Customer Reviews

BRS Microbiology and Immunology (Board Review Series)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is maybe one of the best BRS's. One of the end chapters has flow charts on how to narrow down symptoms to 1 or 2 bugs, and it works WONDERS. The parasitology part of the book is all mainly in one big table with a 2-3 line description of the parasite, bug, location, vector and PICTURE! The immuno part is quick, concise and VERY high yield.
Very well written book!

This is an excellent review book for Step 1. It has some of the extra information and details that First Aid is missing and can be used to annotate First Aid for better overall preparedness for the exam (at least so I hope, as I'll be taking it in July). I think having this book as a quick reference for our medical microbiology course would have been helpful too. I didn't give it the full 5 stars because the index is a bit lacking, although the search option in the online full-text version does compensate for this somewhat, but if you're not near a computer it is definitely an inconvenience. As a busy parent who is crazy enough to tackle medical school with a family in tow, anything that takes more time than needed is an obstacle for me.

This is one of the better BRS reviews that I have used. Gives clever ways to remember groups of bacteria, parasites, etc.

I did not care for the organization of this book, and I found at least 10 typos in there. I wonder sometimes how it is possible that no professional reads a new edition before it is published, making sure there are no mistakes and all the questions in the back have the correct answers. Here the mistakes are such that you realize them when you see them, so I was not overly fazed by them, but still it gave me a bad impression. I would say I was decently prepared for the NBME after reading this book. It definitely cleared up some things for me, but I also came across information I did not find clinically relevant at all. Overall it seems worth reading but could be a lot better. I have read several BRS's, this one is not my favorite.

This book is an excellent review for both COMLEX and USMLE micro section. It fills a lot of the missing pieces that you may not see on First Aid. Although I think this book is a little overkill for boards, the advantage is that you will most likely be able to answer those "odd ball" questions thrown to you on the actual board exam. Also, Just as one of the earlier reviewers stated, one chapter has provided a very nice flow chart that served me well for quickly narrowing down my bugs on board based on symptoms like "bloody diarrhea with/without vomit...with/without fever...with/without PMN...etc...". There are four 50-questions exams at the very end that will really test how much you know and help prepare you well for board. Since micro is usually the second most high yield on board after path, I would recommend this book only if you either want a better grasp of micro or feel uncomfortable understanding thoroughly the micro section covered in first aid (which happened to me in the latter case). I will give this a 4 star rating only because there are some flaws in the answer keys for the exams in the back of book. Otherwise, I will recommend to anyone who wanna kill the micro section on boards.

The only thing why Im putting 4 stars is not due to the book, but due to Amazon. The book came to me not as anew! The color on cover back and corners where scratch, so the book looks really like somebody skateboarded on it. Shame on You Amazon. When Im buying NEW book i expect new book. And about the BRS Microbiology... thats definitelly best quick review book what Ive read. Definitelly get it!