how many review books is enough?

[chef]

i will be m2 this yr and was making a list of review books to use during the school yr and later study for step1.. but this dang list is getting bigger and bigger! here r some:

stepup
FA
UCV series (all)
HY series (all)
micro ridic simple
med micro & immuno
brs phy
brs path
lippincott biochem
lippincott pharm
neuroanatomy atlas
pulmonary pathophys
renal pathophys
pathophys for boards&wards
robbins path
kaplan books
qbank

...

this is like 40+ books!!!! 😱 😡 even if i buy soem of em used this is still some serious $$$

question is am i really gonna have time to study and use all of these books?? do people actually go through in detail all these books? whenever upperclassmen post "board books for sale" ads in my school most of em say "spotless hardly ever used".. lol anyway i'll be swamped w/ school notes also.... m2 yr hasnt even started but i'm already freakin.. lol

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[neilc]

i am studying for step 1 right now, and i think that you should get FA, kaplan q-bank and then 1 good review book for the major subjects. i have so many books that i never really used, just cause i was freaking out. personally, i think that if you get one book and learn everything in it, you will do awesome...and it will be much easier to study.

my recs, in order of importance:
q-bank
first aid
BRS path
BRS phys
pharm cards
micro rid simple
BRS biochem
hi-yeild behavior science
anat rid simple

use these books when you take the classes, just learn them cold. then, for the usmle, review them a few times while doing practice questions, with an emphasis on the sections that you don't do so well on.

other books will have the same info in them, so just find the ones you like, and keep it simple. what you need to do well is in just these few books, IMHO.

 

[JP2005]

i agree with the above books..except for anatomy, get high yield (GA, NA, embryo)....i would also consider Pathophys for Boards and Wards by Ayala and Spellberg (something like that)...it was an excellent book.....

 

[neilc]

i forgot pathophys for the boards and wards...awesome book. an easy and interesting read, with tons of info. buy it, read it a few times for sure. lots and lots of practice questions come right out of this book, so i assume the real test will have lots too! this would be right up there after q-bank on my list.