Goljan is waay overhyped. I think pathology in general is one of the easier sections on the exam, and there are any number of ways to prepare for it. If you just took pathology or pathophysiology then you probably don't need to study too much for it, assuming you kept up with studying during teh course. The hard parts of the exam imo are like biochem (absolutely memorize everything in FA on biochem). Another high yield area to study soon before the exam is introductory sections of microbiology (i.e. what is transduction/conjugation, what is lag phase, log phase, etc.) and what some of the major exotoxins are (ADP-robsylation of EF2 with both C. diptheriae and P. auereginosa)...know which toxins require phage lysogenic conversion). Know molecular biology, definitionly know that stupid hardy-weinberg equation (or just remember from pre-algebra what (x+y)^2 factors out to) Know genetic diseases, know about ANTICIPATION with fragile X/myotonic dystrophy/Huntington's/one other, I forget..Know what anticipation actually means, not just what disease it is associated with..Know about IMPRINTING and Prade Willi/Angelman's syndrome...Know that it is chromosome 15, etc.
Use FA for immunology, know DR3/4 with IDDM, know DR4 with rrheumatoid, 27 with Reiter's/spondylosing anylosis?/psoriatic arthritis, and all the other HLA subtypes linked to disease..it is a little table in first aid.
Not too much anatomy, but some of the questions can be tough, so definitely know brachial plexus, and basically all the innervation of the limbs. Know the circulation of the limbs to a lesser extent, know where the veins dump off into (I.e. great saphenous all the way up towards femoral vein, saphenous stopping at popliteal behind the knee.) Know their relative position to the ankle (i.e. behind the lateral maleoulus or anterior to the medial maleolus for the lesser saphenous/great saphenous respectively). Know the traingles of the neck definitely. And know where the chambers of the heart are in X-rays/CT. That's pretty much the only anatomy on the boards.
Neuroscience seems to be popular the last couple of months on the exam, so know it decently well. Don't skip over it.
Embryology---just read the few pages in FA, because it is one area where you get easy questions.
Know the gut and humoral hormones well. Know things like insulin will suppress glucagon release (indirectly), but the converse does not hold true.
Pharmacology---FA will have most of what you need...the questions on the exam that aren;t in FA tend not to be in other books neither, so don't bother...They sometimes have some newer drugs on there that no one has heard of except for the PHD researcher who submitted that question to the step 1 makers. No principles pretty well, this holds true for really every subject. Step 1 isn't as nitpicky on details as one might think. It is a lot of general principles that they want you to have an idea of, and then it is a lot of questions that you have to use your knowledge base to narrow down the choices and ultimately guess on. Believe me, no one walks out of the step 1 thinking they knew the answer to 80% of the questions for sure. You just have to guess and be confident in your ability to guess. Don't get discouraged halfway through the test because you've been guessing a lot. Just keep your head cool, take breaks between sections to clear your mind...just close your eyes, you don't need to even leave the room. If you can maintain your cool during the exam I think you'll be fine.
And seriously, QBank is not at all representative of step 1....There is no way one could make a good representation, it is a very random test. You just need to have the knowledge base to make educated guess.
This post is very long, sorry, don't hate me for it.
