USMLE Road Map: Pharmacology presents a concise and focused examination of the essential concepts in pharmacology. Through a streamlined and easy-to-follow hierarchical outline format, it guides students through the most important attributes of each drug class and reviews the mechanisms, actions, and side effects of each drug prototype. The outline is enhanced with an extensive and original illustration program that visually conveys the essential information and promotes retention of the material. Features such as clinical correlations and clinical problems are also included.SO, this book isn't the best choice for in-depth learning of pharmacology - and you definitely shouldn't expect this from the resource which is only 178 pages long - but this isn't the main purpose of this title - it was created to be used as a RE-VIEW and it serves this purpose extremely well.
For in-depth study you should get 'Katzung and Trevor's Review of Pharmacology' or 'Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews: Pharmacology'; these books are excellent, but, even though both claim to be 'reviews', who can reread their 600 pages again and again? at the same time, pharmacology tends to be forgotten in just a few weeks (even when it was learned very well in the past) and you have to refresh your memory again and again; and as your exam approaches you'll need more and more quick reviews because you'll not have enough time for the big resources; even though pharmacology is the best written subject in 'First Aid for the USMLE step 1', still it's too superficial and you should reserve that book for cramming just before the exam; so, you'll get a long gap in the middle between in-depth study and 'First Aid', which has to be filled; at this point of your preparation, you'll find that 'USMLE Road Map: Pharmacology' is very helpfull, well-written, well-illustrated and perfectly suited for quick and repetitive readings; it focuses on high yield facts, which will be heavily tested on USMLE step 1, without extraneous details, which may be important for wards or for the USMLE step 2 CK, but aren't necessary for step 1; for this reason 'Road Map' is much more useful for step 1 than 'Pharmacology for the Boards and Wards', which tries to reach everyone and, as a result, is less high yield for this exam; though this book is larger (256 pages) than 'Road Map', it contains more irrelevant information and less - relevant.
Book Details
- Title: USMLE Road Map: Pharmacology, 2/E
- Author: Bertram G. Katzung
- Paperback: 178 pages
- Publisher: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2 edition (October 20, 2005)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0071445811
- ISBN-13: 9780071445818
- Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 0.5 inches
- List Price: $26.95
- Amazon.com Price: $21.20
- You Save: $5.75 (21%)
