Basic Science Advice Thread

[Agraphia]

Ok for med 1
Anatomy-Just read BRS and the netter flash cards. Then do the BRS questions and Michigan anatomy questions.
Histo- Just read USMLE road map and study the pics in the required text. This course is easy
DPS- Just have a pulse and you'll pass

2nd:
Biochem- read the last review page of each chapter of lippo and memorize every diagram. Read BRS as well. Then go do BRS questions and pre-test questions which are very similar to Dr. L's questions. No reason to get below a B in the course and 64 shelf. Oh and last, open your 1st page in first aid 2008 of the biochem section (pg92) and there is a whole page of diagram of biochem metabolism...memorize this, and I mean MEMORIZE IT! Know which steps require ATP which steps give off ATP etc. know every little detail. Take 10 minutes of everyday and write this thing down on paper until you can write it without having to look at first aid. This is very important! I think you can get above a 58 on shelf just by knowing this page alone. Dr. L loves to ask detailed questions about this stuff as well. everyday everyday, it only takes 10 minutes so no excuses.
Genetic-This course sucks. Just read the book and try and do Kaplan questions for the final. This course was one of 2 Cs I got in basic sciences.
Physio-Read the BRS book and the BRS cases book which no one really gets. Dont memorize but try and understand the concepts. Then go and do pre-test questions. Course isnt as hard as everyone makes it. The key is to do lots of questions and apply the info you read.
Neuro- I thought USMLE roadmap was good. I would also use Matt's notes. He is a smart kid so his notes should be more than enough. Dr. G is a really good prof as well.

3rd:
Micro-Get "Microcards" by Sanjiv Harpavat and memorize these suckers. Make it a point to go over at least 30 cards a day. Also know the trees on the front of these cards cold. In order to get above a 64 on shelf you need to know that for alot of lab stuff, for example: Papillomavirus is icosahedral, non-enveloped, double strand circular, papovaviridae family. All this info is on the front card of the gram +, gram -, dna, rna section on these cards. You'll see if you get them. I swear that you will score above a 60% on shelf just by knowing these trees alone. Shelf loves to ask whether a virus ids double, single strand? whether the virus is dna or rna etc. so again take 15 minutes of everyday and write out these trees till you can write them without looking at the cards. You should start this process the first week of school and do it till the course ends. everyday everyday. As a matter of fact, since attendance was required for micro, thats all I did when I went to class... I would write out these trees. BRS is really good also. Then last, skim through the slides for extra info that may not be in the book. Class isnt as hard as everyone makes it out to be.
Path- YOU DO NOT HAVE TO READ ROBBINS. Just read BRS and skim over Goljan rapid review. Then make sure and go do the path slides on webpath, then do the webpath questions twice. Kep redoing webpath and robbins questions till your scoring at least 85%. Webpath should be your bible. Also, go over all the pics in robbins.
Behavior- Read BRS.
Immuno- BRS and first aid. go over slides just to make sure your not missing anything. I took this course during block and got a C so I cant really give good advice on the course.

4th: BY NOW YOU SHOULD GET THE YEAR LONG SUBSCRIPTION TO USMLEWORLD. You need it for the step so might as well get them by 4th. They are the best practice for 4th and you will not get below a B in any 4th semi course if you do these questions during 4th. ITS ALL ABOUT THE QUESTIONS!
Path 2-Go over Dr. K slides and webpath. BRS is really good! You MUST get Lange path flashcards as well. They are awesome and great for review. If you want an A in the course, you need to get the cards. Dr. K's slides are the only prof's slides that Id recommend to read. Most of the other prof's slides at AUA suck period. Dr. K knows his path and you can trust his slides. It also doesnt hurt to do robbins questions. Oh yeah, and go over all the pics and diagrams in robbins. Also rapid review Goljan. Path is the backbone of medicine so there is never "too many" books to read.
ICM- I heard Dr. F is in charge of ICM now.... haha, she sucks. Anyways, those lange flashcards are money for ICM. Trust me. Also, go over first aid organs which is the 2nd half of the book. Pre-test pathophysio are pretty good questions also. First aid also has two other books called first aid questions and first aid cases. Get these... they are awesome for ICM and great review for the step. Dr. M for ICM used to take questions straight out of the first aid cases book and put them on our exams. He loved this book. You must get these two books.
Pharm- Get pharm mnemonics flash cards. They will make your life alot easier. I thought they are really well written. You need flashcards for pharm! Also read Dr. M's required text. Its an alright book. A little light, but is enough to make above 80s on his exams BRS questions are pretty good too.

The most important thing that helped me rock the courses was not reading the material 10 times. I think thats a big waste of time. Reda the material once, then take 15 minutes the next day and skim over it and your done reading! The most important thing in med school is to APPLY THE INFO THAT YOU READ. Thats the only way you'll master the material. The only way to apply the info is to do practice questions till your eyes bleed. Now the most important part of the questions ids not doing them but UNDERSTANDING why you got a certain questions right or wrong. Its all about the explanation! If you get a question wrong and go over the explanation and know WHY YOU GOT IT WRONG, then its stuck in your brain. I promise you'll never get that concept wrong again. You always have to ask yourself: why did I get this question wrong or even right? Break down your thought process and see why you got it wrong. You'll start to see once you start doing USMLEWORLD questions that in order to master the basic sciences and rock these questions you have to KNOW THE CONCEPTS! When I say concept, I mean the pathophysiology of the disease. Step and shelf questions are tertiary questions.... you must understand the pathophysio behind the disease in order to answer 75% of the questions. You understand this and you'll score higher than your US counters. Every student I knew who got above a 3.0 in med school swore to practice questions. I cannot stress this enough!!

shelfs- You should always do either USMLEWORLD or kaplan questions for shelf. Take 3 hrs and read first aid for that particular course and spend most of your time doing questions. USMLEWORLD are the best. Kaplan is 2nd, USMLERx are 3rd. I never got below a 64 on a shelf. I used to see students reading the slides and going over first aid 10 times...waste of time. You already read the material during the course, dont bother going back. Do ALL the questions in USLMEWORLD or kaplan and you will not get below a 64. Make sure that when you do the questions and you get one wrong, go over the answer and KNOW WHY YOU GOT THE QUESTION WRONG! Last, there is a website called medstudent.com which has links to very helpful medical school site such as webpath, michigan antomy, etc. It has links for every subject in med school. Some of these sites are priceless! Simple. Hope this helps. Good luck. Peace

[sannu123]

all of this pretty much spot on

i need to stress USMLEWORLD questions and lippincott (biochem, micro, pharm) texts for everything. first aid is great to cram the morning of the shelf

I agree with you.......thanks for nice post ....