Recent Usmle Takers...Did goljan Help

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
B

bnoosha

Senior Member
10+ Year Member
5+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2005
Messages
140
Reaction score
0
Members do not see this ad.
Hi I was just wondering if goljan audio and his 2 pdf documents (general path and systemic path) were helpful for those you took the USMLE recently.

I have been trying to go through his notes and audio...but I want to see if it is as resouceful as many ppl say it is.

Any feedback is appreciated!
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
His pdf's suck, but his audio + his RR Path book are golden, not strictly for the USMLE but for your knowledge in general. I think his RR book is very good for 3rd year as well as Step 1.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Goljan was a great complement to FA - I liked listening to it as I studied and marking additional points in each section...
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I used his PDF's, which were helpful, though not ground-breaking.

I mostly used just FA and UWorld, which I really really liked and recommend highly.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
anyone feel like they needed add'l supplement to goljan's and FA for path material? any suggestions?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
i used goljan rapid review textbook but no audios or pdfs. i thought it was possibly the greatest book i used for the step 1 overall and i just took the test last week so i cant give you an astronomical 99 score to make you believe i know what im talking about so you'll just have to believe me
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
How high yield is the audio? It seems like 37 hours of time is a HUGE committment, especially when you probably have to listen to the audio at least 3-4 times in order to remember everything and get the most out of it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I think the benefit is being able to listen to the audios when you otherwise wouldn't be studying. eg: at the gym, in transit, while you cook, etc
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
yeah, the problem though is that I'm not really an auditory learner so it'll be easy to just tune out Goljan while I'm engaged in running, cooking, etc. I listened to one of his lectures (it was on O2/lung stuff) and while it helped make a few connections I hadn't made before, I only learned about 3-4 additional facts from the hour. Sure, it'd be great to use if I had time, but the fact is, I am already crunched for time on the Boards. I think I am just going to have to pass on Goljan and hope it doesn't make a signif difference in the end.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I found both the pdfs and the audio files really helpful. I listened to audio whilst cycling to work, and studied the pdfs during the crunch time (2 weeks prior to the test). I would say, about 10 or so questions I would not have been able to answer if it had not been for Goljan's stuff (pdfs, as well as audio!).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
um, i only have the audios. how/where do you get the pdfs? that would help me follow his lectures.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
funshine said:
um, i only have the audios. how/where do you get the pdfs? that would help me follow his lectures.
Click to expand...



The book is better, get his RR pathology book, all with PICs included and all.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Because I studied exclusively from First Aid (Qbank like 20% of the questions, but not sure I learned anything from that), know I forgot some stuff that was in First Aid and appeared on my Step 1 exam, and got a 245. If I hadn't forgotten those things, the score likely would have been a bit higher.

I basically focused on memorizing First Aid (read it something like 6 or 7 times).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
nevercold said:
Because I studied exclusively from First Aid (Qbank like 20% of the questions, but not sure I learned anything from that), know I forgot some stuff that was in First Aid and appeared on my Step 1 exam, and got a 245. If I hadn't forgotten those things, the score likely would have been a bit higher.

I basically focused on memorizing First Aid (read it something like 6 or 7 times).
Click to expand...


How did you compare to the rest of your class academically? perhaps what you knew before you read FA 6-7 times is what makes the difference in your case.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I was probably just above the middle of my class, although my school typically averages like 233 on Step 1. That being said, I sure felt like I had forgotten everything when I started studying and had a ton to learn. But I felt like nearly 90% of the questions were on material that was presented in First Aid. Again, I practically had that book memorized, so it was easy for me to judge what was or wasn't covered as I was taking the test. There were a few details of biochemistry that were not covered and a few details of microbiology that were not as well covered. I'm not saying this will work for everyone, but using First Aid as a benchmark is very reasonable. I found I studied best by finding one source to know very well and First Aid did the job for that.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
nevercold said:
I was probably just above the middle of my class, although my school typically averages like 233 on Step 1. That being said, I sure felt like I had forgotten everything when I started studying and had a ton to learn. But I felt like nearly 90% of the questions were on material that was presented in First Aid. Again, I practically had that book memorized, so it was easy for me to judge what was or wasn't covered as I was taking the test. There were a few details of biochemistry that were not covered and a few details of microbiology that were not as well covered. I'm not saying this will work for everyone, but using First Aid as a benchmark is very reasonable. I found I studied best by finding one source to know very well and First Aid did the job for that.
Click to expand...


How would you describe the composition of your exam? percetange wise you know, path, phys, etc, was it similar to the percent composition of FA?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Maybe a little more physiology than I expected. If I had to guess, I'd say 20% biochem, 10% micro, 40% phys, 30% path? Pretty balanced.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Again, I say First Aid is great for Step 1. That being said, if you are struggling somewhere, I'd use another resource to understand that area in a different way, but then maybe go back to whatever you are using as your standard to organize the information. If you read once through First Aid, once through Kaplan notes, once through everything, I'm not sure if you'd get the same sort of memory of the information as if you study one source repeatedly. That being said, if there is anything to augment some, it might be the biochem and the microbiology. Of course, since path/phys are the majority of the exam you also have to consider where your time is best placed.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
nevercold said:
Again, I say First Aid is great for Step 1. That being said, if you are struggling somewhere, I'd use another resource to understand that area in a different way, but then maybe go back to whatever you are using as your standard to organize the information. If you read once through First Aid, once through Kaplan notes, once through everything, I'm not sure if you'd get the same sort of memory of the information as if you study one source repeatedly. That being said, if there is anything to augment some, it might be the biochem and the microbiology. Of course, since path/phys are the majority of the exam you also have to consider where your time is best placed.
Click to expand...


Makes perfect sense
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
medhacker said:
The book is better, get his RR pathology book, all with PICs included and all.
Click to expand...

i know, i wish i had gotten his book earlier as I've been using BRS path which I'm not a huge fan of...

but I have two more months to study for this exam, and I'm still in class with finals in March, so I really only have 3 weeks exclusively devoted to Boards study after finals, and I don't know if that's enough time to really make use of RR Path.

thoughts?
I'm willing to shell out however much money it takes for a better score, I just don't want to overwhelm myself with books, b/c I agree with nevercold, it's better to repeatedly study one good source and know it cold.

-funshine
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
UCLAstudent said:
Not a chance
Click to expand...

Agreed. Almost every year someone on SDN asks this hypothetical question.

Let's get something clear here guys: YOU CANNOT LAND A 250 WITH JUST FA! To make such a claim is absurd and very misleading.

The bulk of the exam may be in some way PERIPHERALLY related to FA but you need more depth to answer most of the questions on Step 1. The info in FA is WAY WAY too superficial (esp for Path).

So those of you entertaining the idea, you're taking a HUGE risk. At bare minimum you should be using the following:

FA
BRS Path/RR Path
BRS Physio
HY Cell & Mol. Bio
UW or Qbank for questions.

G'luck!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Interesting that you included HY Cell & Molecular but nothing specific to pharmacology, biochemistry, immunology, or microbiology (or anatomy or embryology for that matter). Is that because you feel these subjects are covered adequately in FA to "get all the questions" from just that source, or because you feel that cellular and molecular biology is more highly represented in USMLE questions?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
osli said:
Interesting that you included HY Cell & Molecular but nothing specific to pharmacology, biochemistry, immunology, or microbiology (or anatomy or embryology for that matter). Is that because you feel these subjects are covered adequately in FA to "get all the questions" from just that source, or because you feel that cellular and molecular biology is more highly represented in USMLE questions?
Click to expand...

Good question.

Most of the subjects (except maybe immuno) are either adequately covered in FA/online Qbanks that people do (UW, Kaplan, etc) or are overall "low yield" subjects (anatomy, embryo, pure biochem).

IMO, Cell & Mol. Bio is not really low yield nor is it covered in sufficient depth and detail in anything but the HY book (save big a$$ textbooks).

Remember, what I listed was for people who want a MINIMALISTIC approach to Step 1.

And to emphasize that "just FA" is not enough to land a 250.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
UCLAstudent said:
Not a chance
Click to expand...

Agreed!

DOCTORSAIB said:
Agreed. Almost every year someone on SDN asks this hypothetical question.

Let's get something clear here guys: YOU CANNOT LAND A 250 WITH JUST FA! To make such a claim is absurd and very misleading.

The bulk of the exam may be in some way PERIPHERALLY related to FA but you need more depth to answer most of the questions on Step 1. The info in FA is WAY WAY too superficial (esp for Path).

So those of you entertaining the idea, you're taking a HUGE risk. At bare minimum you should be using the following:

FA
BRS Path/RR Path
BRS Physio
HY Cell & Mol. Bio
UW or Qbank for questions.

G'luck!
Click to expand...

DOCTORSAIB said:
Good question.

Most of the subjects (except maybe immuno) are either adequately covered in FA/online Qbanks that people do (UW, Kaplan, etc) or are overall "low yield" subjects (anatomy, embryo, pure biochem).

IMO, Cell & Mol. Bio is not really low yield nor is it covered in sufficient depth and detail in anything but the HY book (save big a$$ textbooks).

Remember, what I listed was for people who want a MINIMALISTIC approach to Step 1.

And to emphasize that "just FA" is not enough to land a 250.
Click to expand...


I really really liked the HY Cell and Molecular biology book. I agree with the book list above as a bare minimum. I MUCH preferred Rapid Review to BRS Path, but I know UCLAStudent (aka Step 1 superstar!) used BRS path and really liked it. I liked BRS Phys and REALLY liked the Cases and Problems book. I used the MicroCards for micro and made my own for pharm.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I've noticed a strong emphasis on cell & molec bio on the practice NBME exams. That all being said I was wondering if it would be okay to study from an up-to-date version of this book or should I try to find the '99 version as I hear this was the best year of the book.

If so, where would I go to get such an old out-dated book??
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
overfiend06 said:
I've noticed a strong emphasis on cell & molec bio on the practice NBME exams. That all being said I was wondering if it would be okay to study from an up-to-date version of this book or should I try to find the '99 version as I hear this was the best year of the book.

If so, where would I go to get such an old out-dated book??
Click to expand...

The old edition is too expensive now, it's not worth the cost.

Get the newer edition, but be aware that it's a bit bloated. If you're reading something and think "there's no way they'd test this," you're probably right.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Hey lord_jeebus:

Turns out I was able to find the '99 edition. I ran across it in my bookstore and they were selling it for $10 bucks.😀 What a steal!

The new verion was like $28 + tax.

I guess I won't have to worry about weeding out all that extra info they put in the newer edition!:banana:
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
DOCTORSAIB said:
Let's get something clear here guys: YOU CANNOT LAND A 250 WITH JUST FA! To make such a claim is absurd and very misleading.
Click to expand...

I agree with this statement. however I also think it should be mentioned that most people aren't going to have a prayer of landing a 250 regardless of what they use. The majority of people who take the test study fairly hard for 4-7 weeks and get through at least two to three resources and a question bank. Yet the average has historically been around 215-218. There is no magic resource folks use that get them a higher score than everyone else -- if there were, everyone would be using it. And so I have to wonder whether there are probably quite a few people who are going to do as well as they ever would solely using FA. Sad but, I think probably true.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Law2Doc said:
I agree with this statement. however I also think it should be mentioned that most people aren't going to have a prayer of landing a 250 regardless of what they use. The majority of people who take the test study fairly hard for 4-7 weeks and get through at least two to three resources and a question bank. Yet the average has historically been around 215-218. There is no magic resource folks use that get them a higher score than everyone else -- if there were, everyone would be using it. And so I have to wonder whether there are probably quite a few people who are going to do as well as they ever would solely using FA. Sad but, I think probably true.
Click to expand...

Words right out of my mouth.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
USMLE -
Replies
1
Views
1K
shemer77
S
Diana888
Looking for USMLE Tutor
Replies
0
Views
361
Diana888
Diana888
T
USMLE RX qbank
Replies
0
Views
393
Tesselate
T
J
USMLE Step 1 Anatomy HELP!!!
Replies
0
Views
1K
jstargirl17
J
A
USMLE Step 1 resources for sale
Replies
0
Views
2K
accurate_branch20
A
Top