Throughout my medical education, I’ve been asked what resources I used to power through my studies. After finding myself answering this same question over and over again, I finally decided to create a page of the resources that were my saving grace throughout my medical education. Please keep in mind that this list is NOT all-inclusive. There are certainly other great resources out there. This is just a compilation of the resources that kept me afloat, along with a few others that I heard wonderful things about from multiple people.
Before we delve into the resources, I just want to make a few things clear:
- IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE: PLEASE READ BEFORE PROCEEDING: First things first, Black Man, M.D. is a proud affiliate partner for some of these resources, meaning if you click a link for one of the affiliate resources and make a purchase, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It will be clearly stated which resources have affiliate links embedded in its post, and the commissions earned will help provide Black Man, M.D. the funding it needs to sustain and bolster its platform so that it can continue carrying out its mission effectively. The recommendations that I provide on this list are based on my personal experiences, as well as the personal experiences of others that I am walking with on my journey in medicine. The resources and recommendations shared with you are here because I genuinely believe that they are helpful and valuable, not because of any commissions that the blog may receive. Please do not spend any money on any of these resources unless you believe that they will help you achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself.
- This is a dynamic list of resources, meaning that this page will be updated over time as the listed resources come out with new editions or are discontinued. If there are new resources I’ve never used that I believe have the potential to change the paradigm of medical education, they may be added.
- I was never much of a textbook guy, so while there will be some textbook recommendations listed, there won’t be a ton of them. I primarily used textbooks as a reference, especially if they had fantastic images, charts, and/or diagrams that I could study from. Visual elements such as those helped me a TON throughout my medical education.
- Everyone has their own unique way of learning and synthesizing information. You may find that these resources end up being very helpful to you. On the other hand, you may realize that most of them aren’t of much use to you. If you do decide to use any of the listed resources, don’t be afraid to utilize them in your own unique way. Please do whatever works for you because that is what’s most important at the end of the day.
- Please keep in mind that linking a blog, website, or a product does not mean that I 100% endorse everything they may say or do. That being said, I believe that you can learn many things from something or someone, even if you don’t necessarily agree with everything they say or do. If a resource is listed here, it is because I genuinely believe that it was helpful enough to get me and/or other people through our medical education.
- My goal isn’t to give you all the answers; I most certainly don’t have them all. I’m still learning as I progress through my journey in medicine. I just want to provide you with a multitude of resources that can be found in one place for your convenience.
General Resources
Lectures/Professors: At the end of the day, your subject tests are (for the most part) going to be entirely dependent on your professors and the lectures that they give. You definitely should NOT neglect these, especially if your professors are the ones writing the questions for your exams. Also feel free to use your professors as resources if they make themselves available, but be aware that you aren’t the only student trying to compete with their attention!
MS1 Resources
(Unless otherwise stated, I typically used the General Resources above for the courses listed below with minimal additional resources. Especially Google. And First Aid, Sketchy, Wikipedia, Pathoma & Firecracker. Don’t sleep on Google though.)
My MS1 Courses
- Anatomy
- Cellular & Subcellular Processes
- Biochemistry
- Pharmacology
- Molecular Genetics
- Immunology
- Microbiology
- Virology
- Neuroscience
- Pathology
MS2 Resources
(Unless otherwise stated, I typically used the General Resources above for the courses listed below with minimal additional resources. Especially Google. And First Aid, Sketchy, Wikipedia, Pathoma & Firecracker. Don’t sleep on Google though.)
My MS2 Courses
- Hematology/Oncology
- Cardiology
- Pulmonology
- Gastroenterology
- Dermatology
- Renal
- Musculoskeletal/Rheumatology
- Endocrinology/Reproduction
MS3 Resources
Internal Medicine
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Pediatrics
Psychiatry
Neurology
Surgery
Family Medicine
Emergency Medicine
Resources No Longer In Existence
Doctors In Training: I’m sorry to say that this resource no longer exists! I’m adding it to this list for completeness sake because it was one that I used heavily throughout medical school. Doctors In Training was known for its highly informative videos that tended to highly correspond with First Aid. These videos also came with worksheets that could be filled out in order to serve as study guides. Doctors In Training, or DIT for short, was used by many students preparing for all three Step exams as well as students preparing for the COMLEX exams. They did a wonderful job describing the material that was tested on the board exams. It was a pricey resource, but the company regularly gave out various discounts to students looking to use DIT!
IM Essentials – I primarily worked with this QBank during this clerkship and did a second-pass through my incorrect questions. It was a very helpful resource, and I learned a ton from it! Both this Qbank and UWorld helped me adequately prepare for my shelf exam, but the exam was still a tough one regardless. With that said, it’s important to understand that simply answering all the questions on both QBanks won’t suddenly make you a master of Internal Medicine, but it will definitely help you reason through questions in a confident manner. Although this QBank unfortunately is no longer offered by the American College of Physicians, you can still get the IM Essentials Questions Workbook on Amazon that has really helpful IM questions to work through! (This is an affiliate link. If you use these link to buy something, we will earn a commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support!)
Hey thank you so much for this post. I’m rolling into my Step studying now. Quick question though. Do you still stand by that yousmle deck for step 1? Been getting mixed reviews about it.
Hey man, no problem! The page is here to help students like you prosper. As for the yousmle deck, I think that it did help me reinforce concepts and information as I was studying for Step 1, plus I could do the cards on the go since I got the app. The person who created the cards used many of the UWorld questions to create the cards, which again helped key information stick into my head.
That being said, I think they are priced quite high and looking back I don’t think it is a very necessary tool to do well on Step. If I were to study for Step again, I don’t know if I would want to purchase the deck at the price I bought it for, which I think was cheaper than the price it is now. But then again, if I hadn’t bought the deck, I would have probably been wondering “what if I had bought the deck?” To be honest, I don’t regret getting it at all, even though it wasn’t a perfect deck. He also may have added more cards to it over the past couple of years and may have tweaked some of the cards to be even more useful.
I didn’t get a score in the high 200s on Step 1 like the people on the website got, but I did get a score I was comfortable working with. So if you decide to get the deck and purchase it not fully expecting to get like a 260, then you most likely won’t be disappointed. But remember, the deck should serve as an adjunct to doing questions and using your other resources.
Hey Bro… I’ve been talking with some of our current 2nd years here at UNC as they approach their step season and would love to add 2 resources to your list here that i think are now MUST-HAVE’s for pre-clinical years / Step 1 Prep. One of them theoretically to replace First-Aid
1. USLME Step 1 Secrets (Thomas A Brown ; Sonali J Bracken)
2. Lange Pharmacology Flashcards (978-0071792912)
*ok honestly, you can’t really replace first-aid but maybe set it aside for a lil bit, till you get a point where you actually feel confident in how much you know*
Okay good to know bro, thanks for your input!