Page 1 of 5: Books: Must Reads for Step1 - SUBJECTWISE

shriya · Credits: 8484 My Scrapbook

Hi everyone,

We have discussed the step1 books in other threads and we have some ratings & rankings available on rxpg , first aid etc.In this thread I'm trying to sort the various books simply as MUST or OPTIONAL for step1 preperation.We'll take it subjectwise.When all of you post your views..please copy this list onto ur message and write MUST or OPTIONAL next to it.I think this will help all of us shortlist our final books and stick to selected resources with confidence:)

For convenience, I'm strating with two subjects at a time..Physio and Biochem now.

SUBJECT 1: Physiology

1. Kap notes
2. pretest
3. BRS physio
4. High Yield
5. Ganong
6. Qbank

SUBJECT 2 : Biochemistry

1. Kap notes
2. BRS
3. High Yield
4. pretest biochem & genetics
5. Lippincott
6. Katzung

Plz add to the list if u feel I left out any good books.I have not included First Aid here ..as its common to all subjects and more or less a MUST book:)Looking forward to inputs and guidance from all of you.

shriya · Credits: 8484 My Scrapbook

Hi,
I am starting off with my rankings of these books..[but I'm only a beginner and dont have much idea about the right books..]

SUBJECT 1: Physiology

1. Kap notes MUST
2. pretest MUST
3. BRS physio OPTIONAL
4. High Yield OPTIONAL
5. Ganong OPTIONAL
6. Qbank MUST

SUBJECT 2 : Biochemistry

1. Kap notes MUST
2. BRS OPTIONAL
3. High Yield DONT KNOW
4. pretest biochem & genetics OPTIONAL
5. Lippincott MUST ?
6. Katzung MUST only for latest drugs list & MCQs

Plz feel free to add more books to list ..thanx

shriya · Credits: 8484 My Scrapbook

Oh no..Big mistake..I wrote Katzung where I wanted to write Harpers..please excuse me for such a silly confusion..

mind is all muddled in the sea of all these books:) Plz ignore that bit.

Also, I tried to space out the booknames and the ranking...but dint work..alternatively you could post it this way ---

SUBJECT 1: Physiology

MUST - Kaplan notes , pretest series , Q bank
OPTIONAL - HY , BRS ,Ganong

SUBJECT 2 : Biochemistry

MUST - Kaplan notes , Lippincott
OPTIONAL - Harpers , HY, pretest

try whichever is convenient.

Moderator!! can u please help with the goof up? Thanx a lot...

drjpankaj · Credits: 1021 My Scrapbook

I am ading my opinion on books to read for USMLE 1 subject wise in order of preferences. But again I am not an expert. And every one has and should have their own choices. Not all can have the same choices. So its my personal choice.

1. Anatomy
-Kaplan
-HY

2. Physio
-Kaplan
-BRS

3. Biochemistry
-Kaplan
-Lippincott illustrated review

4. Behavioural Sciences
-Kaplan
-BRS
-HY

5. Pharmacology
-Kaplan
-Lippincott illustrated review

6. Microbiology
-Kaplan
-Lippincott illustrated review
-HY

7. Pathology
-BRS
-Goljan
-Kaplan

Others
-First Aid
-Kaplan Qbook
-Kaplan online Q bank
-NMS for MCQs
-Pretest Clinical Vignettes (Subject wise pretest only if you have ample time)
aditionally you can have as many other books with MCQs as you wish.
I hope this should be much more than sufficient.
Additions invited

sravya · Credits: 28740 My Scrapbook

hey,

the list is soo longggg! i'm verymuch fritened guyz ! do u think all these books r

to be covered for USMLE step1?

well i thought a cuple of standard books renuf.

is that not so?

well according to me r wat i'm preparing from r

anatomy- kaplan, fa(writing imp points from kaplan in to fa for last min review)

physiology-kaplan, brs , fa

biochemistry- kaplan, fa, lippincotts(only some topics)

microbiology- kaplan, fa

phramacology-kaplan, fa, lippincotts(only some imp topics)

behavs-brs, kaplan, fa

pathology-goljan, kaplan, fa

for mcqz------> kaplan qbook,

nms

pretest series

every bit in rxpg like medimock , posts by friends in rxpg!

hey plzzz tel me wat else u require apart from this !

do specify most important books! that r must!

hey guyz y dont u specify in a better way i mean different pple r using different books , may be we can exchange abt which topics r best represented in which books!n also important topics for the exam!

hope i'm clear to u all!

wat abt grafs n diagrams ?

ok bye

shriya · Credits: 8484 My Scrapbook

Thankyou Dr Pankaj!
Thats quite a detailed list....and all the subjects have been covered too;) Thanx for taking the time and helping out.
Once everyone has posted their choices , I'll sum them up subjectwise and list must reads and additional materials for each subject and post it.Thanx again..
Just one query..how difficult is it to integrate lippincotts while reading kaplan for biochem..is it too timeconsuming or is it doable?

Would all of you prefer to list all subjects books together only? or should I continue with two subjects at a time? Let me know any thoughts on this..

bye all..study hard..

shriya · Credits: 8484 My Scrapbook

Sravya is right:0 The point of this thread was to condense the book list to the minimum possible number while retaining good coverage of all step1 topics .Thats why we r identifying the absolute MUST list.For example...HY and pretests are good for certain subjects and not for others..plz include for which subjects they r must etc.

And I like sravya's idea about imp topics..
we can highlight that so n so book is a must for revision or drugs or graphs etc..
I think lippincotts for all subjects are good for illustrations n charts
KLM anat for tables n diagrams
HY for graphs n charts..

hope this helps sravya..

sravya · Credits: 28740 My Scrapbook

hi shriya,

i think kaplan is very gud for Biochemistry . its daoble!n also lippincotts but dont assimilate juss go thru lippin once n write imp points of lippin in to kaplan it saves u time. but before that master a topic in kaplan n go thru lippin(for that topic)!

hope this helps u shriya!

hey thiz iz only my point of review !

any new r diffrences in ideas r welcome

ok bye yaar!

drjpankaj · Credits: 1021 My Scrapbook

I am sorry if i have frightened anyone by this long list of books. But If you ask me the must read books then I feel

- kaplan for all subjects
- Goljan or BRS for Pathology
- Kaplan Q book
- First Aid
- Kaplan online Q bank after you finish reading.

You do not even need to look at other books if you are thorough with these. Most of my friends have advised me the same. And many of them have got good scores by reading only these books and nothing else.

The other books i listed were in adition to the kaplan if someone wants to read more, as this thread was started for the same (i.e. must and optional). I think a complete comprehensive list of all subjects would be better than a list of books of 1-2 subjects at a time coz it will take a long time to look into all the messages for new comers to know the books to be read.

I am sticking to Kaplan with occasional reference to the other books I listed.

About the lippincott for biochem, I have not yet started reading biochem. But I just had a look at the book and I feel it is very doable and it is really as per the title (i.e. illustrated). Yes it does take more time than any other books like HY BRS etc.

And about topic wise or subject wise better books.
HY is good for Embryo, Neuroanatomy, Gross Anatomy and Cell & Molecular biology
BRS is good for Physio, Patho and Behavioural Sciences
Lippincott for Biochem, Pharmac and Microbiology .

AGAIN I WOULD LIKE TO CLARIFY THAT NOT ALL THESE BOOKS ARE MUST READ BUT IN ADDITION TO KAPLAN IF SOMEBODY WANTS TO. OTHERWISE KAPLAN AND FIRST AID ARE THE ONLY MUST READ IN MY OPINION.

shriya · Credits: 8484 My Scrapbook

Dr Pankaj ,
Thanx a million! U dint scare us earlier! Both ur posts were full of info we wanted..thanx..
You have made life a lot easier by posting the absolute MUST list and all the additional info..I suppose since ur post answered everything ..now thr wont be any other posts here..

So i'll stick to kaplan and FA..and other books as n when I can do..Thanx a lot..and for clarifying the lippincott thing too.I think it'll supplement the kaplan biochem book nicely

thanx sravya for that idea..of jotting dooown stuff from lippincott to kaplan..

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