Customer Reviews

First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 2009: A Student to Student Guide (First Aid USMLE)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

The book is basically broken down into organ systems and each section if is well organized. The information is condensed and definitely high yield. By second semester of the M2 year this is a great way to review what would otherwise be an overwhelming amount of information.

For what it is, this is a great resource. It contains a ton of mnemonics and quick reference facts and tidbits that help hone your knowledge of various subjects. It is useful as a first place to look to nail down a few high yield facts about a whole host of topics. It is also very useful as a resource to help you decide if you're going into too much detail about any one subject. It is also very useful as a place to look to refresh your memory and review some facts once you've already studied from other resources. Also, the section at the back of the book about which other resources are good for review is extremely valuable. It can help you refrain from spending unnecessarily on multiple books that are less useful.

This book however is terrible at doing things it is not. It is not a reference source. It doesn't contain very much information about a number of specifics. It is quite poorly cross-referenced, with a number of important topics included sporadically throughout the book and neglected entirely in the index. It contains practically no explanation of anything, mostly a summation of a few helpful facts to distinguish one disease from another. If there is a subject or disease or process you want to understand better, this is not a good place to start since there is a dearth of explanation. However, it is a good place to end after you've already looked things up elsewhere. This book is not fashioned to help you gain a strong overall understanding of any subject but rather to help you solidify your knowledge of the most high yield facts about a number of subjects.

Bottom line, this book is worth having. It is a good supplement to studying with a question bank, since you can make notes for yourself in the margins (there is plenty of space throughout the book for notes here and there). It's also helpful as you study to reinforce the most important and high yield facts you'll need to remember for Step 1.

Happy studying! And good luck.

This book should be the first book you buy for your Step 1 Prep. Buy it first year and get used to using it right away. Make sure to check the errata online...

I haven't used this thoroughly enough yet, but I expect to hit it pretty hard because it covers a lot of the high-yield data that one would want to know. If you are, however, trying to go back to the basics for a more-than-a-brief review, you should look elsewhere.

This is the gold-standard for USMLE prep. Team it up with "How to study for the USMLE", and an online QBank (Kaplan or UWorld), and you're set to get that 99.

I am b/t 1 and 2 year medical school. I though I would get a used first aid to glance over this summer. I paid about 8 dollars for this copy which has some extensive notes and highlighting. (maybe helpful). I have just glanced at it so far so yeah....

About the seller MisH, awesome, next day shipping. Thank you.
About the book, outstanding book, only one thing, the index is very poor and u can get mad trying to find something, for sure in the book, not in the index.