Those who says First Aid is good are bloody liars!!!

[cookypuss3]

OK everyone... so I took that creation of evil today, the USMLE (have COMLEX tomorrow & Wed.)... I have never seen a more nit-picky selection of minutae (sp?)... I swear you need to know every stupid little detail in First Aid and then go deeper two more levels... my butt fell asleep doing it and it was the longest damn day ever...

So am I just a flunkie or do other people feel this way too? Furthermore, expected topics (anything about HIV/AIDS, common cancers) were notably absent. Grrrr!!!!!

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[schlomo]

I was surprised at how many questions I was able to answer from books other than First Aid, even though I devoted most of my final days to "the bible." I felt that the most difficult questions on my exam went way beyond the depth of First Aid. Example: I was expected to know that in Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency the primary defect lies in the Beta 2 integrin receptor. On the other hand, First Aid is great for cutting to the chase in certain areas, such as key drug ADRs, Biostats and Behavioral Sciences.
I think that the best advice to a future Step 1 taker is to understand Pathophysiology. Many questions seemed so convoluted that a solid foundation in Pathophysiology was necessary to answer the majority of the questions on my exam.

Good Luck and keep the faith.

 

[Tedebear]

I was surprised at how many questions I was able to answer from books other than First Aid, even though I devoted most of my final days to "the bible." I felt that the most difficult questions on my exam went way beyond the depth of First Aid. Example: I was expected to know that in Leukocyte Adhesion Deficiency the primary defect lies in the Beta 2 integrin receptor. On the other hand, First Aid is great for cutting to the chase in certain areas, such as key drug ADRs, Biostats and Behavioral Sciences.
I think that the best advice to a future Step 1 taker is to understand Pathophysiology. Many questions seemed so convoluted that a solid foundation in Pathophysiology was necessary to answer the majority of the questions on my exam.

Good Luck and keep the faith.

It looks like First Aid is not enough. I better brush up on Harrison's like Ramoray mentioned.

 

[TommyGunn04]

So, for Panda Bear and others who've posted here, I imagine you've received your scores by now. Were your initial impressions correct, or did you do better than you expected???

 

[12R34Y]

I personally thought first aid rocked! I loved it. I took step 1 (usmle) last june. I used first aid throughout my first and second year and it was heavily annotated.

Just FYI for people panicking because of the first post.

I had almost ZERO biostats. maybe 1 or 2 embryo. Mostly the big stuff like patho, physio, pharm and micro.

The test is very doable and you can NEVER predict what you will get on your exam. There are a bajillion questions you could have randomly thrown at you. everybody's test is different.
so don't suddenly abandon your prep and question your readiness based on someone's post.

The reason most people love first aid is because it is a great book. Most people use it in their prep and do fine. Some of course hate it. I would say they are in the minority though.

good luck to all.

later

 

[Tedebear]

As a medical student, it would be foolish to just study 1st aid. NBME testmakers have access to first aid, because testmakers are pathology professors at various medical schools. The testmakers get together once a year, and they add new questions. You have to know your stuff cold, there are no short cuts for boards. Memorizing just First Aid is a short cut to flunking the exam.