This Month: Goljan or FA

[apples1212]

I have about a month of classes left and then about 5 weeks to study full time for step one. I want to do a little side studying daily in addition to finishing up my course work.

Would it be better for me to go through FA a few pages a night, or should I do Goljan with the audio tapes instead? I will be doing both by the exam, I'm just wondering which one should come first. Im hitting about 50% on USMLErx right now so I definitely have a lot of work ahead of me.

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[illixir]

Hard to say, if you haven't been through either of them yet do both as soon as you can, maybe even at the same time, they both deserve equal attention..

 

[username456789]

I'm kind of curious to hear more input on this, just to get an idea of how people balance their studying, at least before the "dedicated study period." Between question banks, FA, and Goljan, I never know how much time to dedicate to one vs. the other it seems.

 

[jmayer]

I plan on reading Goljan RR and listening to some of his audio for my path final. That should serve as a good first pass for step 1 path as well. I've been randomly doing UWorld questions just to refresh some topics and see what I really need to focus on. As for First Aid, I've used it now and then but I'm saving all of that high-yield stuff for my dedicated studying period (I will also annotate it with other sources during my first pass).

 

[lord_jeebus]

I think that for early prep, you want exposure to as many testable facts as possible. Goljan Audio will expose you to much fewer per unit time than any sort of reading.

The advantage to audio would be for those who retain heard information much better than read information. It would also be useful in small amounts to break up the monotony and fatigue of reading.

 

[username456789]

Yeah I agree. I've just been using the Goljan audio as something to listen to here or there when I have downtime or while I walk somewhere. I'll try to pick whatever track is relevant to what we're studying at the time. I've never really just sat down and listened to him while taking notes or anything.

For my post, at least, I was talking about the book (RR Path). Which I guess is pretty heavy on testable things. Anyway, I'm trying to take the approach of actually understanding before blindly memorizing FA, so I'm hoping spending a little more time with RR rather than feverishly going through FA at this point isn't so bad. I do still go through the relevant pages of FA, but I more or less just read it through briefly to see if there's any glaring omissions.

 

[IMGUSMLEStep1]

I think you should do Goljan first for 3 reasons:
1. It will help you with your coursework
2. More explanations and concepts reviewed (FA is good for consolidating these after you've learned them)
3. It's more fun to do than FA! Having an upbeat fun start can kind of get you in the mood for the rest of your USMLE prep.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Yeah I agree. I've just been using the Goljan audio as something to listen to here or there when I have downtime or while I walk somewhere. I'll try to pick whatever track is relevant to what we're studying at the time. I've never really just sat down and listened to him while taking notes or anything.

For my post, at least, I was talking about the book (RR Path). Which I guess is pretty heavy on testable things. Anyway, I'm trying to take the approach of actually understanding before blindly memorizing FA, so I'm hoping spending a little more time with RR rather than feverishly going through FA at this point isn't so bad. I do still go through the relevant pages of FA, but I more or less just read it through briefly to see if there's any glaring omissions.

I see.

Start with the more detailed (ie. Goljan) resources.