Kaplan Vs First Aid

[taare]

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I am new to the forum and seek your advise. After reading other posts,
I realize a lot of people are using First Aid and I have read it about twice. Although, when I look back, its strange how i miss a few details here and there.
Exam is in 5 weeks and I am border line on my NBME.
When I am reading Kaplan, although taking a bit longer. Atleast I am understanding the material better. Foe example -
I havent seen First Aid talk about Biotransformation of Drugs in Phase II but may be talk about Slow Acetylators and their relationship to SLE while reading of one the three drugs.
On the other hand, people are mainly saying Pharm is adequate in FA for Step 1.

SO my question is --> Should I read Kaplan if I am aiming for a good score and especially when I only have 5 weeks left or Should I just keep on trying memorize whats in FA.
Please do note - I have been through Kaplan material once only when I took the live course...I do feel confident with some material but it hasn't improved my grade.

Please do note, I am 50% done on Uworld with only 47% Avg 🙁. I am feeling a bit discouraged.

I would really appreciate an advise from someone as to how to approach these last 5 weeks.

Thank you so much!!

 

[kryptik]

why not grind through the kaplan notes in 3weeks then revise first aid the next two weeks, all the while doing the remaining 50% of uworld you have left. They say your uworld scores dont matter much, just make sure you are learning from it. The nbme seem to be the best assessment and predictors around here. Good luck

PS: I am also studying for the exam, but thats what i would do in your situation.

 

[taare]

Thanks kryptik - Sorry, I forgot to mention, I am also planning on cramming in Goljan and hence the dilemma.

Is DIT a good idea w/ Uworld + Goljan at this point in time with only 5 weeks left.

Kaplan is good BUT its taking a crazy long time.

Any thoughts?

 

[kryptik]

might not seem like it but 5 weeks is a substantial amount of time and you can really improve if you put your mind to it.

You can go with DIT/uworld/Rapid Review - that will take 3weeks and gives you 2 weeks to revise

 

[IMGUSMLEStep1]

If you can go through all the Kaplan books in the time you have, by all means do that. However, if you can't, don't panic.
Here's what I suggest: Keep doing questions. Whenever you answer a question wrong, write down the topic or concept and read it's section in Kaplan or whatever Review book you're using for that subject (annotate into first aid if it's important). This should help learn more concepts while maintaining your focus on higher yield areas. Make sure to understand the concepts behind the answers for your questions.
DIT seems to be a good option. I personally haven't tried it, but from the reviews posted, it seems that it would be a good way to go through First Aid if you are having trouble understanding some of the topics in it.
Like kryptik said, 5 weeks can be a long time and if you really focus, you can definitely boost your score substantially.

 

[NRAI2001]

I am new to the forum and seek your advise. After reading other posts,
I realize a lot of people are using First Aid and I have read it about twice. Although, when I look back, its strange how i miss a few details here and there.
Exam is in 5 weeks and I am border line on my NBME.
When I am reading Kaplan, although taking a bit longer. Atleast I am understanding the material better. Foe example -
I havent seen First Aid talk about Biotransformation of Drugs in Phase II but may be talk about Slow Acetylators and their relationship to SLE while reading of one the three drugs.
On the other hand, people are mainly saying Pharm is adequate in FA for Step 1.

SO my question is --> Should I read Kaplan if I am aiming for a good score and especially when I only have 5 weeks left or Should I just keep on trying memorize whats in FA.
Please do note - I have been through Kaplan material once only when I took the live course...I do feel confident with some material but it hasn't improved my grade.

Please do note, I am 50% done on Uworld with only 47% Avg 🙁. I am feeling a bit discouraged.

I would really appreciate an advise from someone as to how to approach these last 5 weeks.

Thank you so much!!

So you ve done a live kaplan course, read the kaplan books once, and have read FA a few times?? How are you scoring on your NBMEs?

I think I would finish UWorld and then take an NBME to judge what level you re performing at... if you re within 10 to 15 points of your goal then just keep reviewing over and over again what you have done so far. If you re far from your goal... then 5 weeks is still a lot of time.

 

[taare]

Thank you all for the input. I'll try to grind through the Kaplan + Corresponding FA quickly and finish up Uworld and take an NBME b4 starting Goljan.
Although, I liked Kaplan Path and Dr. Barone was amazing live however, since everyone says Goljan audio is indespensable. I will try to squeez it in.

Thanks all!!! Appreciate the support 🙂