First Aid 2014 or 2015?

[masterforever]

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Hello,

This is probably my first post here on SDN, but I have been a guest reader of this forum since the start of my Medical School. I am planning to take my USMLE Step 1 in September and, about to start my preparation. However, I purchased USMLE First Aid 2014 a few months back, and now I hear that the 2015 edition has just hit the book stores. So my primary question is if I should start studying from the First Aid 2014 or purchase the 2015 edition? Also, I'd like to tell that I am an IMG, and the USMLE First Aid 2015 isn't going to be available in my country for at least another 1 or 2 months. So, what should I do?

I am pretty puzzled. I have Kaplan Lecture Notes and Pathoma as well, but I'd like to do FA first. What's your take on my situation? What's the difference between FA 2014 and FA 2015? Is it okay, if I do FA 2014 with it's Errata?

Honest suggestions please! 🙂

 

[mcloaf]

I bought 2015. I haven't compared the two side by side, but it seems like since FA is so cheap in the first place (relatively) and it's going to be a primary resource I'd much rather shell out the extra money to make sure I have the version that most accurately reflects what's on the current version of Step 1.

 

[masterforever]

I bought 2015. I haven't compared the two side by side, but it seems like since FA is so cheap in the first place (relatively) and it's going to be a primary resource I'd much rather shell out the extra money to make sure I have the version that most accurately reflects what's on the current version of Step 1.

There's an issue, I cannot get a First Aid 2015 for another one or two months or so. :/

 

[mcloaf]

There's an issue, I cannot get a First Aid 2015 for another one or two months or so. :/

You're testing in September, in the big picture that two months isn't going to matter much. It's not like you couldn't start in on 2014 in the mean time while you're waiting.

 

[masterforever]

You're testing in September, in the big picture that two months isn't going to matter much. It's not like you couldn't start in on 2014 in the mean time while you're waiting.

Okay, I get the point. Thanks a lot on the input. 🙂 Do you suggest I give Pathoma, a read in the meanwhile? 🙄

 

[DrEnderW]

Okay, I get the point. Thanks a lot on the input. 🙂 Do you suggest I give Pathoma, a read in the meanwhile? 🙄

Yes, but the videos are where it's at.

 

[mcloaf]

Okay, I get the point. Thanks a lot on the input. 🙂 Do you suggest I give Pathoma, a read in the meanwhile? 🙄

Sure, I don't think any body ever regretted spending more time with Pathoma.

 

[TorsoLigament]

The pages in FA 2015 are made out of cheaper material than 2014, and the neuro section has better pictures for the eye, otherwise the content is the same. Buy it or don't buy it, doesn't really make a difference in my opinion.

 

[stargazin580]

It seems that FA 2015 has deleted a couple of things. I was looking for Turcot syndrome, Gardner syndrome the other day and found they are totally excluded in FA 2015. Is it b/c they are never tested in real exam?

 

[Phloston]

It seems that FA 2015 has deleted a couple of things. I was looking for Turcot syndrome, Gardner syndrome the other day and found they are totally excluded in FA 2015. Is it b/c they are never tested in real exam?

Gardner and Turcot are on p.366 in FA15 in the GI chapter.

 

[Phloston]

The pages in FA 2015 are made out of cheaper material than 2014, and the neuro section has better pictures for the eye, otherwise the content is the same. Buy it or don't buy it, doesn't really make a difference in my opinion.

Yeah, paper/binding quality seems to be the major annoyance with the later FA versions. On that note, FA12 is what I used/heavily annotated for my Step 1 and it is still in good shape (and I had tossed that book around every day for a year). FA14 seemed to fall apart after looking at just a few pages. FA15 seems similar to FA14 in terms of quality.

 

[Boom2015]

theyve added a few new drugs + their side effects and added new pictures (some of them are helpful). The rest of the additions they've made are somewhat minor or more for clarification's sake, all of which you could probably get out of UWorld. I flipped through it at a store... still gonna use my annotated FA 2014... The drugs they added have questions on them in UWorld too (Fidaxomicin comment for C.diff, an actual Linezolid section, Daptomycin, Canaglifzolin/SGLT inhibitor for diabetes, a few new monoclonal antibodies, etc etc), so if you didn't get the new one, you probably wouldn't miss out too much as long as you supplement with UWorld, Pathooma, etc

 

[seminoma]

The pages in FA 2015 are made out of cheaper material than 2014, and the neuro section has better pictures for the eye, otherwise the content is the same. Buy it or don't buy it, doesn't really make a difference in my opinion.

This is absolutely not true. Cardio alone in FA15 is a significant improvement compared to FA14 and I'm sure it isn't the only section with better content coverage. The difference is so noticeable that I bought FA15 today even though to this point I was certain I would be sticking with FA14.

I'm sure you can get the "new" content from UW, Pathoma, etc, but there are a lot of new figures and images that I think could potentially be useful. I've put a decent amount of work into my copy of FA14, but I don't think it's worth saving $50 by not buying and using the new FA.

Additionally, I think a lot of people (myself included) tend to over-annotate FA and fill it with a lot of unnecessary stuff. FA15 will provide a blank slate if you've already made that mistake (like I have).

 

[Jabbed]

This is absolutely not true. Cardio alone in FA15 is a significant improvement compared to FA14 and I'm sure it isn't the only section with better content coverage. The difference is so noticeable that I bought FA15 today even though to this point I was certain I would be sticking with FA14.

I'm sure you can get the "new" content from UW, Pathoma, etc, but there are a lot of new figures and images that I think could potentially be useful. I've put a decent amount of work into my copy of FA14, but I don't think it's worth saving $50 by not buying and using the new FA.

Additionally, I think a lot of people (myself included) tend to over-annotate FA and fill it with a lot of unnecessary stuff. FA15 will provide a blank slate if you've already made that mistake (like I have).

Master the impulse!

 

[seminoma]

Master the impulse!

$50 reset button; not bad haha.

 

[dfib slim]

This is absolutely not true. Cardio alone in FA15 is a significant improvement compared to FA14 and I'm sure it isn't the only section with better content coverage. The difference is so noticeable that I bought FA15 today even though to this point I was certain I would be sticking with FA14.

I'm sure you can get the "new" content from UW, Pathoma, etc, but there are a lot of new figures and images that I think could potentially be useful. I've put a decent amount of work into my copy of FA14, but I don't think it's worth saving $50 by not buying and using the new FA.

Additionally, I think a lot of people (myself included) tend to over-annotate FA and fill it with a lot of unnecessary stuff. FA15 will provide a blank slate if you've already made that mistake (like I have).

Yeah my 2014 is rife with micro minutiae from 1st year