step up or first aid

[Su4n2]

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hey guys, if i only want to annotate one book throughout my second year, can i use step up? we have systems second year so i thought it would be better. anything that is better in one book than the other?thanx

 

[lindyloohoo]

i was in the minority (I think) in that I used step up the most. We also had systems based curriculum so it was easier for me to integrate everything based on systems. I like that things were explained a little better in Step up. Also, I LOVED the bug appendix in the back. That said....First Aid is hands down better for anatomy, biochem, BS, and I'm not sure about pharm. I liked the Path better in Step up and it integrated pharm a bit into some of the path. I didn't like either for physio; supplemented BRS for that. You've gotta use them together. They both have their good points.

 

[mycin1600]

First Aid pwns all.

 

[Jalby]

Having read throught and used them both, first AID is a lot more complete than step up. I'd definately vote for it as your official source to write stuff in.

 

[trouta]

I used both as well. FA is a thousand times better. Step up also hasnt been long-term tested as a primary source for boards studying. Step Up doesnt have enough info. The thing that annoyed me most was that their "Quick Hits" didnt seem to be that key.

On a side note, newer versions of FA are becoming more systems oriented.

 

[Jalby]

I'm reading through step up right now (4 hours, done 55%) and there is a lot of stuff in there that is nowhere to be seen in first Aid. I'd say if you stil have time to take a read through it before your test.

 

[Stinger86]

I bought and used First Aid, but I did check out Step Up from our library and was really impressed by it. I loved the sytemic approach, but it didn't really tell me anything that First Aid hadn't already covered, so I didn't use it. Plus, First Aid for Step 1 has a great reputation among students, so I stuck with that, and it seemed to work out for me

edit:
Now that I just read Jalby's post.... ok, yeah there are some new things in Step Up, but to me they didn't seem like anything I couldn't get from any of my other review sources, so i didn't buy it.

 

[Jalby]

If you can read it in the library, I would say go for it. So far, I have read 154 pages of it today, and found ~7 major things that should have been in first aid which I wrote in, and about 7 minor things that I wrote in.

 

[gmendese]

I definitely think using both would be a huge help. I actually used Step Up as my primary guide, and then read the relevant sections in First Aid. It was a huge help for me. But just be aware, there are many things in FA that are not in Step Up (and vise versa). That being said, I think FA is more complete, but is also more of an outline. And Step Up may be lacking in some areas, but actually EXPLAINS things and has some nice micro and pharm tie-ins. I think using both would be your best bet. But who knows, I haven't taken the test yet (the 26th!!!)