Underground Clinical Vignettes for Step 1 (9 Book Set)

Rating:
Summary: Great series of books for medical students
Review: I've been using these books and they've helped me learn the clinical pictures of how diseases present--an ideal set of books to study for the USMLE Step 1. I would recommend this book to all medical students.

Rating:
Summary: Mixed Bag
Review: Though understanding clinical presentations is becoming increasingly important for Step 1, the clinical vignette style is not appropriate for all the subjects in this series. High yield subjects consistently tested from a clinical slant like Pathopysiology and Microbiology are the best books of this series. Pharmacology and Anataomy are the least useful books of this series. However, it may still be worth it to buy the set since buying only the "useful" books adds up to almost as much. I recommend skimming through the table of contents in advance and deciding which diseases need to be reviewed, then randomly going to the appropriate pages to test oneself. Otherwise one could waste time on very simple/obvious diseases (reading the vignettes is more time consuming than reading a review book). I found it very helpful for the rare, obscure, or confusing diseases (especially in Biochemistry). This series is especially useful for the pre-clinical student but has limited use for the IMG who is already well versed in clinical presentations. I liked the way the "buzzwords" of each vignette were highlighted. While it meant that it was not representative of the exam (where one must differentiate between extraneous and pertinent information), it did help me recognize the most characteristic signs and symptoms of a particular disease entity. Each page is broken down to CC, HPI, PE, Labs, Imaging, Gross and Micro Path, Treatment, and Discussion. Overall, a good investment.

Rating:
Summary: Mixed Bag
Review: Though understanding clinical presentations is becoming increasingly important for Step 1, the clinical vignette style is not appropriate for all the subjects in this series. High yield subjects consistently tested from a clinical slant like Pathopysiology and Microbiology are the best books of this series. Pharmacology and Anataomy are the least useful books of this series. However, it may still be worth it to buy the set since buying only the "useful" books adds up to almost as much. I recommend skimming through the table of contents in advance and deciding which diseases need to be reviewed, then randomly going to the appropriate pages to test oneself. Otherwise one could waste time on very simple/obvious diseases (reading the vignettes is more time consuming than reading a review book). I found it very helpful for the rare, obscure, or confusing diseases (especially in Biochemistry). This series is especially useful for the pre-clinical student but has limited use for the IMG who is already well versed in clinical presentations. I liked the way the "buzzwords" of each vignette were highlighted. While it meant that it was not representative of the exam (where one must differentiate between extraneous and pertinent information), it did help me recognize the most characteristic signs and symptoms of a particular disease entity. Each page is broken down to CC, HPI, PE, Labs, Imaging, Gross and Micro Path, Treatment, and Discussion. Overall, a good investment.