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Rating: 
Summary: Get it, get it, get it....!!!
Review: This is a very nice system based review for the Step 1. I wouldn't say it's better than the First Aid, but it sure complements your studies pretty well in conjunction with it. The book has a few mistakes but they're very easy to recognize. I Definitely recommend it for a rapid review.
Rating: 
Summary: High Yield
Review: I used this book in addition to the Kaplan series. I felt this was ideal in the week prior to the exam, and was superior to first aid. There are several mistakes in the text, but between this text and kaplan I crushed the exam. I would not recommend this text to anyone who is weak in pharmacology!
Rating: 
Summary: Nice diagrams & layout but....Be careful!
Review: Since i'm a relatively old IMG I was delighted when I discovered this book, so I bought it and I personally used it for my step 1 preparation, FORTUNATELY I discovered it late.....since if I'd have trusted just in this book (I mean without First Aid)..I'd have failed....so b VERY careful....if u use this book for specific clinical situations (their tables in anemia, different cancer types etc) its great...but eventhough u will need first aid as a guide for the remainder. In my exam physiology and pharmacology were heavily tested and these guys almost forgot these subjects, on the other hand their pathology is excellent. Their pharmacology is quite poor, they ignored mechanisms of action of the different drugs (quite HY in USMLE). So if u use this book being aware of these problems and especially as a quick review only before the exam it should be OK.
Rating:
Summary: Nice diagrams & layout but....Be careful!
Review: Since i'm a relatively old IMG I was delighted when I discovered this book, so I bought it and I personally used it for my step 1 preparation, FORTUNATELY I discovered it late.....since if I'd have trusted just in this book (I mean without First Aid)..I'd have failed....so b VERY careful....if u use this book for specific clinical situations (their tables in anemia, different cancer types etc) its great...but eventhough u will need first aid as a guide for the remainder. In my exam physiology and pharmacology were heavily tested and these guys almost forgot these subjects, on the other hand their pathology is excellent. Their pharmacology is quite poor, they ignored mechanisms of action of the different drugs (quite HY in USMLE). So if u use this book being aware of these problems and especially as a quick review only before the exam it should be OK.
Rating:
Summary: A better review than First Aid
Review: The great advantage of this book is the system-based approach. First Aid is merely a list of facts to memorize out of context, which will not help you on the vignettes in the actual test. Step up reviews the anatomy, embryology, physio, and path of each major system -- which will help you to see the big picture and be able to take a unified approach to each boards question instead of trying to remember individual pearls. It does, however, lack a great review in terms of Biochem, Behavioral Science, and Pharm, so I would supplement with the High Yield series.
Rating:
Summary: The Bible
Review: This book is the bible of basic medical science. It incorporates everything you need to know into a concise, systems-based format. It is easy to read, and is great to use as you go through the systems in your first two years. Don't wait until board prep to buy this book! Use it all along to see what information is truly "high-yield".
Rating: 
Summary: Too many mistakes
Review: While this book actually does represent a major step up
in terms of detail compared to the "Gold Standard" First Aid for Usmle, the current print seems little premature to me (even though it states to be a "Revised Reprint", since I could find a substantial number of significant mistakes while just going through it ONCE. Since I am not really an expert, I would bet
that someone with a more thorough background knowledge in Pathology, Biochemistry and Behavioral Sciences for examplewould find countless more mistakes than I did. Generally I would recommend this book only to people, who are VERY advanced in their studies for the Step 1, so that they can be sure to filter out these substantial mistakes and do not attempt to memorize wrong stuff. But then again : why would you buy a review book, if you knew already everything so perfectly that you could immediately recognize these mistakes ? Ömer Gök
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