pathology Rapid review

[Tastebuds]

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How many people honestly read the entire RR book....and how long did it take. I am only half way through the book....and it seems soooo cumbersome. I have already forgotten the chapters I read at the beginning. After reading the book....how did you consolidate the important info? I have been highlighting in the book....and planning to go over only the highlighted portions of the book again. But honestly, everything is mostly highlighted!!!!😱

 

[WhoisJohnGalt]

How many people honestly read the entire RR book....and how long did it take. I am only half way through the book....and it seems soooo cumbersome. I have already forgotten the chapters I read at the beginning. After reading the book....how did you consolidate the important info? I have been highlighting in the book....and planning to go over only the highlighted portions of the book again. But honestly, everything is mostly highlighted!!!!😱

I'll tell you what I did, but it's DEFINITELY time-consuming. As I read each chapter (most of them for the second time, since I'd been using them with coursework), I took notes on my computer of only the info that wasn't in FA, was high-yield, and I didn't already know. I imagine if you look through what you've highlighted, a good chunk of it you really already have down, and a good chunk of the rest is in FA.

Anyway, using that method, I had each chapter down to 1-2 pages, and I was able to read through that ~35 pages a few more times before the exam. I also used post-its for the most important charts (again, making sure that they were high-yield charts that I wouldn't find elsewhere of info I didn't already have down). Good luck!

 

[Old_Mil]

How many people honestly read the entire RR book....and how long did it take. I am only half way through the book....and it seems soooo cumbersome. I have already forgotten the chapters I read at the beginning. After reading the book....how did you consolidate the important info? I have been highlighting in the book....and planning to go over only the highlighted portions of the book again. But honestly, everything is mostly highlighted!!!!😱

I've read it straight through 2x, with a third pass through the tables and margin notes. I was reading a chapter a day...the advantage to that is I basically ignored all the most commons, the buzzwords, and the pathology in First Aid...so I guess all my eggs are in one basket so to speak.

 

[flumazenil]

hello, I was/am in the same boat as the original poster. Then i decided a great way to tackle this book that worked for me- if you have less than 3 weeks of prep then ignore this post. I also did a chapter a day. There are 25 chapters I think so i spend almost an entire month on the book. But with each chapter I also reviewed the physiology/biochem/pharm that is relevent for the first few hours. Then i thoroughly went through the chapter a few times to finish the day ( 5..6 hours) then at the very end of the day i went through an entire review of the pathology and the supplemental physio/biochem/embryo/pharm that was relevent to that chapter. Then on weekends I went through 6 chapters a day so on a saturday and sunday i would finish roughly 1/2 the book and the other saturday sunday the other half.

 

[flumazenil]

Also, I hope I am not the only one who found the "most commons" annoying. I really really enjoy this book, and I feel that i am making connections with other material much better with this book, but the " most common" correlates he mentions are just downright annoying in my opinion. It seems there are 5 most common causes of a certain disease in 2yr age bracket interval, and combine that with the different geographic areas and temperatures...etc etc "most common cause of disease x in a 5 yr old living in northern missouri when the sun is out" as compared to most common cause of disease x in a 10 yr old living in central missour when it is dark outside"-annoying!

 

[Ashers]

I read it through once while annotating FA with basically anything FA didn't have in it (so that was a lot). It took me 5 study days to read, with time in there to do about 100 Qs/day.

 

[Tastebuds]

Did you find it hard to annotate in FA when there are sooo many explanations that Goljan gives to the pathogenesis of each symptom to each disease? Do you recommend I start (since ive already finished half of the book) annotating in FA? The questions that I do in Qbank get annotated in my FA book. I dont know if thats the way to go....but that is what ive been doing so far. Any advice?

 

[aesop]

It's been mentioned before, but going through RR path while listening to the audio allows you to highlight the important stuff and even cross out whole sections where he says "this will not be on step I" (assuming you believe he knows what he's talking about).

 

[psychobob]

I tried RR, but found it way to cumbersome and difficult to digest. I really like BRS and I believe its more than enough to do well. Many many people have scored 99s using BRS, so it really isn't as mediocre as some make it out to be. Of course, there is a problem with the lack of mechanisms but FA takes care of that. I also use Goljan audio so it really fills in the gaps. The questions in UW also help alot.

Don't get me wrong. RR is gold for step 1 and even step 2. But I think it's poorly structured making it difficult to read and memorize.

 

[Acherona]

"most common cause of disease x in a 5 yr old living in northern missouri when the sun is out" as compared to most common cause of disease x in a 10 yr old living in central missour when it is dark outside"-annoying!

lol that totally annoyed me as well. Anything can be the most common something if you include enough qualifiers.

I read one chapter a day of RR over the course of a month. Actually I skipped a bunch of days so it took me a bit longer. It takes a long time to read thoroughly including all the tables.

 

[Roy7]

lol that totally annoyed me as well. Anything can be the most common something if you include enough qualifiers.

I read one chapter a day of RR over the course of a month. Actually I skipped a bunch of days so it took me a bit longer. It takes a long time to read thoroughly including all the tables.

I kinda felt I had a ton of most common's on my exam - I'd say 90 percent of which were answered by RR.

I guess they're kinda ridiculous, but someone down at USMLE headquarters thinks we need to know stuff like that.

 

[Old_Mil]

...based on what I saw, RR Path was overkill. For that matter, BRS path would have been overkill. Step Up Path was about all you needed to know. Oh, and every word ever written about Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

 

[Tastebuds]

...based on what I saw, RR Path was overkill. For that matter, BRS path would have been overkill. Step Up Path was about all you needed to know. Oh, and every word ever written about Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Ive heard that the HY molecular bio book is very useful...should I buy it???? I have 3 weeks left to study for the exam.

 

[Taus]

Ive heard that the HY molecular bio book is very useful...should I buy it???? I have 3 weeks left to study for the exam.

its only around 100 pages (the older, 1999 edition) so it shouldn't take too long to get through.....so...yeah...you should probably get it if you're weak in cmb

 

[Old_Mil]

Ive heard that the HY molecular bio book is very useful...should I buy it???? I have 3 weeks left to study for the exam.

Absolutely. I've heard people recommend the older edition (which I've never seen), but given the amount that was on my test, I'd get the newest, most comprehensive resource available and memorize the heck out of it. Keep in mind, however, that the type of test you get is the luck of the draw...yours may not end up being like mine. I took a gamble on the % of stuff that would involve cell bio and got burned.

 

[Tastebuds]

Can anyone tell me the newest edition and auther of HY cell and molecular bio....I am going to take everyone's advice and buy it

Thanks for your help guys

 

[Arctic Char]

here you go: Ronald W Dudek, High Yield Cell and Molecular Biology


to contribute to the subject of the thread - i have 12 days with which to complete RR path. front to back. i've already read probably 2/3 of the book at least once, some parts twice. so that works out to about 50-60 pages per day. add to that the corresponding chapters from robbins question bank and i'll think i should be in good shape.

at least . . . i hope . . . if anyone has a comment on this approach i'd love to hear what you think . . . (i start path next week, so i'm interested in getting input before i'm knee deep)

 

[strongson]

i don't recommend the new edition of hy cmb. as has been said before, it is riddled with low-yield, esoteric minutiae that will not be tested on. you will make yourself miserable trying to wade through all the worthless info in that edition. go with the 1999 edition. couple that with a good biochem resource and you'll be as prepared as you can be. don't forget that step 1 isn't a regurgitation exam. you'll more likely see simple concepts tested in twisted ways. to answer these questions, you need a firm conceptual knowledge base and some confidence.

Can anyone tell me the newest edition and auther of HY cell and molecular bio....I am going to take everyone's advice and buy it

Thanks for your help guys

 

[Tastebuds]

So I guess the old edition is the best way to go? I already have the biochem. kaplan book.....is that enough? Are there any question banks out there that would help with cell and molecular bio?

 

[Pewl]

Do you guys really read all of Rapid Review Path along with the Goljan lecture notes while listening to the Goljan audio?? That seems way overkill!

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Do you guys really read all of Rapid Review Path along with the Goljan lecture notes while listening to the Goljan audio?? That seems way overkill!

No such thing.

 

[Pewl]

No such thing.

I guess it's important to take what people say on this site with a grain of salt. I remember there were people recommending all these books for anatomy, like Gray's Anatomy for Students and Baby Moore's. It turned out all I really needed was Netter's and the school syllabus to do fine!

Anyhow, did Goljan's audio match up with the 36 and 100 page notes, at least?

 

[Jay Jay]

I guess it's important to take what people say on this site with a grain of salt. I remember there were people recommending all these books for anatomy, like Gray's Anatomy for Students and Baby Moore's. It turned out all I really needed was Netter's and the school syllabus to do fine!

Anyhow, did Goljan's audio match up with the 36 and 100 page notes, at least?

I wouldn't worry about it. I know 260s who swear by BRS Path + BRS Physio and felt that it prepared them incredibly well (w/o Goljan). If you like the format of Goljan, do it up. If you like the BRS style (as long as you cover the physio/biochem aspects) you're fine, as well.