Books for Prep | |
 - Outstanding USMLE ReviewI purchased this book for the preparation of my exams and have found it to be very resourceful and informative. I highly recommend this book for studying. Rating:  - So much better I find this book beats FA hands down. The material is orgnaized in logical manner and goes through each science for every system. It has more pictures and explanations than FA which I thought was a jumble of information. It also has a lot of COLOR images, which FA lacks. It has some information that FA doesn't have and vice-versa. Really, get it and FA both before the start of year 2 (or earlier) add notes in it as needed. If I had to choose just one of the two books, I would go with this one. Rating: - Great supplement to First AidMedessentials is a great book. Slightly more detailed with better charts compared to First Aid. Both books though have information not contained in the other, while a large majority is in both. I would recommend any first years considering books for studying for Step 1 for their second year to consider buying this and using both First Aid and Medessentials together (annotating 1 or both of them) as you go through your courses/review throughout the year making the 4-8wks/study before boards easier. Rating: - A good review bookI have to disagree with the reader who gave this book one star review. This is a REVIEW book, not a text book. It's true all the tables, diagrams and illustrations come from Kaplan lecture note(the note alone sell for $600, you may get them used from ebay for $300), but medessential picked out only the highest yield material from these notes to include in this comprehensive review book. I only studied Kaplan and Goljan patho and got 234(98)(I will try to upload my score sheet here). I didn't like FA myself, b/c it's too boring and it's just piles of disorganized facts, there is no comparison like Kaplan did. I suggest you visit your local Barnes and noble to read this book first before making the purchase and see if it suit your style. I graduated from medical school 13 years ago from another country, just passed my step 1 last year, Kaplan and Goljan definitely are critical to my success. Good luck for your boards! Rating: - Great Review - Light on Path The book was wonderful for a quick Anatomy, Embryo, Histo, Phys and Biochem review. Basically it's good for everything but Path. And lets face it - most of us use Goljan Rapid Review for that. If you have used or like the Kaplan lecture series books, this will work for you. Its a high yield review of lecture material in Kaplan mainly in chart format. Its main advantage over FA is the use of pictures that help to illustrate the anatomy and embryology. I love it and have pushed FA2008 aside in favor of this book. In quick review - you WILL need a different Path review book, but this is more detailed and better as a high yield review of general info! page 1 of 2
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