33 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I felt like I was cheating, June 4, 2009
This review is from: First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 2009: A Student to Student Guide (First Aid USMLE) (Paperback)
My strategy with First Aid - I figured out which books were used to make First Aid (I listed them below) and then I read those books to get the explanations that First Aid is lacking. I took notes in First Aid from these books. At the end of my studying, I had one comprehensive source with all my notes. I was able to review this once in the last few weeks before the exam.
**Use the shortest edition of these you can find (there just isn't enough time for anything longer)**
Lange Micro and Immuno
Lange Pharmacology
Costanzo's Physiology (NOT the BRS book)
Lippincott's Biochemistry
High Yield Gross Anatomy (older version because it was shorter)
High Yield Neuroanatomy
BRS Behavioral Sciences
HY Biostats
HY Embrology (old version, shorter only 50 pages)
I memorized First Aid (and my notes) word for word. I opened up First Aid and wrote the first page on a piece of paper. Then I closed the book and tried to write the page from memory. Then I repeated this over and over until I could do the page from memory. It took maybe half and hour per page. Then I periodically reviewed what I had memorized (the next day, a week later, etc). This was very painful, but I think memorization is necessary. You will forget some things before the exam, but you have to try to memorize First Aid in my opinion to do really well.
I decided on USMLE Rx as my Qbank because it contains all the First Aid facts and I wanted reinforcement on those. Maybe this worked I don't know. As far as a quality I thought it was pretty good but I have heard the others are good also.
It really helped me to pick a system - say Cardio - and do all of the studying from that area. So I did Cardio Anatomy, Phys, Path, etc. etc. and the USMLE Rx questions from that area all at once. It really helped me get a "critical understanding" so to speak of the subject.
I scored above a 260/99 with this (I also used Goljan quite a bit in addition to First Aid). I am sure anyone else can as long as they are motivated enough.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The benchmark., January 17, 2009
This review is from: First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 2009: A Student to Student Guide (First Aid USMLE) (Paperback)
First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 books have been the core component of many medical student's study kit for the first board exam. The 2009 edition is no different. There are some updates, some changes from the 2007 version (the oldest one I have), but the clear layout and the characteristic style of the First Aid books have been untouched. Concepts are presented in nibbles of paragraph-sized information--easy to study and absorb.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Use this book along with USMLE World., August 20, 2009
This review is from: First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 2009: A Student to Student Guide (First Aid USMLE) (Paperback)
During the first 2 years of medical school, I really didn't study that much until it came time to study for step 1. Also, the school I attend really didn't prepare us well for step 1. I studied about 8 hours a day for 5 weeks and used First Aid along with USMLE World as my main sources. I also listened to Goljian Audio lectures during my daily jog. I went through First Aid twice and USMLE World once. I think this was enough for step 1. Each question gives you a few clues to the answer, if you can recognize atleast 1 or 2 of the clues, the answer is straighforward(most of the time). I ended up scoring 245/99. Using a bunch of other books really is a waste of time in 5 weeks of studying. Just concentrate on First Aid, USMLE World, and Goljian Audio. Hope this helps.
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