Medical Boards Step 3 Made Ridiculously Simple

"This book is just a assembly of keywords. It looks like a a book writen by a student without any clinical experience. It treats patients like only the chief complaint is known and every disease is possible. What it lists for every disease are only the most obvious things and it skips a lot of important steps or medicines. A waste of time to read it."
~ Written on 2008-04-07

"It's a great way to review other specialties. It greatly compensates for the lack of time in reviewing. "
~ Written on 2007-10-13

"Unfortunately this book has no "meat" to it. It is basically a very weak outline of seemingly randomly ordered subjects. About the only good thing about it is that it gives no detail; therefore it is easy to read. For example, p. 135 ARDS: risk factors-toxic inhalation, sepsis, shock, diffuse pneumonia, Management-identify the cause, mechanical ventilation, try to avoid barotrauma to the lungs, glucocoticoids for late phase ARDS, Prognosis-50-70%. I'm not sure what this information would add to your knowledge of ARDS? Any resident or perhaps medical student would probably know any of these basic facts after their rotation. Furthermore, the alphabetical order of subjects is rather irritating and not useful. A reviewer said that it's good to use once you are done studying your other material. But why would you want to review something so basic that contributes little to what you already know? Ultimately I find there is no reason to use this book."
~ Written on 2007-04-07

""Medical Boards Step 3 Made Ridiculously Simple" is a difficult book to review, as, depending on the way you learn, it can be a good or bad preparatory text. The book is organized into two sections: the first, diagnosis of relatively broad disease conditions (hyponatremia, cardiac failure, etc.), and the second, treatment of specific disease conditions (candidiasis, aspergillosis, cervical cancer, etc.).

All concepts are displayed in outline/"logical progression square" format, good (for some) for review, but difficult (for some) to actually learn from. First, second, third, and on steps in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases are displayed, essential skills to know to succeed in the USMLE step 3.

I personally found it to be a mediocre text, as I require more detail to cement unfamiliar/new concepts into my aging brain. If one is able to truly learn from an outline source, more power to you, and definitely look up this text. In any event, it will be useful to anyone who has already studied and wants a quick refresher a day or two before the exam (but not if you are easily stressed!).

For detail-learners: get "Crush" and read this a day or two before your test.
For outline-learners: get "Usmle Step 3 Recall" and read this a day or two before your test.
For everyone: practice your CCS's and questions!

Good luck on your test."
~ Written on 2007-02-22

"This book focuses on subjects asked on the step 3 exam, but it needs to be rewritten to focus on the specific order one must follow in evaluating patients. Step 3 is about choosing a 1st step, 2nd step or 3rd step. The set up of the book is good, but the info. is not complete. Residency Programs vary in their protocols so for this standardized exam it is imperative that you learn exactly the test protocols. If Andreas Carl would add these changes...this book could be excellent. At this point it is not good enough. A better choice is Adam Brochert's Crush step 3."
~ Written on 2003-04-23