First Aid vs. Step Up

[JohnnyVegas]

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Anybody got an idea on how comparable they are in terms of being high yield.........and if its worth it to go through both.........

 

[Mystique]

Anybody got an idea on how comparable they are in terms of being high yield.........and if its worth it to go through both.........

You and I both know everyone's going to say something different. From what I've heard through word of mouth, FA is a MUST...no doubt. Step Up on its own is not sufficient (or so I've heard), but if you have time then it's a good idea to use both as they can compliment each other.

 

[Jalby]

In the past 30 horus I have completely read step up and read the anatomy, biochemistry, and physiology portion of first aid. By tomorrow night I should be fully able to answer your question. Here is what I have learned so far:

Embryology: Step up is a TON better than first Aid
Physiology: Both covered the same thing
Histology: Step up is better than First Aid
Biochemistry: First Aid has a lot more usefull stuff.
Anatomy: I like both about equal here, with the edge going to step up barely.
Microbiology: (read the FA part a month ago) they have a layout for this that is about the same. FA has better pictures of the bugs.
Pharmacology: Havn't read FA yet, but Step up includes every drug known to man. I liked reading through it because by the end I was easily able to recognize classes of drugs by their roots even though I hadn't seen that drug before. Also helped beat the side effects of the classes of drugs into my head. (ACE inhibitors damage the kidney)


Overall Layout:
Step up is made so that you can understand the material a ton easier. I like the quick hits, in part because I took a Kaplan Practice test and a lot of the questions were strait from the quick hits.
First Aid is good if you already know most everything, because it is hard to read through the stuff if you don't know it. Great for the nuemonics (horrible spelling) and stuff like that.


I personally would recommend getting both books. Tomorrow I might finish my analysis of the two.

 

[phllystyl]

Im going to be using both as well, with FA as my primary source as with all other review sources.

I think it will be good to have a completely different synthesis of the material in my head. The more places something is mapped to, the better chance of having it recalled appropriately. Many have told me the two compliment each other well, much as Jalby pointed out.

 

[buddindoc]

agree with the above posts ...i am just about ready to take my boards and i started the step up..it kinda puts it all in a different way .if u have been using FA it is by subjects and this one is system based and kinda puts all the jarbled info into one logical sequence

 

[Scott_L]

I manage the medical education titles for Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, publisher of Step-Up. My recommendation to students is to memorize every High-Yield fact in First Aid and then read Step-Up. Step-Up gives organization to the High-Yield facts from FA and presents them in systems-based format.

Some students do prefer one title over another but I do recommend using both for the above reason.

Feel free to contact me with any questions

-Scott

[email protected]

 

[trouta]

Ive been using both as Ive been going along. First Aid has been my main title and Ive used Step Up to review when I have a little extra time on a given subject. Personally (I know this will vary person to person) I strongly prefer First Aid. Step Up is annoying for me. There is too much text in there when all you want is key facts. The organization doesnt work for me either. The other thing I have noticed between the two titles is there is a lot of variability in what they cover. There are a few things in Step Up that arent covered in First Aid and there are a lot of things that are covered in First Aid that dont appear in Step Up. I wouldnt use Step Up as my primary source. I personally feel that it doesnt have enough info and doesnt work quite as well as a framework to build other studying on.

Anyways I am just blithering on and this is just my opinion, but hope it helps.