Reading Goljan

[Gresh]

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Now that I have a little over 3 weeks left til my exam, I was just thinking: How the hell do people squeeze in reading Goljan for a system?

I mean, I study 10-12 hours a day so far for the boards, and most of the time is taken up by knowing first aid cold, doing questions, and more importantly spending a good period of time going back and reviewing stuff.

I say this, because I have read Goljan already in the past term in medical school, a long detailed read with having notes annotated into First Aid. For example, the GI section in Goljan is about 100 pages, there is no way in hell someone can do it in 2-3 days for a system review of GI. The time allocation is just so inefficient.

 

[Bifteck]

I would say Goljan is not worth your time. Keep doing what you're doing - FA/Questions/FA/Questions + repeat. If you don't get something, refer to Goljan.

I started looking through Goljan at first then realized it wasn't worth the time. Of course I haven't taken the exam yet (this Friday... can't wait) but I seem to be doing just fine on the practice tests.

 

[tco]

...I did Goljan and First Aid GI in two days.

It's all about how comfortable you are with the subject. It would probably take me 4 days to get through the tiny renal section of Goljan.

I also think, "Knowing FA cold," is a tremendous waste of time. If I can read through it and remember, "Oh yeah, I know this, thanks for reminding me, First Aid!" I believe that's what it's for. Memorizing every page and being able to regurgitate it is going to have limited use, IMO.

 

[blebb]

Goljan is pretty worthless for dedicated step 1 study unless you're a 250+ guy who knows everything is first aid in and out. There's more efficient resources out there.

 

[318038]

I feel like this year's step 1 takers are using/praising Goljan far less than people did last year. I also agree that Goljan is way too detailed for board purposes.

 

[deleted387928]

I took my step a few weeks ago and I used goljan, FA, and UW.

Here's my ranking:

1. UW
2. FA
3. Goljan audio
4. Goljan text

UW and FA got me all the memorized "gimme" points. Goljan audio added a few more. The goljan text helped me most with pathophys, physio, path pictures, and tougher path questions. I even remembered some pharm questions better b/c of him.

Goljan does have lots of unnecessary details, but it also has good details and explanations that supplements the information in FA.

I think I would have missed many questions on my step 1 if it weren't for reading goljan. The content of the questions is mostly in FA but I don't think I would have retained/understood the material without reading Goljan first. FA feels very hard to actually learn from. It's just memorizing page after page.

I definitely recommend Goljan if you're a dedicated studier and you want 240+ (which is most of SDN)

 

[xtina0]

I took my step a few weeks ago and I used goljan, FA, and UW.

Here's my ranking:

1. UW
2. FA
3. Goljan audio
4. Goljan text

UW and FA got me all the memorized "gimme" points. Goljan audio added a few more. The goljan text helped me most with pathophys, physio, path pictures, and tougher path questions. I even remembered some pharm questions better b/c of him.

Goljan does have lots of unnecessary details, but it also has good details and explanations that supplements the information in FA.

I think I would have missed many questions on my step 1 if it weren't for reading goljan. The content of the questions is mostly in FA but I don't think I would have retained/understood the material without reading Goljan first. FA feels very hard to actually learn from. It's just memorizing page after page.

I definitely recommend Goljan if you're a dedicated studier and you want 240+ (which is most of SDN)

does anyone know where I can get goljan audio from? A few sites have it for like $20+, should I just purchase it from there?
just wondering which source has the most recent version of his audio ?

Also I plan on using fa+usmle world+ goljan path... do you recommend using goljan physio too? anyother resources anyone recommends?

I would like to keep review sources to a minimum because I feel its better knowing something down cold rather than recalling a little from every source.

Any advice is appreciated

 

[blebb]

does anyone know where I can get goljan audio from? A few sites have it for like $20+, should I just purchase it from there?
just wondering which source has the most recent version of his audio or if it's available free anywhere?

Also I plan on using fa+usmle world+ goljan path... do you recommend using goljan physio too? anyother resources anyone recommends?

I would like to keep review sources to a minimum because I feel its better knowing something down cold rather than recalling a little from every source.

Any advice is appreciated

.

 

[xtina0]

.

 

[tco]

Thanks 🙂

Might want to delete your last post. Certain people get awfully upset if someone asks about downloading certain illegal lectures.

 

[xtina0]

Might want to delete your last post. Certain people get awfully upset if someone asks about downloading certain illegal lectures.

I dont mind paying for it at all, but all the sites I've seen the audio on look a little shady- if someone has a legit site to purchase it from I would appreciate it

 

[tco]

I dont mind paying for it at all, but all the sites I've seen the audio on look a little shady- if someone has a legit site to purchase it from I would appreciate it

Well, I'm pretty sure that pirated audio is illegal whether or not you pay for it.

The fabled audio is from a Kaplan lecture series.

 

[xtina0]

Well, I'm pretty sure that pirated audio is illegal whether or not you pay for it.

The fabled audio is from a Kaplan lecture series.

oh, I had no clue it was from kaplan, thanks

 

[username456789]

Now that I have a little over 3 weeks left til my exam, I was just thinking: How the hell do people squeeze in reading Goljan for a system?

I mean, I study 10-12 hours a day so far for the boards, and most of the time is taken up by knowing first aid cold, doing questions, and more importantly spending a good period of time going back and reviewing stuff.

I say this, because I have read Goljan already in the past term in medical school, a long detailed read with having notes annotated into First Aid. For example, the GI section in Goljan is about 100 pages, there is no way in hell someone can do it in 2-3 days for a system review of GI. The time allocation is just so inefficient.

Goljan was my primary source for going over each system's pathophys during Step I studying. It helped that I went over the book during the year, but by spending half the day doing Goljan, I could spend the other half doing UWorld questions (random timed blocks) and going over the relevant stuff in FA (relevant to what I read that day in Goljan).

If you know Goljan, FA is easy as hell. That way you actually know the stuff, and reviewing FA is just that, a review (and not some exercise in rote memorization).

 

[Gresh]

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[Celestine]

My thoughts exactly. I might not have the nit picky details memorized in Goljan but I reasoned out all the main pathologies and physiology to the extent that it has helped me reason out a lot of stuff in First Aid. Thanks to that, I am pretty much left with just memorizing Pharm, Micro and Embroyo...which by the way have no damn logic to them 🙁

Same here. Although Goljan even helped me out with micro, because he put all the relevant bugs for a system within each chapter. That man is really something. 🙂 But yeah, pharm and embryo suck, I will never feel confident with those...

 

[unsung]

When ppl ask "how the hell do you read Goljan?", I always want to ask "how the hell do you read FA?"

I find Goljan infinitely more readable (as long as you've referenced it during the school year).

I also agree w/ the poster above who noted that Goljan words certain key points in a way that allows me to remember them.

Sure, those same facts needed to answer a particular Q might be buried somewhere in FA... but I just find FA SO difficult in terms of knowing what's important. For ex, UC vs Crohn's... I felt like I actually learned the important differences reading through the Goljan section.

But enough whining bout FA. 🙄

How I'm getting through reading Goljan is to read the margin notes on the side. Then a day later listen to the audio on same section. Staggering it & getting that same material 2x seems to help a lot.

I also agree that if you know Goljan, FA is easy. Goljan has most of FA... but packaged much more nicely, imo.

 

[Dimdaf]

Everything that is Goljan is just High-Yield, you cant say that something in Goljan is not HY... Listen to the audio, read the hints on the lateral side and repeat, go through the text and repeat. Been through Goljan in a weekend is really HY (bullet point style) but at the same time very readable.... FA seems high school material after Goljan....

 

[Transposony]

I think people are comparing apples to oranges.
Both FA & Goljan are great resources for Step 1 but FA pays the price for keep it barebone while Goljan offers more material but pays the price with more pages/smaller print.
If you already know most of the material then FA is great for jogging your memory of HY topics.
If you don't know the material so well then Goljan is great for learning it.