What books (anatomy, etc) to get before M1 starts?

[MickyMyki]

Hi guys!

What books should I get before M1 starts? I was just thinking First Aid-that's it. Should I wait until Sept/Octish to get anatomy books (anatomy starts in november)? Or should I get those books now?

Please let me know.

Thanks

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[ProfMD]

When do you matriculate? Assuming it is not until August, you should go to your favorite bookstore and pickup some trashy fiction.

Don't worry about the medical school books until you get to medical school. Your faculty will probably provide a list of recommended textbooks and you can ask second year students what they found most helpful.

 

[Med Ed]

Hi guys!

What books should I get before M1 starts? I was just thinking First Aid-that's it. Should I wait until Sept/Octish to get anatomy books (anatomy starts in november)? Or should I get those books now?

Please let me know.

Thanks

Don't buy a thing until you start, and ideally get some opinions from rising M2's about what resources were truly useful. Some schools will give you electronic access to all required texts.

Do not get First Aid yet. That book is for review, not primary learning. I have seen some students spiral-bind their copies and make elaborate notations as the years progress, but I am not aware that such activities serve any purpose other than alleviating moment-to-moment anxiety.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Contrary to the above, I have seen a lot of students use First Aid to great effect. Med Ed is absolutely right that it is not where you should be learning the material from, but it's great to look over for an hour or two the day before the test to consolidate everything that you have learned for whatever block you're in, and there are definitely some pretty good mnemonics in this that can nab you an extra couple of points.

So in short, yes, I would recommend purchasing First Aid, provided you understand that it is a review tool, not a learning tool, and that you shouldn't tie yourself to it. Use it for its intended purpose and not as a crutch.

I would then get Netter's Anatomy Atlas because you're going to need an anatomy atlas. I would supplement it with the Essential Anatomy app for iPad or Mac (I think the Mac version is better than the iPad version, but both are acceptable).

Other than that, you're probably good to go.

 

[tymont12]

Wait until school starts to hear what you need. My school said ~30 textbooks would be useful. Although I bought hard copies of 5 of them, I was able to get digital copies of the rest or use the school's online access to read the bits and pieces they suggested. iPads are great for this.

I would at least get a paper copy of the anatomy atlas...some things are just better appreciated in-person. This will probably be Netter's. I also found the visible body apps for iPad really useful in visualizing the 3D shapes and relations of muscles, nerves, etc.

 

[PathoTurnUp1865]

Contrary to the above, I have seen a lot of students use First Aid to great effect. Med Ed is absolutely right that it is not where you should be learning the material from, but it's great to look over for an hour or two the day before the test to consolidate everything that you have learned for whatever block you're in, and there are definitely some pretty good mnemonics in this that can nab you an extra couple of points.

So in short, yes, I would recommend purchasing First Aid, provided you understand that it is a review tool, not a learning tool, and that you shouldn't tie yourself to it. Use it for its intended purpose and not as a crutch.

I would then get Netter's Anatomy Atlas because you're going to need an anatomy atlas. I would supplement it with the Essential Anatomy app for iPad or Mac (I think the Mac version is better than the iPad version, but both are acceptable).

Other than that, you're probably good to go.

How much did you use the apps and how did you use them? I have heard a mixed review on the effectiveness of them.

 

[Okazaki Frag Grenade]

Contrary to the above, I have seen a lot of students use First Aid to great effect. Med Ed is absolutely right that it is not where you should be learning the material from, but it's great to look over for an hour or two the day before the test to consolidate everything that you have learned for whatever block you're in, and there are definitely some pretty good mnemonics in this that can nab you an extra couple of points.

So in short, yes, I would recommend purchasing First Aid, provided you understand that it is a review tool, not a learning tool, and that you shouldn't tie yourself to it. Use it for its intended purpose and not as a crutch.

I would then get Netter's Anatomy Atlas because you're going to need an anatomy atlas. I would supplement it with the Essential Anatomy app for iPad or Mac (I think the Mac version is better than the iPad version, but both are acceptable).

Other than that, you're probably good to go.

Ignorant question here, but I'm assuming this is the First Aid we're referring to?

www.amazon.com/First-Aid-Usmle-Step-2016/dp/1259587371/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467818915&sr=8-1&keywords=first+aid+review

 

[WedgeDawg]

How much did you use the apps and how did you use them? I have heard a mixed review on the effectiveness of them.

I used the computer app a lot as a supplement to course materials. I used it a lot more than I used the iPad app or netter's. It's not as detailed as the atlas but it's really good for learning where nerves and vessels go and looking at musculoskeletal relationships.

 

[OnePunchBiopsy]

Don'y buy anything for anatomy until you know what your school prefers or you talk to some second-years.

IMO buying FA now would be too early.

 

[DocWinter]

Don't buy anything until you start. Everyone wants to get a leg up or be prepared but there is most likely nothing you should purchase until you talk with 2nd years for first hand experience

 

[AlteredScale]

Hi guys!

What books should I get before M1 starts? I was just thinking First Aid-that's it. Should I wait until Sept/Octish to get anatomy books (anatomy starts in november)? Or should I get those books now?

Please let me know.

Thanks

I'm with @WedgeDawg on the fact that having First Aid around is actually a nice tool to have. I def did not use it as a textbook but more so having it as a quick review that I would read the specific section a few days out from an exam to remember the high yield points (example: it was great to do a rundown of the micro section before our microbio final). Beyond using it as a very quick review tool you really won't be able to do much in the way of annotating since you just started.

Wouldn't get any anatomy books, the only thing I used was the Essential Anatomy app on the ipad (which was amazing and so helpful for visualization of everything) and utilize the University of Michigan Anatomy Quiz practicals and written exams. I bought Moore's Clinical Anatomy for the blue boxes which was dumb because one of the second years had a powerpoint of all the blue boxes with additional annotation. Use flipped through Thieme twice and never looked at Netter's.

 

[Moose A Moose]

First Aid... whenever I see M1s with this book I want to fling it over the library's balcony. You're not setting yourself up for any sort of victory over your peers by thumbing through that thing during the year.

Buy Netter's Atlas and study your powerpoint slides.

The End.

 

[WedgeDawg]

First Aid... whenever I see M1s with this book I want to fling it over the library's balcony. You're not setting yourself up for any sort of victory over your peers by thumbing through that thing during the year.

Buy Netter's Atlas and study your powerpoint slides.

The End.

I want to append my earlier statement by saying that we start our "M2" year halfway through our first year because we have a 1.5 year preclinical curriculum. I didn't use First Aid during the first half of the year because it wasn't systems based (or even really clinically based), but it was a great review tool once we started "M2", so if your school is traditional 2 years and you don't do phys or pathophys until your second year, then get it your second year. For example, arrhythmias were hard for me personally to learn from our powerpoints, but I felt like I understood them better after looking through that small section in First Aid.

Also, I think it becomes very apparent pretty early on that trying to "set yourself up for victory over your peers" is futile and generally does more harm than good. The people I know who have used this book (including myself) were not using it to try to get an advantage over others, but rather to enhance their own understanding.

 

[DoctorLacrosse]

First Aid... whenever I see M1s with this book I want to fling it over the library's balcony. You're not setting yourself up for any sort of victory over your peers by thumbing through that thing during the year.

Buy Netter's Atlas and study your powerpoint slides.

The End.

Respectfully disagree. We took the subject NBME exams at the end of every course as our finals during M1, and First Aid was the single best resource out there for high yield info for these. Yes there are review books that are more in depth (BRS, high yield, etc.), but for a quick, high yield study session, First Aid is the best shelf exam resource IMO. Also has great mnemonics for a lot of things as well. I'd recommend using it after you've learned something in class as a review.

 

[DocWinter]

I'm sure not every curriculum is the same, but I agree with Moose that 1st aid is pretty unneeded in the 1st semester. I preferred Thieme over Netters or Rowans and felt that an anatomy textbook was sufficient for anatomy and powerpoints and BRS series for molecular medicine.

Once you get into systems I do think 1st aid is useful, but I would give the evil eye to the gunners toting that thing during anatomy.

 

[Mansamusa]

Amazon product

Does anyone recommend this as a pre-FA review book?

And OP, many schools have a dropbox full of stuff and w/ 2 day shipping, you can ask people during orientation which books they recommend and have them in time for classes

 

[DocWinter]

Amazon product

Does anyone recommend this as a pre-FA review book?

It's not terrible and some people use them, but where are you going to find time to read a pre-first aid? Your classes are pre-first aid. Study hard and then board study hard with Qbanks and FA and you should be fine.

 

[tick_tock400]

We got First Aid for free at my school. There are also old sets of the book sitting around my school for students references (it's not like most of us really ever leave the school, so it's not a big deal that the First Aid books are at the school only and we don't take them home). Older students sell First Aid books for like $5 (their versions aren't too different from current versions).

But anyways, I regretted buying even the coloring books for M1 and only used First Aid once. Found all books pretty useless basically. I got Rohen's Anatomy atlas and wouldn't recommend anything else.

 

[lymphocyte]

Contrary to the above, I have seen a lot of students use First Aid to great effect. Med Ed is absolutely right that it is not where you should be learning the material from, but it's great to look over for an hour or two the day before the test to consolidate everything that you have learned for whatever block you're in, and there are definitely some pretty good mnemonics in this that can nab you an extra couple of points.

So in short, yes, I would recommend purchasing First Aid, provided you understand that it is a review tool, not a learning tool, and that you shouldn't tie yourself to it. Use it for its intended purpose and not as a crutch.

I would then get Netter's Anatomy Atlas because you're going to need an anatomy atlas. I would supplement it with the Essential Anatomy app for iPad or Mac (I think the Mac version is better than the iPad version, but both are acceptable).

Other than that, you're probably good to go.

Agree about FA. It's a tool for review not learning. The earlier you become familiar with its contents, the better, but you can't learn from it. I used FA early because my school was 100% systems based. That lent itself really well to using FA as review.

For anatomy, by far the most useful resources were Rohen's Colour Atlas of Anatomy and especially Acland's Video Atlas of Anatomy. Another really good pedagogical resource was Thieme's Atlas of Anatomy, because of how it arranges anatomy in an uncluttered, layered and regional way. It's simply gorgeous. Some people used the colouring books. It seemed to work well for them, but I'd rather shove a crayola through my eye.

I thought Netter's was garbage: too damn busy, too damn colourful. Just wait until school starts and scope out the library. See what works for you. Your seniors might also be able to pass along these resources too.

 

[sloop]

Unless your school is really ****ty/behind the times at offering a free database of online medical texts through the library, the only thing you will probably need to buy is an atlas (and you could probably even do without that depending on what books your school's catalog has, if you're willing to use reference books in the library on rare occasions, and if you buy one of the nice 3D anatomy apps for iPad/iPhone/android or whatever).

In any case, if you buy Netter's, you probably won't regret it but you probably don't need to buy anything until you start.

Don't buy First Aid until second year. If you really want to use it, the worst it can do is waste time but I don't think it's a good source while you're still learning. The format (bullet point) is tedious when you haven't learned the material well already. This is primarily a second year book, along with Pathoma.

I really recommend using library resources and saving money on books in the first two years. You have to buy a ton of books third year so it makes no sense to spend that sort of money before you have to.

 

[Crayola227]

Unless your school is really ****ty/behind the times at offering a free database of online medical texts through the library, the only thing you will probably need to buy is an atlas (and you could probably even do without that depending on what books your school's catalog has, if you're willing to use reference books in the library on rare occasions, and if you buy one of the nice 3D anatomy apps for iPad/iPhone/android or whatever).

In any case, if you buy Netter's, you probably won't regret it but you probably don't need to buy anything until you start.

Don't buy First Aid until second year. If you really want to use it, the worst it can do is waste time but I don't think it's a good source while you're still learning. The format (bullet point) is tedious when you haven't learned the material well already. This is primarily a second year book, along with Pathoma.

I really recommend using library resources and saving money on books in the first two years. You have to buy a ton of books third year so it makes no sense to spend that sort of money before you have to.

weird I didn't have to buy any books 3rd year, we just had online course materials

didn't need to buy half the books I did first and second, but I like having them on my shelf, and I could tell you the ones that to this day I *might* crack open

 

[sloop]

weird I didn't have to buy any books 3rd year, we just had online course materials

didn't need to buy half the books I did first and second, but I like having them on my shelf, and I could tell you the ones that to this day I *might* crack open

We had some materials available but it depended on the clerkship. Most people at my school found it necessary to supplement with review resources.