First Aid for the Basic Sciences: Organ Systems (First Aid Series)

Being an MS2 trying to effectively study for the boards, you'll find sometimes it takes many books to explain what you are not understanding UNTIL now! I literally only need this book for anatomy,embryology,physiology,pathology and pharmacology (relevant biochem,micro etc are found where needed). The book is written wonderfully, with a conversationalist flow. If you are like me and have trouble just reading lists/bullets of information you HAVE to know, it has been easier to read full chapters of this book compared to all the lists found in First Aid then go quickly review first aid. BUT thank goodness it flows WITH first aid as well. I love the nice side notes which feature key facts or "tie ins"to other chapters or clinical correlations. It help keeps the information feeling less overwhelming while making sure you get the big picture. In fact, there is plenty extra that you can easily annotate into first aid yet not rewrite a book or make you wonder if you are filling first aid with "lower yield facts".As far as organization, I find it much clearer than first aid but it tries to mimic first aid as much as possible.I love how every major pathology has an intro, presentation,diagnosis, treatment and prognosis subheading. I have found myself looking at cases and remembering the presentation or the drug just from reading it displayed that way (vs first aid that separates anatomy,physiology,path and pharm for the same syndrome). It made my qbank review be more efficient. In fact,I really wish I had bought this book earlier and studied it as an adjunct to all my classes (once you get to organ systems)so I would recommend this for first years as well. I think the earlier the better.

I just received my copy of this book last week and let me tell you this is a must have book. i love it. For all of those other Caribbean Medical School students like me who doesn't have enough time in the day to cover all the major high yield topics that's needed or isn't presented in a way where everything is bought in together.Then this book is FOR YOU AND A MUST HAVE. it makes learning all the materiel that's given to us a bit easier to learn where everything is one place you have the Pharm,Path,Physio, Anatomy, and Histo for all the major organs and it has a whole section on JUST BLOOD which is great and it has other great stuff to it also. I have been looking for a book like this for some time now!!!!!!! all Medical students should get this, it is a life saver. oh and i also got the "First Aid for the Basic Sciences, General Principles, Second Edition" together i have whole entire 2 years of medical school in my hands.... I happy the First Aid team came up with this...

This book is a MUST BUY when studying for my Step 1! I do not think that I would have been able to score a 230+ without this book. It's basically First Aid Step 1 but with paragraphs, more vibrant pictures, and tables. If you are having a hard time with First Aid Step 1 then this is the book for you.Honestly, I could only go through First Aid Step 1 (2013) if I read it along with watching the Doctors In Training (DIT) videos. This book enabled me to cover the material without the videos.

I'm using this book to complement  First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 2013 (First Aid USMLE) . When I want more detail on a subject I come across on FA, I look it up in this book. The explanations are clearly written and usually there's enough information to satisfy what I want to know without having to dig into a more comprehensive reference text. In this respect, it's a great time-saver.Although I have the kindle edition, I mainly use it on my PC where I normally read FA because FA doesn't size very well on my kindle fire.

It's a decent book that is good for buying first year to have for the first two years. I have only read 4 chapters so take these comments with a grain of salt because I have not finished the entire book yet but I have already noticed some consistent themes. So far, the actual content itself is great but the organization and layout of the book is horrendous and can be very frustrating. The tables and figure are often not found on the same page as the text (i.e. a table or figure is often 2-3 pages AFTER the actual text..and this continues throughout the the book..they're probably trying to minimize paper but it makes it very difficult to follow).Also the organization of the book for each section is questionable and all over the place. Thus, if you want to look up something it's difficult to find it because there is no sort of logical organization within each chapter besides categories like Embryology, Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology and Pharmacology. You would think these categories would help with organization of the book but it is difficult to find where exactly, for instance, the embryology section ends and when anatomy section starts without turning to the table of contents at the beginning of each chapter. Even in the so-called "embryology section" they often go on HUGE and often not completely related tangents to include stuff in that section that has nothing to do with actual embryology---this makes it even more confusing. Basically it seems like for each chapter they just threw in all the important information that one should know without really taking the time to organize it conceptually or logically. Hence the content is really good but organization is terrible. It's kind of like First Aid for Step 1 in that for each chapter there is no real organization within each chapter and just a hodgepodge of facts that one should know--although I'll admit this is easier to read OVERALL than First Aid for Step 1 because its in paragraph form instead of bullets (hence the 4 stars).Also the book is very flimsy---papers are very thin and easily rip, writing smudges easily, and the book binding is already falling apart (I bought it less than 2 weeks ago).The books is very promising and if they can fix the organization and layout for next edition this book can be really great. I will update this review once I have finished the entire book and have taken step 1.

Bought it for my brother

Explica muita coisa que às vezes não fica bem clara no FA. Recomendo como livro de apoio ao FA, em consultas eventuais, mas não como uma fonte a ser lida de capa a capa.

good

Es imposible que estudiando seas aceptado en el sistema Estado Unidense, el sistema esta cerrado para los licenciados internacionales aunque el ECMG diga lo contrario. No gastes tu tiempo ni tu dinero en los examenes USMLE. Y eso que yo consegui la Green Card. Si encima no tienes asegurado un visado, olvidate de malgastar tiempo, esfuerzo y dinero.

The step 1 review book is a book full of fast facts, tables, mnemonics, and clear illustrations and it's perfect for studying.This book is written in full sentences and is more explanatory. However, it's too concise to properly explain concepts. If you don't understand something in the Step 1 book and want to cover that topic more in depth, it's better to go to a more thorough source for that one specific topic, not another review book.