I attended lecture and sorta paid attention or just read through the slides. It was helpful to know what was being covered (for instance, we covered a few things like muscular dystrophies in our musculoskeletal course that were in First Aid, but in the basic science section rather than the MSK/derm section). It's also good to have a primary source handy for some stuff. Other than that, I did not study from lecture at all (unless certain information wasn't available in any of my other resources).
Also, as cheesy as it sounds, bear in mind that it's not just about passing the test. At least at my school, going to lecture gave me a chance to meet some of the physicians I'll be working with in 3rd and 4th year, and the physician lecturers often gave us some clinical pearls of wisdom that will definitely come in handy. And sometimes it is genuinely interesting/fun.
However, the bulk of my studying for exams was as follows in this order:
- Anatomy review if needed: First Aid (FA) + UMich website
- Embryology: High Yield Embryo + FA
- Physiology: Costanzo + FA
- Pathology: Pathoma videos, Goljan book, very occasionally referenced Robbins, + FA
- Micro: Sketchy + FA
- Pharm: Sketchy + FA
- At end of block: all relevant USMLERx and Kaplan questions - did one pass through, took handwritten notes on stuff I got wrong, waited a few days, then redid all incorrects
