Goljan RR Path & Step 1 (and other concerns)

[MasterJedi17]

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Hey folks,
SDN lurker here who finally overcame laziness and made an account. I found it hard to find an answer to my question(s) without reading 500+ pages of SDN. (Perpetuating laziness? Eh, I hope not.)

S0, I found out a few weeks ago that my dedicated Step time rolls around mid March and I will have 6 weeks free to prepare. I have been using goljan RR path 4ed. pretty religiously and haven't retained/learned much basic science from year. I recently started memorizing the book this past summer with anki (friend finally sold me on it) and got about 100pgs down. I feel as though I leave Goljan's with a great understanding and I fill in whatever he did not discuss (or reinforce) with Pathoma. In terms of a time commitment, it takes me to ~6hrs to memorize/make cards for 3-4pgs in goljan. It had shown a great return on my exam for my recent pulmonology block, so I am wondering if I should keep running with it.

I read enough that Goljan helped people plateauing snag a few more points and that his bootleg audios are still getting people extra points.

For the TLDR People:
1) Can anyone who memorized Goljan RR path (or >50%) of it AND already took step 1 comment on the return this undertaking will have? Will I get above a 240+ if I know this book cold?

2) I am finding that my pharmacology, biochem, clinical anatomy, and microbiology are really lacking, any suggestions for rectifying these between now and dedicated study time?
-I'm currently looking at lippincott micro/pharm cards, RR biochem & HY anatomy with a goal of learning 10 microbes & 10 drugs a week.

3) Any general comments on how to use the next 5-6 months before dedicated step time would be great. I go to a pass/fail school and usually skip lecture to do my own reading. My ultimate goal is a 240+ with a target of 255 to keep all (most) doors open until I have more exposure during clinical years.

Thanks for your time!

 

[cbrons]

Memorizing the entire RR path? Seems like an enormous waste of time. If you dont have an integrative understanding of the pathology and its relationship with the involved physiology, pharm, biochem, micro, anatomy/embryo, etc (questions test multiple concepts in a 2-step+ manner with no "buzz words" or other key word crutches for memorizers) I dont see how memorizing hundreds of pages of RR Path is going to be of any benefit.


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[aspiringmd1015]

trying to memorize even a chapter of goljan is a huge huge huge time waste.

 

[MasterJedi17]

Memorizing the entire RR path? Seems like an enormous waste of time. If you dont have an integrative understanding of the pathology and its relationship with the involved physiology, pharm, biochem, micro, anatomy/embryo, etc (questions test multiple concepts in a 2-step+ manner with no "buzz words" or other key word crutches for memorizers) I dont see how memorizing hundreds of pages of RR Path is going to be of any benefit.


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I have a pretty deep understanding of physiology. I havent really encountered a problem of not being able to integrate the other topics. Anatomy was a forte of mine a year ago and I have since forgotten many of the relationships and clinical points. The same with biochem. The only thing im extremely weak with is pharm. i read robbins for understanding. Firstaid just turns me off and i see people memorize it with no foundation or understanding. I also see a lot of firecracker people do this. Im memorizing the mechanisms and use them to predict clinical signs etc. nothing is to be had from knowing buzz words in the clinic.

Our preferences might be different but I'd like the reasoning behind a yes or no. I have a more longitudinal goal in mind and dont want to revisit preclinical stuff in the clinical years.

 

[witzelsucht]

This is insanity. There is no book you can memorize to get a 240. Once you get beyond 220s there is a certain amount of intelligence and test-taking skill required, and making 14,000 anki cards from rapid review will not fix that. Just do UWorld along with classes. FFS.