truly effective. It doesn't help with answering board questions. I can just feel that, and effectively so. It helps with building an initial foundation if you're in first-year med and haven't seen the info at all previously. So if you're in first-year, HY Behavioral could be a possibility for a quick read at times when you don't feel like doing real studying, but for the sake of actual Step1 prep, BRS Behavioral is much better. There were also no questions in the book and the chapters were long and dry.

---


Bottom line: I believe that if I encounter 30 behavioral science questions on my future USMLE, based on having read BRS, I might get 2-3 additional ones correct that I may not have relative to just having gone through FA / the QBank questions I've done so far. HY Behavioral was generally worthless and it earned me zero additional questions on my future exam. It's appalling that FA lists this latter resource as an A. I would give BRS Behavioral A- (bc of its weak explanations) and HY a B. In terms of FA though, the only reason BRS might earn an A is bc those resources are relative, not absolute, grades, so they have to recommend at least one top resource.

If you don't score a 280+ then they should send you to Montana to practice family medicine. No offense to fine citizens of Montana ( thank you Phil Jackson)
 
I really appreciate this book review! I don't think many AMGs use the Kaplan or First Aid Q books so maybe you got less feedback, but this is really useful.

I have had BRS Behavioral Sciences sitting on my shelf, mostly unused for the past few months. My exam is a week from tomorrow and behavioral sciences is always my weakest area. I think I'll try to power through it after reading this. It's just so hard to keep motivated at this point.

My one criticism is that BRS doesn't go into enough detail on health care in the US. I know it's a hard subject to write about, but I have had quite a few specific CBSE and NBME questions on the topic that I can't find clear answers to. They really do ask about the ins and outs of Medicare part B, nursing homes, advantages of HMO vs the other plans, etc. I wish there was a solid board oriented review on that topic.
 
I really appreciate this book review! I don't think many AMGs use the Kaplan or First Aid Q books so maybe you got less feedback, but this is really useful.

I have had BRS Behavioral Sciences sitting on my shelf, mostly unused for the past few months. My exam is a week from tomorrow and behavioral sciences is always my weakest area. I think I'll try to power through it after reading this. It's just so hard to keep motivated at this point.

My one criticism is that BRS doesn't go into enough detail on health care in the US. I know it's a hard subject to write about, but I have had quite a few specific CBSE and NBME questions on the topic that I can't find clear answers to. They really do ask about the ins and outs of Medicare part B, nursing homes, advantages of HMO vs the other plans, etc. I wish there was a solid board oriented review on that topic.

You seem to have done all the old NBMEs. Do you feel like these topics are more prominent on the newer or older NBMEs (i.e. which specific forms)?
 
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I honestly don't remember which ones in particular. I've seen two insurance questions on my school administered CBSEs, and then there were at least two more insurance questions in NBMEs you purchase online. It's not super high yield since it's probably one question out of 322 on your exam, but it's just disheartening to have pretty poor grounding on something so fundamental to our profession as health insurance.
 
Just found the school copy... from 1991 :eek:

Don't know how I feel about using that.... homosexuality might still be a disease in this
 
Out of curiosity, what persuaded you to read the two review books written by the same author? I also started off reading BRS + HY in my second year, only to quickly realize it's the same book and put HY down (since it's a bit too condensed and lacks vital detail).
 
Out of curiosity, what persuaded you to read the two review books written by the same author? I also started off reading BRS + HY in my second year, only to quickly realize it's the same book and put HY down (since it's a bit too condensed and lacks vital detail).

I didn't even realize they're both by Fadem. That's interesting (and also a little unsatisfying).

I got HY Behavioral last year because I had gone on a HY fetish (I own all of them...about 20 in total), and I liked the idea that the HY is so feverishly thin, particularly since I hate behavioral. I had started reading it, realized it was crap, and sort of just put it aside.

Then I came across some random website with some kid who scored high on the Step, and as one of the books he had recommended, he swore by BRS Behavioral, particularly since it has so many questions. I own so many books already (whether for reference, skimming, perusal, etc.), I thought it wouldn't kill to get BRS as well. I had also found BRS Path to be one of the best books I had read during second-year, so that in turn gave me a bit more trust in the BRS series with respect to potential investment.

After I got a crappy 73% or so in behavioral science in Rx (considering I had finished overall at 85), I decided to just bite the bullet and finish both HY and BRS. I don't even care if behavioral remains forever a weaker area for me. As long as I score 80%+ for it in QBank when I hit Kaplan / UWorld, I'll be content.

Before the actual USMLE (late-December), I'll spend one day going back through BRS Behavioral questions that I had marked / gotten wrong and will skim a few areas. I don't plan on spending more than 5-8 hours total on that book again between now and the Step.
 
I really appreciate this book review! I don't think many AMGs use the Kaplan or First Aid Q books so maybe you got less feedback, but this is really useful.

I have had BRS Behavioral Sciences sitting on my shelf, mostly unused for the past few months. My exam is a week from tomorrow and behavioral sciences is always my weakest area. I think I'll try to power through it after reading this. It's just so hard to keep motivated at this point.

My one criticism is that BRS doesn't go into enough detail on health care in the US. I know it's a hard subject to write about, but I have had quite a few specific CBSE and NBME questions on the topic that I can't find clear answers to. They really do ask about the ins and outs of Medicare part B, nursing homes, advantages of HMO vs the other plans, etc. I wish there was a solid board oriented review on that topic.

I also thought BRS was really sparse on statistics. It barely contained more information than FA
 
Good reviews, thanks

I really appreciate this book review! I don't think many AMGs use the Kaplan or First Aid Q books so maybe you got less feedback, but this is really useful.

I have had BRS Behavioral Sciences sitting on my shelf, mostly unused for the past few months. My exam is a week from tomorrow and behavioral sciences is always my weakest area. I think I'll try to power through it after reading this. It's just so hard to keep motivated at this point.

My one criticism is that BRS doesn't go into enough detail on health care in the US. I know it's a hard subject to write about, but I have had quite a few specific CBSE and NBME questions on the topic that I can't find clear answers to. They really do ask about the ins and outs of Medicare part B, nursing homes, advantages of HMO vs the other plans, etc. I wish there was a solid board oriented review on that topic.

Really, I have no idea of the yield of this for boards whatsoever, but it's something I put up in pre-allo a while back after finishing an intro to US healthcare class for MPH. Basically an end of class study guide for the final

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=829692

16 pages of bullet points, so it shouldn't take long to get an idea of whether or not it would be helpful
 
Brs behavioral for other sections plus hy biostatistics plus Kaplan ethics FTW
 
Bottom line: I believe that if I encounter 30 behavioral science questions on my future USMLE, based on having read BRS, I might get 2-3 additional ones correct that I may not have relative to just having gone through FA / the QBank questions I've done so far. HY Behavioral was generally worthless and it earned me zero additional questions on my future exam. It's appalling that FA lists this latter resource as an A. I would give BRS Behavioral A- (bc of its weak explanations) and HY a B. In terms of FA though, the only reason BRS might earn an A is bc those resources are relative, not absolute, grades, so they have to recommend at least one top resource.

My favorite part of your reviews. A random prediction of how many additional questions you'll get right on Step 1.

I see you've become more cautious in your predictions. You used to site the exact amount of points the book would increase your score.

Since you're the expert, what are the best sources for Pharm? Haven't seen a clear winner yet.
 
My favorite part of your reviews. A random prediction of how many additional questions you'll get right on Step 1.

I see you've become more cautious in your predictions. You used to site the exact amount of points the book would increase your score.

Since you're the expert, what are the best sources for Pharm? Haven't seen a clear winner yet.

In addition to FA + QBank material, I found the Lange pharmacology cards to be a great adjunct. If you already know FA's pharm and have done a fair # of QBank Qs, you'll be able to get through the entire Lange pack (with concurrent annotations from the cards into FA) in an 8-hour block.

I had posted that drug list from the Lange + Brenner cards regarding those that I had not encountered before. It took a few hits as far as its absurd low-yield-ness, yet ironically, someone had also posted in the scores thread within the subsequent week about a wtf-question on the actual USMLE that asked about the ester anesthetic with the shortest half-life. Considering procaine happen to have been on the Brenner list, I took that as a bit of a sign to just learn the drugs, which means merely glancing at random ones every day until I can at least recognize/identify them if I am to see them on the actual exam.

I also like that Lange has all of the MOA of the parasitic drugs, such as ivermectin overactivating helminth GABA receptors or praziquantel increasing Ca2+ uptake, leading to spastic paralysis, for instance. I will admit that some of the stuff is exceedingly low-yield, but yet again, there's a reason why "wtf" literally means "wtf," come the actual exam day and we're appalled by some of the questions that actually showed up.

I also own DejaReview Pharmacology, which I've glanced through. It has some good factoids in there, but for the most part, I've concluded that amidst the consolidation of resources that should be a focus of anyone's prep, I haven't committed to that as an imperative resource. I use it just for glancing at on occasion when it's 9am, I've been up all night and am brain-dead (i.e. 9am right now here in Australia).
 
BRS Behavioral Science is quality. I basically only used it for epi, stats, ethics, and legal stuff. All you need for psych is in FA. All of these topics were extremely straight-forward on my actual exam, especially stats.
 
what are the best sources for Pharm? Haven't seen a clear winner yet.

I'd suggest limiting yourself on pharm to what's in FA and World. It's easy to get carried away with pharmcards and stuff. Save yourself the headache and stick to what's high-yield. But if you must have an extra source (like I did), the Lange Pharm Cards are decent.

Step 1 is more likely to test the obvious, classic pharm concepts (classic drug interactions, tuberculosis and HIV meds, CNS and ANS drugs, etc) than new drugs or obscure side effects. The real deal is pretty comparable to the NBMEs, which aren't as rough as World when it comes to pharm.
 
Thank you Phloston for such a wondeful review!

I was just wondering why not Kaplan? And if you have read it, what are your thoughts of Kaplan vs BRS Behavioral Science.

Thanks in advance
 
Thank you Phloston for such a wondeful review!

I was just wondering why not Kaplan? And if you have read it, what are your thoughts of Kaplan vs BRS Behavioral Science.

Thanks in advance

I actually had gone through a portion of the Kaplan behavioral science notes during MS2. This was about a year ago for me so it's difficult to remember 100% how I had felt at the time. What I can say is that the Kaplan behavioral notes were the first place I had encountered the personality disorders, and so they were essentially my first pass on the material. I would definitely recommend going through them if you have the time. I do recall having learned some good things from them.
 
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