MD Boards and Beyond

[Epicurusall]

In passing through multiple threads I've read that B&B is an excellent resource for filling in gaps in knowledge when preparing for step 1.

My question is, are these videos such a good learning tool that they should be used alongside MS1 courses to learn the basic sciences and systems? Or, is this truly a review source to be used only during MS2 for step preparation?

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[Gorne]

Alongside M1, probably not. During second year? Sure. Second semester of second year? Absolutely.

 

[LyMed]

You can use it for either.

 

[Styrene]

Never looked at it during MS1. Main study resources were small group cases, UWorld and Google.

 

[Epicurusall]

Taking a look at the poll, there are currently 5 people saying both MS1 & MS2 compared to 2 people saying MS2 only (and 1 to not use it at all).

Can some of these people explain why they would recommend using it first year?
i.e. Were there specific areas you felt your school was lacking that B&B covered well? Did B&B teach better than your professors? Is B&B a time-efficient, comprehensive series?

@Gorne , if you wouldn't mind, would you elaborate on why it is better for M2, and probably not to use during M1?
i.e. not comprehensive, school lectures sufficient, not enough time for it, etc.

 

[QueryNeurology]

No one at my school uses it...so honestly just wondering what the advantage of using B+B is.
What am I going to get that isn't on UFAPS?

 

[Epicurusall]

No one at my school uses it...so honestly just wondering what the advantage of using B+B is.
What am I going to get that isn't on UFAPS?

Yes, in terms of board review, it may not be an added benefit at all. However, in terms of building a foundation, I do not plan to rely on UFAPS.

I am wondering if this helps build a foundation, and when to use it if it does. It seems from most posts that it may be a good transitional resource, at the time finishing up systems, but before a dedicated study period

 

[ridethecliche]

It'd be useful first year depending on your courses. I think it has a place in courses like neuro, heme/onc, microbio, immuno, etc. It's a good resource coupled with pathoma. I think it's more in depth than Pathoma, so when I'm using both, I'd generally watch pathoma first to get a conceptual understanding then fill in the blanks with it.

 

[trs88]

I think it really depends. I'm doing board studying now and I lack a good foundation so I'm using B&B and I'm finding it very helpful to clue me in on some things before I then go to UFAPS. Mostly because as I'm studying, I'm finding out that a lot of high yield board topics weren't taught on at all at my school.

 

[LyMed]

Yes, in terms of board review, it may not be an added benefit at all. However, in terms of building a foundation, I do not plan to rely on UFAPS.

I am wondering if this helps build a foundation, and when to use it if it does. It seems from most posts that it may be a good transitional resource, at the time finishing up systems, but before a dedicated study period

It does help with the foundation. The only thing in UFAPS that does is Pathoma and UWorld. Depending on your budget, you can just run it through the entire two years of your preclinical years. If you find it overkill, or want just a trial, you can just give it a run during your first few blocks and see how it's helping.

 

[Foot Fetish]

What's the deal with this B&B thing ? Why does everyone seem to rave about it nowadays?

I was planning on just sticking to UFAP + SketchyMicro + NBME's.

 

[trs88]

What's the deal with this B&B thing ? Why does everyone seem to rave about it nowadays?

I was planning on just sticking to UFAP + SketchyMicro + NBME's.

He's good at explaining topics if you need more detail than what FA gives. Some people would do DIT or Kaplan, others go with BB. Here's his youtube channel where you can see some of his videos for free to get an idea of how he covers the topics. Boards and Beyond

 

[GoodWillShunting]

Just go to their website and take a look at what they are. Watch a sample video. It'll pretty much explain itself.

Imagine slightly more in depth/majorly more clinical version of Pathoma that largely runs alongside first aid (includes physiology, biochem, behavioral science, Biostats etc etc). Some path concepts are not mentioned in Pathoma, while there are also things in Pathoma that are not in B&B.

Excellent resources for boards and class, not sure why anybody would say M2 only, unless they absolutely did nothing basic science/physiology-related during M1 and simply had nothing they could use B&B for. I believe choosing to use it has more to do with individual learning styles rather than a lack of utility or applicability.

Every school has a different curriculum, but considering B&B covers more than pathology only, yes, you can find plenty of relevant videos during M1 as well (again, half of the damn videos are biochem/physiology/micro/genetics/embryology/NOT Pathology etc)



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[Epicurusall]

He's good at explaining topics if you need more detail than what FA gives. Some people would do DIT or Kaplan, others go with BB. Here's his youtube channel where you can see some of his videos for free to get an idea of how he covers the topics. Boards and Beyond

I have been wondering about DIT as well (similar to my question about B&B), but heard that DIT is more time-consuming/low-yield compared to B&B, and figured that I might as well be re-watching school lectures. BUT, I guess if I were unhappy with my school's lectures, I would certainly consider it.

 

[LyMed]

What's the deal with this B&B thing ? Why does everyone seem to rave about it nowadays?

I was planning on just sticking to UFAP + SketchyMicro + NBME's.

There's just not enough resources that teach the preclinical years well, IMO. DIT doesn't teach at all, from what I recall. They just read FA to you.

 

[Gorne]

My school's curriculum is actually good, so I focused on just mastering that during first year.

IMO boards review is for boards review, it's superficial compared to what a good school curriculum demands. There is no need to follow along with it during first year, when you're just going to watch it again second year to review, why pay for 2 years?

For school's with lesser curriculums, well, do what you need to do.

 

[GoodWillShunting]

[QUOTE="Gorne, post: 18985566, member: 649915" ....why pay for 2 years?

For school's with lesser curriculums, well, do what you need to do.[/QUOTE]

I understand where you're coming from.

I'd also like to mention that students can still struggle with a fantastic curriculum. I would not assume that a "good school's" curriculum allows students to circumvent individual learning preferences/styles/issues, especially since not all students benefit equally from a given curriculum.

There may have been "no need" for you, personally, to follow along first year, but perhaps for certain students, having a strong supplement (B&B, in this case) means learning a particular subject properly the first time, which may mean being able to shorten/forgo a second year review. It may also mean being better able to grasp new concepts that may require previous solid undertaking at an earlier time.


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[Gorne]

[QUOTE="Gorne, post: 18985566, member: 649915" ....why pay for 2 years?

For school's with lesser curriculums, well, do what you need to do

I understand where you're coming from.

I'd also like to mention that students can still struggle with a fantastic curriculum. I would not assume that a "good school's" curriculum allows students to circumvent individual learning preferences/styles/issues, especially since not all students benefit equally from a given curriculum.

There may have been "no need" for you, personally, to follow along first year, but perhaps for certain students, having a strong supplement (B&B, in this case) means learning a particular subject properly the first time, which may mean being able to shorten/forgo a second year review. It may also mean being better able to grasp new concepts that may require previous solid undertaking at an earlier time.


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I agree. Students who are struggling could benefit from a concise overview before getting lost in the details. For students struggling to grasp big picture biochem, immuno, etc, review books are not a bad supplement at all.

My post was more geared toward using review books because your neurotic and need to be "board studying" alongside classes as an M1. There is plenty of time to fumble through 18 resources and stress yourself out as an M2.

 

[~Soñadora~]

I used B&B during both first and second year and I found it extremely useful. I really disliked my school's lectures and overall organization of subjects and I felt that the way B&B goes over every subject was more organized and helped me understand a lot more. Frequently I would watch a 20 minute B&B video that taught me more than 2 hours of lecture from my school. It really helped me understand a lot of things that didn't make sense during class. It was useful during first year because it covers a fair amount of physiology and I found it really helped me understand material my school wasn't very good at teaching me. I just ignored the pathology videos during first year. During second year they were a quick way for me to review my physiology and again they are very good for learning about pathology. Pathoma is a great resource and I love it. It does a good job of outlining and organizing things in a way that make sense. However it only covers pathology and B&B covers physiology as well. B&B covers a bit more detail than Pathoma sometimes, so I would especially recommend it if you feel you lack some foundations or are struggling with more basic concepts because B&B makes sure to incorporate those into their explanations. During second year I used B&B to annotate First Aid and I found the notes useful as I went over FA during dedicated study time.

 

[ridethecliche]

My school's curriculum is actually good, so I focused on just mastering that during first year.

IMO boards review is for boards review, it's superficial compared to what a good school curriculum demands. There is no need to follow along with it during first year, when you're just going to watch it again second year to review, why pay for 2 years?

For school's with lesser curriculums, well, do what you need to do.

I disagree. I stopped using class material and studying mostly from Boards and Beyond, Pathoma, and some other sources for classes in my second year. I think boards and beyond isn't the best for dedicated time since there's a lot of info. It's useful to go back and review certain things you might not have down as well, but honestly I'm not sure I'd go through all of it again for dedicated. Though, if you have enough time, it may be a good way to do your first pass of FA. I.e. watch boards and beyond and mark up FA or read along while you're going through it. They've recently started adding FA pages to the different lectures, so if you get confused reading FA you can go and watch the associated lecture.

For various reasons, my foundations were a bit iffy. I think I'd have a much stronger foundation if I had used it as a resource all through second year and for part of first year. I really like the way he presents a lot of his clinical insights in terms of algorithms. It helps get at the small differences between similar things and I think it's really useful for step 1 but also it helps understand what's going on which is the 'beyond' part of boards and beyond.