Goljan Rapid Review - read the whole thing?

[DMBFan]

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I noticed that on the Goljan lectures, he skips a of the diseases in the Rapid Review book. Now of course, this may be bec. of lack of time, but also, I was thinking that he doesnt' mention some things bec. he wants his book to be used for Step II too...Do you guys go back and read those sections skipped on the lectures? I'm just running out of time and trying to cut corners..

 

[Cards21aceking]

My approach is to focus on what's either mentioned in FA or the audio, and then skimming the other sections and just focusing on the mechanisms and "blue margins."


Ie... I just don't have time to read all 4 chapters on heme. :-(

 

[Terpskins99]

I noticed that on the Goljan lectures, he skips a of the diseases in the Rapid Review book. Now of course, this may be bec. of lack of time, but also, I was thinking that he doesnt' mention some things bec. he wants his book to be used for Step II too...Do you guys go back and read those sections skipped on the lectures? I'm just running out of time and trying to cut corners..

I don't know what you mean by "running out of time". Leave a specific number of days/weeks (or months 🙄). I read the entire book and thought it was worthwhile.

The audio is mostly to explain really high yield path. It obviously skips a ton.

I don't think he's holding back for his step 2 prep (though I believe he may be preparing those particular students for all three steps at the same retreat) because what would be the point? The pathology you'll face in Step 2 is minimal relative to Step 1 (at least based on the material I've been studying). Step 2 is a medical management exam.

 

[SOUNDMAN]

I read it all, more than once since I used it during class as well. I didn't feel there was a section that wasn't important, and I thought the 4 chapters on Heme were important, but that's just me.

 

[Captopril]

Just got the book yesterday. Thicker than I thought it would be...I was thinking more of a BRS Pathology sized thing.

 

[osli]

I read it all this week. Seemed to all be very useful information... that is, until the two UWorld blocks I took right after finishing the book, in which my path and pahtophys averages dropped from around 60% to 25% or so. 🙄

I think UWorld is punishing me for reading RR path. What do you think?

 

[Pinkertinkle]

I read it all this week. Seemed to all be very useful information... that is, until the two UWorld blocks I took right after finishing the book, in which my path and pahtophys averages dropped from around 60% to 25% or so. 🙄

I think UWorld is punishing me for reading RR path. What do you think?

I think paranoia has set in.

 

[osli]

 

[ihatethistest]

How long did it take you to read it? How many pages a day in how many hours per day?

It's 600 pages, but it's all outlined like other review books are, so I figure it's not that terrible relatively speaking for a 600 page book.

I'm starting it in a couple days and was aiming for finishing it in 4 days (150 pages per day).

What do you think, is that reasonable?

 

[lilnoelle]

Do you guys feel like reading it makes it stick? I never can just read something and remember it - especially with the amount of stuff I'm trying to stick in my head. I end up writing everything down in order to remember. And even then, half of the time it doesn't stick! I'm guessing that maybe I can regurgitate about 1/8 of what I've been trying to stuff into my brain this last 3 weeks.

Its really made me appreciate that the best way to prepare for boards is to really learn the material in the first place.

 

[DMBFan]

Do you guys feel like reading it makes it stick? I never can just read something and remember it - especially with the amount of stuff I'm trying to stick in my head. I end up writing everything down in order to remember. And even then, half of the time it doesn't stick! I'm guessing that maybe I can regurgitate about 1/8 of what I've been trying to stuff into my brain this last 3 weeks.

Its really made me appreciate that the best way to prepare for boards is to really learn the material in the first place.

I totally agree. But the thing is - my school definitely didn't teach the way did Goljan did. They would just say for example, sarcoidosis, and noncaseating granulomas and you had no idea why. I just memorized isolated facts and buzz words during the school year rather than learn why (which is what is asked on Step I).

Also, yeah, I don't really retain much even listening to the lectures, reading it blah blah blah. It's really worrying me about how much I can retain for the exam.

 

[lilnoelle]

I totally agree. But the thing is - my school definitely didn't teach the way did Goljan did. They would just say for example, sarcoidosis, and noncaseating granulomas and you had no idea why. I just memorized isolated facts and buzz words during the school year rather than learn why (which is what is asked on Step I).

Also, yeah, I don't really retain much even listening to the lectures, reading it blah blah blah. It's really worrying me about how much I can retain for the exam.

yeah, my school taught a lot of buzzwords too. They seem to have the idea that those buzzwords are still used in Step I.

 

[tfom08]

How long did it take you to read it? How many pages a day in how many hours per day?

It's 600 pages, but it's all outlined like other review books are, so I figure it's not that terrible relatively speaking for a 600 page book.

I'm starting it in a couple days and was aiming for finishing it in 4 days (150 pages per day).

What do you think, is that reasonable?

If you can finish it in 4 days the first time around and actually retain information, that is a very strong pace in my experience. 👍 It took me 6 days the first time I read it, that was about 10 hours per day or a little more and I was looking through FA as I read. Didn't remember everything, but I picked up enough to get me started.

 

[Terpskins99]

Do you guys feel like reading it makes it stick? I never can just read something and remember it - especially with the amount of stuff I'm trying to stick in my head. I end up writing everything down in order to remember. And even then, half of the time it doesn't stick! I'm guessing that maybe I can regurgitate about 1/8 of what I've been trying to stuff into my brain this last 3 weeks.

Its really made me appreciate that the best way to prepare for boards is to really learn the material in the first place.

I feel the need to write stuff down as well. So I annotated most of the book into first aid. Was it necessary? Probably not. But I felt better about it.

My routine was to listen to goljan while flipping through the corresponding section of rapid review. Then later reading that section again while jotting down notes into First Aid.

Whenever possible, I'd get together with someone else and talk about that particular system.

 

[ihatethistest]

If you can finish it in 4 days the first time around and actually retain information, that is a very strong pace in my experience. 👍 It took me 6 days the first time I read it, that was about 10 hours per day or a little more and I was looking through FA as I read. Didn't remember everything, but I picked up enough to get me started.

First time around? How many times did you read it? It's definitely only once for me. First Aid is the only thing I'm planning on reading multiple times.

I'm not much of a fan of annoting into another book on writing out notes while reading. I just read; pretty much how I've studied my whole life including med school, so I figure why change now since it's worked.

So it would be 150 pages per day just straight reading, no writing or annotating.

I'm hoping I can do it, who knows.

 

[osli]

I study a lot like you... pure reading for a first pass, and then I might come back later to stuff that I know is "rote memorization" and spend a little more time or make a chart or something.

So I read RR Path in about 5 days, but at only 6 hours a day of reading. It's likely that I will actually come back and read it again in 3 or 4 days closer to the exam (about 3 weeks from now) since it covers as large of a chunk of the exam as any other one source does (with the possible exception of an "all in one" like FA).