Hi Pinomontalbano,

I am silent reader of the forum.I have noticed that you are one of then who is active and very helpful to many out there by replying promptly. Moreover you are also very encouraging and seem to give a honest opinion. I really appreciate it and hence decided to ask you a query.

I am studying for step2ck ,I haven't done step1.
I would like to know if I need to study from Pathoma. If so how can I get the PDF format. Also I would like to know if pathoma is better or Goljan's rapid review is better?

Thanks in advance.

these are the books you need for CK: MTB by conrad fischer, step 2 secrets, kaplan books, and u-world. pathoma is good yes, but golijian is more detailed. you need to figure out how long you want to spend studying for this exam. if you have a little bit more time i'd go thru goljian rapid review, if you have less time pathoma is a good read.
as far as pathoma on pdf..i don't know. i actually have a hard copy of both books. pathoma AND goljian.

actually if you are truly studying hard for CK you don't need either MTB, u-world and kaplan as more than enough to get an extremely high score on your ck. goljian and pathoma are more for part 1. you're smart to take CK first before you take part 1. ck is is enjoyable to study for and studying for it will actually make part 1 easier to study for...well except biochem and immunology those are two beasts on their own.

message me if you have anymore questions.

Hi,
Thank you so much for the reply.I will go with your suggestion.currently I am using the books that you mentioned.My plan is to take NBME 1 by the beginnning of next month, If the score is very bad , then probably I will go for pathoma along with the revision of mtb, etc.I will let you know my NBME score so that You may give me more suggestions.

I am going to complete my 2nd round of UW. I am not able to decide whether to do kaplan qbank or to repeat UW? Kindly help me on this.

I feel good and happy to know from you that step1 will be easier to study when you do it after taking step2ck.I was a bit surprised on that because mostly everyone says it the other way around. Just curious, is it from your experience?

Once again Thanks a lot for your prompt and helpful reply.
I really appreciate your time and help. Thanks sooo much!!!

im done with step 1. im willing to take step 2 ck in a months..im at my 3 round of UWorld.... do you think start kaplan q bank is a good idea? i took nmbe 4 and had a 196, that was in December 2012.... im gonna take nbme or a self assesment of uworld this next saturday.... nbme or sels assessment, which one is better?

kaplan qbank is horrible. stick to u-world. kaplan qbank is kindergarten compared to u-world. you must take NBME to know your real scores. UWSA over shoots your score by 20 points. it's good practice and 200 more questions, but don't trust it for your real score. ALWAYS GO BY NBME. but if you want do uwsa.....more questions you do the more practice no?

rago. stick to u-world..if not USMLErx..but kaplan is HORRIBLE for questions..very kindergarten..stick to Uworld, MTB, and step2 secrets if you have it.
if you have more time..try DIT 2012 ck. that's my advice.