p53
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Hi, everyone
I'm IMG from Georgia (former Soviet Union), graduated in 2002. I'm doing my PhD in pathology in my home country.
My friend has just called from the USA and said that I have received 99/249 (thank you, God!). I don't have my score report in my hands yet, so I don't know exactly in which subjects was I more successful, and in which - less (though, as she said, my best subject was pathology).
I took my step 1 on oct 27, 2005. My preparation for step 1 was frustrating and full of doubt. I even gave to myself a promise 1 month before the exam that I'll never post on this forum again, if my score would be less than 99 (I'm happy that I can post again  ). I congratulate all my forum friends, who have received their scores during this period of time (especially, ssrpk and an - well done, guys!).
Now, about my exam experience (I'll list everything I have read, even textbooks, so don't be afraid!):
Pathology: of course, most of questions were about pathology. At the same time, it was my strongest subject, so I have found them too easy. There were a lot of micro and macro pathology slides, as well as CTs and MRIs. Here is what I have done for pathology (from the biggest to the smallest): 'Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease', cover to cover (it was more helpful for my PhD than for step 1), 'Robbins Basic Pathology' (the best text, if you are doing it with 'Robbins Review'), 'Robbins and Cotran Review of Pathology' (Gold Standard, if you are pointing to 99 on step 1, with highly USMLE-ish questions, have done it 2 times), 'Pocket Companion to Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease' (easy fast reading, but without pictures), Goljan's textbook - 'STARS Pathology', 500 pages (I haven't found it very helpful, especially after Robbins; maybe his review is better; anyway, as you can see, I'm a Robbins fan, not a Goljan fan), all questions from http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/webpath.html (Dr.Klatt is author for them, as well as for 'Robbins Review', but webpath questions are shorter), Goljan's audio CD (it's funny and entertaining, but too basic and too time consuming), 'BRS Pathology' (mediocre source if your aim is a high score on step 1). Haven't read 'Kaplan Lecture Notes: Pathology' - worst and weakest book among Kaplan LN.
Pharmacology: on my exam this subject was heavily tested, I even got 2 questions with chemical formulas. They gave drug formula and asked how this drug works. Very, very detailed questions about mechanisms of action of different drugs. for Pharma I have read Katzung's 'Basic and Clinical Pharmacology' (too big textbook, of course; many unnecessary details; waste of time; don't recommend!), 'Katzung and Trevor's Pharmacology: Examination and Board Review', 2 times (best choice for high scores), 'Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews: Pharmacology' (don't like it - text isn't very wisely organized. Instead of giving you detailed information about prototypical drug and then explaining only what is different with another members of this group - this approach is employed by Katzung - it endlessly gives you detailed information about pharmacokinetics and adverse reactions of unimportant members of the same family; if you want to read it, use only new - 2005 - edition), 'Kaplan LN: Pharmacology', 1 time only (I think it's not enough for high scores, though its author is also Dr.Trevor).
Physiology: on my exam it wasn't heavily tested - no formulas, no calculations, easy questions, mostly graphs with vertical arrows. I have read: Ganong's 'Review of Medical Physiology' (it isn't review actually, despite its name, it's a textbook; some chapters, especially endo and neuro, are very detailed and comprehensive, but others, especially pulmo and kidney, vaguelly written, difficult to understand, incomplete and insufficient; very difficult to read), 'NMS Physiology' (why people don't like this very good review? skip neurophysiology in it though, it's bad), 'BRS physiology' by Costanzo (maybe, too simplified - I guess her 'Physiology' is better), 'Kaplan LN: Physiology', 1 time only (better than BRS, but why without neurophysiology? Kaplan's neuroanatomy doesn't compensate for it).
Microbiology & Immunology: not too hard questions, doable. I have read: Janeway's 'Immunobiology' (too big and too detailed, but very good textbook), Levinson's 'Medical Microbiology & Immunology: Examination and Board review' (excellent, but some chapters, especially whole immunology and microbial genetics are better in 'Kaplan LN: Microbiology & Immunology'), 'Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple' (only for mnemonics), 'Kaplan LN: Microbiology & Immunology', 1 time only.
Biochemistry & Genetics: Genetic questions were difficult for me, especially because of calculations (time isn't enough!). I have done: 'Thompson and Thompson Genetics in Medicine' (even after reading this textbook I have failed to answer some genetic questions on my exam),'Lippincott's Illustrated reviews: Biochemistry', 2 times (new 2004 edition is especially beautifully illustrated; main drawback is that 'Lippincott's' doesn't include genetics), 'Kaplan LN: Biochemistry', 1 time only (genetics and molecular biology in it are especially good; metabolism, vitamins and nutrition are better covered in 'Lippincott's').
Anatomy: very few questions, mostly from neuroanatomy. Have done: 'BRS Neuroanatomy' (good, but too detailed), 'High-Yield Neuroanatomy' (condensed version of the same book), 'High-Yield Gross Anatomy' (don't like it), 'High-Yield Embriology' (excellent), 'Wheater' s Functional Histology' (for slides). 'Kaplan LN: Anatomy', 1 time only (ambivalent about it; neuroanatomy is very good, other chapters - not so much).
Behavioral Science: very, very difficult subject, especially for the "patient has said or done something, what would you say or do?" questions. Biostatistics & Epidemiology calculations are also difficult, again, because of time constraints. I have done: Fadem's 'BRS BS', 2 times (great review, very good MCQs, bad biostatistics and epidemiology chapters), 'High-Yield BS', by the same author (I think it's not enough), 'Rapid Review: BS' (so-so, Kaplan LN is much better, but MCQs are helpful), 'High-Yield Biostatistics' (excellent), 'Appleton & Lange's Review of Epidemiology and Biostatistics' (also good), 'Kaplan LN: BS', 2 times (best choice for BS, almost all chapters are excellent, but psychiatric disorders are better covered in the 'BRS BS').
General: 'First Aid' (it has some flaws, but anyway, the best book ever created for step 1 general review) and 'Kaplan Qbook' (excellent MCQs with excellent explanations). I haven't done Kaplan Qbank.
I'm open for any question.
Edited by p53 on 06/11/07 - 11:59 PM
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| drk1980
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great! ur book recommendations r valued highly....since u seem to hv gone thru almost all the books thr r!
Congrats and thanks! Best wishes for the future...
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| robin082006
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great score, congratulations
good luck with your next steps
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| cyra
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Congratulations!!Great news!
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| kingsofke
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You rock man. Its been sometime but i sdo remember you like it was yesterday, offcourse you dont.  IT was expected man. Heartiest Congratulations. Have another one in step2 .
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| fakhan
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congrats,great score,u r genius .how u manage time for studying so much stuff.
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| sturge_weber
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good, great, and congrats p53....
well i remember ur posts, and ur fundas , they were always crystal clear...
all the best for step 2
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| an
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congrats p53...way to go...u had one of the clearest concepts and it has showed in ur score....
and i am so glad u will be posting again in the forum
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| amygdalaa
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Congrats! Great score!
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| dr tsuka
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wow man! thatīs impressive, congratulations!!!
How well did you do on Qbook?
Good luck on step 2!
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| ssrpk
Forum Fanatic
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hey buddy! long time! but am not at al surprised, as your 99 was pretty much expected
I wish u even better on step2, enjoy ur success!
Good Luck!
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| tamar
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congratulations p53, great score
tamar
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| reet
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congratts on wonderfull score.,, u have been great help to this forum...especially ur posts.
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| goljan_fan
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what was ur daily study schedule?
how many months prepn?How much time for each subject?Did u study one subject at a time or more?How about last month prep & schedule?
Is Robbins Case Companion CD useful?
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| infliximab
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CONGRATULATIONS P53
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| p53
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thanks, everyone!
dr tsuka -
as I already said, my exam preparation was full of frustration. Main reason for this was the fact that almost every diagnostic test I have taken showed average performance result:
Kaplan Qbook - 75% (2 months before the exam)
Kaplan simulated CD - 73% (1 month before the exam)
USMLE CD - 38, 40, 44 (4 months, 2 months & 1 week before the exam, respectively).
goljan_fan -
It's difficult for me to define my study schedule, because sometimes I was reading 1 hour in a day, sometimes - 14 (especially to the end). of course, it isn't very wise schedule.
My preparation was spiral-like: first turn - 7 basic subjects from textbooks and 'big reviews', then second turn - from 'average reviews', by the same sequence of subjects, then third turn - from 'little reviews', then fourth turn - from 'Kaplan Lecture Notes' + Qbook; in last 4 days have read whole 'First Aid' - 100 pages per day (best part in it is 'Pharmacology').
It's also difficult for me to give you exact number of months I spent on my prep, because, if you will not count the textbooks I have read, it will be less than 6 months, with textbooks - more than 1 year. Of course, I know guys reading Kaplan Lecture Notes 4 times, doing Kaplan Qbank and then receiving 99 / 265 (and also know guys who have done same 'standard' prep but have failed the exam; they appear scarcely on this forum because are reluctant to share their experience). Maybe it's much more easy way of preparation, but I'm sure - my way was CHEAPEST. I have spent only $ 850 on my actual exam registration - and that's all! I haven't bought any books - all above mentioned resources were from libraries, or my friends gave some of them to me. I haven't taken Qbank and NBME. Maybe, I would read Kaplan LN more than 1 time (I have read only Behavioral Science notes 2 times), if I could get them earlier during my preparation. I haven't paid even cent for them also.
Main mistake in my preparation was reading big textbooks, especially Katzung's 'Basic and Clinical Pharmacology' - revealed this when after finishing it have found that on 'Kaplan Simulated CD' my weakest subject was pharmacology . Could you believe it - you have read 1200 page long pharmacology textbook and your lowest score is in pharmacology! Maybe, it's because to the end of this book I almost have forgotten what was in the beginning of it . By the way, all this drugs have magic tendency to disappear from your brain almost immediately (as Dr. Goljan likes to say - 'it's open space') - I have read pharmacology 5 times and almost completely have forgotten it all 5 times. If I wouldn't have refreshed my memory during last day before my exam from First Aid's pharmacology, I would be in a big trouble during my exam. Big textbooks have many unnecessary details, which are watering down high yield info - you'll end up remembering this tiny details instead of essentials. On the other hand, if your resources aren't detailed enough be sure that the exam will not be lazy to ask about them. As Albert Einstein once said, 'everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler!'. Cruel reality of the USMLE is that you have to guide your ship of the exam preparation between these scylla and charybdis.
Anyway, "I did it my way" (old Frank Sinatra).
Robbins case companion CD is useful for very high quality pathology macro & micro slides, not for cases itself, because they are too few and not MCQ-like. I wish after each slide there would be an accompanying MCQ, as in the 'Robbins and Cotran Review of Pathology'. This book (Robbins Review) and 'Robbins Basic Pathology' together is a killer combination, making it possible to answer 100% (yes, 100%!) of pathology questions on the USMLE step 1.
GL
Edited by p53 on 01/24/06 - 02:35 AM
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| coolmavs
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p53, great score buddy! I just had a query aith regards to the webpath questions that you ahve mentioned. I am trying to lay my hands on the new 2004 - 2005 edition of the Robbins Review book, but I am only getting the older edition out here. So I wanted to know whcih edition of the Review book you are talking about and is there any major differnce between the editions. Also, how similar are the webpath questions to the questions in the Robbins review book?
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| p53
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coolmavs, yes, there is significant difference between the first (2000, 310 pages) and second (2004, 432 pages) editions of 'Robbins and Cotran Review of Pathology' - case-based MCQs are much longer and there is comprehensive examination chapter in the second edition.
http://www.us.elsevierhealth.com/product.jsp?isbn...
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| coolmavs
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p53, also how do the webpath pictures compare with the ones that are on the actual exam? Also what sort of a similarity or difeerence is there between the webpath questions and the ones on webpath?
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| p53
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exam pictures are easier. webpath questions are somewhat shorter than usmle step 1 questions. at the same time 'Robbins and Cotran Review of Pathology' questions are slightly longer (and much more difficult) than actual exam questions.
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| coolmavs
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Thanks p53, and all the best for your step 2 preparation.
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| p53
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Just have received my score report paper.
Lowest performances are in the gastrointestinal system (organ system) and in gross anatomy & embryology (subject).
Edited by p53 on 01/24/06 - 02:18 AM
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| premonition
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Great going dude.
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| p53
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thanks, coolmavs and premonition!
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| sturge_weber
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wow u re great p53...
i have always admired that u didnt stick to the reviews and have had solid concepts, well u got ur reward...
anyhow best of luck for step 2. i am sure u will extremely well ...
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