Preparation Books

To prepare for my Biology exam, I bought three books. The Barron, the Princeton Review, and the Cliffs. Even though I only covered 1/2 of the Cliffs book, I ended up with a 4. Reason - because I used this book. The Princeton Review doesn't cover enough. The Barrons was written too much like a textbook. I found two advantages of this book: 1) I was able to answer all 4 essay questions fully, because it was material covered in the Cliffs. 2) The Cliffs is written in such a way that the material is easy to study. There is no unnecessary language. It is all only the important facts. 3) Lastly, the laboratory review was very useful. In class, we had been unable to cover all the labs. The Princeton Review and Barron don't cover the lab part well enough compared to the Cliffs. I reviewed the lab part the night before, and it was very easy to understand.

In some ways, I feel that I have learnt much more in my review during the past few days, than what I have learnt in class.

Had I covered the whole book, yes, a 5 would have been expected.

This book was one of my many test prep books for AP Biology. Its strengths and its weaknesses lie in its conciseness. The subject reviews are very brief and would probably not be helpful in teaching you the material; however, if you are using the book as a review tool, it is perfect. The subject reviews always stayed on topic and contained just the right amount of detail for the AP test. It also contained a review of the 12 labs of the AP Biology course, which are a big part of the exam. My biggest complaint is that there was only one full practice test, and there were very few practice quizzes throughout the book. This is where it falls behind the other AP Bio test preps. But for a quick (last-minute) review, this book is definitely your best bet.

Buy this book, borrow this book, steal this book. I don't care how you get this book, just get this book! There is no better book out there for the AP Biology test and I am living proof of that. The Princeton Review is a great book that helps you get all of the concepts nailed, but you won't get all the details from the Princeton alone. You will, however, from this book. I normally don't say this about prep books, but you really don't need a textbook. This book does not just offer you a review, but used properly, it can teach the material as well. The text book we used was horrible and unreadable(If you're using Biological Sciences by Keeton and Gould, know that I feel for you) and our teacher was not exactly much help either. Oh yeah, this book features a great review of the labs too. This was extremely helpful considering that out of the fourteen required labs, our class managed to do none of them. How did I get a five? The question baffles me too. But I certainly know where to start. This book and the Princeton Review, nothing more, nothing less.

I took an AP Biology class this year and it was a joke! We didn't learn anything, NOTHING the entire year. I used this book from the beginning of the year and, along with my textbook, which was horrible, and the Barron's Guide, managed to learn everything about AP Biology. No Joke! I taught myself biology out of this book. I even got a 5 on the AP test! Many of the questions in this book were almost exactly repeated on the AP exam. Another especially helpful thing was the Laboratory Review in the back. Even though our class didn't do the labs, I understood everything about them. If you need to learn biology. Get this Book. Today!1

I was fortunate to attend a workshop where Sonja and William highlighted several techniques presented in the book. I bought this book several months ago and it is not only helping me get through the dissertation, but has been an extremely helpful guide for writing articles for publication. It is easy to follow and the checklist for completing the dissertation process is very helpful. I have found myself picking up this book at various stages in the writing process and feel less intimidated in completing the literature review. A must-have book for doctoral students! It's a winner!

After reading Sonja Foss and William Waters's amazing book,I was re-energized by their clarity, energy, and road map metaphor they propose. I was so inspired by their approach, I decided to participate in their very successful Scholars Retreat (aka as Dissertation Boot Camp). It was as good, if not better than the book. After consulting with numerous dissertation writing texts and participating in various writing group sessions for graduate students and Assistant Faculty, I found Foss and Waters approach to be the most helpful. Their strategy gets to the heart of writing and finishing a dissertation. And if you're also a mentor seeking to work with undergraduate and/or graduate students with their research projects, this text will offer invaluable information on research and writing from multiple stages, ranging from initial conception of the project, to writing a proposal, coding data (which can include literature, ethnography, etc.), to writing successful chapters. And this advise is most beneficial to students (or any serious researcher), as well as lay professionals working on a book. While the book is surely intended for graduate students working on their dissertations, it will be helpful to other researchers and writers, and the numerous Professors and writing tutors committed to being good mentors.

Overall, this is the best book on completing the dissertation. And if you can, I strongly recommend participating in the Scholars Retreat.

This book actually changed my life. I am a doctoral student and I was stalled in the work of my dissertation due to some pretty serious life issues and I thought I was genuinely never going to be able to finish. I literally had hit a wall. I bought this book, feeling like this was a last resort, and decided to just surrender to their system. Why not just try? Their method detailed in the data collection and analysis chapter with the envelopes and labels is worth the price of the book. It led me step by step from a place of confusion to where I am now. And where I am now is on the verge of meeting with my committee for my defense. I am stunned. I went from "I have no idea how I'm going to do this" to "I'm done" in a matter of two months. It was this book. That's all I can say.

Foss and Waters have written a book that seems destined to become a classic about how to finish a dissertation in a timely manner. I can't even begin to say how helpful this book has been to me during the writing process. Unlike other "how-to" dissertation guides that seem to privilege study skills and research techniques, Foss and Waters go over the nuts-and-bolts of writing. My writing output has literally tripled since reading this book. Destination Dissertation is a must-have for any serious graduate student.

With so many dissertation guides available, it's tough to know which one to pick. The unique value of Destination Dissertation lies in its suggestions for overcoming real-world road blocks in the journey. Foss and Waters provide concrete tips and actual examples for dealing with common problems like an out-of-control lit review, making sense of mounds of data, negotiating with advisors and committee members, slow and painful writing, and plain old boredom. This book keeps the reader's focus on a manageable plan for breaking down tasks and moving forward. Highly recommended for graduate students in the thesis or dissertation process who want to get it DONE and get on with their lives.

I really liked this cookbook because it was easy to follow and full of common sense things to prepare. It focuses on the types of food that normal people will enjoy and does not require you to be an "expert" cook. The directions are clear and logical in the way they are discussed. I also liked the layout and the way the book is bound. You can lay this out on the counter and since its spiral bound it will lay flat on whatever section you're following without you having to put something on top of it like you do with the hardcover cookbooks. Very thoughtful idea.

Janne Taubman's DinnerOnTime offers even the most novice kitchen cook with simple recipes that will make him or her look and feel like a gourmet chef! The day-by-day, up-to-the-final-minute timeline that will enable the cook to get the entire meal of selected dishes on the table -- and on time. Taubman's creative, inexpensive, uncomplicated centerpieces will grace any table. Her detailed shopping lists will prevent any last-minute, time-consuming trips to the market. From a Thanksgiving dinner for sixteen; a buffet dinner for twenty-five; a Christmas and a New Year's Eve dinner for eight; to an intimate Valentine's Day special dinner for two; a Passover dinner for twenty, an Easter dinner for eight, a stylish dinner party for eight, DinnerOnTime has all the information, ideas, and instructions laid out in a true "user friendly" fashion. Of special delight is her Summer Holiday Barbecue dinner for twelve, Summer Dinner Party dinner for six, and a Brunch for sixteen. Highly recommended!

This book is sooooo easy to use and I love the recipes. I've used it more than any other cook book I own. It's imaginative and concise. What more can you ask for - except a personal chef!!! Try it - you'll love it too.

I was panicked at the prospect of my first Thanksgiving dinner. But serving 16 people was downright simple, thanks to DinnerOnTime. This book outlines every detail, from what you should buy to when you should buy it to how and when you should prepare it so everything is on the table at the same time. And the food was delicious! Everyone asked me for recipes...I had to confess that my secret was this easy-to-use book!

When preparing a large meal, there's nothing like extra hands in the kitchen ... but many of us don't have that luxury. DinnerOnTime is like cooking with a friend. Clear, comfortable, organized, spiral bound ... it saves time in so many ways and gives that edge of confidence, all because someone already knew what they were doing and put it down paper for us. Thanks, Janne!

Again, my 6 year old picks it up and we play quiz games with each other.

When I took the State Qualification Test after reading and studying this book, I feel confident that this book helped me with large quantities of the questions! If you read this book it will almost ensure you sucsess! It is a nessesity for anything "Geographic" related! Not only dooes it quiz your knowledge like some study guides, but has many, many, many atlases, country informaion, state information; even general geography bee info. like how to study, what to expect for each section, what to expect for each level, and it's information has been right on target so far! Buy it! You'll win for sure!

This book was the best resource we found for the review of world geography as our son prepared for his school Geography Bee. We reviewed it as a family. We all learned a great deal.

My son started showing an interest in Geography in the 3rd grade so we bought him several books & this was one of them!! He is now a walking text book! watch out!! He has won several Geography bees & this is one of the books he has studied from!! Plus he just loves reading the information & sponging up the information!! This book had a lot of great tips about what to expect at & from a Geography bee. Tips for kids & for parents (which I felt helpful.) We recognized several of the study questions were used in the bee to... not his questions :) - But it was enjoyable as a parent too to learn the facts from this book! Enjoy!

My son is going through this with lot of enthusiasm. Well structured and very popular amongst others.

Very good review book for Step 1 neuroanatomy section - since this is very high yield. Cover all you need to know to tackle this field on exam. Covers more than FA but is not as exhausting as Kaplan notes.

First Aid is money for most subjects, but it's weak on neuro. This book is a very good balance between too little and too much for this overwhelming subject. The High Yield series keeps improving in quality, and in the newest edition is even better at showing clinical scenarios and integrating other subjects like pathology or physiology (I used an older version and it's still pretty good, though).

I would like to say this is great for course work, but at least at my school they tended to test on obscure minituae hard to find anywhere.

This is all you should need for Step, which does feature a decent dose of neuro (about 10, more like 20 questions). It's also very good at developing as essential foundation of knowledge applicable for future use, which sometimes gets lost when scrambling to cram for course exams.

My big qualm is the pricing. It's a thin book, not a main text. Use the library, borrow it from a friend, split the cost, etc. High Yield makes a nice line of books but they need to trim prices for medical students.

Getting confused with studying anatomy of the brain? This is a book for you! It is far better than dozen of other neuroanatomy books! It gives you a lot of details and it's easy to read, too! I'm studying for the USMLE step 1 exam and I will keep it handy all the time!

The USMLE has become increasingly focused on neuro over the past few years, and First Aid has become more and more inadequate with respect to neuro. This book is a great way to prepare for the neuro questions on Step 1. It's a slender book and is thus a very quick read --- heck, I'm a slow reader and finished it in 2.5 days. At the beginning of the book are several images of brain sections, with arrows pointing to the most important structures. The book also has radiologic images (MRA, MRI, CT) which were very helpful for me when I took Step 1 --- actually, I remember having 3 distinct questions with an accompanying MRA image. The book does a good job of explaining the basic function/organization of the different parts of the brain in a concise manner. There were a few sections that I thought were a little too detailed for Step 1 --- especially the cerebellum section. Overall, though, it's a wonderful book and it will help you to nail the neuro questions on the USMLE.

This is an excellent book and it's really all you need to prepare for your step 1. I used this book and answered every single question on neuro correctly.

This is a great reviewer. You will learn strategies on how to answer questions on the NCLEX. It will improve your critical thinking skills. It also contains practice items in the book as well as in the CD-ROM. And yes, I passed the NCLEX! :)

Kaplan products tell you how to approach each question on the NCLEX exam because exam is very different than the real world of nursing practice. Also exam is not about testing your knowledge and how well you know the facts,for example it will not ask you what CHF or DVT is instead it will ask you how you will utilize the knowledge about these problems,which includes critical thinking and establishing priority. I found Maslow's hierarchy very very helpful in prioritizing client needs. I highly recommend kaplan course,I know it is expensive but it worths passing the exam.

This book is an excellent resource when studying for the NCLEX, I would recommend this to anyone preparing to take the NCLEX.
Thank you

My husband enjoys this product and so far is trying to utilize it daily to hopefully succeed in his future test. Thank you for shipping it out so quickly. And thank you for making this affordable and available.

I purchased this book instead of taking their review class because let's face it, the class is pricey. It was so very worth it. You can review facts all you want, but the thing that makes this book awesome is that it teaches you how to think through the questions and pick the "best" answer. I passed my boards and then lent the book to my friends and co-workers who were taking the boards because it was so helpful for me.

This is a great suplemental study material especially if used early . The price is also affordable.

"Deja Review" was the reason I aced my USMLE Step2. Aside from doing practice questions, this is the only other resource you need to conquer the boards. It is extremely high-yield and concise... perfect for many students like myself who only had 2 weeks to study for the step2. The question-answer format of the text helps the reader actively learn and more importantly remember the material. I wish I knew about DejaReview back when I was studying for Step1. I highly recommend it to all medical students.

This book is an excellent adjunct to use in studying for Step 2 CK. By challenging you with a gut-reaction recall type format, you will actively learn and reinforce important topics and associations. It's best used for a quick review in the final days of Step 2 studying to refresh your memory of all the high yield associations.

First thing first. I scored a 247 on Step 1. As many of you know that have taken the exam. The key is to know what to study for the exam since there is an infinite amount of information. Once you find the "tested" information you have to sit down and MEMORIZE. That is the key to these USMLE exams. For those that have trouble memorizing the necessary information, the best thing to do is to "do questions" so that way you can remember the key concepts. For Step 1 all you really need is First Aid for Step 1, Goljan audio, and Kaplan QBank + Qbook. That's it....

Now for Step 2 it is much different. First Aid is not as high yield as it is for Step 1. Even if you had First Aid for Step 2 in the exam room with unlimited time there will be information that is NOT IN THE BOOK. First Aid lives off of its Step 1 reputation.

For Step 2, I scored a 241. Which isn't spectacular BUT I studied for the exam during my interview season in January. I studied for 3 weeks. I memorized this book and did USMLE World questions. That is all you need. Most of the high yield information that is TESTED is not found in First Aid. Use your time wisely. My advice is to memorize this book, Step 2 Secrets, and do ALL of the questions (and read every answer explanation) in USMLE World. Keep in mind though there will still be questions that you have never seen but these will be fewer and far between if you use the "right" resources. Good Luck.

UCSD makes us take step 2 early on in the year and time is defintiely a limiting factor. If you are in the same boat, I would highly recommend this book. Even if you are not under a time crunch, you should still read this book to re-enforce facts you already know. The Q&A format is similar to that of Surgical Recall. I used a question bank and read this book to tie everything together before I took the exam. This book is very high yield, and works well as an adjuvant to a more cohesive detailed review source like usmle world q-bank.

After I took step 2, I passed the book onto a fellow panicked classmate going into derm and after reading the book, lets just say he didn't need an ativan or xanex hook-up before the exam. I read the book in 1.5 days (w/ several breaks) and my confidence defintely went way up afterwards.If you are worried about step 2, buy this book and you will realize that you know more from 3rd year than you think.

On radiology, my resident asked me what books I used for step 2 review. Being the slow person that I am, I didn't put two and two together. John Naheedy is now a radiology resident at UCSD and he is a nice guy. So besides donating to feed the "John Naheedy Foundation," your USMLE step 2 score will be higher than your step 1 score after Deja Review: USMLE STEP 2 Essesntials, guaranteed! Good luck on the exam! =)

People in my class that failed HESI paid like 200 dollars in a workshop to pass HESI and this is the book they taught out of

I passed the TX board 1st time. This book helps you remember important nuring concepts for the RN.

this book is so organized. i love the way the headings are colored coded and need to know info is coded. its not the typical black and white text. all the meds and dx text for a particular system are at the end of the chapter. too bad i got it in my last semester of school.

Some NCLEX-RN books are so detailed and long that when I read them I feel like I'm taking nursing school all over again. This book is more concise with illustrations and tables in color, which makes for easier reading. Each chapter has appendices with need-to-know information. For example, in the musculoskeletal chapter 21, there is appendix 21-1; it covers serum diagnostics, invasive diagnostics, and non-invasive diagnostice, appendix 21-2: it covers medications by category (antigout, skeletal muscle relaxants, calcium meds., etc.), Appendix 21.3: it covers amputations, appendix 21.4: it covers assistive devices (crutches, canes, walkers). When you just have 10 minutes, you can turn to an appendix of a chapter and get a good review on meds., procedures, and diagostic tests. This book has been helpful studying for nursing school tests and for NCLEX prep.

I wish I had this book during nursing school. My friend loaned it to me when I was studying for the NCLEX exam and I used it along with the Kaplan online question sessions as a reference tool. I actually passed the exam and will now buy the book for work as an easy reference tool. Each section is organized in a way that you have the description of the disorder, S/S, what you might see, common medications and labs. Great book!

As the Educational Director for our residency and a practicing internist, I found this to be hands-down the best resource out there as far as a database of old exam questions in prepping the internal medicine boards. We also found that the book to which this is a companion (i.e. Frontrunners Syllabus), was extraordinary in laying out all the key material in a nicely-organized, concise, and outlined format offering "recently and commonly asked material". Together, these 2 books form the core of our own ABIM Certification residency training program and were mission-critical to getting our perfect pass rates last year. [...]

I was looking for a source of old Q&A for all the medicine on the USMLE Step 3. My friend successfully used Frontrunners Internal Medicine Q&A Review for her Step 3 and used it again with equal success on her Internal Medicine Boards. He said there was no better Q&A review for those 2 exams since it's all clinical medicine. I used it and scored well, but what I liked the most was that the questions are kept short and to-the-point so you're able to get thru alot of Q&A in one sitting. Best of all, the Q&A you see in the book are realistic and train your eye to recognize keywords in the question so you can go right to the answer, which is exactly what I did on my boards! Super find. I'm highly recommending.

This was a dynamite review and was a major find for me for my Internal Medicine Boards. From a content point of view, everything I saw on the exam I'd already seen in this Q&A review. A down-to-earth Q&A review with a realistic "this is what you need to know" style that appealed to me. It was the only Q&A review I used and saved me loads of time over other more archaic reviews like mksap and, bottom line, I pass easily.

And that's by getting it and studying the questions. Most of the questions come right out of the boards. I easily passed my I.M. Boards using this along with Frontrunners Syllabus (it's a companion thing). The AudioVisual CDs helped with all the images. So, a solid curriculum. Best one I've seen. An easy 5 stars, but a must for the ABIM exam.

The book is an overdue, refreshing Q&A review that allows you to cover all the same ground in a lot less time. Explanations were to-the-point and just what I had to know. Scored very well using it for my internal medicine boards. As with many of the other reviewers, I got my copy for free when I ordered my Frontrunners I.M. Board Review Syllabus thru the Publisher's 866MDBOARD number which is also on the back of my book.

Great for med students, helped me study for Step 1, and still reference back to them for use on my clinical rotations. Very helpfull easy to read and comprehend, but still has good detail.

I love these cards. They have great organization and just the right amount of detail. These are probably the best microcards out there.

These are good USMLE style micro cards. I found them useful for review of material before boards. For an actual micro class they aren't so helpful. They weren't something I could really use to learn new material (like say Netter's flashcards in anatomy).

I aced my bacteriology exam with these. They are an awesome way to reinforce the course material. Great for a quick review!

BUY THESE INSTEAD OF BUGCARDS! These cards are amazing for both learning and reviewing. As a first year medical student, I appreciate how concise and useful the information is. The first 8 or so cards show the common infections in each organ system - VERY HIGH YIELD! The rest of the cards cover the important human pathogens. Also included are helpful algorithms and explanations of virulence and toxins. I didn't take micro before now, and I was able to follow along perfectly well. Another resource you may consider to use in conjunction is Medical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple. It is very good as well.