MSIII books for core rotations

Surgical Recall and the Secrets series are good.

koval and zuckerman's handbook of fractures is essential. it is probably the best $50-60 that you can spend.

i also found that checking out books from my library was key. on my rotations, i used hoppenfelds surgical exposures and reider's physical exam book extensively.

Netter's Concise Atlas of Orthopaedic Anatomy

Thanks a lot for all of the replies. I was actually hoping for book recommendations for the core medicine, surgery, peds, and ob/gyn rotations.

The blueprints series is good for just about every rotation (concise, easy to read, cheap). NMS worked well for surgery and the previously recommended ortho books are all great.

Pocket Medicine by Sabatine for medicine (keep it in your coat pocket).

Appleton and Lange question books for Peds and ObGyn are good prep for the shelf (but only after you've read Blueprints or another text first).

Family Medicine - Sloane; Swanson's for questions
OB/GYN - Blueprints + Pre-test (you may see a pattern)
Medicine - Get the review book of your choice (they are all pretty much the same) and Pre-test
Psych - Blueprints + Pre-test
Peds - Blueprints + Pre-test
Surgery - Recall + Pre-test

Pre-test is a PHENOMINAL resource for almost all core electives (you can find them cheap on half.com and amazon.com under used books). Also, if you do not want to buy texts, don't. The internet has become an invaluable resource (sources like emedicine.com are great).

Good luck.

Psychiatry-NMS is concise and may even be overkill
OB/Gyn-Blueprints
Surgery-Mont Reid Handbook of Surgery, Surgery Recall
Pediatrics-Blueprints
Family-First Aid for Step 2
Medicine-First Aid for Step 2 (minus OB and Kids)