Lecturio Review:

Sorry I have been MIA for a couple of months. School and life got complicated but I am finally done with second year. I am also done with Step 1. A few months back I was contacted by this company, Lecturio.  A company dedicated to online review courses for pre medical and medical students. I looked into the company and checked out some of their released videos on YouTube. Since I really liked how they format their content, I decided to give it a try. Their medical section was still being completed. But at the time they had most of the subjects available. I was thrilled at the opportunity to help them out by reviewing.

Spring semester was brutal in terms of time constraints. I checked out their site searching for ways to help me out in my classes at the end of term. End of term consists of class exams (partial final exam) and shelf exams. The latter are standardized tests provided by the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) that are specific to each course and are actual final exams that have all of the material from the whole year.

The webpage is easy to use and the colors do not interfere with reading or concentration. As for the courses, they have the option to be paid for 1,3 and 12 months for $24.99, $21.99, and $16.99 per month respectively.

The Question Bank:

First of all, they have a FREE QBank with over 400 question. They also have additional questions on their courses. The  sections are divided by topic and you have question sets and additional questions on every video.

I liked their question sets. They are small, consisting of 10-20 questions on average and are a mix of recall and analysis questions. Similar to the type of questions you see on Rx from First Aid. They have really good explanations for every answer choice as to why it is or isn’t correct. These type of questions come up on NBME exams and class exams and this was helpful prepping for that.

The Lecture Series:

They also have video lecture series. During the semester, I did not get to see much of it. The reason was that the classes that I was looking for were not available yet. They now have all topics available. While talking back with them about my thoughts, they released the section I was most looking forward to, pharmacology. So they let me have access to check it out.

When this happened I had already started my dedicated study period for Step 1. I already had my study plan so I mostly checked out questions and some of the videos for the purpose of this review.

Overall I looked into some physiology and pharmacology videos. Even though I didn’t have the time to look into every single section and video, the videos are constructed in the same way. They have a good amount of figures and they explain everything in a progressive matter. They want to make sure you are understanding the material.

The Professors speak in a paced way. This gives you enough time to think about what they are talking about and make notes. These videos are good for learning things the first time or reviewing what you already know.  The topics are heavily divided into short sections so that every video is about 2-5 minutes long. You have a link to pass to the next one, but maybe it would be better to have an option to select a few and watch them continuously.

My final thoughts:

I am sad that I did not have the time to go through all of of the courses and questions. But I  did enjoy watching their videos and doing the question sets. I think this is an amazing program that is most helpful during the school year. The reason being that I believe it helpful for you study for your classes.  It would also be very good as early prepping for the boards during the semester. This program, as well as most other Qbanks have the option of having them on all your devices via an app, versus using it on the browser which can sometimes speed things down.

The prices are very good for what they offer. And the courses and questions are truly helpful in getting a good foundation. As for dedicated study period, I think there are too many videos.  I found them too detailed to be able to go through everything in 6-9 weeks with everything else during that time. Like I said this is a GREAT course to have in hand during the semester for your classes.

The questions I find are really good. They are a little more complex than some Rx questions (which are mostly recall) and are not as complex as Kaplan. So in my personal opinion they are good to have in hand to give you a little more of a challenge without being too hard that you will freak out.

I definitely recommend you check this program out. They have some YouTube videos and the FREE QBank. I you feel like you need to see things instead of just reading them this is a good alternative to have in hand.

 

I thank Lecturio for the opportunity and I hope this post helps others out there who are looking for something to have in hand.

Are there any cool programs you have tried while studying for boards?

XOXO,

Jani

*Disclosure I did not get any monetary payment for doing this review, but I did receive free access to the program for a period of 2 months. My opinions are my own and are not influenced by the opportunity to try out their program. I invite you to check out their free content and decide for yourself if this program is for you.