2008 Kaplan USMLE Step 1 Home Study Program-Brand New_by Kaplan [Unknown Binding]

Product Details

• Unknown Binding
• ASIN: B0017D527K
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #559,372 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good resource, but not perfect, January 30, 2009

By 

D. Fix (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 2008 Kaplan USMLE Step 1 Home Study Program-Brand New_by Kaplan

Having just taken my USMLE Step I exam within the last week, I thought I would do this while my thoughts are still fresh.

For board review I used the Kaplan USMLE Step I Home study program, as well as FA, Pharm Cards, and some of the BRS/HY books to fill in some gaps. Overall Kaplan's set of books is by far the most comprehensive out of all the different sources you can possibly pickup. 4 big books, systems based or subject based. I personally reviewed mostly systems based. Generally speaking, the Kaplan series will hit on most embryo, phys, and path for each subject, and does a good job. There were the occasional times when I encountered something in FA that was not covered in the same section in Kaplan (which was a little suprising). I do like the "one-stop" approach, instead of carrying separate books for each subject.

My main complaints are as follows (the important part). For costing anywhere from $300-$500, I thought they could have had more pictures. SERIOUSLY. These books have a relative lack of pictures (considering how many pages the series is, it looks like they were trying to save money on printing or something). That is pretty ridiculous considering a lot of step one is about being able to immediately recognize all sorts of basic path, anatomy, and diagrams. Sure, there are pictures, and they are needed/useful when shown, but there could have been a lot more. A picture can be worth a thousand words, and they definitely chose a thousand words more often than not. Kaplan kind of missed the mark here, which is disappointing b/c usually their stuff is dead on.

Something else I found inadequate was the relative lack of helpful side bullet pts. If you ever used any of their stuff for the MCAT or whatever they always have good little pts and stuff in the margins...not so much this time. Almost everything is presented as an "in a nutshell". I think they would have been much better off presenting that stuff FA style, and giving rapid review kind of info. Strike two!

Lastly, some of the sections are long, realllllly long. I know that they set out to create a fairly complete set, and for the most part they did, but Neuro for example, is about 330 pgs. That is do-able, but I think one would be better off reading a lot less and spending a really good amount of time with a question bank rather than 30 hours reading all that. Just my opinion.

IN A NUTSHELL: I did like the set. If you can absorb a good amount of info/review info from this series you will surely do fine on boards. I am not sure I am happy with how much I paid for it, especially considering my complaints (see above). I think if Kaplan spent a little time adding more of these things (pictures, the million different ways to graph things that they use on the usmle), and cutting the word count down, this series would be a power house. But, since they keep re-releasing it every so many years, with very few changes, I don't expect that to happen anytime soon. I suggest if you are interested in the series you find a place to look through it ahead of purchasing it, and see if it will meet your expectations.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource, July 27, 2008

By 

A. Korson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 2008 Kaplan USMLE Step 1 Home Study Program-Brand New_by Kaplan

As a MS3 with a step 1 score that is competitive for Orthopedics, I highly recommend this series. Each section concisely reviews the often forgotten details that are crucial for high performance on Step 1. The margins are filled with little "key points" (similar to First Aid) that help make sure you don't miss important pieces of information and help for rapid review.

As a student coming from a school that does not use the organ based approach, it was extremely helpful to use these books to review biochem, physiology and pathology of each organ in turn. Rather than study the subjects in isolation, these books discuss the relevant physiology, biochemistry and pathology in relation to the organ system.

As I read these books, I really wished I would have bought them first year and used them as I studied the material for the first time. I highly recommend these books for first and second year medical students.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars STRONGLY RECOMMENDED IF YOU WANT A TOP SCORE, June 30, 2009

By 

Helpful Bob "Bobby" (Bellingham WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 2008 Kaplan USMLE Step 1 Home Study Program-Brand New_by Kaplan

I use this fantatic course, and I would recommend it to anyone who is serious about getting a top score in USMLE. Especially if you want to get into some competitive field such as surgery. I use this in combination with the First Aid series and with the USMLE total review series software([...]) and this trio really delivers bang for the buck.
This is an exam that will shape your future forever, it is worth every dollar you invest in it, you cant go back in time in another 40 years and fix it !