Rating: 
Summary: superficial, with spotty information
Review: -information content is spotty -too many gimmicky pnemonic
Rating:
Summary: Book is a waste of time for step 1, read why
Review: After taking step 1 on april 30, 2001. I went through my books and found that First Aid was completely useless !It only helped me with 1 question on my April 30 step 1 exam. The USMLE Step 1 exam is mostly Internal Medicine not Pharmo, Micro, biochem. I had no more than 5 pharm, 5 micro and 2 biochem questions on my entire exam, imagine how I felt after wasting money and time on this piece of junk. Most of my questions were vignettes that dealt with Hematology, Acid-Base questions, wierd Biostats, CT scans , Gross pics and many calculations such as Power, Risk Factor, Renal Flow and all the other subjects people told me not to study ! Word of Advice for step 1 : Avoid Board Simulator Series ( more useless junk,the questions did not have the correct content )If you insist on using junk, go get some beat up PreTests and read them as the questions are the same as the BSS but cheaper. Have the courage to stray from the well worn path of failure and try things that are non-standard. Heres what made me pass : Patho review by Kumar and Klatt (1200q's ) Superb, exactly board like ! Cecils Review of Internal Med ( I recognized over 100 q's that were very similar to my exam ) Harrisons INternal med Review questions. do the easy questions. Dont fool yourself into thinking that a simple book like First Aid is valuable, the test writers know what is out there and they arent going to let you pass by just reading a simple book like this. The reason anybody buys this junk is this : US med students learn enough Internal Med in their courses to pass step 1. So they run out and buy this book to settle their nerves, take the exam and do well. They think that the First Aid book did it for them when in reality, it was their classroom knowledge that got them through. They tell their friends how wonderful the "book" is when in reality, they could have smoked the exam without it. This is how the Myth of First AId is perpetuated !!!!!!!! If you do use it, get a used copy and spend the last week just browsing through it. I know countless numbers of med students that failed step 1 because they depended on easy junk like this. Don't kid yourself, Step 1 is very hard and you must study hard to review for it.
Rating: 
Summary: this book is great, but know what you are buying
Review: As a brief review of the USMLE I syllabus, this book is an excellent choice. However, be warned, the USMLE questions have gone more sophisticated.
USMLE hardly asks you this type of question now: A 25 year old woman taking prednisone for SLE develops fever, muscle aches, jaundice, right-sided abdominal pains. What is the diagnosis?
a. cholelithiasis
b. cholestasis
c. hepatitis
d. right lower lobe pneumonia
e. adverse reaction to medication Everyone knows this is hepatitis. No. It will ask:
A 25 year old woman develops fever, muscle aches, jaundice, right-sided abdominal pains. The most likely cause of these findings is
a. antibodies to hepatocytes
b. release of cytokines from T lymphocytes
c. lysis of infected hepatocytes
d. blockage of bile canaliculi
e. activation of complement against hepatocytes Now, not everyone knows the answer (c by the way).
This book (First Aid) does not go into this level of granularity in covering the test materials. This does not mean that it does not have its use, however.
Suggestions for use:
1. Read this book first. Because of its concise coverage of most of the topics on the USMLE I, it is most suited for this purpose.
2. Get more detailed texts, and read each topic as set out in the syllabus (it is amazing how many medical students and doctors fail to use the syllabus in preparing for the exams!). The NMS series (Biochem, Physiology, Microbiology, Pharmacology are especially good). Use some other published materials for Anatomy, Pathology and Behavioral science. NMS series are not so good in those areas.
3. Practice with the released MCQs (150 of them). You will get some of these on the exam, trust me.
4. Practice with Kaplan's QBank, until you consistently score a perfect 100%. If you don't have the money for this, or if you have more time, use NMS review for the USMLE Step I by Lazo, et al. It is a great alternative/complement
5. Reread this book (first Aid) to round up your preparations. 6. Go smash the USMLE step I. You will most likely score in the 95th per centile. Good luck.
Rating:
Summary: Useful and in fashion
Review: As a student i have always believed in working hard and tried to master the concepts and material covered in the medical school curiculum.It did bring very good grades but I am afraid thats not enough for USMLE. As this book tells USMLE has focus that can be different from what is covered in medschool. A good school will have covered the material but this book will help you look at it the way you can score more on USMLE( esp. the clinical slant of the exam) .The advice are judicious and invaluable for an IMG. I read the advice early on and it helped me mentally prepare for the exam. It maybe hard to go through the review books adviced when doing your course work but borrowing them and orienting yourself to them maybe useful.The book reviews are good. This book doesnt do any magic for you. The best prepration is still studying hard during the course.Goodluck on the exam.
Updated 27th Oct2001 : Just wished to add 1 month after writting the above review that I got a 3 digit score of 269 and a 2 digit score of 99.
Rating:
Summary: Key source for step 1
Review: Definitely the key source for step 1 preparation but as the authors say: it should not be the only source of preparation.
Molecular biology and genetics should have a separate section in the review section as they are heavily tested in the actual exam. Otherwise very good and concise presentation of high yield facts. Do not forget to practice questions which are most similar to the real thing in NMS or on Kaplan website.
Careful with rating of book recommendation.
Better to make up your own mind.
Good luck.
Rating: 
Summary: First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 2001: Student to Student
Review: excellent review book for the step 1. word is not enough to say how much good is this book. read this book cover to cover as much as you can (I read 6 times)then take your exam. without reading this book taking step 1 is a big risk taking. I very highly recommend this book. I call it the BIBLE OF THE STEP 1.
Rating:
Summary: Goes Great with Step-Up
Review: First Aid is by far, the gold standard for Step 1 review. It is very useful to go through the high yield facts in First Aid and incorporate them into the systems-based format of Step-Up: A High-Yield Systems Review for Step 1.
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME!
Review: For some one who does not have too much time it is the book to read. For some one who has the time it is a must read too. Extremely high yeild and with guidance to preapre. Very helpful to the foreign graduates.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but WARNING
Review: Good review book (great for cramming high yield stuff before 1st and 2nd year exams as well as before the USMLE), but be warned -- the index is missing from the 2000 edition. It's downloadable from the web, so it's not that big a deal. Not a good sole resource for Boards review, but still an important one to have.
Rating:
Summary: THE STEP SCARE
Review: Hey guys, I am sure you will be really tense about the step 1!! It is definitely worth the scare, especially nowadays when programs are depending on the scores more and more for evaluating you. I think it is best to use this book as a dessert and not the main course. It would even suit as an appetiser, but definitely not the mail course. Pathoilogy is definitely the strenght of the book. us e this as a supplement to the Q bank of Kaplan. that is the best possible resource for step1. Good luck.
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