USMLE Study Help

[HelloKitty1987]

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Second year med student here planning to take USMLE in June. Any study tips as to what books qbanks to use? I have not started studying yet.

 

[sylvanthus]

In before "use the search".

 

[HelloKitty1987]

Can you send me some threads? I'm worried im late in studying

 

[secants]

Short answer: Start doing Uworld questions and annotate them in FA. You would ideally want to start soon because consensus is that Uworldx2 is ideal and that takes time to do.

If you're think you can handle more, then you can try Rx or Qbank from kaplan and if you need a structured environment with a complete schedule then maybe a commercial course would be best for you.

For individual books recommendations for specific subjects, you're best bet is just to skim through a few pages on this subforum and see what people have said.

 

[sylvanthus]

You are not late, you have plenty of time.

 

[dr seuss]

FA, UWorld, Goljan. UWorld x2 if you want or do another qbank first. Supplement with other books only if you are weak in those subjects or are paranoid.

BRS physiology is a really good book and I am going to use it, but it probably isn't necessary.

For the rest of the stuff you probably don't need them, but you can use:
Clinical Micro Made Ridiculously Simple, HY or BRS behavioral science, HY embryology, HY neuroanatomy. The immunology part of Levinson's micro book is supposed to be good but you can probably just use FA for immuno. The rapid review biochem book is good but has a lot more than you need to know and most people think FA is good enough for biochem.

 

[HelloKitty1987]

Thank you guys for all your help! Truly appreciate it. If I just do First Aid, and Uworld twice will that be sufficient?

 

[sylvanthus]

Depends on what score you are shooting for and how good you have done in your coursework.

 

[HelloKitty1987]

thanks for your replies! After doing alot of reading on this forum, i've decided to do:

1) First Aid
2) Uworld x2
3) Pathoma for pathology review
4) Re-read Linda Costanzo textbook - I plan to read about 10 pages everyday (finish in month and half)

Please critique or commment thanks

 

[missmedschool]

thanks for your replies! After doing alot of reading on this forum, i've decided to do:

1) First Aid
2) Uworld x2
3) Pathoma for pathology review
4) Re-read Linda Costanzo textbook - I plan to read about 10 pages everyday (finish in month and half)

Please critique or commment thanks

Costanzo also wrote BRS Physiology, which is way more concise, will save you time, has practice questions for each chapter, and is way more High Yield.

 

[MrBeauregard]

thanks for your replies! After doing alot of reading on this forum, i've decided to do:

1) First Aid
2) Uworld x2
3) Pathoma for pathology review
4) Re-read Linda Costanzo textbook - I plan to read about 10 pages everyday (finish in month and half)

Please critique or commment thanks

Looks good. You've already got Pathoma, but since you still have plenty of time, it may not hurt to supplement with Goljan RR Path since his book is so freaking awesome. I literally think that is my favorite medical text that I own. It's like a one-stop shop for pathophysiology. I haven't looked at Pathoma so I don't know if the text succeeds in integrating topics across systems/disciplines, but for me, Goljan has been the single biggest aid in my understanding of single topics from multiple angles. Well worth the investment if you have the time and/or interest.

 

[HelloKitty1987]

Thanks again for your feedback! I have BRS physio as well, but I need something with more meat like costanzo textbook since I am weak in physio.

I will be purchasing pathoma soon since I have heard such good things about it. But right now if I dont understand something in First Aid path section, I look it up in Kaplan pathology book.

Good luck to all of you in your studies!