Kaplan USMLE Lecture Notes

[Fusion]

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How good are the Kaplan lecture notes/subject review books for Step 1? I have heard some good things about the Q book, but have not hear much about the review books. How thorough are they? Are some subjects covered better than others?

 

[btlwhulka]

I've just started with Kaplan and I'm reading about ten pages of Biochem each night followed by listening to 1 hr of the lecture notes. Reading Kaplan is good, but the Online Lectures really fill in the blanks. I teaches things on the most basic level and ensures you have solid fundamentals in each subject.

Opinions vary about every board review program, but I think Kaplan is a must have.

 

[mjl1717]

Adding to what was said biochem is probably one of Kaplans strongest subjects.

 

[lilmo]

I've just started with Kaplan and I'm reading about ten pages of Biochem each night followed by listening to 1 hr of the lecture notes. Reading Kaplan is good, but the Online Lectures really fill in the blanks. I teaches things on the most basic level and ensures you have solid fundamentals in each subject.

Opinions vary about every board review program, but I think Kaplan is a must have.

How good are the books if you do not have the lecture notes to fill in the blanks? All I've got are the books and don't want to waste time on them if they won't be useful.

 

[thegoogler]

Does anyone have Kaplan's MedEssentials? What do you think? How are the practice questions? Thanks.

 

[Akscal]

I started using it and I have found it to be pretty informative more so than first aid. But I have been trying to find the online exercises that the book talks about and I cant find it. Do you know anything about that? What do you think of it?

 

[janker]

Hey guys,

Where did you get the MedEssentials book? Did you have to subscribe to the online service as well? Can I get the book on its own?

Thanks

 

[AtomKr]

How good are the books if you do not have the lecture notes to fill in the blanks? All I've got are the books and don't want to waste time on them if they won't be useful.

I find that I skip over a lot of important stuff without the lecture emphasis, and there are a lot of things emphasized in the lectures that aren't clear to me on first reading. The information is all there in the notes, but the context and the major implication is sometimes missing. If you don't want to pay for WebPrep to go along with your notes, check the USMLE thread here...I'm guessing there's someone who can probably hook you up with some audio files. Also keep an eye on Ebay.

 

[DrPak]

I myself use the video files. These used to be pretty common in Pakistan a while back but they're tougher to find these days. I agree with AtomKr, the videos give you the context, often-times it even emphasizes what you really need to pay attention to. My pharma book is very heavily annotated with little things Anthony Trevor adds to the concepts. They speed up your progress tremendously.

 

[lilmo]

I skimmed through my Kaplan books, and luckily for me (i hope!) the last owner seemed to take nice neat notes from lecture. Do you think this will be enough without the actual lectures? I also have about a million BRS books that I could use instead. Which would you recommend?

 

[Pollicis]

I borrowed the kaplan pathology book and compared it to BRS, and BRS is more comprehensive by far.