Kaplan Medical USMLE Master the Boards Step 3 (Kaplan USMLE),   ISBN:9781427798336

Customer Rating: 

Oh god, how I love this book.
I hated medical school and barely scraped through the USMLE Steps 1 and 2. I always felt as though the information for which I was looking, and desperately needed to know, was distributed across thirty different medical encyclopedias.
This book, however, is a work of art.
It tells you EXACTLY what you need to know, including the nitty-gritty details that some pissed-off attending will grill you on at 2 am during night shift, while being incredibly succinct.
Underlying chemical mechanisms are discussed for a disease, alternative diagnoses and critical differentiating information, then important drug side effects and contraindications, all in just one paragraph.
This book just blows me away. It cuts the craps, stays on point, and then tells you the exact information that will save your sorry ass on the wards.

Customer Rating: 

This is excellent review book but lots of mispellings, some are of vital importance. e.g Under "Hematology Chapter", Under folate & B-12 deficiency. It referes as " microcytic" which is not true. It is mAcrocytic.
There are few more. Needs proof reading.
Ali Shaikh

Customer Rating: 

I bought USMLE STEP 3 MASTER THE BOARD book.
book is new with unbeatable price.

Customer Rating: 

If I had more time I would tell you about all the mistakes I've found, but I need to study for the Boards! The book is filled with mistakes, so many, in fact, that I can't trust a word it says. For example, for colonoscopy screening, it says if you have HNPCC begin screening at age 25, then every 1-2 years. However, go to the next chapter, and it will give you a table that says you should screen at age 25, then every 10 years. Well, which is it? (I believe it's every 1-2 years)

Another example: When talking about renal tubular acidosis, it refers to Type I as "proximal" and type II as "distal." However, the chart on the SAME PAGE lists Type I as "distal" and type II as "proximal." (Type I is distal)

A third example: It says any head trauma with loss of consciousness should lead to head CT. Fine. But right afterwards is a box with the following: "Loss of consciousness [does not equal] CT scan." I thought you just said you SHOULD get a CT with LOC?!?!?!

Not to mention that instead of explaining what a disease IS, it just list words associated with a disease. For example, talking about Wegner's, it says that "Upper respiratory problems such as sinusitis and otitis are the key to diagnosis. Lung problems (cough, hemoptysis, abnormal CXR) are present as well."

Maybe this book is meant to be more of an list of free-association of words to diseases (with plenty of mistakes to keep the reader guessing), instead of a concise explanation of important diseases and their management. In that case, five stars!

Customer Rating: 

I'm a second-year medicine resident who has used many review books in the past to study for all the Steps. This book is, by far, the worst book I have ever used. The information in it is poorly organized, misleading, sometimes incorrect. It does NOT give you any insight into any disease, it just lists random words after every disease. For example for Alport's syndrome, it says "is a congenital problem with eye and ear problems, such as deafness. There is no specific therapy." It doesn't mention anything about the kidney, even though it's in the Nephrology chapter. For lipid management, it doesn't clearly states the guidelines, it only jumbles words together to make the reader even more confused. There are typos in every chapter. Tables are in odd places in the book and do not summarize information in a useful way. They also give you long lists of findings NOT seen with the disease it's talking about. What's the use of that?