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Is Kaplan Pathology Lecture Notes Enough?

  • Yes

    Votes: 16 64.0%
  • No

    Votes: 11 44.0%

Is Kaplan Pathology Notes Enough?

23751 Views 11 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  docord
I have a question to make

Everybody knows that pathology is the most important topic for USMLE Step 1

Then how come in kaplan lecture notes, the pathology book is the smallest of all (of course excluding the little behavior book).

This is very confusing and makes me think Kaplan lecture notes are not good.
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This is why people are steering away from Kaplan
They have a terrible pathology book :D
The pathology approach of Kaplan is not in the pathology book alone.
They integrate all the pathology that you ever need for the boards in their other books such as biochemistry, anatomy, physiology and others.
Also kaplan is never complete without their Q book and Q bank.
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Shouldn't you supplement pretty much every review course with a real book? I mean it's meant to be a review of stuff that presumably your path prof used Robbins or Harrisons depending on how crazy they are to teach you right? Kaplan does as good a job as any - and Goljan does a slightly better job than them at this I'd think :)

Ashish

I have a question to make

Everybody knows that pathology is the most important topic for USMLE Step 1

Then how come in kaplan lecture notes, the pathology book is the smallest of all (of course excluding the little behavior book).

This is very confusing and makes me think Kaplan lecture notes are not good.
obviously

just get Rapid review pathology and use goljan notes for Step 1 Path, thats what I heard anyway
The Kaplan book..."appears small" but all the info is packed in there for sure. Which is why some people kinda fear it, cuz you should know pretty much EVERYTHING in that book.

It's an integration of quite a few topics...even has a little pharm....but the point is...all is relevant....honestly....if you had to focus on any Step 1 Kap book...i would say PATHO would be it!!! Next up, Biochem/Micro. (but this is my opinion)

Once again though....as always...Goljian Systemic & General Path notes + Audio will do wonders. (i'm talking of the original early 2000 stuff... :D)
The Kaplan book..."appears small" but all the info is packed in there for sure. Which is why some people kinda fear it, cuz you should know pretty much EVERYTHING in that book.

It's an integration of quite a few topics...even has a little pharm....but the point is...all is relevant....honestly....if you had to focus on any Step 1 Kap book...i would say PATHO would be it!!! Next up, Biochem/Micro. (but this is my opinion)

Once again though....as always...Goljian Systemic & General Path notes + Audio will do wonders. (i'm talking of the original early 2000 stuff... :D)
Why is it that you say the early 2000 goljan stuffs are better? Even compared to his recent rapid review book?:confused: (not that I am disagreeing or anything, but seems that you have experience with lots of pathology books, so please do elaborate)
Why is it that you say the early 2000 goljan stuffs are better? Even compared to his recent rapid review book?:confused: (not that I am disagreeing or anything, but seems that you have experience with lots of pathology books, so please do elaborate)
well....actually I like patho a lot!!!! and when i was doing patho in med school.....i was one of those people who liked Robbins..! yep that big old book... :p but seriously...thats just way too much info for USMLE and so obviously there are all these review books out there.

yes...goljian has written these books...and i've skimmed through them. more or less its the same material....presented differently. i am saying the 2000ish stuff...because this is what i was told to use and to this day...yes 2009, people still are passing it down from one person to another. i don't think those notes will ever die. and i'm sure in time...it will be golden stuff that is hard to get.

does this make any sense?? :) i hope so...i'm by no means saying that any other material is not worthy. just sometimes, no need to mess with what's good already.

step 1 is one of those exams...that for the most part, the topics and info don't change from year to year because its anat...biochem...patho....nothing really changes. if at all. and if something did...it would have to be really important and take some time before added to the question pool.

Step 2 on the other hand has everchanging topics from medicine, to treatment to surgery...etc...sooo being more current is needed. mind u i said current and not latest. :rolleyes:
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Ahh I see. Thanks for sharing that experience. :)
I did only Kaplan lecture notes and the DVD plus FA, I think this is more than enough
I think Goljan rapid review with audio lectures and first aid is the ideal combination for patho!
The pathology approach of Kaplan is not in the pathology book alone.
They integrate all the pathology that you ever need for the boards in their other books such as biochemistry, anatomy, physiology and others.
Also kaplan is never complete without their Q book and Q bank.
In addition to this,considering the fact that kaplan's patho is dedicated to ONE subject, its actually the 2nd biggest of them after physio and and if we put the huge space of graphs and detailed answered questions which physio has and patho lacks into account, I'd say actually the patho is the #1 biggest of them.
Now, Kaplan is better or Goljan, is another case but the volume is OK, 300 pages of pure text.
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