Kaplan review books and online lectures?

[Scooby Doo]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I was wondering if anyone got these review books from kaplan? Or is looking into the online lectures as well...

Is this just way too much information to try to get through..
Or is first aid enough of a "review"?
In looking at it, i think I might need more of a detailed explanation of how things work...

Any input would be great!

Thanks

 

[Olanzapine]

The only worthwhile thing from Kaplan (I have heard) is q bank. If you really want to do the lecture thing, I've heard that most people don't get much more out of it then it just forcing them to keep some sort of schedule. Use q bank and first aid, then open up a BRS, high yield, or step up book to look up stuff you don't understand. Kaplan makes a lot of money by selling it's products, I wouldn't reccomend anything more then q bank from them though.

 

[BOOYAH]

I hate Scooby. He is a nutcracker.

 

[Scooby Doo]

Hey booyah... Don't be mad cuz I schlupped your girlfriend when you were out of town this weekend.

 

[ckent]

Dude. USMLE--> focus. I hope this isn't how your group study sessions go scoob. 😉

 

[Scooby Doo]

Originally posted by ckent
group study sessions... scoob. 😉

Yea..they've been good to me....I was in one with 4 women...but they got tired out...so I had to move on to better things...

 

[jed2023]

Originally posted by Olanzapine
The only worthwhile thing from Kaplan (I have heard) is q bank. If you really want to do the lecture thing, I've heard that most people don't get much more out of it then it just forcing them to keep some sort of schedule. Use q bank and first aid, then open up a BRS, high yield, or step up book to look up stuff you don't understand. Kaplan makes a lot of money by selling it's products, I wouldn't reccomend anything more then q bank from them though.

Come on now, have you even used the lecture notes for Kaplan? Some of their material for specific subjects is arguably superior to anything else available in the general market, i.e, the books listed in the back of first aid. Depends on which subjects you are talking about, I'd say. (Their path kind of sucks but their anatomy and biochem are awesome, in my opinion.) It also depends on which Kaplan review materials you are referring to: the Lecture Notes are not the same as their Home Study Notes, for example.

Having said all this, it is probably best to choose one set of books (whether from the recommended ones from first aid or from a review company), and then stick with them.

 

[Maple]

jed2023,

Do u happen to know which of the kaplan notes are better? ...

thanks

 

[Jalby]

Way to much information. You were suppose to learn it the first time in med school.

 

[Scooby Doo]

Originally posted by Jalby
You were suppose to learn it the first time in med school.

Next time I guess I won't study drunk...

 

[Gibby Haynes]

Q-bank, Q-bank, Q-bank!!!! The review books sucked because they were to lengthy.

 

[giznut12]

Get the Kaplan books and use BRS or Goljan for pathology along with Qbank and you will be golden. Then use First Aid to review.

 

[jed2023]

Originally posted by Maple
jed2023,

Do u happen to know which of the kaplan notes are better? ...

thanks

I prefer the lecture notes because they are more concise and seem to be more clearly written. The biggest difference between the two is that the lecture notes are written in a more streamlined fashion (economicial prose, some sections in outline form, lots of diagrams), while the home study books are more long-winded. Some people prefer the extended prose though, depending on how much background knowledge they are starting with, when they start their boards review. Several of the posters that keep on harping "they are too long, they are too long" probably are referring to the Home Study Notes. But once again, and as usual, no one so far is being very precise with their comments.

The lecture notes also SEEM equally long, but when you consider their page density (how many words they fit onto the average page), they are pretty close to the standard review books, if not shorter in total word count per subject. They use huge margins for people to add notes and they have lots of diagrams, more than most review books (except for the Lippincott Illustrated Series, which rules in this area among medical review books.) To be specific, Kaplan Pharm from the lecture notes is shorter than Katzung or Lippencott. Kaplan Micro is shorter than Levinson's Micro book but probably not shorter than Ridiculously Simple. Biochem is definitely shorter than Lippincott Biochem but not as short as BRS biochem.

 

[The Pill Counter]

jed is absolutely right. I just wrote Step 1 last week and used the Kaplan lecture notes for review. The biochem, immunology, and pharmacology are excellent, but you can't start revision two weeks out. You do need time to get through all the sections, but coupled with QBank, and First Aid, I felt well-prepared. Definitely recommend the lecture notes.

 

[Kosmo]

I used the home study books from Kaplan, along with q-bank, and I perused First Aid for pharm and Micro Made Ridiculously Simple for anti-microbials.
Actually the Kaplan Micro section was very good, I just needed a boost to remember all those bloody antibiotics.
But for the organ systems and all the 1st year stuff the Kaplan books were great...

... but, way expensive. Try buying a used set from a 3rd year, or buy one on eBay. $500 is quite steep.

 

[NebelDO]

we got the books as part of our upcoming kaplan course in may. its like 9 books..i hope i will be able to make it through all or most of them..right now ive been trying to nail down first aid and i read like half of Micro made ridiculosly simple last night.i think once im done with first aid i will start to tackle those lecture notes. Our administration is really encouraging us to get Qbank as well. i believe the majority will..

man i wish i had some kaplan stock..those guys make a fortune!!

 

[musicphan]

Originally posted by jed2023
I prefer the lecture notes because they are more concise and seem to be more clearly written.

On Kaplan's website, I don't see anything called "lecture notes" or anything that fits the description presented earlier. Where can I find the lecture notes?

Here is a link to a page with Kaplan's choices. If the lecture notes are not one of these, please tell me where I can find them. Thanks.

 

[jed2023]

Originally posted by musicphan
On Kaplan's website, I don't see anything called "lecture notes" or anything that fits the description presented earlier. Where can I find the lecture notes?

Here is a link to a page with Kaplan's choices. If the lecture notes are not one of these, please tell me where I can find them. Thanks.

The Lecture Notes are not available through Kaplan's website directly (unless you take one of their courses), but they are regularly sold on ebay. The 2002 edition, a set of 3 huge books, usually sells for around $150 new and the 2003 edition (divided into 7 thinner books) usually sells for around $350. If you buy used editions, however, which usually have some highlighting or underlining, prices generally drop by 20 to 30%.

If you are interested in checking out the books, I'd recommend finding someone at your school that has them, if possible, and borrowing them for a few days. Probably not a good idea to plunk down that much money unless you know what you are getting.

Also, if you do eventually go the ebay route, you should check seller's feedback ratings before purchasing. If a dude has a feedback rating of less than 95%, you probably should move on and find another seller. The same caution also applies to new sellers that have sold fewer than 10 items, although most of these people end up being fine.

 

[12R34Y]

you can absolutely NOT find kaplan on ebay anymore. kaplan will yank them for copyright after they are up for a couple of days.

gotta get them some other way now.

later

 

[Spang]

http://search.ebay.com/search/searc...e&ht=1&sosortproperty=1&from=R10&BasicSearch=


45 items matching "kaplan USMLE" for sale on ebay right NOW

 

[jed2023]

Originally posted by 12R34Y
you can absolutely NOT find kaplan on ebay anymore. kaplan will yank them for copyright after they are up for a couple of days.

gotta get them some other way now.

later

Not quite sure what possessed you to make such a statement. Yes, Kaplan occasionally does "yank" products off ebay but, as I understand it, this is generally because there has been a direct coypright infringement. As in someone selling illegal copies of Q bank on CD or audio recordings of their lectures.

Normal books, whether from Kaplan or any company, usually get through just fine. And, as far as I know, they don't make you sign a waiver that says that you will not resell their products after taking their courses.

 

[Spang]

Actually Kaplan does restrict the use and sale of their written and electronic media. I forget the exact wording of their legalese, but you agree when you purchase (I just ordered the Q review) that the books, CDs, etc are the intellectual property of Kaplan and they agree to license them to you, and you only, for your use and thus cannot be shared or sold by you, as they remain "owned" by Kaplan and only licensed to you, the buyer.

It's crap, I know, but that's what it says.

That being said you can buy them on eBay and I've even seen people offering Qbank questions for sale (in Word format), though I'm not sure that's an effective was to study, in addition to being REALLY illegal!

Best,

Spang

 

[The Pill Counter]

The books were a great help, but not worth $500. If they hadn't been on eBay, I would have just chosen another resource.

 

[12R34Y]

GO ahead and try to buy them off of ebay and see what happens..........i'm speaking from personal experience.........as of about 1 year ago you CANNOT BUY THEM ON EBAY.

yes, you'll see them, but go ahead and bid on them and wait the few days. trust me they will be yanked before the end of the sale.

i tried to sell my three volumes of kaplan books and it went for 3 days and then they yanked them for copyright.

CAN'T GET ON EBAY.

later

 

[The Pill Counter]

Well, I bought mine off eBay in May, and I was twelve hours away from selling it on eBay today, until I yanked it b/c someone on SDN ended up buying them.
I'd feel like a sucker if I was stuck with $200+ books I couldn't sell and didn't need anymore.
1234Y - try posting on SDN in Classifieds, that's how mine moved. I still have people emailing me. PM me if you want to reply to them and offer your set instead.

 

[Spang]

http://search-completed.ebay.com/se...ry=kaplan+usmle&krd=1&completedonly=1&from=R8

130 COMPLETED AUCTIONS matching the terms "kaplan USMLE"



YOU CAN BUY THEM ON EBAY, go ahead and try.

 

[Kosmo]

I'm surprised at this too. I sold the Kaplan (home-study) books myself for over $300 on eBay less than a month ago.
I think you do need to be careful in the description particularly with publication year and whatnot; like don't advertise "2004 Kaplan books" just because you bought the latest edition in 2004, the most recent publication was in '01 or '02.

So anyway, I'm living proof that you can still sell Kaplan books on eBay. I even encouraged my buyer to re-sell them once she finished with them.

 

[12R34Y]

well folks......i've tried twice in the last 6 months to be specific to sell my kaplan 2002 three volume lecture notes and after about the 3rd-4th day they yanked it for copyright. I've had numerous friends (at least 4) try to sell in the last 3 months and they have all without exception been yanked and the auction has been cancelled.

glad you guys had luck with them. just my experience.

p.s. i've already sold them regardless of ebay.

they're not hard to unload.

later