BOTH Goljian and Pathoma

[DOApplicant021592]

I am not a passive learner, I have to see things multiple times (and do things with them) before they can be internalized to memory. I am in the middle of dedicated and while I like both Goljian and Pathoma, are they worth the time investment if I don't have the time to itemize them into notes/flashcards?

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[TheOther]

I am not a passive learner, I have to see things multiple times (and do things with them) before they can be internalized to memory. I am in the middle of dedicated and while I like both Goljian and Pathoma, are they worth the time investment if I don't have the time to itemize them into notes/flashcards?

Long answer: Goljan is helpful, not necessary. As for Pathoma, I guess it really depends on. Where are you at in your knowledge and clinical application? How's UW going? What's your most recent practice score and what's your goal? How much time do you have left?

Short answer: Pathoma, yes. We don't call it UFA for a reason. Goljan, no.

 

[DexterMorganSK]

Stick with Pathoma. UFAP is already enough to do well on the boards; throw in sketchy and maybe BB and you're solid!

 

[brotherbanjo]

Agreed. I listened to 3/4 of golgan and didn’t find it that helpful. Some parts were helpful, but I’m not sure it was worth my time. I thought I remember him making a mistake every now and then too


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[frenchyn]

I took my board last week, and I do not know if they changed step and moved away from high yield or buzzword, but I got very few buzz words. I did not think UFAP is good enough. My NBME average is 240 and I strongly feel I may fail. I read both Pathoma and Goljan, it depends on how much time you have. Goljan is very long and details, I listened to his videos and I though it was helpful. I got few NBME questions right because of him...on step? not so sure...it was just very random...neither Uworld or NBME even helped. But if you know his book, you know more than you need. The rest is luck I think. Pathoma is minimum if you do not have enough time. I did not have enough time to read his book again, but only took me 4-5 days to listen to his video at 2x speed.
Summary: make UFAP and NBME practice your priority. If you have time, at least listen to Goljan videos and know high yield stuffs on his book

 

[brotherbanjo]

I took my board last week, and I do not know if they changed step and moved away from high yield or buzzword, but I got very few buzz words. I did not think UFAP is good enough. My NBME average is 240 and I strongly feel I may fail. I read both Pathoma and Goljan, it depends on how much time you have. Goljan is very long and details, I listened to his videos and I though it was helpful. I got few NBME questions right because of him...on step? not so sure...it was just very random...neither Uworld or NBME even helped. But if you know his book, you know more than you need. The rest is luck I think. Pathoma is minimum if you do not have enough time. I did not have enough time to read his book again, but only took me 4-5 days to listen to his video at 2x speed.
Summary: make UFAP and NBME practice your priority. If you have time, at least listen to Goljan videos and know high yield stuffs on his book

I also took step last week, and there was definitely a lot of questions I was unsure on as well. My practice test averages were similar, and I just have to remind myself that step is based on a curve. So I put more weight on my practice test scores than anything else, including how I felt after the test.

There was definitely a few questions that were more detailed than first aid, but I still feel confident that UFAP is completely adequate for step. I’m under the impression they will always ask some questions that very few people know and that are not covered well in UFAP, but at the end of the day it’s a curved test and that’s just the nature of the test. Guessing you did well if your averages were 240.


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[TheOther]

I took my board last week, and I do not know if they changed step and moved away from high yield or buzzword, but I got very few buzz words. I did not think UFAP is good enough. My NBME average is 240 and I strongly feel I may fail. I read both Pathoma and Goljan, it depends on how much time you have. Goljan is very long and details, I listened to his videos and I though it was helpful. I got few NBME questions right because of him...on step? not so sure...it was just very random...neither Uworld or NBME even helped. But if you know his book, you know more than you need. The rest is luck I think. Pathoma is minimum if you do not have enough time. I did not have enough time to read his book again, but only took me 4-5 days to listen to his video at 2x speed.
Summary: make UFAP and NBME practice your priority. If you have time, at least listen to Goljan videos and know high yield stuffs on his book

In general, there’s a move away from the buzzwords used in the main resources. It’s important to know what the buzzwords mean and how to identify them in a stem.

 

[frenchyn]

I also took step last week, and there was definitely a lot of questions I was unsure on as well. My practice test averages were similar, and I just have to remind myself that step is based on a curve. So I put more weight on my practice test scores than anything else, including how I felt after the test.

There was definitely a few questions that were more detailed than first aid, but I still feel confident that UFAP is completely adequate for step. I’m under the impression they will always ask some questions that very few people know and that are not covered well in UFAP, but at the end of the day it’s a curved test and that’s just the nature of the test. Guessing you did well if your averages were 240.


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I tried to tell myself the same thing, but I really had to guess between two or four or six or eight answers a lot, so honestly at the end, it is all depends on my luck. I still do not think UFAP is adequate for step, because decent questions I had I do not even recognize it from UFAP. However, if you give me more time or re do it, I can not even think of another way to prep for this thing.

All I can do now is pray really. I took NBME 18 (246) and 19 (250), I felt better walking into the test. Now I am mad because no way my real score will correlate with what I got from NBME...like no way...these are supposed to be two hardest NBME...and step 1 was 10 times harder

 

[FAdoc2020]

I tried to tell myself the same thing, but I really had to guess between two or four or six or eight answers a lot, so honestly at the end, it is all depends on my luck. I still do not think UFAP is adequate for step, because decent questions I had I do not even recognize it from UFAP. However, if you give me more time or re do it, I can not even think of another way to prep for this thing.

All I can do now is pray really. I took NBME 18 (246) and 19 (250), I felt better walking into the test. Now I am mad because no way my real score will correlate with what I got from NBME...like no way...these are supposed to be two hardest NBME...and step 1 was 10 times harder

agreed 100% with this. NMBE 19 was 248. Both UWSA were 254. pretty much used UFAP plus sketchy for micro and pharm. Felt pretty good walking into the test (6/21). Walked out feeling "ok". A week has gone by and I keep remember problems that I either know I got wrong or assumed I got wrong. Very scared that I under performed compared to my practice tests. My version of the test was difficult and had to do a lot of educated guessing which makes me very nervous. Hope it turns out well for you. Everyone keeps saying trust in your practice tests

 

[dermpathdoc]

In general, there’s a move away from the buzzwords used in the main resources. It’s important to know what the buzzwords mean and how to identify them in a stem.

I have told my students for years, neither COMLEX nor USMLE will put buzzwords in the stems or distractors. You need to know both the way something looks and the various ways to describe it pathologically. There are other ways the exams are trying to bypass Exam wise candidates, in order to truly determine the knowledge level.