Customer Reviews

Pathology: Board Review Series

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For 99% of medical students, this book is essential. BRS Pathology provides a framework that will help you better understand course lectures and materials. It helps provide the "big picture" as a great deal of path is condensed into a few pages a section, with the most important (and board relevant) details. You can do well with simply BRS Path, your course materials, and Google to fill in the gaps. An efficient method I discovered late in the year is to write additional facts straight into the book, and review from that.

What about Robbins? Yes, Robbins has it all, and I gave it a glowing review, but it's good to be honest with yourself if you have the time. I bought it, but didn't use it as much as I liked due to time pressures. (So buy Robbins in addition to BRS Path if you have the money or if you study incessantly and want to work straight from it.)

Questions: there are questions at the end of each section. They seem easy after you've just reviewed the material, yet they're still good for solidifying info/ immediate feedback, or for going to later to assess your retention. There is also a "comprehensive exam" at the end.

Old editions: Newer editions have not changed much content-wise, I think the layout of the newer edition is nicer, but you can get away with an older (cheaper!) copy for sure - I used the original, from 1993!

This book is written for USMLE step 1 and it serves its purpose very well. It covers most needed materials very well and provides enough information. Considering all the materials that you need for this test, this is the best source so far. The biggest problem: lack of slides and photos. You need to supplement this book with some test books. I think the best combination will be this book and Robbins Review for Pathology(test).
Overall, try to master all the information in this book and you will not be disappointed.

I would highly recommend you get this and use it for your path course-take notes in it, if you'd like. Then when it's time to study for the boards, you're familiar with it (probably have most of it memorized by then)! You'll be glad you did. It helped me ace Path (and no, I'm not a "star student") and it covers Pathology for boards as well

I'd say that this book, QBank, and First Aid by Bhushan et al. are MUSTS for Step I. This is also helpful for coursework. If you're wanting a relatively comprehensive BRS book that goes by organ system, this is the book for you. I have found very few episodes where more info was required, and the overall format is very consistent. Great index, great breakdown, great questions at the end. Not perfect, but there was no 4.5 star. Buy it!

This book is great for a refresher and last minute cramming. It is divided into organ systems just like Robbins, and it gives you the key points for each subject. If your not a type A person who needs to honor everything, this may get you through med school exams. However, I would not depend solely on this book as a review for the boards.

This is a requirement for studying for the boards, period end of story. I used First Aid, Qbank, and this book in studying for the path portion of the USMLE and it was all I needed to do quite well. This book hits all the major points that the step deems important in their questions and it is well laid out and easy to read. My only regret is that I did'nt read this book as I went along in my courses, It would have made my life alot easier. To sum up..BUY IT!

This book is second only to 1st Aid. It will help you through your Path course and help you ace the boards. Enough said.

It's a very good book, but some of readers (especially who wants to "Ace") will need more info . Excellent if suplemented with Goljat or Robbins. (Textbook/Qbook)
It takws time to read it, so it must be started earlier in order to provide best results.

I just took Step1 recently, and I wish I had focused on this book more. I would say that 90+ percent of the pathology questions on the real exam come straight out of this book. For FMGs, I recommend this book as the starting point for studying for the USMLE. It is probably the most clinicaly oriented of the test preparation material and is presented in a very simple, yet very informative, fashion.

Nobody is arguing about which book is more complete between Rapid review and BRS Path. Obviously Rapid review is the more complete book which also has the benefit of integration. But Rapid review and BRS are different weapons for different situations. If you have 5-6 days to study Pathology (especially if its just Pathology shelf NBME) then BRS is then gun you use because that many days is not enough for Rapid review unless you have already been through it a couple times. If you have 1.5-2+ weeks to study, then go for rapid review but keep up your speed because it does take very long.

Again the issue is not 1 is better than the other, the issue is, how much time do you have? Choose accordingly.

In terms of the actual book it is quite good. It does skip certain details but overall it has a good portion of the core of pathology. Also don't let the small size and short number of pages fool you. This book is quite dense. There is a lot of information on almost every page! So make sure you go through it at a good pace.

Overall I recommend this book as a part of your arsenal. It is is especially useful for smaller exams (Path shelf, NBME Comp) but then when the USMLE roles around, you must pull out the big gun (Rapid review) as long as you have the time.