For all future M2's doing path/studying path for the boards

[mountaindew2006]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I can say this with confidence now since i did pass the boards.

DO NOT read Robbins. I did read the first two chapters during my M2 year. But that's it! Use review books (FA, step up, brs path). Use these three and you are knowing what you need to know for the boards. IN terms of everything else, just use your class notes/ppts. I remember at my school that our professors ppt's were very extensive, for someone to read through all of them and 'memorize' them and read robbins was just shear madness. The way I look at it is if you use those 3 abovementioned books, you are killing two birds w/ one stone (studying for boards and class). IN addition, if you get Dr. Barone for kaplan or even Dr. Goljan, you will be set!

Hope that helps! Thought it would be useful because it's what I found helpful. I mean how much of a chapter full of dense material in robbins are you going to really walk away with after reading the chapter. No doubt though, I did use it as a 'reference' book for small details here and there for boards studying, but that was about it.

later

 

[sherpagyrl]

But the Robbins Review ?? book is challenging and really targets info you are supposed to know or should learn.....

 

[daisygirl]

But the Robbins Review ?? book is challenging and really targets info you are supposed to know or should learn.....

I think he/she's only referring to the text. I've been using robbin's review book as I've been going through BRS. You definitely do not need to read robbin's to answer the questions in the review book. BRS is plenty sufficient to get through the questions in the review book.

 

[Idiopathic]

Yes it does. My friend md2006 is referring to 'Big Robbins', I believe...that 2000-odd page monstrosity that is considered the bible of pathology. It is an excellent source of knowledge, but not good for the boards.

Robbins Review of Pathology is pure questions and it is well worth the time.

 

[mountaindew2006]

I am only referring to the freakin, scary looking textbook. I personally never used that robbins qbook (hehehe was scared of that too) but i've heard great things about it from others.

one more thing. Actually i think it was IDIO that got me on this book to begin with ...boards and wards.

at my school we had an integrated systems approach way of learning. Thus, boards and wards was also a GREAAAAAAAAAT book. I alternated b/w boards and wards (by ayala) and Step up for the various systems. Sometimes I would read the same system in both books. What i liked about these books were that they each gave you a different perspective. Having all 3-4 smaller books gave you unique perspectives, and having read the same thing from a different source SOMETHING would click and it would stick. if you read robbins textbook, you cant really read other books at the same time and read all your profs class lects notes. So essentially aside from your prof you get only one perspective.

ahhh...one more thing. IDIO also got me hooked into GOLJAN. although towards the end of my boards studying i loved BARONE, i must say GOLJANs audio is great. seriosly, go to ebay and buy these audio lects. Buy and mp3 player too. go work out and listen to goljan (sorta as a preview). then come back and study your a$$ of with the above mentioned books, your class ntoes, etc...ur golden!

hope that helps.

 

[bigfrank]

I agree with the above posters (hey md2006 ol' buddy!). This is truly great advice.

Many students learn too late that there are certain "things" that are tested time and time again on the boards, and these topics are found in FA, Step Up, B&W, and BRS Path (my favorite for Path.).

For questions, there are good questions on QBank, great questions on QBank, A&L Question Book, and QBook by Kaplan.

I personally used the BABY Robbins to read and liked it. It paled in comparison to the length of the Big Robbins. Many of my friends, the "gunners," bought and read the giant monstrosity known as Big Robbins. It is a useless text, unless you're a 1st year Path. resident. Needless to say, many of the "gunners" in my class were sorely disappointed come Step I reporting time. 😎

Best wishes to all, these guys give great advice!

 

[mountaindew2006]

(what up BF , i've been on hiatus, long time no talk..hope all is well)

Yes, i woudl agree w/ BF. During my classes, those that read Big Robbins did ok or VERY poor on exams. I on the otherhand stuck w/ class notes and review books and ended up doing well in my classes my second year.

Seriously, the only good thing about Big Robbins is it's contribution in helping to push up the huge crater that was created in the middle of my mattress 😀

p.s. hey i wasnt implying that

 

[DarksideAllstar]

I actually read most of the Big Robbins book last year (I think I might have skipped a few chapters right before finals). I thought that it was a long read, but I also found that it helped me understand some of the disease processes better (the small Robbins leaves things out here and there). I then supplemented with the Stars Path book by Goljan and BRS Path, which is a must as everyone has pointed out. I really enjoyed Path, so making a committment to reading the "big book" wasn't a problem for me, but you can do well without reading it.

PS- In order to counter the implication that by reading big Robbins you will do poorly, I did finish at the top of the class in Path, and left with a pretty solid understanding of the material. I would caution everyone to use their time wisely and effectively,

 

[bigfrank]

UCSF, that's a good point. If you don't have a strong background in physiology or if physiology doesn't come easy to you, then the more you can read about a subject the matter.

I'm not implying that YOU didn't have a good background, but others might benefit from your good advice.

Best,

 

[mountaindew2006]

I agree with these guys. By no means do i want to imply that those that read big robbins are going to do poorly. however, at my school i just saw that as the general trend. but as others have said , to each their own. btw I freakin sucked arse in physio last year. Essentially, via kaplan and review books and class lect notes this year i was able to get a grasp of physio.

guys seriously....when you start your path classes, prior to each knew section go back and read about the nl. believe me it makes a HUUUUUUGE diff. you have to always know the nl first before knowing about the abnl.

👍

 

[DarksideAllstar]

I definitely agree that its imperative to review Physio while going through the Path, as it makes for a better understanding of whats going wrong. I had a reasonable physio background (no offense taken BF), but I wanted some more of the molecular (small picture) details about some of the diseases, so I read the big book (for instance, the Fenton reaction is totally missing from the small Robbins).

BF and mountaindew- no harm no foul, just wanted to provide the SDN community with more anecdotal evidence. 🙂 Hope things are well on the wards, I actually managed to get a weekend off --thanks plastic surgery.

 

[USFOptho]

Wow guys..

what a timely thread.

I've been pouring through my path book, and it is indeed a monstrosity; I'm about done with the 1st chapter, and I was about to start ont he second.....


My teachers ppt's are very good; Very very close to robbins.

I have BRS path. We started path 5 days ago.

So, just hit up the ppts and BRS and FA and I'll be in path heaven? I'm shooting for a very high board score, so please, no advice for just "passing" the path section.

 

[ttumed]

My experience with path and big Robbin's. I bought it and read maybe 20 pages. I used some class notes, but mainly BRS path which is great and also Kaplan path books which I though along with BRS was pretty damn good. It was enough to slam the NBME path shelf exam and I held my own on Step 1 also. Maybe if I would have went through the pain of big robbin's I would have made a 270, but I'm happy with what I got and I'm sure I got what I deserved.

That's my piece.

 

[sherpagyrl]

My professors' notes followed big Robbins very closely too. I found big Robbins very helpful throughout the class- it has everything in it-path, physio biochem, immuno blah, blah. Some classmates wished they had read Robbins a 3rd time through when studying for the boards- and that was after they had already received their decent score. It won't be hard to go through big Robbins especially if the notes correlate.

 

[bigfrank]

On my score report, I had one asterisk on the chart in Path (the rest were off the right side of the page), and I primarily used BRS Path and lots of questions including Robbins QBook. I think that this is a good format from which to study.

Must memorize the first 5 chapters of BRS Path -- extraordinarily high yield.

 

[USFOptho]

Once again, my fellow SDNers step up with great advice.

Thank you!!

Now if only I can get a definitive answer on big vs small katzung.. ;-)

 

[bigfrank]

Now if only I can get a definitive answer on big vs small katzung.. ;-)

Wish I could help. Never heard of the book. That said, I'd go with: a) Neither or b) small 😉

 

[Stinger86]

I disagree with all this, but then again, I'm usually in the minority. I really enjoyed reading Robbin's Basic Pathology last year, and now that my gf has purchased Big Robbins for her stint through second year, I plan on reading through it as well. All the Robbins books are outstanding resources and are well worth the time spent reading-- if you want to really,really understand disease mechanisms and stuff, that is.

All I can say is that every day I sit in a conference room on rounds and listen to our attending or resident ask a student what disease is associated with a particular buzz word. The student usually gets the answer right, but then the attending goes on to say "correct, but why is that?" and no one seems to be able to answer, because they've trained themselves to seek out buzz associations and basically ignore the reasoning behind them. Not that I really mind though.. makes me look better every day 🙂

But of course, people are more concerned about Step 1, so in that case, reading through any Robbins text a few weeks before the exam isn't very beneficial for most people, but that's why I usually recommend reading the text chapter by chapter as you progress through second year path. That way you'll know more information, but without the looming stress of time.

 

[DarksideAllstar]

I disagree with all this, but then again, I'm usually in the minority. I really enjoyed reading Robbin's Basic Pathology last year, and now that my gf has purchased Big Robbins for her stint through second year, I plan on reading through it as well. All the Robbins books are outstanding resources and are well worth the time spent reading-- if you want to really,really understand disease mechanisms and stuff, that is.

All I can say is that every day I sit in a conference room on rounds and listen to our attending or resident ask a student what disease is associated with a particular buzz word. The student usually gets the answer right, but then the attending goes on to say "correct, but why is that?" and no one seems to be able to answer, because they've trained themselves to seek out buzz associations and basically ignore the reasoning behind them. Not that I really mind though.. makes me look better every day 🙂

But of course, people are more concerned about Step 1, so in that case, reading through any Robbins text a few weeks before the exam isn't very beneficial for most people, but that's why I usually recommend reading the text chapter by chapter as you progress through second year path. That way you'll know more information, but without the looming stress of time.

Couldnt have said it better myself. 👍

 

[bigfrank]

Contrary to the above 2 posters, someone with an intuitive grasp of physiology does not need to pour over big Robbins in order to understand Pathophysiological concepts and "look good" for attendings. Believe me. 😉

 

[tega]

I disagree with all this, but then again, I'm usually in the minority. I really enjoyed reading Robbin's Basic Pathology last year, and now that my gf has purchased Big Robbins for her stint through second year, I plan on reading through it as well. All the Robbins books are outstanding resources and are well worth the time spent reading-- if you want to really,really understand disease mechanisms and stuff, that is.

All I can say is that every day I sit in a conference room on rounds and listen to our attending or resident ask a student what disease is associated with a particular buzz word. The student usually gets the answer right, but then the attending goes on to say "correct, but why is that?" and no one seems to be able to answer, because they've trained themselves to seek out buzz associations and basically ignore the reasoning behind them. Not that I really mind though.. makes me look better every day 🙂

But of course, people are more concerned about Step 1, so in that case, reading through any Robbins text a few weeks before the exam isn't very beneficial for most people, but that's why I usually recommend reading the text chapter by chapter as you progress through second year path. That way you'll know more information, but without the looming stress of time.

coudn't agree more.....maybe im just slow...but no way i survive w/just BRS.

 

[sherpagyrl]

Stinger86's point, which I agree with, is that if you don't have a grasp on things, you better get one. Big Robbins is a great way to do it. It integrates everything. If you haven't integrated the stuff and filled in the spaces between the buzz words, follow Stinger's suggestion. If you have everything filled in, read another book and look even better in front of your attendings.

 

[Stinger86]

I realize this thread is aimed toward Step 1 takers and not junior medical students, but why not prepare for both at the same time? Remember that your main educational goal is to learn as much medicine as you can so you can effectively treat patients, not to just pass one test. I found it pretty shocking how much "irrelevant" Step 1 material has already come back to haunt me junior year.

And I'd like to get a show of hands on how many people, other than bigfrank, have an intuitive grasp of physiology. I might be wrong, but I think most people would not consider it to be one of his/her strengths, so it'd help to have a great resource that ties it all together for future use

 

[mountaindew2006]

hey all-

i havnt been on the spot light too much yet in terms of third year pimping, so i really dont know about getting pimped about the 'whys' yet. but i suppose stinger86 has a point. if you really wanta know the in depth stuff know robbins. i mean like i said in my earlier posts i used it as reference if need be, and i will admit it's very interesting. PERSONALLY, i feel that for M2/boards you just need to do class work and review books, but MASTER these.

having said that, i think now as a 3rd year it would be a great idea if i was stumped on some pathology or was interested in something to go back and read it in robbins. i just think i had the ability to read robbins when i was a M2. now that i know the 'big picture' i can use robbins to fill in gaps or details. I personally, could not have attained the big pic from robbins. but like i said everyones got their own method. my advice, try both ways out. switch tactics for each organ system. see which one YOU like. like i've always said, take everything all of us say on here with a grain of salt. each of us have different learning styles...

peace 👍

 

[Long Dong]

What about using Goljan's review book (stars) vs BRS?

 

[HiddenTruth]

I am only referring to the freakin, scary looking textbook. I personally never used that robbins qbook (hehehe was scared of that too) but i've heard great things about it from others.

one more thing. Actually i think it was IDIO that got me on this book to begin with ...boards and wards.

at my school we had an integrated systems approach way of learning. Thus, boards and wards was also a GREAAAAAAAAAT book. I alternated b/w boards and wards (by ayala) and Step up for the various systems.

.

hey are u talking abt boards and wards for pathophysiology? SHould this book be read on top of brs phys and brs path and goljans? Thanks

 

[bigfrank]

hey are u talking abt boards and wards for pathophysiology? SHould this book be read on top of brs phys and brs path and goljans? Thanks

I would say "no" to this question, as long as you integrate information well. I personally LOVED those two BRS's.