Straight From First Aid???

[buddindoc]

hi,
Something has come up and I kinda have to tweak my study schedule for Step 1 a little.Does any one know if there are any subjects that I can study straight from the first aid or the hi yield series. I dont have the time to go thru all of the kaplan books and brs.(especially pharm)Please help me out here
thanks

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[DireWolf]

I take Step 1 in June, but I've heard from a lot of people that the following are adequately covered in First Aid:
Anatomy
Embryo
Histo
Pharm
Micro
BioChem

Many also suggest supplementing with the following if you really want to score high on these subjects:
Anatomy - HY
Embryo - HY
Pharm - Kaplan
Micro - Micro MRS
BioChem - Kaplan

It really depends on how high you want to score. I'm sticking with First Aid and Micro MRS for the subjects mentioned above. I might read HY Anatomy/NeuroAnatomy once just to cover all the bases. But I've heard that students notoriously overstudy Anatomy/Histo/Embryo/Neuro.

I'd like to hear from more people who have taken Step 1.

 

[buddindoc]

sounds vvvv good!!!
thanks for the info..lets hear from more ppl

 

[Smurfette]

I would highly recommend getting HY Behavioral Science and reading it once cover to cover...it's a skinny book you can easily read in a day and that's all you really need for step 1....plus HY covers biostatistics, defense mechanisms and the infamous ethics-type questions concisely yet adequately for Step I. BRS Behavioral Science will not give you much if any of an advantage over HY, and is a much longer read. I don't know anyone who used BRS instead of HY, and we all did above average or better on the behavioal science component of step 1.

Good luck!

 

[Blade28]

Hmmm...personally, I didn't rely on First Aid exclusively for anything. I used it more as an outline (and of course all information was essential).

 

[12R34Y]

Most of the students at my school ALL use BRS BEHAVIORAL and NOT HY.

BRS has the board-style questions written by fadeem. HY doesn't.

it's definately better.

 

[doc05]

first aid doesn't cover anything well enough to use as your only source. If you want a high score (>240), you may actually have to read other books.

 

[lindyloohoo]

Does anyone else not like the way first aid is organized? It's so helter skelter that I have a hard time putting things from there together. Even with the "systems based" plan in the front of 2004, I'm having trouble organizing things in my head.

 

[DrIng]

it's true tht First AId is probably not enough alone to get a high score. That said, I passed using nothing but First Aid and my general knowledge from the course... Depends how confident you are and how much time you have to study.

 

[tas8w]

Does anyone else not like the way first aid is organized? It's so helter skelter that I have a hard time putting things from there together. Even with the "systems based" plan in the front of 2004, I'm having trouble organizing things in my head.

I feel the same way. I spend way to much time flipping around the pages trying to find things.

Its a good book for a certain purpose (bare-bones lists of HY facts) but I can't imagine using it as an only reference. Its worthwhile to use but I don't see why there's such a lovefest over it.

 

[Dr JPH]

Personally, I have been using First Aid as a guide and supplementing with the following:

BRS Pathology
Boards and Wards Microbiology
Pharmacology Recall
Blueprints Series for clinical scenarios

I'm studying for both COMLEX and USMLE.

Right now my big focus is Path, and then going to hit Micro and Pharm really hard before moving into a boat load of questions and clinical vignettes starting in May.

Anyone have any other strategies?

 

[DireWolf]

Personally, I have been using First Aid as a guide and supplementing with the following:
Pharmacology Recall

I'm studying for both COMLEX and USMLE.

JP, how did you decide to use Pharm Recall as a guide? I've heard FA Pharm is sufficient for USMLE but not for COMLEX. I'm having a hard time deciding what Pharm book to use. Does it have practice questions in it?

 

[Dr JPH]

JP, how did you decide to use Pharm Recall as a guide? I've heard FA Pharm is sufficient for USMLE but not for COMLEX. I'm having a hard time deciding what Pharm book to use. Does it have practice questions in it?

I like the way Pharm Recall is set up. Nice tables and summaries. There are questions and mnemonics in the book as well.

As far as the USMLE goes I think what I pull out of FA and Step Up will be enough. But for COMLEX I will really need to use Recall. I figure if I know my Pharmacology well enough for COMLEX, the USMLE pharm won't be too bad.

 

[mosfet]

What do you guys think about Kaplan for Biochem and Pharm? Lippincott is too big a book to review for the USMLE for both subjects.