Thread: students from last term - immuno

what's the best approach to study for it? did a search and came up with info but i want up-to-date info. i've been told by last term's students to "read her text." i hear the midterm was straight memroy - knowing the compliment etc but final was more integrative.

DES all the way! A guy named, Craig, is teaching one and he is awesome! Go to it and he won't steer you wrong.

My advice: Don't just memorize for the midterm. Understand why and it will make the final much easier! No need to read the text. Just do her questions in the back.

Just know and understand the notes. A lot of the test was straight memorization. Know all the tables, cytokines (where they come from, actions), ect... You have to remember everything for the final also. I didn't find that her textbook questions were that similar to the tests... they were totally different in my opinion.

I'll second Phrozen, I read the purple book for the final and did all the questions with flying colors. I could actually explain them to other people. Unfortunately, most of the final was nothing like the questions in the book. A good chunk of it was written in Martian or possibly Venusian... I can't be too sure, since I don't have a good grasp of either. The important point is to know the midterm material COLD, this isn't just for the midterm, but also for the final. The midterm really is all about rote memorization.

I have to disagree with Nomad about memorizing... there's just no way around it. There's nothing about the complement cascade that you can "reason through", I mean how are you going to rationalize the fact that C1 cleaves C4? This isn't physics or math where you can go through logical steps. If I drop a ball it will fall to the ground because of gravity, I don't need to memorize which way the ball falls, because I understand the concept of gravity. In immuno you can't reason your way to which cell secretes IL-2, you just need to know it's Th1.

Of course you have to straight memorize some facts. (You have to do that in every class.) My point was to try to see the big picture. Too many people cram for the midterm and flush, which ruins them for the final.

As far as the questions in her book....at least 6 questions were straight from the book on our final. I'm sure we all have different experiences if we are in different terms.

For the most part, her notes contain everything you need to know. They are just all over the place. Some things from the first few lectures will not make sense until you get to the last few lectures unfortunately.

You have to memorize immuno, the notes she gave. But remember, you need to understand the pre-midterm stuff to do well on the final. Try to get the big picture, and DES may help you.
I pretty much skipped all her lecs and just studied off the notes. Not just memorizing but understanding the details, it makes studying for the final way more easier. I don't think you'll need any other sources....just the notes (and may be google stuff you're not sure about)