First Aid for the USMLE Step 3, Third Edition (First Aid USMLE)

The best, most trusted review for the USMLE Step 3 is now in full color

First Aid for the USMLE Step 3 provides busy residents with thousands of high-yield facts, mnemonics, and visual aids to help them pass the USMLE Step 3. More than 100 mini-cases provide practice for the CCS portion of the exam. The third edition features full color throughout the book, 35 pages of new material, and a complete revision to eliminate redundancy and over-information and highlight the most essential material for the exam. It is written by residents who recently passed Step 3 and reviewed by faculty for accuracy.

Features

Thousands of high-yield facts, mnemonics, and visual aids for board success
NEW: full color throughout with many new color images
NEW: Classic and frequently-tested scenarios integrated throughout the text clue you in for exam questions
100+ mini-cases provide invaluable preparation for the CCS portion of the exam
Completely revised throughout and including 35 pages of new material and more clinical images
Written by residents with recent experience taking the Step 3 examination

The content you need to ace the USMLE Step 3
Section I: Guide to the USMLE Step 3 and the CCS; Section II: Database of High-Yield Facts; Chapter 1. Ambulatory Medicine; Chapter 2. Cardiovascular; Chapter 3. EM; Chapter 4. Ethics and Statistics; Chapter 5. GI; Chapter 6. Hematology; Chapter 7. Oncology; Chapter 8. Infectious Disease; Chapter 9. Musculoskeletal; Chapter 10. Nephrology; Chapter 11. Neurology; Chapter 12. Obstetrics; Chapter 13. Gynecology; Chapter 14. Pediatrics; Chapter 15. Psychiatry; Chapter 16. Pulmonary; Section III: High-Yield CCS Cases; Appendix; Index

Customer Reviews:

Best of several not great books for Step 3

By eye doctor - March 1, 2005

Lots of people suggest using Crush Step 3, but I looked at it, felt it was a) too thick and b) the questions and topics were not that relevant to the actual exam (especially in retrospect).

First Aid step 3 continues the long tradition of First Aid books for the USMLE's. But let's face it, you need the books less and less, and they put less and less into them for each one. The best one is/was for Step 1. Step 2 book was useful. Step 3 book is somewhat useful. (Having said that, it was the only book I studied from, to the extent that I studied, and I got over 240...).

The book has an above average number of typos and appears to have been rushed out.

The highlight is the 100 mini cases that have differentials and lab tests that are useful for the CCS cases.

But overall, I think it is the best review book for step 3. Not too much extraneous information, no fake questions that are either too easy or too hard. Just a lot of good info. Some of it... read more

Adam

By Adam Rosh "Anooleaf" - April 13, 2005

Just finished taking step 3...I highly recommend First Aid, it is concise and, most importantly, the information in the text is relevant to the actual exam. It is easy to get through and I actually learned quite a bit reading it. Lastly, the description and tips it provides for the new interactive section of step 3 was invaluable, trust me.

not very helpful despite good potential

By kenneth "Kenneth" - September 22, 2008

Basically, it is very skeletal review with too little detail and too many missing topics. It does overall good job to address some (yes, only some of the vast amount of step 3 facts) of the high yields topics though.

The cardiology section is unacceptably brief and missing out too many facts such as the management of the major valvular disease, which is critical on step 3!

So if you go over the online Q banks, especially usmleworld qs (very picky and detailed oriented questions) you would keep searching for the better explanations, which are completely missing out on this book.

Of course, I am referring to a review book, not a major text book. But even a review book, it must be reasonably detailed with sufficient coverage of the related topics.

This book would have been much better if the authors would add more details and add more diseases such as Rocky mountain spotted fever, Hyper/hypothyroidism in pregnancy, Geriatrics, opthalmology,... read more