Doctors In Training (DIT) - Recommended?

[DocYuki]

Hey SDN,
It's been a long, long time since my last post, haha. I've been busy with the notorious pre-clinical years.

I am preparing for Step I, which I am scheduled to take on June 3rd, 2009. I have the essentials ready to go once finals are over on May 8th:

-First Aid 2009
-Goljan Audio and RR Book
-USMLE World
-Clinical Micro Made Ridiculously Simple
-BRS Physio, Path

But there's one major detail. I am the kind of guy who, when it comes to things like preparing for Step I, needs something structured; a push, if you will. I'm not confident I can get up every morning and cover all I need to by myself.

I wouldn't consider a KAPLAN course because they are too expensive and I know that company doesn't bode well with me from previous experience. I was considering this little company: http://doctorsintraining.com/

I have zero knowledge of how they are. Noone at my med-school has an opinion, except for the fact that noone was impressed when they came and spoke to us. But has anyone on here tried them out? They offer, for $600, a series of lectures spanning 15 straight days, each day being 5-6 hours of lecture. The lectures are meant to be active-learning and they use First Aid 2009 as the text book. I don't see how this could go wrong, but the guy who lectures kind of creeps me out. I don't know if I trust him...he might just read straight off of First Aid and waste my $600.

So money, and more importantly, good test prep technique is at stake. I'm the kind of person who needs the push of watching daily lectures, but is this worth the cost?

Anyone with first-hand experience or any idea beyond what I know (which is just what DIT says) is invited to offer an opinion. It would greatly help me out. Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Texas4508]

I wanted to add my two cents because I recently took Step after completing the DIT course. I took three weeks, did videos Mon-Fri, took Saturday off, and reviewed/did a practice test on Sunday. I had five days before step after finishing DIT; I reviewed FA one last time in 4 days and then took the last day off.

I liked the course because it made me spend time on areas that I dislike. I would never have spent so much time on micro or autonomic pharm because I personally dont enjoy it. I also liked that I could play it on "fast" mode, but it still took about 6 hrs a day.

I didnt like listening to it by the end, but then I didnt really like anything at that point. I also second being very annoyed with the constant reference to brand names for medications.

I feel like it was a great way to get through FA again and spend time on areas you'd otherwise skip over. However, I went back after my test and looked...the first 15 "FIVE STAR" topics that he mentioned...yea, I only have questions on 2 of those 15 sections. I know he is just trying to identify the high yield stuff and maybe I just had a crazy test, but my test did not correlate well with his star system.

 

[PokerDoc]

Again, as promised, I'll post my score progression on saturday evening after I take my third full length.. but I have to say.. I have done 2 of the biochem lectures so far, and hes made things A LOT clearer for me so far on this particular subject.. Now when I go back through RR, Im gonna know exactly what pages to look at instead of starring at this giant book

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

I promise that I'm not affiliated with DIT in any way.

I did DIT, and I agree that the DIT guy is a total jackass, and a little bit creepy. He gets a lot of stuff wrong (most of the time he catches his errors, but sometimes he doesn't. For example, he COMPLETELY mixed up the different channels for the cardiac action potential.) Overall, he's a pretty bad public speaker and generally pretty annoying, but, in the end, I think the course worked for me because it forced me to prod through FA. So the "this guy just reads FA" argument doesn't do much for me, because I found someone reading FA to be helpful. I'll grant those that say, "Hey, I can read FA too" that they're probably right, but where is YOUR course (that just reads FA to people.) As with most things, something that seems easy to the end user takes a lot more prep on the back-end to pull off.

I'm also a kinetic learner, and I appreciated all of the practice questions that he prepared.

I've never put a HUGE amount of stock into the "5-star" or "High Yield" topics, because can't the NBME just take/survey the board prep course, see what everybody is saying is high yield, and then just make up questions on other subjects? (similar to what recent test takers seem to be reporting about anatomy, which used to be a relatively low-yield subject.) However, I've always done all of the high yield questions and studied the high yield topics, just in case

In the end, however, using shills is really classless, and makes me wonder if I got duped by buying the course. No legitimate business does stuff like that.

 

[DrMetal]

I promise that I'm not affiliated with DIT in any way..

Well that much is obvious by your last post!

Thanks for the info. Interesting . . . unless I'm mistaken, you post is the first (or one the few) reports of blatant errors in the DIT course. Can anyone corroborate this?

Did you try contacting DIT, any response?

So would you or would you not do DIT again? (I didn't quite get a sense from your post. It seems like you had an overall bad experience, but you did like some things, the workbook)

[BTW, totally agree with you about "high-yield" learning. Its a totally bullsht way to learn, especially for someone like me who comes from a scientific background, always used to deriving things and knowing things inside-n-out, not just memorizing high-yield points. But such is medical education . . . ]

 

[PokerDoc]

I promise that I'm not affiliated with DIT in any way.

I did DIT, and I agree that the DIT guy is a total jackass, and a little bit creepy. He gets a lot of stuff wrong (most of the time he catches his errors, but sometimes he doesn't. For example, he COMPLETELY mixed up the different channels for the cardiac action potential.) Overall, he's a pretty bad public speaker and generally pretty annoying, but, in the end, I think the course worked for me because it forced me to prod through FA. So the "this guy just reads FA" argument doesn't do much for me, because I found someone reading FA to be helpful. I'll grant those that say, "Hey, I can read FA too" that they're probably right, but where is YOUR course (that just reads FA to people.) As with most things, something that seems easy to the end user takes a lot more prep on the back-end to pull off.

I'm also a kinetic learner, and I appreciated all of the practice questions that he prepared.

I've never put a HUGE amount of stock into the "5-star" or "High Yield" topics, because can't the NBME just take/survey the board prep course, see what everybody is saying is high yield, and then just make up questions on other subjects? (similar to what recent test takers seem to be reporting about anatomy, which used to be a relatively low-yield subject.) However, I've always done all of the high yield questions and studied the high yield topics, just in case

In the end, however, using shills is really classless, and makes me wonder if I got duped by buying the course. No legitimate business does stuff like that.

ok b/c of your user name I just HAVE to ask you... did his pronunciation of the word "ashkenazi" make you cringe? I'm jewish and im like hollyyyyyy crap dude.




but yeah.. he does stutter a lot, but I def would not be studying as many hours as I do if it werent for the course. i also like how he breaks up some of the content, like in endo for example, he does one hormone, then the pathology of that one hormone then the drugs related to tat one hormone and ties it all together, instead of following the disjointed order in FA. that kind of stuff I can appreciate.

Also, the following morning, I also spend about 2-3 hrs reviewing everything I did the day before.. So i basically hit everything twice in a 24 hr period.. I've found my retention to be quite improved.

The real test wont come until I complete UW though and see how I do on my questions I got wrong the first time around.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

Well that much is obvious by your last post!

Thanks for the info. Interesting . . . unless I'm mistaken, you post is the first (or one the few) reports of blatant errors in the DIT course. Can anyone corroborate this?

Did you try contacting DIT, any response?

So would you or would you not do DIT again? (I didn't quite get a sense from your post. It seems like you had an overall bad experience, but you did like some things, the workbook)

[BTW, totally agree with you about "high-yield" learning. Its a totally bullsht way to learn, especially for someone like me who comes from a scientific background, always used to deriving things and knowing things inside-n-out, not just memorizing high-yield points. But such is medical education . . . ]

For me it was definitely overall good, because I find FA really cumbersome and difficult to read. If I didn't have someone reading it to me, I would not have gotten through it, and would've missed a lot of things.

The errors are more annoying than really misleading, because you have FA sitting right there in front of you, contradicting what he is saying. Like I said, 9/10 times he catches his mistakes, but a few slip by.

Would I do it again? Yes. Is it worth $700? Probably not, especially if you can get through FA on your own. If you can't, then it's really the cheapest Step 1 review course out there. On the other hand, I think Falcon charges upwards of $3k for their course, which includes lectures by Dr. Goljan. If it costs $3k to get Goljan, what do people expect $700 is going to buy you?

Not that this is very helpful, but some people like it, some don't.

PokerDoc: Ugh. His pronunciations are atrocious. Actually, "Iz-let cells" was one of the ones that annoyed me the most. I kept wondering, "Do you say 'Iz-land,' too?" There were lots of others that he did over and over again that made me want to smash my head into my monitor. Thank you for helping me to remember one of the prime justifications for why I label this guy a jackass. Come on. He's supposedly been teaching this course for 15+ years, you'd think he'd get the pronunciations right by now....

 

[PokerDoc]

hahah I just have been writing them off as him being from the South and my living in New England my entire life, so I didn't want to infer anything from his pronunciations.

I have noticed a few errors here and there, but its pretty obvious he does the recording once and doesnt stop if he slips ups like someone would on a professional television show or something. And honestly, I bet you if he did that and cleaned it up perfectly, that would give them justification to double the price of the course right there. Id rather it the way it is if it means it costs less.

 

[TheLesPaul]

I'd done 2 (cursory) run-throughs of FA before taking DIT, and I found the course a huge help. I mean, the guy tells you what you need for the course to work. He says do this many run-throughs, read these books, do this and then take my course. It shouldn't be a huge surprise when the course doesn't work for you if you don't do the recommended background work for it.

As for me, I found it a big help -- I'm an auditory learner.

 

[TheLesPaul]

OMG yes -- 'ashkinzi jews', 'iSlet cells', 'crabbie's dz', 'goucher's', 'cannaboids', 'cru du chaT', etc. :siggghh:

 

[PokerDoc]

I'd done 2 (cursory) run-throughs of FA before taking DIT, and I found the course a huge help. I mean, the guy tells you what you need for the course to work. He says do this many run-throughs, read these books, do this and then take my course. It shouldn't be a huge surprise when the course doesn't work for you if you don't do the recommended background work for it.

As for me, I found it a big help -- I'm an auditory learner.

I endorse this.. and im NOT an auditory learner.. quite the opposite in fact.. i spent my first 2 years of med school basically ignoring lecturers and learning from the slides and goljan. But there was just no way I'd be able to keep up the intensity required to study for this exam without something pushing me, and thats where this course has been so useful.. the constant quizzing as you go along is so clutch. And then going through it again the next day to see if you still get the quiz answers right is a huge help

 

[GoldSoundz]

hahah I just have been writing them off as him being from the South and my living in New England my entire life, so I didn't want to infer anything from his pronunciations.

So funny...as a fellow east coaster I was thinking the exact same thing!

Another 'cultural' oddity from DIT this reminds me of was when he mentioned how, at some hospitals, you can write for "Beers with Breakfast" for an alcoholic pt recently admitted to prevent DTs. Granted I don't have a ton of clinical experience, but I have NEVER heard of this. Is this a Texas thing?

 

[xx216xx]

So funny...as a fellow east coaster I was thinking the exact same thing!

Another 'cultural' oddity from DIT this reminds me of was when he mentioned how, at some hospitals, you can write for "Beers with Breakfast" for an alcoholic pt recently admitted to prevent DTs. Granted I don't have a ton of clinical experience, but I have NEVER heard of this. Is this a Texas thing?

I don't know if it's a Texas thing but I don't see how it would be unreasonable if they were at risk of going into DT. Maybe there's an EtOH drip or something though?

And just to defend Texas' pronunciations, I've lived in Texas my entire life and grew up in one of the redneckiest of towns and i have to agree with whatever poster said, "i don't know how he got this far with those pronunciations." Hell, i think i met my first Jew in med school but I knew how to pronounce ashkenazi in high school. Seriously, how has he made it so far without someone correcting him? It's painful.

 

[horhay1241]

I just took step one yesterday, and I have to say I think this class was worth the money for sure. I think if you are aiming for above a 240, this class probably won't do much for you. Most of the stuff is straight out of fa. But if you are looking pass, or to get in the 220s maybe 230s and don't know where to start, this works. I doubt their claim of a 237 avg score. But spending 15 days having this guy explain some things from fa, really helped me when I went through fa after the class was over. I dont really agree with his star system, I actually got more 3 star topics than I did 5 stars. I felt it was just as valuable when he would tell you which sections are low yield. The thing I didn't like about the class was the length. For sure he could shorten this to 3-4 hours per day. I would recommend doing 2 days on, one day off with this. It will help you keep up with the material if you have the time, I didn't.

So I liked it, I felt is was helpful to get through fa. There were definitely test qs yesterday that I remembered him talking about during the class. Its a pain though.

 

[thepoopologist]

We have determined that several testimonials in this thread were posted by DIT employees posing as medical students using multiple accounts. These posts have been deleted.

As with any post on SDN, but particularly in the USMLE/COMLEX forums where commercial products are frequently discussed, bear in mind that some users may not be who they seem to be.

What the ****. If DIT employees are reading this, EVERY one of us has the option of purchasing the course for $700 OR downloading your **** for $0. Concentrate on improving your product and the reviews here will reflect the quality. Do the above again and I promise that Ill do my part in downloading the course for free and distributing it amongst every single one of my 250+ class as well as anyone on SDN who wants it from me, and Ill do it as a big **** YOU to DIT. That pisses me off, especially since Ive been following this thread closely and have been pondering whether to buy it during the second half of my second year. Entiendes?

 

[bbydoc]

wow, well this course just lost my respect even more

right there with you!

 

[Nesiritide]

For real. I actually bought DIT a few months ago...now I'm glad I cancelled after watching the sample video, and I won't be recommending them to anybody behind me.

 

[PokerDoc]

Hell, i think i met my first Jew in med school but I knew how to pronounce ashkenazi in high school..

What was he like? Was he like Bear Jew? Was he tiny and really bad at sports?

 

[xx216xx]

What was he like? Was he like Bear Jew? Was he tiny and really bad at sports?

lol, he was just like the local elders described; dark curly fro, big bushy eyebrows, mother calling him every day wondering why he doesn't call her, financially inclined. It was a glorious moment for me when i met him.

i kid of course in case he sees this, not sure if he browses sdn, but he's a good guy with a good sense of humor

 

[MoscowAbe]

Obviously what the people at DIT did was unprofessional and unethical on their part. However I'm still using DIT.

My expectations before starting the course were reasonable. I was looking for is structure and motivation to actually sit and go through FA in full the last 2 weeks before my exam. So far I'm 10 days into it and its as expected. Will I recommend it to friends? Probably, if it fits their style.
Anyway just being fair about it.

 

[Captopril]

What the ****. If DIT employees are reading this, EVERY one of us has the option of purchasing the course for $700 OR downloading your **** for $0. Concentrate on improving your product and the reviews here will reflect the quality. Do the above again and I promise that Ill do my part in downloading the course for free and distributing it amongst every single one of my 250+ class as well as anyone on SDN who wants it from me, and Ill do it as a big **** YOU to DIT. That pisses me off, especially since Ive been following this thread closely and have been pondering whether to buy it during the second half of my second year. Entiendes?

OK dude, you're taking it a bit far. It was unethical business practice for them to solicit their product with fake accounts, but stealing isn't a justified reaction. I'm a real DIT user, and as much as their fake account situation pisses me off, I cannot lie: their videos helped me A LOT on Step I. They made some poor business decisions recently, but that isn't a reason to steal from the guy. He brought a quality product to the market for less than 1/3 of what other major tutoring companies (like Kaplan) were charging...and I found his product to be more effective. If nothing else, at least DIT will push other lecture series' to lower their prices.

 

[PokerDoc]

Finished with 11/15 days now

Again, I am highly disappointed in these recent developments, but once again i will reiterate.. i AM learning a lot, my UW scores were struggling to hit 50% (had 2 39%s in my first 10 blocks), 2 weeks ago after having gone through all of FA, RR Goljan, RR biochem, HY neuro, HY cell bio and HY Behavioral.

Now.. I am consistently scoring in the 60%s and am pushing 70% and I still got 2 weeks and 2 days to go.

When you do DIT, you basically have no time to do much else, especially if you do it properly and review what he went over that day in detail. so there aren't many other confounding variables here laugh the course has been helping me.

I know myself well, and I know that I would not be able to keep up this intensity of studying all by myself for this long. If you are the kind of person who can do that, you DO NOT NEED this or any course... but if you are the kind of person who needs that guidance just to keep you moving, THIS WILL HELP, regardless of the crappy stunt they pulled here. I know for me personally, when I study by myself, I get easily distracted, I gloss over a page and I am like **** and I have to read it again and then all the sudden its dinner time and I only studied for like 3 hrs. With DIT, combined with 96 UW questions a day, I am studying for 10-13 hrs a day and it flies by, I dont even realize it, I dont even have a chance to realize how much studying I've been doing.

For the right person, it will work..

if youre already scoring a 235-240, then dont take the course, youre obviously not going to be helped much by his 'high yield' approach.

 

[thepoopologist]

OK dude, you're taking it a bit far. It was unethical business practice for them to solicit their product with fake accounts, but stealing isn't a justified reaction. I'm a real DIT user, and as much as their fake account situation pisses me off, I cannot lie: their videos helped me A LOT on Step I. They made some poor business decisions recently, but that isn't a reason to steal from the guy. He brought a quality product to the market for less than 1/3 of what other major tutoring companies (like Kaplan) were charging...and I found his product to be more effective. If nothing else, at least DIT will push other lecture series' to lower their prices.

Duly noted. I hope DIT employees stay out of this thread from now on. If the new reviews aren't too bad on here I'll buy it after first semester. I do understand their need to advertise since it is not as well known as kaplan but spamming SDN with fake reviews isn't the way to do it. Not that SDN is some beacon of truth, since we have our share of crazies, but Id rather not have to filter advertisers when Im reading about a relatively unknown program and deciding on whether to buy it. Anyway, another post from a mod about any more shenanigans and I'll do as promised.If not, then whatever

 

[greg1184]

Knowing the personality of the guy who came to my school to push DIT, this does not surprise me at all. They are gung ho to sell their product... that's for sure.

 

[natureboy]

I'm not sure what the big deal is with what they did. Who cares? You can get a link to a free video from them and decide if it's right for you and not make your decision based solely on reviews. Perhaps, if it weren't for the fake reviews, this thread may have never caught my attention initially. I just don't care about the ethics of a company, as long as they can get me to where I need to be. All I can say is that Dr. Jenkins has really pushed my score up since I started, so I'm extremely pleased about that and will use them again for Step 2/Level 2 next year. Besides, I made my decision based on:

1. the free 2009 cardio video they provided last year -- I knew this was going to be right for me
2. the feedback I got via PM from previous DIT users (long time posters)
3. the positive reviews here, fake or not

At $700 a pop, you'd think they'd be able to pay someone who actually knows how to market their product...

 

[PokerDoc]

I'm not sure what the big deal is with what they did. Who cares? You can get a link to a free video from them and decide if it's right for you and not make your decision based solely on reviews. Perhaps, if it weren't for the fake reviews, this thread may have never caught my attention initially. I just don't care about the ethics of a company, as long as they can get me to where I need to be. All I can say is that Dr. Jenkins has really pushed my score up since I started, so I'm extremely pleased about that and will use them again for Step 2/Level 2 next year. Besides, I made my decision based on:

1. the free 2009 cardio video they provided last year -- I knew this was going to be right for me
2. the feedback I got via PM from previous DIT users (long time posters)
3. the positive reviews here, fake or not

At $700 a pop, you'd think they'd be able to pay someone who actually knows how to market their product...

I got it for $500 too haha.. when they came to my school they said if we ordered within 2 weeks it would only cost $500, and the return fee was only $50.. So I took a chance way back in Nov to save $200 at a $50 risk if I decided I wasnt going to do it.. glad I did its working out well

 

[natureboy]

I got it for $500 too haha.. when they came to my school they said if we ordered within 2 weeks it would only cost $500, and the return fee was only $50.. So I took a chance way back in Nov to save $200 at a $50 risk if I decided I wasnt going to do it.. glad I did its working out well

Hmm...that's a bit better than what my school and some other schools I know about got, which was $100 off.

 

[PokerDoc]

Hmm...that's a bit better than what my school and some other schools I know about got, which was $100 off.

Like I mentioned earlier.. I'm Jewish, I'm better at that stuff than most

 

[natureboy]

Like I mentioned earlier.. I'm Jewish, I'm better at that stuff than most

 

[PokerDoc]

I just listened to him talk about test day for a bit, and he made it very clear that even though he lists something as 4 star, doesnt mean YOUR test will have it.. it just means its high yield. He makes it abundantly clear that the star system is a guideline not a rule.. I just had to reply to the guy who said he was tested on more 3 star stuff than 5 star stuff. He also said that if something is 5 star, it may mean you will have 5 questions on it and it may mean you will have 1.. no ones test is the same.

He goes out of his way to say this.. so i dont think its fair to blame him for telling you focus on X and X not being on YOUR test.

 

[aaj117]

Can anyone post or send a link to the like, schedule of videos? Like what "Day 1" covers, what "day 2" covers, etc? I know that you can watch them in any order, but each one starts out with quizzes that are comprehensive, asking about everything that came before it, so I'd like to stay in that order, and i'm sure they teach it in a certain order for a reason. I'm waiting for my book and video access, but i'm trying to make like a solid study schedule including subjects, not just 'five hours of DIT, three hours of practice questions' etc. I can't seem to find the schedule anywhere. Thanks in advance!

 

[knuckles]

Can anyone post or send a link to the like, schedule of videos? Like what "Day 1" covers, what "day 2" covers, etc? I know that you can watch them in any order, but each one starts out with quizzes that are comprehensive, asking about everything that came before it, so I'd like to stay in that order, and i'm sure they teach it in a certain order for a reason. I'm waiting for my book and video access, but i'm trying to make like a solid study schedule including subjects, not just 'five hours of DIT, three hours of practice questions' etc. I can't seem to find the schedule anywhere. Thanks in advance!

http://doctorsintraining.com/USMLE/Step-1/2010-Online-Review/

 

[MilkmanAl]

Now that Step 1 season is mostly done for us, I can think of 3 people who liked DIT, several who thought it was okay, a lot who didn't like it, and a couple who though it was a complete waste of time. Everyone except the 3 who liked it would not recommend it and wished they hadn't taken it. That's probably about 25:3. Remember, I haven't taken the course, but it's something to think about.

 

[mq123]

Now that Step 1 season is mostly done for us, I can think of 3 people who liked DIT, several who thought it was okay, a lot who didn't like it, and a couple who though it was a complete waste of time. Everyone except the 3 who liked it would not recommend it and wished they hadn't taken it. That's probably about 25:3. Remember, I haven't taken the course, but it's something to think about.

I can totally picture this as a bar chart... I am such a nerd.

 

[tideleonheart]

I just got done with it a few days ago... I liked it. I thought it was useful though. For someone who isn't SDN-smart, it was very nice to have someone tie together a few concepts and make FA more manageable for my next few passes. It was pretty exhausting. I don't think I ever got through all he wanted me to do, but then again I wasn't putting in much more than 10 hours a day. (you need more like 12 to get through all of it). I'm sure that if I had put in more effort, I would have seen an even bigger increase in my scores.

In a 1 month period (3 weeks of those being DIT), my COMSAE score went from 510 to 580. I haven't taken another USMLE practice test, but my UW scores have been trending upward, so I'm sure I will have improved.

 

[radiodoc99]

DIT is good. When you have 2-3 weeks, reading your own notes is best. Rapid reading is faster than watching videos.

 

[aashkab]

i also liked DIT.

i took NBME 6 right before it and got a 227 and took UWSA 1 right after it and got a 238.

 

[hartbot]

i also liked DIT.

i took NBME 6 right before it and got a 227 and took UWSA 1 right after it and got a 238.

Something makes me think UWSA1 is not that accurate. I also got a 238, and I saw several other posts where ppl got a 238. I feel like it just groups everybody into a 238

 

[JeremyJHartl]

OK, so I have read through this and I have got to put my two cents in. This is my experience with DIT. I am in no way affiliated with them, you can PM me and I can show you my wife's blog and direct you to my facebook and many other things that show I am not affiliated with them.
The DIT salesman came to our school and sold us on it. Me and three other guys decided to go in together on the course (yes I realize this is against the DIT copyright). When it came time to study for Step 1, we watched the first video. The other guys decided to get a refund, they thought that they could teach themselves FA just as good as the DIT guy did.
For the next three weeks we went through FA. I did the USMLErx qbank. I consistently got in the mid 50's, sometimes a 48%, sometimes a 60% for all three weeks. It predicted my score at around a 205.
With only two weeks left, I decided to go ahead and do DIT by myself. I know that the program recommends about four or five weeks, but I figured that since I had been all the way through FA once, it wouldn't be too bad. I then did 15-16 hours a day. I did the DIT videos back to back, only stopping for meals and sleep. I did the entire program in 10 days. I filled out the entire manual. I didn't cheat any time that he has you stop and answer questions.
The last four days, I did the videos of topics I felt weak on. I also did a full practice exam on USMLERx. I got a 69% and they estimated my score in the 230's. I don't care what anybody says, the only way that happened is because of DIT.
I am going to say this, if you want DIT to work, you have to believe that it is going to work. You have to "drink the Kool-Aid" a little bit and go with the program. You have to work hard and do everything the program tells you to do. If you are skeptical, then it won't work for you.
I wish that I had done the full program and not just the two week cram session that I did. I might have done better. If you are someone that is probably already in the 230 range, it probably won't help you because you probably think that you are already smarter than the guy that teaches it and you won't put in the effort and you won't follow the program with every little thing that he makes you do. But it you are someone who works his butt off so that you can barely pass or even gets below average, DIT absolutely will work for you. You just have to follow the program exactly. Do the workbook, watch the videos, answer the questions, write tons of notes and you will get a MUCH better score with the program than without it. (granted, I might have got the same results with kaplan, but I wasn't willing to drink their more expensive Kool-aid.)

The program works if you follow it and believe it, it won't if you don't.

 

[psychforme]

The program works if you follow it and believe it, it won't if you don't.

Of course it "works" but there are other things that works A LOT better. I'm sorry but your improvement didn't even sound impressive. Spend 700$ to be average on a "predictive exam" that noone knows how predictive it is since most of us haven't even heard about it Come back when you've got your real score or done an NBME. And why, oh why, UsmleRX? DIT, First Aid UsmleRX is just the same thing in Audio, Text and question format where UsmleRX is probably the ****tiest version. DIT you can at least listen to while you work out or take a dump but UsmleRX has no place in any step 1 prep whatso****ingever.

 

[ajank]

I took the course. Our school gave an basic science assessment at the end of path that put me at a 215. We had some other obligations for two months. I then began studying for step 1. After 7 days of DIT I took NBME 7 and scored 223. After finishing DIT, I took NBME 6 and scored 240. I took the exam five days later. I also charted my percent relative to the average on the UWorld tests throughout my study period and found that my score improved by about 1% per day. I started out averaging 53-55% and finished averaging about 70%. I am hoping to be in the 235 range, so if I performed as I did on NBME 6 I should be ok.

I can't say for sure that DIT made my score increase more than if I would have just studied independently, but I am fairly certain that I covered more information and focused on areas that I would have otherwise glossed over.

FYI our school says that on average students from our school improve by about 20 points relative to the basic science assessment.

I would do the program again.

 

[JeremyJHartl]

Of course it "works" but there are other things that works A LOT better. I'm sorry but your improvement didn't even sound impressive. Spend 700$ to be average on a "predictive exam" that noone knows how predictive it is since most of us haven't even heard about it Come back when you've got your real score or done an NBME. And why, oh why, UsmleRX? DIT, First Aid UsmleRX is just the same thing in Audio, Text and question format where UsmleRX is probably the ****tiest version. DIT you can at least listen to while you work out or take a dump but UsmleRX has no place in any step 1 prep whatso****ingever.

I guess I need to expound upon my already lengthy post since some people didn't understand what I was trying to say.
First of all, I never said that DIT was the best. In fact I said that I am sure that I might have had similar results if I had done another program but I chose to go with the less expensive DIT program over other programs that were far more expensive.
As for the predictive score using USMLErx: I said that I was studying with three other guys. We all used different questions banks, including USMLErx, Kaplan, World and I can't remember what the other one the guy was using, with one of us using World and USMLErx. We all also took the NBME predictor tests. The guy that was doing World and USMLErx was consistently getting about 55% on his practice sets on both world and USMLErx (he used all new questions on each set of practice questions and on the USMLErx he used all new questions but only medium and hard, no easy Q's). This is exactly what I was doing. World said that his score should be about 215, USMLErx said 205, he took the full length NBME predictor and it gave him a 205. This was all at the end of the three weeks we had studied together and gone all the way through FA.
As for the other guys, USMLErx was actually closest to the NBME predictor test when compared to World and Kaplan. Granted, none of us have our real scores back yet. But the NBME predictors were spot on with USMLErx but were off by about 5-10 points with the other Qbanks.
So did you use some other qbank? Did their predictive test give you a number that was dead on with the NBME predictive test? Do you have your real score? How close was it to the qbank estimate and your NBME estimate? Do you actually know of somebody that used USMLErx and the prediction wasn't accurate?
I just think it is juvenile when people rant about how terrible something is without having tried it themselves.
As for how much I improved using DIT, I really would like to know what you would call "impressive" for a program. You have to realize, I read through FA once already over a four month period during my regular classes, and then took a practice test with USMLErx and got a 53%, predictive of a 200. I then thoroughly studied FA for three weeks and nothing else and got a 55%, predictive of a 205, on a full practice exam. With only two weeks left, I did DIT and improved by nearly 15% to a 69% and a predictive score of 235. So a predictive jump of 30 points in only two weeks. So you say that isn't impressive? Let me ask you, Did you take a different program? Did it cost you triple what DIT costs? (probably) Did it improve your predictive score by 30 points in only two weeks? If it did, then great, I am happy for you. If it didn't, then how in the world could you say that other programs are "A LOT" better than DIT?
Yes, it is only predictive, but like I said, the USMLErx predictive were dead on with the NBME predictive scores and I will of course update next week when I get the real thing.
So the main question is: Do I think it is worth it? Absolutely. I could have paid more than double or even triple for a different course. Do I think that it would have had a similar effect on my score? Probably. Would they have done better for me? Maybe, but there really is no way to tell. All of this is VERY VERY subjective.
The DIT program will do well if you put the time and effort into it. So would Kaplan or other programs if you put the time and effort into it. I am just saying that I used it. I liked it and I think that it made a big difference in what my score would have been without the program.

 

[PokerDoc]

Of course it "works" but there are other things that works A LOT better. I'm sorry but your improvement didn't even sound impressive. Spend 700$ to be average on a "predictive exam" that noone knows how predictive it is since most of us haven't even heard about it Come back when you've got your real score or done an NBME. And why, oh why, UsmleRX? DIT, First Aid UsmleRX is just the same thing in Audio, Text and question format where UsmleRX is probably the ****tiest version. DIT you can at least listen to while you work out or take a dump but UsmleRX has no place in any step 1 prep whatso****ingever.

relax buddy, you're on a crusade, you don't need to be so harsh

 

[psychforme]

relax buddy, you're on a crusade, you don't need to be so harsh

I just want some clarification since his prep sounds so unconventional and with the recent developments it just makes me suspicious. And either things work or they don't. You can't "believe" yourself into a 260+. And this DIT thing is just a guy reading FA for you nothing more - nothing less. OF COURSE you can raise your score from 205 to 230 but you can do that with just med school. It is when you have reached 240+ the real "prep" begins IMHO.

 

[JeremyJHartl]

I am not saying that you can believe yourself into a better score. I am saying that if you take a course, you need to go all in with it. If you are skeptical that DIT won't work, then it won't. If you are skeptical that Kaplan won't work, then it won't. If you are skeptical that Goljan won't do you any good, then it won't.
I just wanted to put in my two cents that I used the course and I thought it was well worth my time and money.
For the first two years of med school I have been just below my class on each and every subject. My school historically has had a school average that is within a point or two with the national average. Since I am below my class average, I made the assumption that most likely, I would score below the national USMLE average of 217, so my practice tests before DIT of 205 was probably pretty accurate of what I should have got.
Two weeks before I took the test, that is what it looked like was going to happen. I then did DIT and my practice tests improved dramatically.
It is highly unlikely that I could have done the studying by myself in two weeks and made that big of a change when I had already been through FA twice over the span of five months.
I don't know what people's problems are with DIT, I just wanted to put it out there that I believe the program was great from the standpoint of it being cheaper than other programs and (I hope and assume) it made a pretty big difference in what my score will be.

 

[Captopril]

It is when you have reached 240+ the real "prep" begins IMHO.

wow.

 

[PokerDoc]

I just want some clarification since his prep sounds so unconventional and with the recent developments it just makes me suspicious. And either things work or they don't. You can't "believe" yourself into a 260+. And this DIT thing is just a guy reading FA for you nothing more - nothing less. OF COURSE you can raise your score from 205 to 230 but you can do that with just med school. It is when you have reached 240+ the real "prep" begins IMHO.

no argument from me here.. but some people just like the guided style of learning. Theres nothing wrong with that.. other people are more independent.

I kind of flip flopped, I hated my schools style of teaching and their exam structures, I began self-teaching and just learning step 1 relevant material since the school exams had so much irrelevant garbage. Then when step I studying began, I realized I had exhausted myself as far as self-learning goes and it was really helpful for me to kind of get a lecturer who said THIS is important for step I this, this this and this.. and this not so much.. etc etc. Thats stuff I would have had trouble doing on my own

 

[VFib44]

Been a while (2 mo) since I did the course, but I got my Step 1 score back today and I'm super happy with it - 246/99. I definately thought the course helped - I did it first, and it really kicked my butt into gear, helped me learn things that I never got in the first place, and solidified other information. I mean, I did do other stuff (1 1/2 months afterwards spent reading First Aid over and over and over, Goljan audio, USMLE world questions, NBME exams, etc), but I thought that DIT gave me a good solid base of information that I really needed. And my scores did definately go up after DIT.

Honestly, it does really depend on how you learn. I'm the kind of kid who went to class every day and learned by listening to the lecturers, so having someone go over FA really did help. Some sections are better than others - cardio was great (I never understood those phys diagrams before), but things like repro sucked (mainly reading verbatum). I will agree that there were a few mistakes, and he does pronounce things funny! But there were things on my boards that I only got from DIT (example - mosquito life cycle), so for me it was worth it.

 

[ajank]

I took the course. Our school gave an basic science assessment at the end of path that put me at a 215. We had some other obligations for two months. I then began studying for step 1. After 7 days of DIT I took NBME 7 and scored 223. After finishing DIT, I took NBME 6 and scored 240. I took the exam five days later. I also charted my percent relative to the average on the UWorld tests throughout my study period and found that my score improved by about 1% per day. I started out averaging 53-55% and finished averaging about 70%. I am hoping to be in the 235 range, so if I performed as I did on NBME 6 I should be ok.

I can't say for sure that DIT made my score increase more than if I would have just studied independently, but I am fairly certain that I covered more information and focused on areas that I would have otherwise glossed over.

FYI our school says that on average students from our school improve by about 20 points relative to the basic science assessment.

I would do the program again.

Ended up with 234/99.

 

[TexasTriathlete]

Here is my impression of DIT so far.

I am on day 11, and I love it. The guy is GREAT for just hammering certain points home that I personally hate to study on my own. The quick quizzes, etc., and him constantly referring back to other points that he's made over and over. That is, he'll be talking about a drug that, say, causes seizures as a side-effect, and he'll always say "okay, remember what other drugs cause seizures? X, Y, Z, etc..."

Before I started the program, I had not read first aid once, because I felt like that would be a waste of my time. I wanted to make sure I had the concepts down before I started really just trying to read a bunch of ****. So I did about 4000 practice questions (Once through World, and about halfway through Rx, with also some repeats thrown in here and there if I didn't feel comfortable), and now that I've seen all that stuff, this guy is really tying it all together.

Oh, and anyone who says that this guy simply reads FA to you is out of their mind. Yeah he reads it, but he adds A TON that isn't in there. How much of this will actually be on your exam, I have no idea, but it all seems relevant.

I will finish the program with a good 2 weeks left on my subscription. I plan to watch all the lectures again, in "fast" mode, but this time without stopping to do the quizzes or anything. Just listening and following along. Ideally, I will have taken all the notes I need to by this time, so I won't have to pause much.

Gonna finish up Rx and start Kaplan. Then back to World for the home stretch. Test in a little less than 4 weeks.

By the way, my first time through World was 45%.

I'm in my second time through now, and close to 80%, and I'm almost done with my second pass.

My Rx scores have increased substantially since starting DIT.

I know everybody is different, and it probably isn't for everyone, but I don't think I'd be in the position I'm in right now without it.

And yeah, if they're making fake testimonials for this site to try and sell more programs, that's a little shady. But at the same time, that's not enough to turn me away from it, because I think it flat out works.

To each their own. But I love it, and I'm thinking about doing his Step 2 course too.

 

[Guyton Killah]

C'mon guys! DIT is not the best course out there, but not the worst either. I personally think that its ok. Does exactly what I expected. Makes 'cramming' a lil more active!!!