Customer Reviews

BRS Pathology (Board Review Series)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I was studying for my step 1s, I was really confused about either studying the BRS pathology or sticking with Goljan. After taking the test, I would have to say that you should probably stick with this book instead. It is concise and it covers most of the things you need to know for the boards. You can fill in the rest with USMLE qBank (which is a must).

Don't let others fool you into thinking that studying Goljan will actually raise your score. It will not. The book is good and it is comprehensive. But lets be honest with ourselves. Even if you read Goljan 10 times over, how much are you actually going to retain? The book is detailed and it is wonderful for reference. But for the purposes of the boards, BRS is enough.

Update: I got my score back and ended up getting 245/99. I read this book over twice and I honestly retained only 90% of the entire book. However, despite that BRS + Qbank = win. I know there are people on SDN saying that RR is the most godly book and that if you don't memorize it then you will never break 230. That is simply not true. To be honest, it doesn't really matter what resource you use. Just get one and stick to it. In my opinion the BRS is shorter and higher yield than other books and I will vouch for it.

The debate continues, Goljan or BRS? Lets cut to the chase about where this book falls short. It's content isn't nearly as comprehensive as Goljan; I mean that it doesn't even hold a flame to the great Goljan. However, that's no reason not to use it. I would have to agree that its reading format is much more digestable the rapid review. It also has questions at the end of each chapter that are excellent for reviewing the material. All of its material and key points that are mentioned are very high yield for step one, and it is adequate material for do well on USMLE step 1 (230's). In fact, if you are pressed for time and need a good source, I would be more inclined to choose this book than rapid review. You can go through this book in 3-4 days, but plan on taking a week or more on Goljan. Also, if you haven't had the chance to go through any review material before doing step 1 prep it is much easier to get through this book for the first time than it is to go through Goljan. In summary, if you only have 3-5 days to study path, choose this book. It is faster and more digestable than rapid review.

I studied for the boards from this book and was exactly what I needed, don't waste your time with Goljan's Rapid Review because is really hard to read or understand, get my advise and pass step 1 with this concise and very well written book, you will find what you need with no need to get those messy Goljan;s notes. The book is easy to read and digest. I recommended 100%

If you have not enough time, it is the best book to give you anything that you need for USMLE.

I use this book as an adjunct to the big Robbins pathology and together they are a great combination. The BRS does a grea

t job summariZing the material and is very useful for studying, but is probavbly not sufficient for primary study of pathology

I'm a big fan of BRS pathology. Most people at my med school are crazy about Goljan's Rapid Review book, so I bought it and used it for a while. It's awesome, but far too detailed for me. I like BRS because it tells me exactly what I need to know - and nothing beyond that. Bottom line: You can use either book and do just great on boards. But for students who aren't speed-readers or don't have photographic memories, I would recommend BRS pathology.

the book is good for an overall review, however I do not believe it is enough. Goljan is better because he provides one-liner explanations of why some things are the way they are, which makes you understand the concept better, rather than just memorize it. BRS has some good tables, and review questions, but the questions are waaaayyy to easy for anything, path course or step 1, something I found BRS does a lot in all their books. The comprehensive review at the back of the book is 100x better.

I just took Step 1 and this book covered almost all of the path questions. This is a great book combined with USMLE World. You definitely need to know the actions of certain oncologic genes, and Cell Cycle genes in detail, and this book covered it all. I regret not reading it thoroughly. I mostly focused on my weak areas because I was running out of time. Definitely a must read cover to cover for step 1.

This book is good but you may not want or need to get it if you already have Goljan's Pathology since it covers similar information. I'm a big reader though, which is why I bought it. Questions at the end are good review questions, but probably not indicative of USMLE Step1 questions since they were pretty straight forward.

This book is a big help as review. Written in notes format (kind of like Goljan's Rapid Review Pathology, but more in-depth), it's best used as a run-through of the material before beginning a subject in order to get the basics down or as a review before exams or before the USMLE. There's a short set of USMLE-style review questions at the end of each chapter that put things in perspective. I usually read this as a primer before I turn to Robbins Basic Pathology and Lange Pathophysiology of Disease for the nitty-gritty.