Pathoma

[dude1344]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Anyone use this and have any opinions? Dr. Sattar has been frequenting many schools recently and talking up his book. Does this add anything that can't be found in Goljan or FA?

 

[KSDeacon]

anyone else used pathoma who also recently took step? more reviews would be appreciated! thank you

My two primary book sources were brs phys and pathoma. When I started doing prep, not all of the videos were up and then it wasn't until the last 4-5 days that they were all available at 1.7x. However, I did read the book cover to cover as well as goin back and refreshing over some of the chapters before my exam. I ended up watching not quite half of the videos, but those that i did helped me more than anything else. I don't know what it is about dr. Sattar, but he has incredible ways of simplifying concepts and making it easier to understand path.
I had a very good score on step, and I think I could have added even a few more points had I been able to watch all his videos.

 

[lackli]

anyone else used pathoma who also recently took step? more reviews would be appreciated! thank you

I've reviewed pathoma on this thread before but wanted to post again because it might be more meaningful in the context of a score: 253

I used a bunch of resources over 7 weeks of dedicated studying: first aid, uworld, cmmrs, high yield neuro, brs phys, rapid review biochem and pathoma. Started out listening to some goljan audio and his RR path but it was too dense for me and i didn't retain enough.

Pathoma, first aid, brs phys and uworld were all great. There is only so much time and so much sanity to dedicate to step 1 studying. I think for someone who is aiming for a solid but not amazing score, it is best to hit up the high yield points multiple times and understand them well. I was pleasantly surprised with my score, goal was only 230+. For me this meant first aid multiple times and pathoma lectures twice through whilst annotating into first aid. I felt that I really had path down to an adequate level to do well on step 1 after this. I cannot reiterate enough how much more high yield pathoma is compared to goljan. I'm sure if you knew goljan through and through, you would end up doing better. However the sheer difference in the amount of effort to get through goljan vs pathoma wasn't worth it to me. Watching everything on 1.7x you can get through all his lectures in less than 1.5 wks comfortably without feeling like you are cramming etc.

Pathoma was especially invaluable for certain things. I killed general principles of pathology on step because Dr. Sattar breaks it down so simply and easily. He is also good at breaking down the repro cancers and benign pathology. He keeps pointing out what is high yield which is useful. Sometimes I didn't believe him but lo and behold I got a question on it on the real thing and I distinctly remember thinking to myself "huh...that was high yield after all". You might need to supplement some other areas like neuro and biliary; but that also depends on your comfort levels with those topics.

Finally I got the feeling that Dr. Sattar has gone through all the uworld questions/is familiar with them because he brings up topics/concepts that are very similar to what show up on that qbank. Maybe those topics are just high yield in general...but it just felt eerily similar. Maybe he also writes uworld questions? Anywho if you use pathoma and uworld concurrently, it might inflate your uworld score a little and give you some overconfidence heading into step.

 

[Syncity]

The course sounds great. I was wondering how long it took those of you who have covered it to complete the course (hours of day/ no. of days).

Thanks in advance.

 

[lmesina]

Not one critical review?

While I'm still contemplating getting started on Pathoma, I noticed that in rr path (I have hard copy) vs just the PDF sample of Pathoma book with Cell injury chapter, there are some things not included.

ex. explanation of methemoglobinemia in pathoma doesn't include congenital cause (cyt.b5 reductase defic.), it just says "oxidant stresses and in newborns. While rrPath explicitly states the congenital cause.

Are these differences not a big deal? I know most ppl just love Pathoma and they say nothing "important" is missing. So I guess this isn't a critical review as much as it is a critical preview. Any thoughts? 😕

 

[dude1344]

quick update - I decided not to use this for prep and just stuck with FA and UW. I scored 258. it looked nice tho and have heard good things so it might be worth a look.

 

[tco]

While I'm still contemplating getting started on Pathoma, I noticed that in rr path (I have hard copy) vs just the PDF sample of Pathoma book with Cell injury chapter, there are some things not included.

ex. explanation of methemoglobinemia in pathoma doesn't include congenital cause (cyt.b5 reductase defic.), it just says "oxidant stresses and in newborns. While rrPath explicitly states the congenital cause.

Are these differences not a big deal? I know most ppl just love Pathoma and they say nothing "important" is missing. So I guess this isn't a critical review as much as it is a critical preview. Any thoughts? 😕

Rapid Review Pathology goes WAYYYYY above and beyond what is expected to be known for Step 1. It's a book you can use to review all throughout medical school. I hope this helps.

 

[BelieveTheHype]

Do you get the whole book in a PDF format as well or just a hard copy?

 

[mrosediddy]

Do you get the whole book in a PDF format as well or just a hard copy?

You just get a hard copy of the book

 

[BelieveTheHype]

You just get a hard copy of the book

Well that is a bummer! Would be great to be able to carry around the book on an iPad/Kindle or be able to access the full text online (like RR does with StudentConsult). Kind of a deal breaker actually, as it's not always convenient to lug around books everywhere.

 

[Malpractice]

the book is pretty thin so that's honestly not a problem. it's so much easier to carry around than FA or RR.

 

[Alvarez13]

Well that is a bummer! Would be great to be able to carry around the book on an iPad/Kindle or be able to access the full text online (like RR does with StudentConsult). Kind of a deal breaker actually, as it's not always convenient to lug around books everywhere.

I think I'm going with this book and my plan will be to go to a copy center, have them unbind it, and scan it to pdf for me. This is easy and pretty cheap to do.

I have all my books and review manuals electronically for my tablet pc and write all over em. Love it.

 

[lmesina]

I think I'm going with this book and my plan will be to go to a copy center, have them unbind it, and scan it to pdf for me. This is easy and pretty cheap to do.

I have all my books and review manuals electronically for my tablet pc and write all over em. Love it.

what kind of tablet PC do you have? Right now I'm deciding between an iPad2, Kindle.. or a tablet PC I guess

 

[Daedra22]

what kind of tablet PC do you have? Right now I'm deciding between an iPad2, Kindle.. or a tablet PC I guess

You weren't directing this at me, but... I've had a couple tablet PC's and really like the HP tx2 (assuming you do a thorough removal of all bloatware after you get it). I also have the Acer a500 android-based tablet, which I highly recommend. These tools are very handy considering how many books we have to work with.

 

[Dr.CCM]

So, could this Pathoma course be used during M2 as a supplement to your pathology course? Or is it better to stick with RR for pathology in m2 seeing as it is more detailed than pathoma?

 

[Alvarez13]

what kind of tablet PC do you have? Right now I'm deciding between an iPad2, Kindle.. or a tablet PC I guess

PMed you tablet and software I use. I don't want to turn this thread into another "what PC should I buy...get a MacAir...Mac sucks...your mom sucks...etc" thread.

 

[nick_carraway]

So, could this Pathoma course be used during M2 as a supplement to your pathology course? Or is it better to stick with RR for pathology in m2 seeing as it is more detailed than pathoma?

Been using the videos for M2 path so far. It's amazing--integrates the material so much better than my lecturers, but then again I haven't taken an exam yet. If anything, so far Pathoma is bringing up more details than my classes so I'm thinking it should be a good supplement.

 

[Alvarez13]

Been using the videos for M2 path so far. It's amazing--integrates the material so much better than my lecturers, but then again I haven't taken an exam yet. If anything, so far Pathoma is bringing up more details than my classes so I'm thinking it should be a good supplement.

Does this book cover Immunology too? Is Immunology part of path?

 

[nick_carraway]

Does this book cover Immunology too? Is Immunology part of path?

So far I've seen immuno in the inflammation section and the videos pretty much pick out the best parts of Robbins when explaining it all. He goes into more depth reviewing immuno concepts when appropriate, and does it better than my lecturers. So far I'm a big fan!

 

[Alvarez13]

So far I've seen immuno in the inflammation section and the videos pretty much pick out the best parts of Robbins when explaining it all. He goes into more depth reviewing immuno concepts when appropriate, and does it better than my lecturers. So far I'm a big fan!

I'm looking for Immuno support and there's no consensus like MMRS for MicroBio or BRS for Physio, etc. It sounds like every book and class does a lousy job with it and it's a subject I have 0 background in.

 

[lmesina]

Just got the book in the mail today! So far, it's as concise and user-friendly as others have said. Planning on updating with the list of errata provided on the site soon (reasonably short list of errors).

Things I like:
-How thin the book is
-Large margins on every page
-Charts and figures are appropriate / easy to reference
-pictures standardized to bottom of pages

@ Alvarez / Daedra: been to Fry's 3x and Bestbuy 3x.. taking forever to decide but deciding on the Acer Iconia Win7 tab or the FujitsuQ550, but am willing to forego the touch feature for the new MacbookAir w/ Lion OS, it blew my mind!

 

[BelieveTheHype]

Just got the book in the mail today! So far, it's as concise and user-friendly as others have said. Planning on updating with the list of errata provided on the site soon (reasonably short list of errors).

Things I like:
-How thin the book is
-Large margins on every page
-Charts and figures are appropriate / easy to reference
-pictures standardized to bottom of pages

@ Alvarez / Daedra: been to Fry's 3x and Bestbuy 3x.. taking forever to decide but deciding on the Acer Iconia Win7 tab or the FujitsuQ550, but am willing to forego the touch feature for the new MacbookAir w/ Lion OS, it blew my mind!

Lion OS has had a negative reception in general, and there are many bugs that they need to iron out with future patches. Seems like Apple has taken the route to "iOSify" their OSX operating system and make it basically like a large iPhone with AppStore, apps, icon dashboard, etc. It doesn't have a touch screen, but I am sure you know that by now. You'll be basically learning a ton of "gestures" on their trackpad for your commands/navigation. If you are truly looking for a innovative touch tablet, your best bet would be the upcoming Windows 8 tablet, but I am sure you need something now. The best ebook reader would be something like Kindle, which makes use of eInk. It's very good on the eyes (almost like reading a paper), has great battery life, great viewing angles/no sun glare, but at the cost of having no color (but its in development and hopefully soon there would be a release). Anyways, I just thought to share my opinions, its yours to make in the end, best of luck.

 

[Shadowmoses]

Question about the videos. On the pathoma website, they recommend high speed internet 1.5Mbps to watch the videos. If you have something slower....like lets say 1.0Mbps, would that cause any issues? Can the videos be paused at the beginning so they can be buffered?

Also on their FAQ page on their site they mention that views of their videos are limited by chapter and set at an average of 8 views per subscription in each chapter. So the videos aren't unlimited then? It seems odd if you sign up to a year subscription but have limits on the content.

 

[hrandani]

I was really tempted to try this but a lot of this just doesn't seem to add up for me. I'm not a big fan of the ridiculous deluge of medical education videos available out there (Kaplan, DIT, I'm looking at you) but I was interested in ordering his book, which isn't available anywhere other than from him. I signed up for the free trial on his website but the videos don't work, the pdf excerpts aren't very impressive and there's a weird java app involved. Not a fan.

If the course was really such a great resource and he was interested in education over making a quick buck, I don't see why it wouldn't be available on amazon.

Sounds great, but until I know someone personally who recommends it, I'm not going to take the risk. I really wish there was a good hybrid between Goljan and Robbins though, but I don't think this is it. Speaking of which, the copy editor for Rapid Review needs a good keelhaul for letting Rapid Review Pathology get published in that state. Yeah, you can get used to it, but it's just so... badly written.

I think I'll be using that 100 bucks on a cache of Redline Xtreme instead.

 

[zeyad]

Hey guys. I've heard a ton of things about Pathoma and i'm eager to go ahead and purchase it. Unfortunately, I am in an area of the world that will make it impossible for the textbook to reach me anytime soon (and my exam is coming up!). I was just wondering if anyone knows if there is a pdf version of the book that is offered by Pathoma? I'm not looking to pirate anything, I'll pay the full membership fee, I just need access ASAP!

 

[mrosediddy]

Short answer: no.

 

[zeyad]

Yeah, I e-mailed them and got the same response...gotta wait. Trying to follow along/adding notes with First Aid in the meantime!

 

[jdmd1student]

Hey guys. I've heard a ton of things about Pathoma and i'm eager to go ahead and purchase it. Unfortunately, I am in an area of the world that will make it impossible for the textbook to reach me anytime soon (and my exam is coming up!). I was just wondering if anyone knows if there is a pdf version of the book that is offered by Pathoma? I'm not looking to pirate anything, I'll pay the full membership fee, I just need access ASAP!

I asked them directly about a pdf version but they told me that they do not have that yet. Nevertheless, the book arrived 2 days after I bought it.

 

[zeyad]

I asked them directly about a pdf version but they told me that they do not have that yet. Nevertheless, the book arrived 2 days after I bought it.

Same here, but it'll take waay longer than 2 days to reach me... ah well..i'll manage!

 

[DrPathodifficle]

After reading this thread I ordered Pathoma to replace my Kaplan Path videos and I AM SO HAPPY. I ordered on Friday and the book was here on Monday. (I also got email responses for Tech support for my Mac pretty much rite away, even on a Sunday!).

The lectures are amazing. I don't feel like I am memorizing anything, because everythign is somehow magically sticking. I feel like concepts are being drilled into my head somehow and his drawings are really helping and his repetitions! I really wish I had heard and used this during the school year!!!

 

[scummie]

I have been using Pathoma and Goljan. Think I like Pathoma better.

Pathoma:
Just makes sense. Dr. Sattar? is super gifted. Reading his stuff and then comparing to what we learn in class makes it a lot more intuitive and manageable. I like how I can click to certain topics. Way better than reading 600 pages of RR Pathology.

Goljan:
He's funny and basically right up there next to Jesus. His jokes can be annoying at times when I want to burn through an hours worth of audio. Also, there's no way to see what topics you're really going to be covering. If you want transcribed notes you have to find them elsewhere. This is something I listen to driving or walking around, doing dishes, etc.

 

[zeyad]

I just have to re-iterate what everyone else is saying. I've done a few of the videos so far and it has been fantastic! As others have said, Dr. Sattar somehow makes things stick and I honestly feel like I do not need to memorise random pathology anymore.. it all just falls into place. I highly recommend the videos (can't comment on the textbook yet) and for 100 dollars its gold! 😀

 

[kaleerkalut]

I just have to re-iterate what everyone else is saying. I've done a few of the videos so far and it has been fantastic! As others have said, Dr. Sattar somehow makes things stick and I honestly feel like I do not need to memorise random pathology anymore.. it all just falls into place. I highly recommend the videos (can't comment on the textbook yet) and for 100 dollars its gold! 😀

Are people reading the chapters first and then watching the videos OR are you watching the videos without having read anything and taking notes as you go along and then going back and reading the chapter?

Thanks 🙂

 

[MintChocolateChip83]

Are people reading the chapters first and then watching the videos OR are you watching the videos without having read anything and taking notes as you go along and then going back and reading the chapter?

Thanks 🙂

me personally i read the chapters, then watched the videos and took notes as i was watching them

 

[scummie]

Are people reading the chapters first and then watching the videos OR are you watching the videos without having read anything and taking notes as you go along and then going back and reading the chapter?

Thanks 🙂

Watching videos and reading along with book. The book has all the details you need. I didn't really think to take notes. Afterwards, I go back and read the book. If there's something that's really confusing still, I watch the video again. Anemia = FML.

 

[zeyad]

Are people reading the chapters first and then watching the videos OR are you watching the videos without having read anything and taking notes as you go along and then going back and reading the chapter?

Thanks 🙂

At the moment I'm just annotating everything into first aid from the videos and its working fine. Sometimes I've had to spend a short bit of time looking over the material again (post-video) to clarify a few things here and there but thats about it. I'll be switching to the Pathoma text book when I receive it though to save me some time, and I'll just be following along using that.. its a short book so it'll be a good high-yield read closer to the time..hope that helps!

 

[jdmd1student]

At the moment I'm just annotating everything into first aid from the videos and its working fine. Sometimes I've had to spend a short bit of time looking over the material again (post-video) to clarify a few things here and there but thats about it.

This is exactly what I did + Goljan audios and I'm doing great in the Question banks. I think that Sattar + Goljan = Perfect combination for Path (obviously USMLE oriented)

 

[Alvarez13]

This is exactly what I did + Goljan audios and I'm doing great in the Question banks. I think that Sattar + Goljan = Perfect combination for Path (obviously USMLE oriented)

Do you use the Goljan RR book in there too? I'm worried I won't have enough time for Goljan, class, and Pathoma. Love to listen to Goljan audio and keep at Gunner Training as well. Too much!

I began skipping all my classes last year and it was great. This year they're making us do some gay labs and more patient care stuff that keeps us on campus all day. I'll miss my study cave at home 🙁

 

[zeyad]

Do you use the Goljan RR book in there too? I'm worried I won't have enough time for Goljan, class, and Pathoma. Love to listen to Goljan audio and keep at Gunner Training as well. Too much!

I began skipping all my classes last year and it was great. This year they're making us do some gay labs and more patient care stuff that keeps us on campus all day. I'll miss my study cave at home 🙁

The only things I'll be using RR for are the images.. which are excellent. Perhaps I'll have a look at some of his high yield notes though (100 page, 46 page etc..) to just to make sure I'm not missing out on some key Goljan info.

 

[jdmd1student]

Do you use the Goljan RR book in there too? I'm worried I won't have enough time for Goljan, class, and Pathoma. Love to listen to Goljan audio and keep at Gunner Training as well. Too much!

I began skipping all my classes last year and it was great. This year they're making us do some gay labs and more patient care stuff that keeps us on campus all day. I'll miss my study cave at home 🙁

I read RR during the semester. I read each chapter 2x, with the exception of Environmental, which I only read once.

 

[netminder]

. . . I don't want to turn this thread into another "what PC should I buy...get a MacAir...Mac sucks...your mom sucks...etc" thread.

This is hilarious.

 

[lion2013]

this is an excellent resource. I'm a DO student that did well on both COMLEX and USMLE (250+). Goljan audio is good (a bit outdated), but I find that the book is far too detailed and does contain a lot of material that is not HY on the USMLE. One of the first intro pages from Goljan says that the book is intended to be a resource for both step 1 and step 2. Another knock against the goljan audio is that its from 10 years ago....the USMLE has changed a lot.

in terms of pathology, Dr. Sattar does an absolutely amazing job in terms of explaining the material and is ridiculously up to date. The book is good quality, huge margins to add notes and etc. Honestly, pathoma is totally worth more money. I paid $50 for the friggen book and lectures for 3 months. I really think it helped me for my prep. i wish he had came out with this last year so I would of had pathoma all throughout 2nd year. Additionally, I heard his students at Pritzker love him. Pathoma>Goljan from my perspective

 

[kaleerkalut]

this is an excellent resource. I'm a DO student that did well on both COMLEX and USMLE (250+). Goljan audio is good (a bit outdated), but I find that the book is far too detailed and does contain a lot of material that is not HY on the USMLE. One of the first intro pages from Goljan says that the book is intended to be a resource for both step 1 and step 2. Another knock against the goljan audio is that its from 10 years ago....the USMLE has changed a lot.

in terms of pathology, Dr. Sattar does an absolutely amazing job in terms of explaining the material and is ridiculously up to date. The book is good quality, huge margins to add notes and etc. Honestly, pathoma is totally worth more money. I paid $50 for the friggen book and lectures for 3 months. I really think it helped me for my prep. i wish he had came out with this last year so I would of had pathoma all throughout 2nd year. Additionally, I heard his students at Pritzker love him. Pathoma>Goljan from my perspective

For those of you who were able to get the discount on Pathoma, how long will the subscription last for? Thanks.

 

[lion2013]

My discount was ridiculously awesome. $50 gave me 3 months of access to the videos and the book. Pathoma + DIT + UW = Awesome. If you don't have a code, you can contact pathoma directly via email and ask for a promotion or something. For any 2nd yrs starting out, I'd highly recommend getting Pathoma for the year ($99) and a 1 year UW subscription. In response to one of the posters before, I believe the reason he doesn't sell his book on amazon is primarily b/c pathoma is considered a USMLE path prep course....the reason why you have Rapid Review by Dr. Goljan available on amazon and etc is b/c he published that book as a test prep book, not a course.Sure you can use the audio with the book, which I did 1st year and most of 2nd year, but I highly doubt Goljan intended his book to be used with bootleg audio recordings of his kaplan lectures....you don't see Dr. Jenkins selling his DIT manual on amazon. Nonetheless, everyone is different, but I haven't spoken to a single person that did pathoma and regretted it. Hope this helps and good luck to everyone!

 

[pbnj003]

for everyone that did/is doing how is this different from BRS.

I am in the same boat as a lot of you have a hard time reading through GOljan, just cant retain it enough and then it freaks me out thinking about how I am not able to remember anything i just spent 5 hours reading. But then what about BRS? have people stopped using that completely?

how would BRS compare to Pathoma? I hope people can chime in on this because the last thing I want to do is add another "source" to my studying....too many sources=pure craziness!

also have people just completely been turned off from using goljan. seems the more recent test takes are staying/running away from goljan.

 

[pbnj003]

PS I emailed them today asking for their "promotions" I got an email back saying they do not offer any promotions.

Disappointing. Unfortunately had i known about pathoma before maybe i would saved my money in other "sources" and spent it on this but after spending all that money cant really spend another 100 bucks on a new program. Too much!

 

[secants]

Well Pathoma refunded me about $20 when I mentioned about the promotion that people on SDN kept talking about.

The thing with Pathoma is that it's all about the videos and not so much the book itself; BRS is just another read-it-yourself review book to me.

Pathoma isn't detailed enough for my class so that's why I sue Goljan to fill in/annotate anything my Professors signify.

I personally haven't tried BRS but upperclassmen said it's great for the NMBEs and Step 1 ( since it's shorter than Goljan)

 

[thepoopologist]

I bought pathoma a week and a half ago to brush up on path because I was getting hammered with path pimp questions on rotations. I've finished the first four chapters and I like it, mainly for putting a lot of random facts I memorized the first two years into concepts and then explaining them in a simple fashion. His videos teach in a very similar fashion to Raymon and the Kaplan Pharm lectures I watched for Step I. Sattar integrates biochem and pharm into his explanations like Raymon integrated biochem and micro into his pharm lectures.

 

[Bluefiya]

cool

 

[pbnj003]

well the discount definitely didnt happen. oh well.

but still considering getting the book/videos....primarily becuase i have tried reading RR many times and have read through quiet a few chapters, but if I had to recall anything from that book now I wouldnt be able to. IDK its just a very tough book to digest, sometimes I find the baby robbins book to be an easier read than RR. Even baby robbins would be very time consuming but it seems like a simpler read for some reason.

So am I crazy to want to get the pathoma "course" for a 100 bucks even though im taking the exam in a couple of months? Is it worth it? Im scared that by not pushing through RR i might be missing out on something, but really how true is that?

PS I have never used RR before my dedicated study period, never knew about it until I started prep.

 

[Nasrudin]

well the discount definitely didnt happen. oh well.

but still considering getting the book/videos....primarily becuase i have tried reading RR many times and have read through quiet a few chapters, but if I had to recall anything from that book now I wouldnt be able to. IDK its just a very tough book to digest, sometimes I find the baby robbins book to be an easier read than RR. Even baby robbins would be very time consuming but it seems like a simpler read for some reason.

So am I crazy to want to get the pathoma "course" for a 100 bucks even though im taking the exam in a couple of months? Is it worth it? Im scared that by not pushing through RR i might be missing out on something, but really how true is that?

PS I have never used RR before my dedicated study period, never knew about it until I started prep.

I leave it to the new 3rd years for proof positive feedback.

But i cannot say enough good things about Dr. Sattar's path course. I use it with 2nd year courses. And it shrinks down the amount of effort sifting through crappy phd-written slides. I read the manual. Watch the video. And look over the manual. And then watch the video again sometimes.

Then as my lecture exam approaches I just skim the lectures. And all of the nonsensical phrases and strange factoids of the lecturer's individual mind emerge quicker into something that gives results.

Trying to make something out of a rambling poorly constructed 180 slide lecture is much easier with an understanding in hand. It also helps me rate the effort of how much it is worth going after the minutia of one phd's mind. If I sense something is way off the Step 1 map. And it would take me hours to memorize it. I grin and skip it. Cause Dr. Sattar has given me the pimp hand to smack it around like that. Feels good. Watching some useless lecturer try to drive me up a wall....and just saying...no thanks...f@ck you later.

Pimp approved.