Course Study Materials
Study Materials to be Provided

Originally, the course was designed to make use of commercially available review materials, concentrating only on teaching how to use those materials more effectively for review. However, experiences with earlier classes have shown that having my own notes supplementing these commercially available review materials makes studying more effective as they provide a more detailed guide of what needs to be studied and how they should be studied. So the current prep course is a mixture of notes and other materials provided by the course and commercially available resource.

1. Study Notes are notes that cover each of the subjects comprehensively. They can be used with or without reading more comprehensive textbooks or commercially available reviewers. Currently both Pathology and Micro/Immuno Study notes are complete. Pharmacology Study notes will be finished soon.

2. Outline Notes are used for short review. Usually by third revision, you only used Outline notes, only occasionally referring to Study notes for materials that have been forgotten. Only Pathology Outline Notes is complete.

3. Summary Notes are used to illustrate how to study the Study Notes and Outline notes for better comprehension, retention and recall. They were originally written to teach people how to study the notes. Only 5 Chapters of Pathology have Summary notes. However, due to overwhelming demand by the previous students, complete summary notes for Pathology will be available in the future.

4. Chapter by Chapter online quiz are used to evaluate your understanding of the course materials. They were originally used to supplement commercially available Q book materials like Robbin's Review of Pathology, Kaplan Q book, etc. However, again due to popular demand, they are being expanded to cover all subjects eventually rather than just for Pathology

5. Online Flashcard review are used for people who learn better using flashcard rather than notes. They are meant to supplement the notes not replace them. It is also helpful in increasing retention and random recall of information which is required in order to do well in the USMLE. Flashcards help break the habit of relying on clues in MCQ's to help find the answer and forces you to have the answer in your head immediately after reading the questions. This means that you answer questions faster, because you don't need to read all the choices to come out with the answer. Second, it means distractors have less effect, since they rely on you using choices as clues to find the answer.

6. Supplementary Materials. (a) Askdoc's USMLE Step 1 Schedule Organizer is an excel worksheet that helps the student schedule the prep properly. A whole lecture session is devoted to guide the student in how to organize their schedule in minute detail, from preparing study materials, to suggested time schedule to finish each subject and when to schedule the actual examination based on progress in their prep. (b) MCQE software for speedbuilding in answering q's. Great in insuring that you build up speed to finish the blocks. Best time currently held by a student is about 40 minutes for a 48-question block in the online qbank. My own best time is less than 30 minutes for the original 50-question block in the actual USMLE.

Currently, not all these study materials are available for all subjects, although they will be as soon as they are finished.
Study Materials you need to Procure Yourself

Although some materials will be provided you on the online course, other materials you will need to procure for yourself. I will publish a complete list for those enrolled in the course. Below, you will find a partial list.

  1. Robbin’s Review of Pathology Q Book – 2nd Edition

  2. Levinsion and Jawetz, Review of Medical Microbiology and Immunology

  3. Trevor and Katzung, Review of Pharmacology

  4. BRS Physiology – Linda S. Costanza

  5. BRS Behavioral Science – Barbara Fadem

  6. BRS Biochemistry/Molecular Biology

  7. For Biochem, Anatomy, etc. – Kaplan Lecture notes will suffice.

Also good to have a subject oriented Q book like Kaplan Q book. If you need to supplement with textbooks, usually because there is some inadequacy with the learning phase, I recommend the following;

  1. Pathology – Rapid Review Pathology, Basic Pathology or Pathologic Basis of Disease (choose 1)

  2. Pharmacology – Lippincott’s Illustrated Review of Pharmacology

  3. Medical Microbiology – The review book will suffice and no need for a separate text

  4. Physiology – BRS physiology is good enough except if you have problems with Acid Base physiology. Then use Guyton, Ganong or NMS physiology for Acid Base only

  5. Biochemistry – Kaplan is adequate but dense. IF you need to learn concept, use Illustrated Review of Biochemistry.

You should also be ready to subscribe to at least one online Q bank, either Kaplan or UW especially during the Test Preparation phase. A “downloaded” version is not considered adequate. You should also be able to subscribe to at least 2 NBME assessment test also online and not a “downloaded” version.