5/29/2011

Kaplan Medical USMLE Master the Boards Step 3 Review

Kaplan Medical USMLE Master the Boards Step 3
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
I have gone through pretty much all of the step 3 review books in the market including FA, Crush step 3, the nail the board, Board and ward, and Strong Medicine. I also have read the Kaplan Q book step 3
This volume surpass all of the above in terms of the quality of content, amount of fine detail, board relevancy, and the author's unique insights into the material as a good teacher himself.
He tend to shed a lot of good insight into the board questions. I had met him once in person when I was a medical student at the FHMC in Queens, NY.
But this book is not perfect (There is no such thing as a perfect board review book, we all know it). I wish there are more complete index, which is pretty bad and too brief. It takes some time to find a topic with "rushed out" kind of index.
Also, there are a few errors. It says that Mitral valve prolapse with even regurgitaion does not need endocarditis Prophylaxis but I have been able to verify with a few medical references including Harrison-the recent update- and Washington manual that MR with regurgitation needs prophylaxis.
the author boldly claims that there is no prophylatic therapy for cluster headache with some rather unconvincing logic, but I have read from several respectful sources that beta blockade or Calcium channel blockade must be given for prophylatic RX for cluster HA.
I also found this misleading information about ASCUS in Pap smear results. It says that if pap results in ASUC, the patient need HPV testing, But it does not mention the important fact that if the patient is a high risk group, ASUCS must mandate immediate Colposcopy biopsy.
Other shortcoming is the Leukemia section, which he almost neglect to cover the important facts about ALL and AML but throw in very vague mixed information under title "Acute leukemia".
Other than the index, it is a decent volume and very reasonable priced. I would not recommend it as a sole review source though. Step 3 seem to ask the understanding of the concepts and application of the further managements contrast to the step 2 which is more of recognition of the key words and classic signs. Thus I reject this book's so called Guarantee passing score Claim....I highly recommend a second review book beside this for a better performance on step 3.It is really unreasonable to claim that this book has "everthing" to do pass step 3. I never recommend Strong Medicine, which is consistent of skeletal bullet list of the information without no actual bread and butter for each disease presentation. This book fails to demonstrate the competency and confidence of the material presented with a fair amount of wrong information as well.
FA is also not recommended since its missing out too many topics and is also very boring to read with little insights. I only use the 100 CCS cases on the back of this book. Board and Ward is not recommended as well since its too basic to tackle the step 3 questions, which tend to ask much more in dept understanding and managements than mere factual key words, which is what is all about Board and Ward. It was useful for step 2 though and NBME Shelf exams.
PS: I passed the step 3 with 217/91%,(October 2010) which I have to give a lot of credit toward this great book. Peace after the agony of waiting for the score, which sent to me via a lengthy email @ 12 PM, midnight third wednesday. Yet the matching process is yet to be known. Career in medicine consumes my soul and the person itself. Prayers for all.

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Kaplan's Step 3 book, with vibrant full-color medical illustrations, will be the first book that covers the content of the exam in a logical and methodical fashion, emphasizing the following for several categories of residency:
A logical step-by-step approach to management
An assessment of severity, prognosis, and next course of action for specific conditions
How to prioritize while managing, especially in emergency or acute cases
An outline of signs/symptoms and diagnostic or lab tests that signify the need for change in management approaches
An outlined follow-up schedule and necessary monitoring approach for specific patient circumstances
This book will also review how to approach Clinical Case Scenarios, which make up 20% of a students' final score. The USMLE Step 3 exam evaluates a resident's ability to practice unsupervised medicine. It is a 2 day exam. Day 1 features 336 multiple-choice questions; day 2 features 144 multiple-choice questions and 9 Clinical Case Scenarios.

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