Must-have books for USMLE Step 1

[Qwest]

Hi- Browsed through this forum but couldn't find much info.

For those who've taken the USMLE step 1 and did well, could you list the books that are absolute "Must-haves"?

BTW, are Kaplan materials any good? Like the QBook or Review Books (8-book set)? I found some used for ~$80.

Thanks-

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[doc05]

first aid is good. the kaplan books are good and $80 is an excellent price, so long as the books are fairly new. they take a while to read, so plan your schedule accordingly.

 

[Harrie]

I took Step I in June. I did pretty good, not a super star but good enough (256/99).
Here are the books I used, to varying degrees (ranked 1-5, 1 being the most helpful)

First Aid 1
Kaplan Q-Bank 1
BRS Path 2
BRS Phys 2
High Yield Behavioral Science 3
High Yield Anatomy 3
High Yield Neuro 4-5
Neuro Made Ridiculously Simple 3 (very simple, but sufficient)
High Yield Embryology 5
Lippincott's Pharm Cards 2
Bug Cards 2
Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple 4

The essentials are First Aid and Q-Bank!!! DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF FIRST AID!!!!! I didn't believe that it could be that good, but it is. If you are running out of time towards close to the test, STUDY FIRST AID. I cannot stress this enough. Also, do a lot of questions. Q-bank is definitely worth the $120 or so. I didn't buy any of the Kaplan textbooks. I knew some people who did and I wasn't too impressed with them.

Good Luck!

 

[Jaded Soul]

Originally posted by Harrie
I took Step I in June. I did pretty good, not a super star but good enough (256/99).

I'd hate to go to school where you are if 256 is just "good enough."

 

[Skrubz]

i agree with harrie for the most part on book selection. here's what i used back in 2002...

First Aid
BRS Path
BRS Physio
Lippincott's Pharm
Pharm Cards
Micro Made Ridiculously Simple
High Yield Behavioral Sci
HY Gross Anatomy
HY Neuro
HY Histo
HY Embryo
Lippincott's Biochem
BRS Micro/Immuno (only the immuno section)

i also went through the kaplan notes once but didn't feel it was all that helpful personally. qbook was ok but qbank was excellent and if i had to go bare essentials, i would choose first aid, brs path and qbank.

i didn't do quite as well as harrie but did manage to tag a 252/99.

 

[firecracker]

I'm sorry... I was under the impression that 256 is an AMAZING score. Are you being sarcastic or do you go to a school were 100% of the students are gunners???

 

[firecracker]

Is high yield really good enough for anatomy, and neuro? They look like pretty small books.

 

[Skrubz]

my take on it is that anatomy on the step 1 is a combination of gross, neuro, histo, and embryo. and anatomy itself is only 1 of 7 disciplines tested on the exam, so i figured that they couldn't test that much on the really nit-picky details. i got lucky though, and didn't have too much anatomy on my exam. or at least not too much that i didn't know.

 

[doc_strange2001]

If you know all the material in the First Aid you will at least pass. Add Kaplan Q bank and you are over 220. Alot of questions come out of these two sources near ver batum