Goljin or pathoma

[cooldoc89]

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Once and for all, all the people that have studied both books and have taken the step exam or about to take the stem exam scoring at least 240 or higher please respond..
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please let me know what u thk about whose pathology is better and which one should i study from because i have the option of both but don't want to waist my time studying both.

Even if you can list chapter wise which book is better because im sure Goljin is better in some subjects than maybe Pathoma is would really appreciate it. Please dont hold back and help really decide between the two....

Please people who have taken the step exam or are closing to taking it respond so not only can u help me but also future sdn members who will have to choose between the 2 books.

 

[The Anhedonia]

i, too, have this same question.

 

[Bernoull]

Once and for all, all the people that have studied both books and have taken the step exam or about to take the stem exam scoring at least 240 or higher please respond..
​

please let me know what u thk about whose pathology is better and which one should i study from because i have the option of both but don't want to waist my time studying both.

Even if you can list chapter wise which book is better because im sure Goljin is better in some subjects than maybe Pathoma is would really appreciate it. Please dont hold back and help really decide between the two....

Please people who have taken the step exam or are closing to taking it respond so not only can u help me but also future sdn members who will have to choose between the 2 books.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=12177636#post12177636

 

[dragon529]

all of a sudden Goljn became obsolete...

 

[jatt12]

Once and for all, all the people that have studied both books and have taken the step exam or about to take the stem exam scoring at least 240 or higher please respond..
​

please let me know what u thk about whose pathology is better and which one should i study from because i have the option of both but don't want to waist my time studying both.

Even if you can list chapter wise which book is better because im sure Goljin is better in some subjects than maybe Pathoma is would really appreciate it. Please dont hold back and help really decide between the two....

Please people who have taken the step exam or are closing to taking it respond so not only can u help me but also future sdn members who will have to choose between the 2 books.

I am 8 weeks out, and i gotta say pathoma is excellent source for amount of time we have to prepare. I looked at some chapters from RR, after reading from pathoma and there is not much difference, from what i can understand is that RR has STEP2 style explanation as well. I could be wrong.

 

[Phlame217]

all of a sudden Goljn became obsolete...

Not really, his pirated material is but not up to date material.

I am 8 weeks out, and i gotta say pathoma is excellent source for amount of time we have to prepare. I looked at some chapters from RR, after reading from pathoma and there is not much difference, from what i can understand is that RR has STEP2 style explanation as well. I could be wrong.

I skimmed a friends pathoma and it does an excellent job of skimming across the surface.
Goljan goes more in depth though and gives you an understanding to a point where you can extrapolate information and infer relationships. Its very helpful. I stuck to RR.

 

[jatt12]

Not really, his pirated material is but not up to date material.

I skimmed a friends pathoma and it does an excellent job of skimming across the surface.
Goljan goes more in depth though and gives you an understanding to a point where you can extrapolate information and infer relationships. Its very helpful. I stuck to RR.

Yea no doubt

 

[Green Grass]

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT PATHOMA IS - SO PLEASE USE THIS INFORMATION ACCORDINGLY!

I used RR + Goljan Audio when I was studying 2 years ago. You can follow along in the book with the audio playing and take notes into your RR - his audio lectures are that similar to the information in the book. However, during his lectures, he gives little tidbits here and there, and so many of them were on my exam or practice questions. He really has a great sense of what they like to test and he has a tremendous ability to pull multiple disciplines into one source - thus integrating all the information.

I HIGHLY recommend RR with the Goljan audio. But I have no experience with Pathoma and it may be equally good.

Also, I did score >240 on Step 1 and Step 2, so I at least fit a bit of your criteria for response to this thread.

 

[dr seuss]

I skimmed a friends pathoma and it does an excellent job of skimming across the surface.
Goljan goes more in depth though and gives you an understanding to a point where you can extrapolate information and infer relationships. Its very helpful. I stuck to RR.

I think you need to watch the pathoma videos to be able to appreciate how good it is. I don't get much out of skimming through the text but in the videos he explains everything and makes connections in a way that everything makes sense. After watching the videos the text makes sense and there really is more to it than just what is written.

Having Goljan as your teacher probably has a similar effect for RR. The problem with the pirated material is that it doesn't cover everything and wasn't meant to. RR is an excellent book and I loved it until I found pathoma. It is just so much easier to learn from pathoma. If Goljan made videos like the ones in pathoma, I have no doubt they would be amazing.

I think you mentioned before that Goljan might be recording a new audio that would be commercially available. Do you know if this is still going to happen?

 

[MrBeauregard]

Pathoma helps you learn pathology. It is a good primary text for learning purely pathology.

RR helps you integrate pathology with other subjects (i.e. physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, microbiology, etc). RR is good for a review of pathology (as the title implies) and is therefore tough to use as a primary source. If you have a solid pathology background and are looking to integrate the knowledge you already have with other subjects, then I personally think RR is for you.

Bottom line: are you wanting to learn? Pathoma. Are you wanting to review and integrate? RR.

 

[JasonE]

doubt goljan would ever release an audio lectures. he's a great teacher no doubt, but a lot of his worth comes from him telling you the tricks/question on the boards.

if he released that stuff, the boards would be forced the change their questions faster and he would be left with more work

 

[Phlame217]

No idea on the audio. It was recorded and sent to his publisher but thats as far as I know. He's about to complete a 4th edition of his book for a late Q3 release from what he hints and it may be going out then.

 

[JasonE]

No idea on the audio. It was recorded and sent to his publisher but thats as far as I know. He's about to complete a 4th edition of his book for a late Q3 release from what he hints and it may be going out then.

interesting.

how does goljan go about figuring out whats on the exam? does he ask the students to report back after they took the exam? im curious, because if thats the case, I would like to suggest they do this at our school. seems like this happens in places around the country and would be a great advantage to the students at those schools

 

[secants]

Almost every prep course usually wants their students to give feedback post-exam to help them tweak their stuff. I'm sure it's akin to the Step 1 experience thread here.

 

[Phlame217]

He mentions some about feedback but most are just nuggets. He'll be in the middle of a explanation and just say "BTW, This is a board question guaranteed. They love this on boards"

Next thing I know, I am doing UWorld and sure enough its right there verbatim.

 

[MrBeauregard]

Hey, Phlame, how about draft up a nifty little Word document with those golden Goljan nuggets. That'd be sweet.

 

[JasonE]

He mentions some about feedback but most are just nuggets. He'll be in the middle of a explanation and just say "BTW, This is a board question guaranteed. They love this on boards"

Next thing I know, I am doing UWorld and sure enough its right there verbatim.

does he give a lot of the lectures? or is it spread out amongst lots of faculty.

I think one of the down falls of many medical schools is the sheer number of different faculty members that give lectures.

 

[Phlame217]

Haha I don't know if I could post his "nuggets."
We have to sign a legal NDA and can't record his lectures.

He gives probably 50% of lectures and then we have two other professors who give around 30% and 20%. He hits on the major systems such as cardio, respiratory, renal, endocrine... other professors do nutrition, lymphoid, etc.

 

[Dr.CCM]

I'm currently using both. Pathoma is a much better text to understand Pathology especially when used with the video lectures. It's also considerably easier to get through and much more streamlined that Goljan. I've found the doing Goljan Audio, Pathoma Book and video, you are pretty much set and get the best of both worlds. The main problem with goljan (well maybe it's not a problem) is that it is filled with SO much more information that pathology and as such it's very difficult to get through along with FA, GT, and qbanks.

With all that being said, I probably will read Goljan once through before the boards if not another time. If you manage your time with x amount of pages a day it really shouldn't be too bad.

 

[630670]

With Pathoma you get exactly what you need for the step 1, it is easy to get through and perfect to get the information for step 1.

I also felt that it was easy to get bogged down with Goljan because of the volume of information and not all of it is relevant for step 1 as Goljan mentions he has a lot of step 2 info in there also.

I'm currently using both. Pathoma is a much better text to understand Pathology especially when used with the video lectures. It's also considerably easier to get through and much more streamlined that Goljan. I've found the doing Goljan Audio, Pathoma Book and video, you are pretty much set and get the best of both worlds. The main problem with goljan (well maybe it's not a problem) is that it is filled with SO much more information that pathology and as such it's very difficult to get through along with FA, GT, and qbanks.

With all that being said, I probably will read Goljan once through before the boards if not another time. If you manage your time with x amount of pages a day it really shouldn't be too bad.

 

[dukejen04]

I LOVE Pathoma- easily the best $100 I spent this year and it's "quick"- you can get through a block of lectures in a few hours. I used it as I went along this year, and it really helped me lay the foundation at the beginning of each block. Then, toward the end of the block I did what I liked to call my "Study Walks"- where I'd take a 45min/hour long walk with Goljan. A pleasant stroll, just me and Ed. (Warning: People on the street might think you're insane when you start yelling out stuff like "Goodpasteur's" out of nowhere- I kept forgetting that I was in public and would answer his questions out loud to the stares of concerned citizens)

I agree Pathoma is an excellent foundation and way to learn it, but what's great about Goljan is the way he ties things together.

I may do a second pass of Pathoma, but am definitely planning another pass through Goljan audio once I've reviewed everything in FA, just because he helps me tie things together I may not have connected on my own. I don't care if it's old, it's gold.

 

[missmedschool]

Pathoma helps you learn pathology. It is a good primary text for learning purely pathology.

RR helps you integrate pathology with other subjects (i.e. physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, microbiology, etc). RR is good for a review of pathology (as the title implies) and is therefore tough to use as a primary source. If you have a solid pathology background and are looking to integrate the knowledge you already have with other subjects, then I personally think RR is for you.

Bottom line: are you wanting to learn? Pathoma. Are you wanting to review and integrate? RR.

Exactly. Pathoma would be great for me if my med school curriculum wasn't sufficient, but it is. I don't need to "learn" pathology because I'm already learning it. Therefore RR is my best bet because I want to go above & beyond in reviewing Path. In terms of RR book, I definitely wouldn't go through that if you're not going through it with your med school courses--it's too long. But I've been using it to go along with my med school courses & it's great. The Goljan audio is GOLD as well. I have come across literally hundreds of questions that I remember him talking about. It's kind of scary actually

 

[LeverArm]

Once and for all, all the people that have studied both books and have taken the step exam or about to take the stem exam scoring at least 240 or higher please respond..
​

please let me know what u thk about whose pathology is better and which one should i study from because i have the option of both but don't want to waist my time studying both.

Even if you can list chapter wise which book is better because im sure Goljin is better in some subjects than maybe Pathoma is would really appreciate it. Please dont hold back and help really decide between the two....

Please people who have taken the step exam or are closing to taking it respond so not only can u help me but also future sdn members who will have to choose between the 2 books.

After talking with 3 people that did amazing (>255), the answer became clear: First Aid + UWorld. Learn FA, not memorize, but LEARN. Ask yourself, do I understand why this particular line in FA is what it is or am I just memorizing without making sense? If you do not know the answer of why or of an important integration of the concept after doing Pathoma or Goljan audio then reach for... Rapid Review OR Pathoma OR BRS OR whatever (1 person told me he'd just Wikipedia'd the topic when he didn't get it) and try to figure it out.

So there will never be an answer but do what works for you just remember FA is the backbone.