Is first aid enough for Step 1?

[demspawn]

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I have been preparing with one book per subject but some books really go into detail.
So I was wondering if anyone who has passed the Step 1 (and has done pretty well, since unfortunately I need a competitive mark) knows if the First Aid book is enough for the Anatomy + Neuroanatomy review.

Is it ok by itself for any other subject (eg. pharmacology or microbiology....?)

 

[BatmanMD]

first aid is definetly good enough for anatomy, histo, and probably cell. For neuro, it covers the biggest points, but there are no pics in first aid (what i can remember) about neuro. Ex: where are all CN located at on the base on the brain, what lesions will take out what CN or spinal tracts... things like that.

First aid is also pretty strong in pharm, which most people feel weak in.

That said, you will need review books to study from. DO NOT just use first aid. Use a couple books, when you get tired/bored of one, switch to a different one that says the same things differently, to make things sink in better.

good luck!

 

[kcrd]

I used first aid as my only source for histo and embryo, and that's about it. I found high yield neuroanatomy to be good for neuro review, if you are looking for a neuro review book to buy, and for anatomy, I used 2 different clinical cases books (can't remember the titles, but if anyone is interested, I could find out.)

 

[Dr.Linus]

kcrd,

Can you find out the titles of the clinical cases books and let me know?

Thanks.

 

[kcrd]

I used Blackwells Underground Clinical Vignettes and Platinum Vignettes for Anatomy. Both were much easier to get through quickly than high yield anatomy (which I purchased but didn't use).

 

[frog4brooke]

I used First Aid, and Step Up-What I did was read through and mark flash cards of the stuff I did not remember real well from 1st and 2nd year.

For the subjects that I was a little weak at I used High Yield. I did review some of BRS phys, cause well its not really my favorite subject.

I would do questions from an old Kaplan Q-book (not bank!) and a set of Board Simulator series.

I all I spent ~ 8h/day X 5d/week X 3 weeks

Felt like I failed the test when I walked out-in the end I was in the 220s.

Get the books you are going to use for USMLE and start looking over them during 1st and 2nd year-Make notes in the margin, write down pneumonics. During 1st/2nd year I copied the pages of first Aid and glued them onto flash cards.

Good luck-

B

 

[Dr.Linus]

kcrd,

Thanks for the info.

 

[demspawn]

Thank you for the info guys.
i have studied for each subject at least one review book and have enriched the margins of the 1st aid with extra info from those books. It is only that as I get closer to my date I cannot handle reading one book per subject and need more crammed info.

BTW the First aid of 2003 (That I have), has plenty of Neuro pics, including the ones mentioned on the posts.

Thanks again,
D.