Materials for step1 - some help appreciated!

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SzyMen

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Hi guys!
Next week i'm starting my prep for step 1 and i'm going to buy a lot of review books at a time and i'd like to ask You what do you think of those:
- Embryology - HY
- Neuroanatomy - HY
- Anatomy - USMLE Road Map
- Genetics - HY
- Histology and Cell Biology - BRS
- Behavioral Science - BRS
- Physiology - BRS
- Biochemistry - Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews
- Micro&Immuno - Deja Review
- Pharmacology - Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews
- Pathology - Rapid Review
- First Aid 2011
- Kaplan Videos
- DIT (is it better than kaplan vids?)
- qbanks

Do you think it's enough(too much)? Did any of you especially disliked any of these books? Do You think I should wait for FA2012 (or is it no difference which edition it is?)

Did any of You used such a variety of books for prep? (i'm asking because many of You are just reading Kaplan Notes..)

Thanks a lot!

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Hi guys!
Next week i'm starting my prep for step 1 and i'm going to buy a lot of review books at a time and i'd like to ask You what do you think of those:
- Embryology - HY
- Neuroanatomy - HY
- Anatomy - USMLE Road Map
- Genetics - HY
- Histology and Cell Biology - BRS
- Behavioral Science - BRS
- Physiology - BRS
- Biochemistry - Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews
- Micro&Immuno - Deja Review
- Pharmacology - Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews
- Pathology - Rapid Review
- First Aid 2011
- Kaplan Videos
- DIT (is it better than kaplan vids?)
- qbanks

Do you think it's enough(too much)? Did any of you especially disliked any of these books? Do You think I should wait for FA2012 (or is it no difference which edition it is?)

Did any of You used such a variety of books for prep? (i'm asking because many of You are just reading Kaplan Notes..)

Thanks a lot!

Hi

First things first: It's how you use your study material and not how many study books you have that determines how well you'll do :)

With that being said, here is what I think about the books you have listed:

- Embryology - HY: I used the BRS embryology book in conjunction with my gross/micro/neuro anatomy courses and thought it was overkill for step 1. For my step 1 studying, I used the embryology section in FA (2011) and found it more than sufficient for my exam.
- Neuroanatomy - HY: I used the BRS Neuroanatomy book when I took the class and once again, thought it was overkill for the exam. I think the following is important in neuro (minus neuropathology, neuropharmacology, ...):
"- Know your surface anatomy well. Any rigorous neuroanatomy atlas will do. If you don't own one, the BRS neuro-book, or wiki does just fine
- Know the blood supply to the brain! Try to complete this arterial tree: Vertebral arteries --> Basillar artery --> ? --> ? ... Know try to complete this arterial tree: Internal carotid artery --> ? --> ?; know how the circle of willis works
- Know the MAJOR tracts - Spinothalamic, DCML, corticospinal, ... and know the major nuclei of the thalamus and hypothalamus (Why is the VPM important? What is produced in the preoptic nucleus of the hypothalamus)
- Know your stroke syndromes: Wallenberg, anterior spinal, pontine, MCA, ACA, ..."

- Anatomy - USMLE Road Map - should be sufficient. Just make sure you review the clinical tid-bits and not get bogged down on every little minor detail (ex: origin of peroneus longus m. vs peroneus brevis m.)
- Genetics - HY
- Histology and Cell Biology - BRS - make sure you look at a lot of H&E and EM images. Know how to distinguish between cell types (cuboidal v. columnar) and all the blood cells (monocyte v. eosinophil); personally, I think the book is too much for Step 1 studying
- Behavioral Science - BRS - Question banks and first aid really complement this book well; just make sure to go through it fast and don't get caught up in a whole bunch of the little stuff presented in the book
- Physiology - BRS - a must have in my opinion! I used this book as I went through each organ system and as your knowledge of the step material gets better, you will only "refer" to this book every now and then and not be re-reading chapters!
- Biochemistry - Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews - I thought that the biochemistry in FA is a good outline for studying biochemistry for the Step 1. I think there are some holes in what is presented in FA (when is free glucose released from glycogenolysis vs. Glucose-1-P?). Don't get bogged down in structures, names of chemical reactions (schiff-base formation, ...) but rather focus on "clinically relevant" stuff (why does skin wrinkle as one gets older? how does this relate to collagen's structure?)
- Micro&Immuno - Deja Review - I did not like this book. I used BRS micro/immuno and clinical microbiology made ridiculously simple
- Pharmacology - Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews - a great book! Pharmacology is a wild card in my opinion and I think this book is a must. This book + Question bank questions on pharmacology = amazing!
- Pathology - Rapid Review - great book. Read each section as you review the organ system. Annotate pertinent details into FA and you should be golden :)
- First Aid 2011 - Should be the back bone of your studying
- Kaplan Videos - I didn't use these
- DIT (is it better than kaplan vids?) - I didn't use DIT. Assuming you put in a great deal of effort studying these study materials and use FA and the question banks appropriately, I would say DIT is of little use to you. But if you really want someone to regurgitate FA (just my opinion!) and want to shell out a couple hundred $ for it, then it's your call.
- qbanks - about 50% of your studying will come from here. I would suggest both USMLE world AND Kaplan and making notes on every question that you miss/get right for the wrong reason! This will help you fill in the gaps in your knowledge!

I hope that helps! :)
 
Hi

First things first: It's how you use your study material and not how many study books you have that determines how well you'll do :)

With that being said, here is what I think about the books you have listed:

- Embryology - HY: I used the BRS embryology book in conjunction with my gross/micro/neuro anatomy courses and thought it was overkill for step 1. For my step 1 studying, I used the embryology section in FA (2011) and found it more than sufficient for my exam.
- Neuroanatomy - HY: I used the BRS Neuroanatomy book when I took the class and once again, thought it was overkill for the exam. I think the following is important in neuro (minus neuropathology, neuropharmacology, ...):
"- Know your surface anatomy well. Any rigorous neuroanatomy atlas will do. If you don't own one, the BRS neuro-book, or wiki does just fine
- Know the blood supply to the brain! Try to complete this arterial tree: Vertebral arteries --> Basillar artery --> ? --> ? ... Know try to complete this arterial tree: Internal carotid artery --> ? --> ?; know how the circle of willis works
- Know the MAJOR tracts - Spinothalamic, DCML, corticospinal, ... and know the major nuclei of the thalamus and hypothalamus (Why is the VPM important? What is produced in the preoptic nucleus of the hypothalamus)
- Know your stroke syndromes: Wallenberg, anterior spinal, pontine, MCA, ACA, ..."

- Anatomy - USMLE Road Map - should be sufficient. Just make sure you review the clinical tid-bits and not get bogged down on every little minor detail (ex: origin of peroneus longus m. vs peroneus brevis m.)
- Genetics - HY
- Histology and Cell Biology - BRS - make sure you look at a lot of H&E and EM images. Know how to distinguish between cell types (cuboidal v. columnar) and all the blood cells (monocyte v. eosinophil); personally, I think the book is too much for Step 1 studying
- Behavioral Science - BRS - Question banks and first aid really complement this book well; just make sure to go through it fast and don't get caught up in a whole bunch of the little stuff presented in the book
- Physiology - BRS - a must have in my opinion! I used this book as I went through each organ system and as your knowledge of the step material gets better, you will only "refer" to this book every now and then and not be re-reading chapters!
- Biochemistry - Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews - I thought that the biochemistry in FA is a good outline for studying biochemistry for the Step 1. I think there are some holes in what is presented in FA (when is free glucose released from glycogenolysis vs. Glucose-1-P?). Don't get bogged down in structures, names of chemical reactions (schiff-base formation, ...) but rather focus on "clinically relevant" stuff (why does skin wrinkle as one gets older? how does this relate to collagen's structure?)
- Micro&Immuno - Deja Review - I did not like this book. I used BRS micro/immuno and clinical microbiology made ridiculously simple
- Pharmacology - Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews - a great book! Pharmacology is a wild card in my opinion and I think this book is a must. This book + Question bank questions on pharmacology = amazing!
- Pathology - Rapid Review - great book. Read each section as you review the organ system. Annotate pertinent details into FA and you should be golden :)
- First Aid 2011 - Should be the back bone of your studying
- Kaplan Videos - I didn't use these
- DIT (is it better than kaplan vids?) - I didn't use DIT. Assuming you put in a great deal of effort studying these study materials and use FA and the question banks appropriately, I would say DIT is of little use to you. But if you really want someone to regurgitate FA (just my opinion!) and want to shell out a couple hundred $ for it, then it's your call.
- qbanks - about 50% of your studying will come from here. I would suggest both USMLE world AND Kaplan and making notes on every question that you miss/get right for the wrong reason! This will help you fill in the gaps in your knowledge!

I hope that helps! :)

how come you started to prepare for step1 too late, and when do you take exam??
 
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I would skip the lippincott's biochem and pharm--unless you're very weak in those subjects. FA is prolly enough for biochem (fyi, most people, including myself, vastly overestimate the amount of metabolism on the test, UW, for instance, has more straight biochem than the real thing). I guess the lippincott's pharm is okay, but it's really better for a pharm course than step 1. It is an important subject though(although not emphasized on my exam), I think a good set of pharmacology flash cards is also useful for this.

As far as BRS behavior and cell biology go, they're prolly more than you need. Really, though, some of this depends on how strong your background is and how long you have to prepare.
 
Hi guys!
Next week i'm starting my prep for step 1 and i'm going to buy a lot of review books at a time and i'd like to ask You what do you think of those:
- Embryology - HY
- Neuroanatomy - HY
- Anatomy - USMLE Road Map
- Genetics - HY
- Histology and Cell Biology - BRS
- Behavioral Science - BRS
- Physiology - BRS
- Biochemistry - Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews
- Micro&Immuno - Deja Review
- Pharmacology - Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews
- Pathology - Rapid Review
- First Aid 2011
- Kaplan Videos
- DIT (is it better than kaplan vids?)
- qbanks

Do you think it's enough(too much)? Did any of you especially disliked any of these books? Do You think I should wait for FA2012 (or is it no difference which edition it is?)

Did any of You used such a variety of books for prep? (i'm asking because many of You are just reading Kaplan Notes..)

Thanks a lot!

Amazon.com will be ecstatic. :laugh:
 
I would skip the lippincott's biochem and pharm--unless you're very weak in those subjects. FA is prolly enough for biochem (fyi, most people, including myself, vastly overestimate the amount of metabolism on the test, UW, for instance, has more straight biochem than the real thing). I guess the lippincott's pharm is okay, but it's really better for a pharm course than step 1. It is an important subject though(although not emphasized on my exam), I think a good set of pharmacology flash cards is also useful for this.

As far as BRS behavior and cell biology go, they're prolly more than you need. Really, though, some of this depends on how strong your background is and how long you have to prepare.

I agree with this poster, except that I would add that if you can get a hold of a Lippincott biochem, I would just read the chapter summaries at the end of each chapter. These will help you nail many of the biochem questions in UWorld, which you would otherwise have much difficulty extrapolating from the diagrams in First Aid. But I agree that it is for the most part, unnecessary to read through the text comprehensively.

And yes, as this poster said, Lippincott pharm is kind of off-topic for Step 1. Between DIT (which you said you're going to do) and UWorld+FA, you will be covered for pharm.
 
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