Table of Contents

Thank you for visiting! Here is a table of contents to direct you to exactly what you need:

Best Book Lists for:
Big Exams: MCAT, USMLEs, COMLEX
Basic Sciences Courses
Rotations during Medical School
Residency/Fellowship
Medical School Memoirs/Advice


Best Equipment/Smart phone apps




















Home Depot

Med School Equipment

First things first... if you are a student with a .edu email address, sign up with AMAZON STUDENT for free. You get free shipping!  You can cancel after 6mo if you don't like it:

www.amazon.com/student 

Please use this link when you sign up, I get Amazon credit:)

Here's a list of recommendations from my followers for the most useful medical equipment, smartphone apps, etc. for the med student. Please send your recommendations to @medschooladvice.

Best Stethoscopes for medical school

The most popular, but slightly expensive: 3M Littmann Cardiology III

The slightly cheaper, not as good, but probably sufficient for medical school: 3M Littman Lightweight II SE

Best bang for buck according to review: Omron Sprague Rappaport

Link to nice review of stethoscopes for further reading: LiveStrong Article

Nice chart comparing all the Littmann varieties: http://www.steeles.com/

Ehow.com article on picking a stethoscope: www.ehow.com/

Best Otoscope/Ophthalmoscopes (Ask your medical school if you really need to purchase this. Typically this becomes useless after medical school. Most examination rooms already have these in them)
Pocket size, cheap, not easiest to use, but serves the purpose: Welsch Allyn Pocket Set
Larger size, more expensive, easier to use, probably overkill for a student: Welsch Allyn Set

Best Shoes for the Wards
Formal Shoes:
Danskos. May take some getting used to, since the fit may be a bit loose. But worth it: Dansko Shoes
Cole Haan

Informal Shoes for call nights:
Nike Air Max 
Nike Free Run

Best Coffee Makers
Aeropress
Keurig B-60
Bialetti Express


Best Coffee
Tassimo
Cafe Bustelo

Best Coffee Thermos

Will keep that coffee hot all day! Thermos Sipp 16-Ounce Vacuum Insulated Travel Tumbler

Best Laptop/Computers for Medical School

HP Pavillion Laptop
MacBook Air
Ipad 2

Best E-Readers
Kindle Paperwhite

Best Medical Apps for your Phone
Epocrates
Micromedex
Medscape
Eponyms
3M Littman Sound Builder
WebMD
iTriage
Case Files Internal Medicine
iAnatomy
The Merck Manual
Prognosis
Qx Calculator

Golden Book List - Med School Advice/Memoirs

A List of the best books about medical school

Memoir: Everything I Learned in Medical School: Besides All the Book Stuff by Sujay Kansagra (I'm a bit biased)

                 Kindle Edition     iBook     Nook 



               In Stitches by Anthony Youn and Alan Eisenstock

Medical School Advice: Med School Confidential by Miller, et al.
                                        On Becoming a Doctor by Heller

Interview Preparation for Med School and Residency: Why Medicine? by Sujay Kansagra
    Kindle Edition         iBook          Nook
















If you are seeing this, you can get my book for big discount directly from publisher.  Click here, use discount code VTXGMB2X

Golden Book List - Residency/Fellowship

THE GOLDEN BOOK LIST
By @medschooladvice

First things first... if you are a student with a .edu email address, sign up with AMAZON STUDENT for free. You get free shipping!  You can cancel after 6mo if you don't like it: 

www.amazon.com/student 

Please use this link when you sign up, I get Amazon credit:)

Here are best books by residency/fellowship.  This is just to identify THE MAIN BOOK in each category, based upon the feedback I've received from others and my own experience. It goes without saying that your preference/your residency program's preference may differ from this list.

The links go directly to Amazon.com. Have more suggestions? Tweet me @medschooladvice

Anesthesiology:

Clinical Anesthesiology by Morgan, et al.

Cardiology:
Braunwald's Heart Disease Review and Assessment by Lilly

Dermatology:
?????   Send your recommendation to @medschooladvice

Family Practice:
?????   Send your recommendation to @medschooladvice

Geriatrics:
Essentials of Geriatrics

Internal Medicine:

Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine by Longo, et al.

Neurology:
Neurology Board Review: An Illustrated Guide by Mowzoon and Flemming

Ophthalmology:
?????   Send your recommendation to @medschooladvice

Orthopaedics:
Apley's Concise System of Orthopaedics and Fractures by Solomon et al.

Pathology:
The Art and Science of Cytopathology by DeMay

Pediatrics:

Nelson's Textbook of Pediatrics by Kliegman, et al.

The Harriet Lane Handbook by Johns Hopkins Hospital

Pediatric Neurology:
Swaiman's Pediatric Neurology by Swaiman, et al.
Clinical Pediatric Neurology: A Signs and Symptoms Approach by Gerald Fenichel

Radiology:
?????   Send your recommendation to @medschooladvice

Surgery:

Sabiston Textbook of Surgery by Townsend, et al.



Other Books Recommended by my Twitter Followers:

Anesthesiology:
Clinical Anesthesiology by Morgan, et al.

Dermatology:
?????   Send your recommendation to @medschooladvice

Family Practice:
?????   Send your recommendation to @medschooladvice

Internal Medicine:

Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine by Longo, et al.

Neurology:
Neurology Board Review: An Illustrated Guide by Mowzoon and Flemming

Ophthalmology:
?????   Send your recommendation to @medschooladvice

Orthopaedics:
Campbell's Operative Orthopaedics by Canale and Beaty

Pathology:
?????   Send your recommendation to @medschooladvice

Pediatrics:

Nelson's Essentials of Pediatrics by Marcdante et al.

Pediatric Neurology:
Swaiman's Pediatric Neurology by Swaiman, et al.
Clinical Pediatric Neurology: A Signs and Symptoms Approach by Gerald Fenichel

Radiology:
?????   Send your recommendation to @medschooladvice

Surgery:

Sabiston Textbook of Surgery by Townsend, et al.



Golden Book List - Medical School Rotations

THE GOLDEN BOOK LIST
By @medschooladvice

My Twitter followers always ask about the best books for medical school and residency. Below, I've listed the main books for rotations in medical school. This is just to identify THE MAIN BOOK in each category, based upon the feedback I've received from others and my own experience. It goes without saying that your preference/your school's preference may differ from this list.

First things first... if you are a student with a .edu email address, sign up with AMAZON STUDENT for free. You get free shipping!  You can cancel after 6mo if you don't like it: 

www.amazon.com/student 

Please use this link when you sign up, I get Amazon credit:)

The links go directly to Amazon.com. Have more suggestions? Tweet me @medschooladvice

History Taking and Physical Exam:
Bates' Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking by Lynn Bickley

Pocket Reference Guide:
Maxwell's Pocket Reference
 
Internal Medicine:
First Aid for the Medicine Clerkship by Kaufman, et al.

OBGYN:
Obstetrics and Gynecology by Beckman, et al.

Psychiatry:
Introductory Textbook of Psychiatry by Black and Andreasen

Surgery:
Essentials of General Surgery by Lawrence, et al.

Surgical Recall by Lorne Blackbourne

Pediatrics:

Blueprints Pediatrics by Marino and Fine

Neurology:

Blueprints in Neurology by Drislane, et al.

Clinical Neuroanatomy Made Ridiculously Simple by Stephen Goldberg

Radiology:
Clinical Radiology Made Ridiculously Simple by Huque and Ouellette

Emergency Medicine:
Send me your recommendations


Geriatrics:
Essentials of Geriatrics

EKG Interpretation:
Rapid Interpretation of EKG's by Dale Dubin (the only EKG book you will ever need!)



Other Books Recommended by my Twitter Followers:

History Taking and Physical Exam:
Clinical Examination: A Systematic Guide to Clinical Diagnosis by Talley and O'Connor

Internal Medicine:
Kumar and Clark's Clinical Medicine by Kumar and Clark
Case Files Internal Medicine by Toy and Patlan
Step-Up to Medicine by Agabegi et al.
Blueprints Medicine by Young, et al.

OBGYN:
Case Files OBGYN by Toy et al.
Pretest OBGYN by Schnieder

Emergency Medicine
Case Files Emergency Medicine by Toy et al.

Family Medicine:
Case Files Family Medicine by Toy et al.

Psychiatry:
Saint-Frances Guide to Psychiatry by McArthy, et al.
Case Files Psychiatry by Toy et al.
Pre-Test Psychiatry by Clayman
Lange Q&A Psychiatry by Blitzstein
Psychiatry (House Officer's Series) by Tomb

Surgery:
Lecture Notes: General Surgery by Ellis, et al.
NMS Surgery by Jarrell and Carabasi

NMS Surgery Casebook by Jarrell
Schwartz's Priniciples of Surgery by Brunicardi, et al.
Case Files Surgery by Toy et al.

Pediatrics:

Blueprints Pediatrics by Marino and Fine
Case Files Pediatrics by Toy et al.

In A Page Pediatrics by Kahan et al. 

First Aid for the Pediatric Clerkship by Stead et al.

Neurology:

Introduction to Clinical Neurology by Gelb
Case Files Neurology by Toy
Pretest Neurology by Anscel
Case Files Neurology by Toy et al.

Radiology:
Radiology Secrets Plus by Pretorius et al.

Squire's Fundamentals of Radiology by Novelline

Anesthesiology:
Case Files Anesthesiology by Toy et al.

EKG Interpretation:
150 ECG Problems by Hampton

Golden Book List - Med School basic science courses

THE GOLDEN BOOK LIST - The basic sciences
By @medschooladvice

My Twitter followers always ask about the best books for medical school. Below, is the list for basic science courses in medical school.  This is just to identify THE MAIN BOOK in each category, based upon the feedback I've received from others and my own experience. It goes without saying that your preference/your school's preference may differ from this list.

First things first... if you are a student with a .edu email address, sign up with AMAZON STUDENT for free. You get free shipping!  You can cancel after 6mo if you don't like it: 

www.amazon.com/student 

Please use this link when you sign up, I get Amazon credit:)

The links go directly to Amazon.com. Have more suggestions? Tweet me @medschooladvice

Biochemistry:

Biochemistry (Lippincott's Illustrated Review Series) by Harvey and Ferrier

Cell Biology:

Molecular Biology of the Cell by Alberts, et al.

Embryology:
High-Yield Embryology by Ronal Dudek

Genetics:

Thompson & Thompson Genetics in Medicine by Nussbaum, et al.

Gross Anatomy:

Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy by Frank Netter (this is just an atlas with pretty pictures. You will need another text to explain the details of anatomy)

Immunology:
The Immune System by Petter Parham

Microanatomy/Histology:

Histology: A Text and Atlas by Ross and Pawlina

Microbiology:

Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple by Gladwin and Trattler

Neuroscience:

Neuroscience by Purves, et al.

Pathology:

Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basic Disease - Kumar, Abbas, and Fausto

Pharmacology:

Pharmacology (Lippincott's Illustrated Review Series) by Harvey, et al.

Physiology:
Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology by Hall (for more detailed reading)
BRS Physiology by Costanzo (for fast review)



Other Books Recommended by my Twitter Followers:

Biochemistry:

Biochemistry by Voet and Voet

Cell Biology:

Send me your recommendations

Embryology:

Langman's Medical Embryology by Sadler
The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology by Moore and Persaud

Genetics:

Send me your recommendations

Gross Anatomy:

Clinical Anatomy by Snell
Netter's Anatomy Coloring Book by Hansen
Clinically Oriented Anatomy by Moore, et al.

Immunology:
Send me your recommendations

Microanatomy/Histology:

Wheater's Functional Histology by Young, et al.
Junqueira's Basic Histology by Mescher

Microbiology:
Microbiology (Lippincott Illustrated Review Series) by Harvey and Cornelissen

Neuroscience:

Send me your recommendations

Pathology:

Rapid Review Pathology by Goljan

Pharmacology:

Basic and Clinical Pharmacology by Katzung, et al.

Physiology:Berne and Levy Physiology by Keoppen and Stanton

Golden Book List - MCAT/USMLE/COMLEX

THE GOLDEN BOOK LIST
By @medschooladvice

Here are the books identified as the MAIN BOOKS for each of the standardized test. This is based on feedback from my Twitter followers and personal experience.

Remember, if you are a student with a .edu email address, sign up with AMAZON STUDENT for free. You get free shipping!  You can cancel after 6mo if you don't like it: 

www.amazon.com/student 

Please use this link when you sign up, I get Amazon credit:)

The links go directly to Amazon.com. Have more suggestions? Tweet me @medschooladvice

MCAT:

ExamKrackers by Jonathan Orsay (this is for the self-studiers. For those that can afford a course, I recommend Kaplan).

USMLE STEP 1:
First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 (2013) by Tao Le, Vikas Bhushan, and Jeffrey Hoffman. This is a MUST READ for any Step 1 takers. Do not move on to the next book until you have MEMORIZED everything in this book! For practice questions, I recommend Kaplan Q-bank.

USMLE STEP 2CK:
Step Up to USMLE Step 2 by Van Kleunen
For practice questions, I recommend USMLE World

USMLE STEP 2CS:
First Aid for Step 2CS by Tao Le, Vikas Bhushan, and Mae Sheikh-Ali

USMLE STEP 3:
Boards and Wards by Carlos Ayala and Brad Spellberg
Most people don't care enough about this exam to sign up for a question back.

COMLEX Exams
OMT Review by Savarese



Other Books Recommended by my Twitter Followers:

MCAT:

Send me your recommendations

USMLE STEP 1:
BRS Pathology
BRS Physiology
Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple
Rapid Review Pathology

USMLE STEP 2CK:
Boards and Wards by Carlos Ayala and Brad Spellberg
Brochert's Crush Step 2 by Theodore O'Connell and Mayur Movalia
USMLE Step 2 Secrets by O'Connell

USMLE STEP 2CS:
Send me your recommendations

USMLE STEP 3:
Send me your recommendations