USMLE Study Books

[Finn]

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Hello All!

I will be attending Med School in the Fall of 2004 (optimistically), and I currently have a job that allows me a certain amount of continuing education funding ($1500 for the next fiscal year). I can use that money as I see fit and therefore plan on stocking up on some good supplementary texts and guides. I want to get a good Netter anatomy book, the Primal Pictures CD's and First Aid for the USMLE. Does anybody have any suggestions on other resoures to invest in. I am especially interested in USMLE study guides. Any input and/or advice is appreciated.

Thanks, Finn

 

[Winged Scapula]

Moving to the USMLE Forum...

 

[Jaded Soul]

If you're not even an M1 yet, you've got other things to worry about before USMLE review books. If I had that budget, I'd put it into equipment and textbooks first. Definitely a stethoscope, maybe a diagnostic kit depending on the requirements of the school. Textbooks in biochemistry, physiology, pathology, gross anatomy, microanatomy will be useful. Maybe even use somef ot he money for professional/student medical association memberships and get a 2-for-1 with any freebies they might offer.

If you are insistent on getting USMLE materials, do a search for specific title recommendations. There are many, many, many posts about it.

 

[hj2005]

many reasons to wait:

different schools require/recommend different books
new editions may come out before class starts (esp board review stuff)
you can save even more $ and buy em used!
equipment may be had at a group discount

 

[passlineandodds]

use some of the money to subscribe to either nejm or jama and also to buy a good medical dictionary. make yourself read 1-2 articles a week, including the case presentations and look up as much stuff in your dictionary as possible. might sound silly, but you will learn a lot that way. plus it is important to get in the habit of reading journal articles efficiently early in your career.

 

[Finn]

Thanks for the advice. Which medical dictonary would you suggest.

 

[pxz]

Originally posted by Finn
Hello All!

I will be attending Med School in the Fall of 2004 (optimistically), and I currently have a job that allows me a certain amount of continuing education funding ($1500 for the next fiscal year). I can use that money as I see fit and therefore plan on stocking up on some good supplementary texts and guides. I want to get a good Netter anatomy book, the Primal Pictures CD's and First Aid for the USMLE. Does anybody have any suggestions on other resoures to invest in. I am especially interested in USMLE study guides. Any input and/or advice is appreciated.

Thanks, Finn

Are you sure the fund is not for tuition only? I took two pre-med courses while I was working in a company. My company only reimbursed my tuition bill (no books, parking fees, technology fees etc). I never heard that education funds can be used for book purchases.

Morever, you may have to register for certain credits to qualify for reimbursement and the tuition could end up higher than $1500.

It is hard to image that the funds can be used like you suggest. You co-worker might be interested in "financing" and plan to buy $1500 book of such. Pretty soon everyone in your company will be buying $1500 books per year for "continuing education".

 

[Finn]

Yeah, I am sure that I can purchase books.

I am a physical therapist and we are given 1500/ fiscal year for cont ed. In the past the money has been used for books, educational CD's, newsletters, travel, lodging, etc. I am lucky to have a significant amount of freedom with the funding and was hoping to cut some of my future costs by purchasing some resourses this next year. I am sure that I want to get the primal pictures CD's (amazing CD's, look at primalpictures.com), a Netter reference, and hopefully some other guides.

 

[pxz]

Good for you. It is a nice benefit. My company even required that my GPA average be 3.0 in the courses I took in order to qualify for the funds.

The only book you need is Netters. Do not waste the money on Primal softwares. I know most incoming students fear anatomy, but it is just one course and is the least tested subject on USMLE. If you indeed want to spend more, "High Yield Gross Anatomy" and "Color atlas of anatomy : a photographic study of the human body" (Rohen and Yokochi) might be useful. In addition, you can buy an extra Netters for the lab.

 

[Doc_Thks_JC]

Hi,
If I had $1500 and I had not entered med school yet, What would I do??? I would take a vacation and enjoy the summer before medical school. But since you are obviously a studious person that wants to go ahead and buy textbooks, This is what I recommend. First, Go to Ebay or Allheart.com and get you a top notch Stethoscope (Littmann, Tycos, etc...). I would hold off on buying an otoscope and opthalmoscope until I found out what was required and if I could get a group discount. I would then purchase my books. These are books that I used in my first two years that I would highly recommend and I would be willing to bet money they are required at your school (regardless where it is). I would recommend a good Medical Dictionary (Taber's, Dorland's, etc... any will work), First Aid for USMLE Step 1 (Study along with coursework), Netter's or Grant's for Anatomy, Grant's Dissector for Anatomy Lab, Moore and Dalley Clinical Anatomy (Great Book for class and Boards-- Read Blue Boxes!!!), any good Histo Text and ATLAS, Dubin's EKG Interpretation, Guyton's Physiology most recent edition, Big Robbins for Pathology and Baby Robbins for fun, and a good Pharm text or Lippincott's Pharm. These books are what I considered essential. After getting all that, if you still have money, then you can buy some board review books. Such as: High Yield Gross Anatomy, High Yield Neuroanatomy, Clinical Pharm made Ridiculously Simple, High Yield Pathology, Stars Pathology Review, BRS Physiology, BRS Microbiology and Immuno (optional because First Aid's sections should be enough), and of course First Aid. I also recommend Kaplan's most recent Notes set because they are very helpful for the USMLE (so consider purchasing them on Ebay or taking the course). I hope this has helped and have fun spending your $1500.

 

[passlineandodds]

stedman's or mosby's; whichever you prefer

 

[madcadaver]

Lots of people post asking for this type of advice. In general the answer is always the same: it is best to wait until you get to whichever med school you end up going to before investing any money in anything. At my school incoming students are given a stethoscope, AMA membership (which includes JAMA), and a Stedman's medical dictionary. So anyone who bought that stuff ahead of time wasted their money. For things like stethoscopes, diagnostic sets, palm computers, you and your classmates can probably get better deals if you do a group buy.

I know it is tempting to spend that money and feel more prepared. But believe me- you're better off getting to med school and seeing what other people have and what you will get for free.

(and don't even think about buying usmle materials until 2nd year)

Good luck!

mc