Test Preparation & Review Books

First Aid for the USMLE Step 1: 2008 (First Aid for the Usmle Step 1)

Tao Le, Vikas Bhushan, Deepak A. Rao

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

I will keep it simple 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 7 people found this review helpful.

To review FA in FA style:

All you need to PASS:
Memorize and Understand every page

All you need to be AVERAGE:
Above + Kaplan Qbank / USMLEWorld / NBME exams

All you need to ACE:
Above + Robbins Review of Pathology (big robbins) + 6 mos + 150IQ

Highly recommended! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I used this book in my step 1 studying and found it an extremely detailed and valuable resource.I recommend reading it over and over after you have gone over the reference books ie.Kaplan once.I initially did not want to get the book because of initial negative reviews, but once I started using it to study, It was something else...It pulls together high yield information in a concise and organized manner and I cant tell you how much I appreciated it after my exam especially as I had a great score three weeks later:) To get the best out of it you have to pay attention to little details....its not a summary book for nothing so if you gloss over it you probably will not get the best out of it.

Editorial Review:

The #1 selling medical review book in the world—updated with the very latest must know facts and test-taking advice for the USMLE Step 1

This annually updated collection of the most frequently tested high-yield facts and mnemonics delivers everything you need to pass the most anxiety-provoking exam of your career.Written by students who just passed the boards, this is the undisputed “bible” of USMLE Step 1 preparation. You will will find more than 1,000 high-yield facts based on student reporting from the 2007 exam, 24 pages of color images, and student ratings of top review books.

Color Atlas of Anatomy: A Photographic Study of the Human Body (Color Atlas of Anatomy (Rohen))

Johannes W Rohen, Chihiro Yokochi, Elke Lütjen-Drecoll

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Must Have 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a must have book for anyone in Gross Anatomy. The actual pictures of the dissections are amazing and definitely help you get ready for lab practicals.

Excellent resource 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a fantastic supplement for gross anatomy. Netter's Atlas is better for visualizing the basic concepts of anatomy, and I would recommend purchasing that book before this one. If you can afford two anatomy supplements, though, the Color Atlas should be next on your list. No drawing can really replace an actual dissection. This atlas is much more useful for studying in preparation for a practical exam, whereas Netter's might better serve you when studying for your written. This (like Netter's) is also a rarity of a medical text insofar as it also makes a great coffee table book (if you don't have squeamish friends).

Editorial Review:

This atlas includes full-color photographs of actual cadaver dissections instead of idealized illustrations, to accurately and realistically represent anatomical structures. Often used by students as an alternative or supplement to their lab experience, and as an introduction to exactly what they should see before they dissect, as well as a study aid before practical/identification exams.

Pocket Medicine: The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Internal Medicine (Pocket Notebook Series)

Marc S Sabatine

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 52 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Must have for medical students 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Although the expectations for medical students are not that of residents and interns, this book is very helpful. Evidence-based medicine is the term heard over and over on the wards and this pocket book will help with that. When presenting a patient, you may be asked which study showed the effectiveness of which treatment. This book has it. It is updated with references as recent as 2007 which is impressive. It will also save time when preparing a talk because as mentioned, the landmark studies are all incorporated in the text. Worth upgrading from the 2nd edition.

Editorial Review:

Prepared by residents and attending physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital, this pocket-sized looseleaf is one of the best-selling references for medical students, interns, and residents on the wards and candidates reviewing for internal medicine board exams. In bulleted lists, tables, and algorithms, Pocket Medicine provides key clinical information about common problems in cardiology, pulmonology, gastroenterology, nephrology, hematology-oncology, infectious diseases, endocrinology, rheumatology, and neurology. The six-ring binder resembles the familiar "pocket brain" notebook that most students and interns carry and allows users to add notes. This Third Edition is fully updated, has tabs to help readers locate organ systems, and has more cross-referencing in the index. It also has pockets in the front and the back of the book to accommodate the reader's own notes.

Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews: Biochemistry (Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews Series)

Pamela C Champe, Richard A Harvey, Denise R Ferrier

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 69 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great book for biochem not so much for the boards 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

For those who like pictures along with their text, this book is great. Even though biochemistry is a detailed subject this book is not too weighed down in details and will allow you to understand the material fairly well. However, I stared to turn to it more as a reference than a main source. This may be because I thought that it was not calibrated appropriately for the usmle. It seems to be written more for a biochemistry class. It lacks in clinical correlations, the ability to be quickly reviewed, and there are precious few questions to get down the material at the end of each chapter. One feature that was nice, however, was a summary section at the end of each chapter. It is definitely not a comprehensive summary, but it does allow a quick summary of good things to know. All in all, a good book to have with you, but not the best source for the boards.

Editorial Review:

Thoroughly updated for its Fourth Edition, Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews: Biochemistry enables students to quickly review, assimilate, and integrate large amounts of complex information by utilizing powerful visual resources that deliver the focus and clarification needed for mastery of difficult biochemical concepts. Its signature outline format, full-color illustrations, and end-of-chapter summaries and USMLE-style review questions make it one of the most user-friendly books in the field.

Study Guide for Medical-Surgical Nursing: Assessment and Management of Clinical Problems

Sharon L. Lewis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

It's ok 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Some of the questions in here are outrageous compared to what I read in the textbook. Stuff that was stated in only a sentence or two in the textbook would have really in depth questions in this study guide. I only use the multiple choice questions. The rest is kind of useless for me because we don't have anything other than multiple choice on our tests in class. A lot of times I don't even bother using this.

Great item 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Item received in excellent condition and as described. This is a great item to have to go with the book. It helps you prepare for tests and understand logic to the questions.

Kind of hard to understand 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I have a hard time understanding stuff when I read this textbook for class. It's not very straight forward or clear and you have no idea what's going on. It also seems like there's a lot of extra information that doesn't need to be there. The only thing I like is that it comes in 2 separate books so it's easier to carry around and flip through without breaking the spine of the book.

Editorial Review:

The Study Guide contains over 500 pages of thoroughly revised review material including a wide variety of exercises and activities, Alternate Item questions to better prepare for NCLEX exams. Answers for all the exercises are printed in the back of the study guide to facilitate self-study.

BRS Physiology (Board Review Series)

Linda S Costanzo

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 67 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Best title in the series! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I think this is the best BRS there is. I used this book for course exam prep as well as board review. It is a great tool to highlight important concepts, and it explains things in a simple and effective way with the right amount of information.

BRS physiology step 1 board review book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is an excellent resource to supplement boards study. I have been very pleased.

Editorial Review:

Thoroughly updated for its Fourth Edition, BRS Physiology is an excellent aid for students preparing for the USMLE Step 1. The book concisely reviews key physiological principles and includes clinical correlations throughout to emphasize connections between basic physiology and clinical medicine. Numerous illustrations, tables, and flow charts help students visualize material quickly and aid in long-term retention. End-of-chapter USMLE-style questions and a comprehensive end-of-book exam test the student's problem-solving skills, and clearly explained answers guide the student through the correct steps in reasoning. This edition features increased coverage of pathophysiology, new questions, and a new two-color design and artwork.

Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews: Pharmacology, North American Edition (Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews Series)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 48 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Med. student 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I used this book to prepare for my Pharmacology exam in university,it's a great book, my pharmacology course based on this book so it was very helpful.Afcourse it's not enough,for a med.student who is looking for pharmokinetic's,that's why i bought 2 books in one time: Lippincott's "Pharmacology 3th" and Katzung "Clinical pharmacology".

Editorial Review:

Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews: Pharmacology, Fourth Edition enables rapid review and assimilation of large amounts of complex information about the essentials of medical pharmacology. Clear, sequential pictures of mechanisms of action actually show students how drugs work, instead of just telling them. As in previous editions, the book features an outline format, over 500 full-color illustrations, cross-references to other volumes in the series, and over 125 review questions. Content has been thoroughly updated, and a new chapter covers toxicology. New to this edition will be a companion Website containing all of the illustrations, fully searchable text, and an interactive question bank. NOTE: International Edition available for sales outside North America and Caribbean (ISBN: 978-1-60547-200-3)

Essential Clinical Anatomy (Point (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins))

Keith L Moore, Anne MR Agur

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

I am an ECA hater and let me tell you Why 2 out of 5 stars.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Why I hate the Book:
1. The text is often painful to read. I remember I once spent half an hour on just 1 page full of text because it was so boring. Some of it is still "too much" for a med student to know casually, but you'll probably feel guilty if you don't read it.
2. The Text, Figures, and Blue Boxes are scattered, so you constantly half to flip the page to see what the text is referring too. This gets highly irritating.
3. If you've had no previous exposure to anatomy (like me) this text has no mercy and forces you to catch up to speed on your own.
4. It's a horrible book to study from, class notes and other resources are better
5. Much of the book was spent defining the minutiae of the specific local anatomy and there was no appreciation for the "awesomeness" of anatomy, which added an aura of tediousness to the book instead of appreciation.

The reason why the book managed to get 2 stars in my rating

1. There were abundant clinical correlation blue boxes which saved my sanity (although the depth of these blue boxes was very superficial--they are going for breadth not depth).
2. Some of the information is of relatively high quality
3. Chapter 9 on Cranial Nerves is actually pretty good/helpful/high yield.

If you can avoid this book, I would. Instead I'd suggest going with something like Gray's Anatomy for students which has gotten great reviews and doesn't look as painful as ECA.

Editorial Review:

Essential Clinical Anatomy, Third Edition presents the core anatomical concepts found in Clinically Oriented Anatomy, Fifth Edition in a concise, easy-to-read, and student-friendly format. This streamlined book is an excellent review for the larger text and an ideal primary text for health professions courses with brief coverage of anatomy. This edition features new full-color surface anatomy photographs and new diagnostic images. A new design makes the book visually appealing and easier to navigate. Accompanying the book is an Online Student Resource Center, which includes interactive clinical cases, USMLE-style review questions, and more.

Robbins and Cotran Review of Pathology, Second Edition

Edward Klatt, Vinay Kumar

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This easy-to-use resource helps readers to master the most important principles and facts in pathology. More than 1,000 questions cover everything from the fundamentals of gross and microscopic pathology to the latest findings in molecular biology and genetics. Based on two of the best-selling, most authoritative pathology textbooksRobbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease, 7th Edition and Basic Pathology, 7th EditionRobbins and Cotran Review of Pathology, 2nd Edition is an ideal aid for coursework, self-assessment, and examinations in pathology.

• Offers more than 1,000 questions that follow the clinical vignette style, emphasizing problem solving over rote memorization. Presented in both single-best-answer and extended-matching formats, they reflect levels of difficulty that prepare students for both examinations and the practice of medicine.
  
  
• Provides an answer and a detailed explanation for every question at the end of each chapter.
  
  
• Includes page references and a parallel organization to both Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease and Basic Pathology, making additional information easy to locate.
  
  
• Presents correlative laboratory, radiologic, and physical diagnostic data to enhance readers' understanding of pathophysiology and to integrate pathology with other medical disciplines.
  
  
• Uses numerous full-color illustrations to test readers' diagnostic skills.
  
  
• Delivers a 73-question chapter covering all subjects that mimics a comprehensive final examination.

Histology: A Text and Atlas: With Correlated Cell and Molecular Biology (Histology (Ross))

Michael H Ross, Wojciech Pawlina

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The best Histology book that I've found. 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This Histology book is the most thorough and well-written text out there. If you have no background in Histology, this book can be quite intimidating because it is content-rich. I was very overwhelmed when I first started with this book for undergrad, but now that I have gotten through it and read other titles for med school, I believe that this book is the best. It teaches Histology in a way that prepares you to be a real pathologist, using mostly light micrographs and tons of clinical correlations. Other Histology texts (e.g. Color Textbook of Histology: With STUDENT CONSULT Online Access) treat the subject as a general learning tool rather than as a core component of your potential specialty. They use more (and less-detailed) illustrations and electron micrographs with fewer clinical correlations and light micrographs.

Still, I would be hard-pressed to recommend this book to medical students if the book was not already required. It is probably more detailed than any medical school Histology course will be, and as a med student, your time is everything! Your time will probably be better spent in gross. Still, if you know that pathology is something you are interested in, this book is a great introduction to Histology and will better prepare you for your career than any other text.

Editorial Review:

Now it its Fifth Edition, this best-selling text and atlas is the perfect text for medical, health professions, and undergraduate biology students. It combines a detailed textbook that emphasizes clinical and functional correlates of histology with a beautifully illustrated atlas featuring full-color digital micrographs of the highest quality. This edition includes over 100 new illustrations, more Clinical Correlation boxes on the histology of common medical conditions, and new information on the molecular biology of endothelial cell function. Terminology throughout the text is consistent with Terminologia Anatomica. A powerful interactive histology atlas CD-ROM for students is included with the book and features all of the plates found in the text with interactive functionality.