How do you supplement Pathoma?

[Old Style Nanny]

Hello all,

I need this for a friend. I'm not familiar with Pathoma so I'm not able to answer her. She is an IMG so her basic sciences foundation is not excellent. She is presently preparing for Step 1 and is relying on Pathoma + FA solely for Pathology. However, she is quite stressed that it may not be enough for the exam. She hasn't started UWorld yet.

For those of you who had done Pathoma and completed the exam, what did you supplement it with? A cursory search on the forum reveals that Pathoma may be weak in metabolic diseases, genetic diseases, infectious diseases, central nervous system diseases and peripheral nervous system diseases.

Given that UWorld by itself has a ton of Pathology, would you recommend just Pathoma + FA + UW in spite of the shortcomings of Pathoma or would it be wiser to read specific chapters from RR Pathology or BRS Pathology? If so, which ones? What is the general consensus on this?

In other words, how would YOU supplement Pathoma?

Thanks in advance!

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[teenmachinery1]

If she really vibrates with Goljan's RR pathology then go for it! A lot of us find Pathoma more digestible. From all the pathology questions that I've done so far, Pathoma and First Aid is sufficient. After this is mastered, throw on some Goljan RR.

Start with: First aid + Pathoma +/- Goljan Audio. _then_ Goljan RR if she's ready for it.

 

[ijn]

I think she should supplement with the 2010 Kaplan videos where pathoma is weak. So watch the biochemistry, micro, and anatomy/neuroanatomy videos.

 

[Old Style Nanny]

I remember leaving out Kaplan videos altogether and going for RR + Audios for reasons I can't quite recall now.

Do you mean 2010 Videos + Lecture Notes or just the videos alone? And, are the videos good? I suspect I left out Kaplan because they were not very good?

Anyway, how was it on your exam? I suppose Pathoma seemed inadequate?

Thanks again!

 

[ijn]

I had a pretty good foundation from my basic sciences years, so I reviewed straight from the videos and made flash cards on what wasn't familiar. I didn't touch the lecture notes. I need someone to be talking to me to study for 8 hours a day. I'm not much of a textbook guy. Kaplan pathology is pretty bad. The rest is hit or miss depending on the topic. The video set requires a significant time commitment so maybe that's why you didn't use it.

I felt pretty good about the pathology portion of my exam, but I took kind of a shotgun approach. I listened to Goljan audios, I did pathoma, I did most of Kaplan 2010 videos, and I did a metric **** ton of questions.

 

[Old Style Nanny]

Ha ha, fair enough.

To clarify, you do still recommend using the Kaplan Pathology videos for the missing topics over just FA+UW (or) FA+UW+BRS (or) FA+UW+RR right?

 

[shan564]

The question of "what is enough" is really a matter of how hard you want to work. There's very little on the test that's not covered by FA, but Pathoma will teach it to you in more depth and will help you make integrations that are important for the test.

If somebody has the time and drive, then Rapid Review is a bit more thorough than Pathoma, but I don't think that's an efficient use of time.

 

[Szent]

For my exam last week, Pathoma + FA would have been sufficient to do above average. The areas that you mention to be weak in Pathoma are pretty well covered in FA and not something I would ever use RR for.

However, I found Goljan Audio + the blue text / pictures from RR to be an excellent supplement to the medium-yield diseases that are left out of Pathoma.

 

[alternatego]

I supplement Pathoma with RR, sort of a modified Taus method.

 

[Old Style Nanny]

Thanks Shan & Szent.

I supplement Pathoma with RR, sort of a modified Taus method.

Could you elaborate on this? What parts of RR do you specifically use over Pathoma+FA? The general consensus in the thread so far seems to be that Pathoma+FA covers "enough" for step 1.

 

[san2]

kaplan medessentials is enough for everything

 

[alternatego]

Thanks Shan & Szent.

Could you elaborate on this? What parts of RR do you specifically use over Pathoma+FA? The general consensus in the thread so far seems to be that Pathoma+FA covers "enough" for step 1.

I've done 1 pass of all RR covering both general principles and systems according to the Taus method + Pathoma - first take a quick glance at the Pathoma chapter, then listen to the lectures and do extensive annotations so I don't need to ever listen to those lectures again, then read the corresponding RR chapter and finally memorizing/reading/learning FA.

You should do a search for "Taus method" there is a (very old) thread with an attached .doc file that explains the method in a very detailed fashion.

I hope you find my advice useful; keep in mind that as an IMG I've had a long time to do my first pass, since I already finished med school.

 

[Old Style Nanny]

I've done 1 pass of all RR covering both general principles and systems according to the Taus method + Pathoma - first take a quick glance at the Pathoma chapter, then listen to the lectures and do extensive annotations so I don't need to ever listen to those lectures again, then read the corresponding RR chapter and finally memorizing/reading/learning FA.

Have you taken your exam? Did you feel the extra information in RR (over Pathoma, that is) actually translated into more right answers on the exam?

 

[24thGrade]

Not an expert here. However, RR was overwhelming for me and I have a good foundation. If you don't have a good foundation I cannot possibly see how RR wouldn't just appear to be simply a collection of thousands of facts to memorize. It is obviously much more than that but someone who isn't in the middle of their courses won't see that.
Pathoma is a amazing but I think it still assumed some decent foundation. However, it still might be the best choice and might be great if your friend can watch to the videos multiple times to try and integrate the information which I think will be the hardest part if her foundation is week.
I can't speek for the kaplan path but I used some of their videos for certain topics I found myself particularly weak in and thought they were great. They are (generally) VERY time consuming. Again though, you won't get as much out of any review material if you don't already have good exposure to the important concepts of the topic.

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

All you need is pathoma / FA / UWORLD for path. You can use your time to sure up your other areas