How long does it take you to read big robbins, REALLY?

[laxman310]

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Big Robbins is a beast. I find that I can get through between 7-12 pages an hour, with an average of about 9. I would rate my understanding/recall of the material a 7-8 out of 10. How bout the rest of you guys?

 

[medhacker]

Big Robbins is a beast. I find that I can get through between 7-12 pages an hour, with an average of about 9. I would rate my understanding/recall of the material a 7-8 out of 10. How bout the rest of you guys?

You are not doing big robbins for boards, right?

 

[Knicks]

Would using Big Robbins this way be efficient?:

Go through Goljan RR along with his audio, and if there's any confusion/unclarity about a particular issue, then just refer to the appropriate section in big robbins.


Any input from experienced members here (ie: have already taken the Step 1 with a 90 or above score) will be appreciated.

 

[DOCTORSAIB]

Would using Big Robbins this way be efficient?:

Go through Goljan RR along with his audio, and if there's any confusion/unclarity about a particular issue, then just refer to the appropriate section in big robbins.


Any input from experienced members here (ie: have already taken the Step 1 with a 90 or above score) will be appreciated.

Yes.

Focus on hammering in RR and Dr. G's audio for Step 1. Much more high yield than reading big daddy Robbins.

G'luck.

 

[Long Dong]

I know alot of people who did well on the exam with out reading big robbins.

 

[laxman310]

No one answered my question.

But to answer some of yours,

I am doing the reading with class, but I am also doing the question book. I just wanted to know how fast people read.

 

[DragonWell]

I've never timed my reading of Robbins, but I know it's way slow, which is why I've retired Big Robbins for Rubin's Path. I actually timed my reading of Rubin once, and I read about 4 pages in 15 minutes. Rubin seems to be a much faster read and I can then skim Robbins and get much more out of it that trying to wade through the minutia. Seems to work for me.

 

[SoCuteMD]

I got about 5 pages/hr. In retrospect, not the most EFFICIENT method. That being said, however, I seem to have much better recall of pathology than most of my peers.

 

[QofQuimica]

Big Robbins is a beast. I find that I can get through between 7-12 pages an hour, with an average of about 9. I would rate my understanding/recall of the material a 7-8 out of 10. How bout the rest of you guys?

I am a faster-than-average reader with good retention, and I would estimate that I read this book at about the same pace that you do. Of course, it depends on how well I know the topic already and how dense that particular section is. (The cancer chapter is the most painful one I've read so far. 😛 ) I also read the Robbins atlas along with the book, and I limit myself to only reading it for 30 minutes at a time so that I don't lose focus. My goal is to read the entire thing just because it's a good book and I actually enjoy reading it, but we'll see if that happens before I have to start studying for boards.

(Don't all you USMLE gurus go jumping on me. I'm not using big Robbins to study for boards, just answering the OP's question!)

 

[DOCTORSAIB]

(Don't all you USMLE gurus go jumping on me. I'm not using big Robbins to study for boards, just answering the OP's question!)

Not that someone with the highest MCAT score known to man needs my advice BUT did you ever consider using BRS Path or Rapid Review Path by Dr. Goljan as well?

 

[QofQuimica]

Not that someone with the highest MCAT score known to man needs my advice BUT did you ever consider using BRS Path or Rapid Review Path by Dr. Goljan as well?

Do you mean for my path course? I swear, I am probably the only person in my entire class that does not even own one or both of these books yet, let alone have it all annotated up already. I do plan to get one of them to use during the month I study for boards, but I seriously can't imagine reading *another* path book on top of Robbins right now.

P.S. I'm sure I speak for many of the second years when I say that I'm very happy to have your advice; thanks for sticking around to help us out. 🙂

 

[lord_jeebus]

I think I read about 20 pages an hour, followed by a second-pass on another day where I would slowly focus on areas that I thought were important and make flash cards about important facts.

It should go without saying that this didn't have much to do with Step I prep. I also would skim the relevant chapter from BRS Path afterwards to see if I overlooked any important facts.

 

[lankysudanese]

reading Robbins is great, as long as you don't end up spending most of your time studying path and ignoring the other MS2 courses (micro, pathophys and pharm).
depending on how strong the path course is at your school, you might not even need to supplement it with Robbins, BRS, Goljan, RR or whatever else is out there.

but if u've got all the other topics covered, and have the free time to try and master path, then reading big Robbins would be terrific (regardless of your pace).

 

[DwyaneWade]

Q is right about BRS Path being popular here!

I stopped reading Robbins after our renal module, it usually would take me a little over an hour to get through a chapter but it was an exhausting hour!

I much prefer BRS with supplementation with flipping through Robbins and looking at the pictures.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I got about 5 pages/hr. In retrospect, not the most EFFICIENT method. That being said, however, I seem to have much better recall of pathology than most of my peers.

That's pretty close to my speed. It's definitely not a quick read and probably not super efficient, but I like to start my studying with reading denser material, so it works for me.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Goljan Audio + RR Path + U Utah Webpath = Pathology nirvana

 

[DOCTORSAIB]

Goljan Audio + RR Path + U Utah Webpath = Pathology nirvana

👍

Looks like we come from the same school of thought!

I'd probably throw in Robbins Review question book in there too.

 

[DOCTORSAIB]

P.S. I'm sure I speak for many of the second years when I say that I'm very happy to have your advice; thanks for sticking around to help us out. 🙂

You're very welcome!

I actually enjoy talking about the boards...so expect me to be here well into retirement time...haha.