Pathophysiology Course Preview
General Comments
M3 Advice
I would preread all material first and leave streaming till later for most courses. I do learn by reading and writing out notes vs listening. If I had time I tried to listen to Goljan's lectures relevant to the unit after I had gone through the class material. I also did world alongside most of these units. I didn't notice a correlation between # questions I did and my scores... I did well on the units I was interested in.
So here is a story.
Two guys that I know, one probably a 550 z-score kind of guy and one a 400 z kind of guy both did this thing where they would do the regular first pass through the notes - highlighting, annotation, etc. - but would then listen to the Goljian lectures ("Go-lee-on", say it right, he discusses it on one of the GI lectures) with the book because they totally go together. The book is very intimidating without the lectures, and the lectures don't give as much information as the book. (Skip all the high-yield Goljian PDFs from ancient times, the book is really just the newest version of these.) Anyway, both say this really helped solidify their year two path studying and really prepped them for Step 1 studying because they were really familiar with some of the major materials. I[m not sure how they did in path, but they both aced the Step with uber-scores. I based my step 1 on the goljian book and really wished I had spent some time with it before during the year both for med school grandes and to save me time in step studying.Know course notes.If you have trouble understanding a concept reinforce with Pathoma.Put in your time here. Start putting the big picture together. The better you do in Pathophysiology the better prepared you will be for Step 1 (do not shortcut any course studying for "Step studying"-in my opinion that would hurt you in the long term). There are just 5 months of classes left so bust it now and it will be over before you know it.Generally you will have plenty of time to study. With the PD schedules and very few mandatory classes, you will have complete days off. These days were really nice catch up days. A very nice change of pace compared to the previous few months. I would highly recommend BRS Physiology for the rest of the year. Each unit briefly focuses on physio and then dives deep into the path, but really to understand the path better I would read this book first. It really simplifies the high yield points and was awesome for Step studying. I didn't open it until Step and really regretted it. Wish I would have read each section during the year for each unit. As far as other books, I don't remember using anything except notes....and you will have plenty of notes. I would recommend pharm cards specific to each unit and study those instead of the first aid pharm. I did find it helpful to read First Aid through the year. What I would recommend is to try not to write that much in it. These classes are going to go way more in depth that you will need to know for Step 1...so I found myself writing in a lot of excess detail during the year because I thought it would be helpful during Step studying...and it was definitely not.
Know course notes.
If you have trouble understanding a concept reinforce with Pathoma.
Put in your time here. Start putting the big picture together. The better you do in Pathophysiology the better prepared you will be for Step 1 (do not shortcut any course studying for "Step studying"-in my opinion that would hurt you in the long term). There are just 5 months of classes left so bust it now and it will be over before you know it.
Generally you will have plenty of time to study. With the PD schedules and very few mandatory classes, you will have complete days off. These days were really nice catch up days. A very nice change of pace compared to the previous few months.
I would highly recommend BRS Physiology for the rest of the year. Each unit briefly focuses on physio and then dives deep into the path, but really to understand the path better I would read this book first. It really simplifies the high yield points and was awesome for Step studying. I didn't open it until Step and really regretted it. Wish I would have read each section during the year for each unit.
As far as other books, I don't remember using anything except notes....and you will have plenty of notes. I would recommend pharm cards specific to each unit and study those instead of the first aid pharm.
I did find it helpful to read First Aid through the year. What I would recommend is to try not to write that much in it. These classes are going to go way more in depth that you will need to know for Step 1...so I found myself writing in a lot of excess detail during the year because I thought it would be helpful during Step studying...and it was definitely not.
I found the course notes for this class to be really good. I found them to be very tailored to the exams, and didn't really think I was ever being totally misled by them. My biggest tip for this class would be to treat it like a Step 1 studying warm-up. Use first aid as an intro to each unit, and read it for the first few days. Then, as you study with your course notes, or Goljian rapid review (the book, not the lectures) you can annotate into First aid anything you find to be important, or things that First aid covers poorly (anatomy for one is very poorly covered in first aid). Also, I would suggest buying a question bank and doing subject based sets of questions the week or so leading up to each exam. If you can crush World questions on a subject then you can definitely handle the wayne exams. This is quite easily the most important class in terms of Step 1 success, and is one of the three most statistically significant predictors of your Step 1 score so I highly recommed taking it seriously and extracting as much as you can out of it. I have friends, quite a few of them, who took Step within 10 days of Pathophys finishing because they had studied so hard during it, and they rocked it. Now I am in no way saying that you should do that, because you can really crank up your score in those 5 weeks of studying, but I think its definitely proof of how valuable the class is. In terms of studying strategy-- I found that if I took a few days at the beginning of the unit to review the normal physiology of the system and really get it down solid again, that I performed far better on those units. Beyond that I really didnt stray too far from the lectures, the notes, and the stuff I said above.
So here is a story.
Two guys that I know, one probably a 550 z-score kind of guy and one a 400 z kind of guy both did this thing where they would do the regular first pass through the notes - highlighting, annotation, etc. - but would then listen to the Goljian lectures ("Go-lee-on", say it right, he discusses it on one of the GI lectures) with the book because they totally go together. The book is very intimidating without the lectures, and the lectures don't give as much information as the book. (Skip all the high-yield Goljian PDFs from ancient times, the book is really just the newest version of these.) Anyway, both say this really helped solidify their year two path studying and really prepped them for Step 1 studying because they were really familiar with some of the major materials. I[m not sure how they did in path, but they both aced the Step with uber-scores. I based my step 1 on the goljian book and really wished I had spent some time with it before during the year both for med school grandes and to save me time in step studying.Know course notes.If you have trouble understanding a concept reinforce with Pathoma.Put in your time here. Start putting the big picture together. The better you do in Pathophysiology the better prepared you will be for Step 1 (do not shortcut any course studying for "Step studying"-in my opinion that would hurt you in the long term). There are just 5 months of classes left so bust it now and it will be over before you know it.Generally you will have plenty of time to study. With the PD schedules and very few mandatory classes, you will have complete days off. These days were really nice catch up days. A very nice change of pace compared to the previous few months. I would highly recommend BRS Physiology for the rest of the year. Each unit briefly focuses on physio and then dives deep into the path, but really to understand the path better I would read this book first. It really simplifies the high yield points and was awesome for Step studying. I didn't open it until Step and really regretted it. Wish I would have read each section during the year for each unit. As far as other books, I don't remember using anything except notes....and you will have plenty of notes. I would recommend pharm cards specific to each unit and study those instead of the first aid pharm. I did find it helpful to read First Aid through the year. What I would recommend is to try not to write that much in it. These classes are going to go way more in depth that you will need to know for Step 1...so I found myself writing in a lot of excess detail during the year because I thought it would be helpful during Step studying...and it was definitely not.
Know course notes.
If you have trouble understanding a concept reinforce with Pathoma.
Put in your time here. Start putting the big picture together. The better you do in Pathophysiology the better prepared you will be for Step 1 (do not shortcut any course studying for "Step studying"-in my opinion that would hurt you in the long term). There are just 5 months of classes left so bust it now and it will be over before you know it.
Generally you will have plenty of time to study. With the PD schedules and very few mandatory classes, you will have complete days off. These days were really nice catch up days. A very nice change of pace compared to the previous few months.
I would highly recommend BRS Physiology for the rest of the year. Each unit briefly focuses on physio and then dives deep into the path, but really to understand the path better I would read this book first. It really simplifies the high yield points and was awesome for Step studying. I didn't open it until Step and really regretted it. Wish I would have read each section during the year for each unit.
As far as other books, I don't remember using anything except notes....and you will have plenty of notes. I would recommend pharm cards specific to each unit and study those instead of the first aid pharm.
I did find it helpful to read First Aid through the year. What I would recommend is to try not to write that much in it. These classes are going to go way more in depth that you will need to know for Step 1...so I found myself writing in a lot of excess detail during the year because I thought it would be helpful during Step studying...and it was definitely not.
I found the course notes for this class to be really good. I found them to be very tailored to the exams, and didn't really think I was ever being totally misled by them. My biggest tip for this class would be to treat it like a Step 1 studying warm-up. Use first aid as an intro to each unit, and read it for the first few days. Then, as you study with your course notes, or Goljian rapid review (the book, not the lectures) you can annotate into First aid anything you find to be important, or things that First aid covers poorly (anatomy for one is very poorly covered in first aid). Also, I would suggest buying a question bank and doing subject based sets of questions the week or so leading up to each exam. If you can crush World questions on a subject then you can definitely handle the wayne exams. This is quite easily the most important class in terms of Step 1 success, and is one of the three most statistically significant predictors of your Step 1 score so I highly recommed taking it seriously and extracting as much as you can out of it. I have friends, quite a few of them, who took Step within 10 days of Pathophys finishing because they had studied so hard during it, and they rocked it. Now I am in no way saying that you should do that, because you can really crank up your score in those 5 weeks of studying, but I think its definitely proof of how valuable the class is. In terms of studying strategy-- I found that if I took a few days at the beginning of the unit to review the normal physiology of the system and really get it down solid again, that I performed far better on those units. Beyond that I really didnt stray too far from the lectures, the notes, and the stuff I said above.
M4 Advice
I thought it was one of the most interesting parts of medical school; I hope you do too. I thought that going through First Aid or the relevant chapters in the Kaplan review was an excellent way to review the material and sometimes a little easier to organize than the course notes.
Respiratory Unit
M3 Advice
CF lady doesnt' focus so much on the pathophys as she does on the genetics of inheritance.
Just know the concepts of obstructive and restrictive well and how your FVC FEV-1 help you differentiate between the two.
Many of the characteristics and pathology of the pnuemocoses under restrictive diseases is just pure memory. Goljan is helpful.
Overall good unit. Know course notes. Know pathology slides. Our exam had a lot of questions on cystic fibrosis and criteria for TB ppd test.
Just know the concepts of obstructive and restrictive well and how your FVC FEV-1 help you differentiate between the two.
Many of the characteristics and pathology of the pnuemocoses under restrictive diseases is just pure memory. Goljan is helpful.
Overall good unit. Know course notes. Know pathology slides. Our exam had a lot of questions on cystic fibrosis and criteria for TB ppd test.
Cardiovascular Unit
M3 Advice
Know your heart sounds and what pathology it correlates to - this is straight memory (eg systolic ejection murmur @ right 2nd ICS = aortic stenosis). This will also help you with PD and step questions. The descriptions in first aid are great and are like buzzwords, they won't really be described any other way. Understand congestive heart failure and how to distinguish right vs left sided symptoms/signs. For ECG's pretty sure if you go over the ones he gives you in class you should be fine.
I don't remember anything specific. Just take the 3 hours per unit to listen to the Goljian lectures and get used to his book.
Think mechanistically.Know anatomy and basic physiology.Do not memorize heart murmurs. Think about why a murmur would be systolic or diastolic and why it would radiate to where it does. The murmurs make a lot of sense so no memorization is required.I thought this was the hardest unit. Know EKG tracings cold. Don't stress too much on listening to murmurs...there's only going to be a few.
Think mechanistically.
Know anatomy and basic physiology.Do not memorize heart murmurs. Think about why a murmur would be systolic or diastolic and why it would radiate to where it does. The murmurs make a lot of sense so no memorization is required.I thought this was the hardest unit. Know EKG tracings cold. Don't stress too much on listening to murmurs...there's only going to be a few.
Know the physiology COLD or you will get murdered by this exam. Hardest one imo, and hardest by general consensus among my class if my memory serves me correct.
I don't remember anything specific. Just take the 3 hours per unit to listen to the Goljian lectures and get used to his book.
Think mechanistically.Know anatomy and basic physiology.Do not memorize heart murmurs. Think about why a murmur would be systolic or diastolic and why it would radiate to where it does. The murmurs make a lot of sense so no memorization is required.I thought this was the hardest unit. Know EKG tracings cold. Don't stress too much on listening to murmurs...there's only going to be a few.
Think mechanistically.
Know anatomy and basic physiology.Do not memorize heart murmurs. Think about why a murmur would be systolic or diastolic and why it would radiate to where it does. The murmurs make a lot of sense so no memorization is required.I thought this was the hardest unit. Know EKG tracings cold. Don't stress too much on listening to murmurs...there's only going to be a few.
Know the physiology COLD or you will get murdered by this exam. Hardest one imo, and hardest by general consensus among my class if my memory serves me correct.
Hematology Unit
M3 Advice
Organize your thoughts. Group things by micro, normo and macrocytic. Its not very apparent at first but it comes together at the end. Also know the age distirbutions for ALL, CLL, AML, CML. The heme/onc section in first aid is great.
This is the one unit I think a secondary source may be helpful. In my opinion, Pathoma covers hematology very well.
Use the charts for all the diff kinds of lymphomas, leuk, etc. If you know the simple charts with the translocation sites, the basic features, and the one key fact listed, you'll be fine.
This is the one unit I think a secondary source may be helpful. In my opinion, Pathoma covers hematology very well.
Use the charts for all the diff kinds of lymphomas, leuk, etc. If you know the simple charts with the translocation sites, the basic features, and the one key fact listed, you'll be fine.
Renal / UT Unit
M3 Advice
Know EM vs LM differences for the glomerular pathologies.
Know your diuretics. I focused way too much on Acid base and while there are some questions they aren't TOO hard.
Very detailed mechanistically. Get out a white board and draw it out.
Rossi's back!
Well taught, know the formulas
Know your diuretics. I focused way too much on Acid base and while there are some questions they aren't TOO hard.
Very detailed mechanistically. Get out a white board and draw it out.
Rossi's back!
Well taught, know the formulas
Neurology Unit
M3 Advice
They are pretty nit picky on details. Goljan's section is not enough nor is First aid.
...Medium spiny neurons...Material is overly dense/irrelevant and poorly presented. Several of the doctors (Dr. George) just read of lists of symptoms and diseases without any explanation or mechanism for understanding. In addition many of the diseases were broken down into subtypes that probably only need to be known at a fellows level. The down side is that the exam was composed of the random details and did not represent major points. If you want a high score on the exam start early and put a lot of time into memorizing minutiae.
tracts, tracts, tracts. Know them and the test is easy.
...Medium spiny neurons...Material is overly dense/irrelevant and poorly presented. Several of the doctors (Dr. George) just read of lists of symptoms and diseases without any explanation or mechanism for understanding. In addition many of the diseases were broken down into subtypes that probably only need to be known at a fellows level. The down side is that the exam was composed of the random details and did not represent major points. If you want a high score on the exam start early and put a lot of time into memorizing minutiae.
tracts, tracts, tracts. Know them and the test is easy.
Dermatology Unit
M3 Advice
Know your definitions for macule vs papule..
....Hopefully changes have been made since last year. Its one week, just get through it.
Just a weird week overall....just read over the notes a few times and the exam was fine.
This unit was really boring to me, but its the one unit I wish I wouldve paid more attention in. Some form of a rash description seems to appear on like 2 out of every 3 Q's, and you can diagnose tons of things just based on the rashes they show alone, so for the exam, and clinically, I wish I knew the derm stuff better, esp rashes, as weird as that might sound. Know everything that has a rash--> = easy questions on step 1
....Hopefully changes have been made since last year. Its one week, just get through it.
Just a weird week overall....just read over the notes a few times and the exam was fine.
This unit was really boring to me, but its the one unit I wish I wouldve paid more attention in. Some form of a rash description seems to appear on like 2 out of every 3 Q's, and you can diagnose tons of things just based on the rashes they show alone, so for the exam, and clinically, I wish I knew the derm stuff better, esp rashes, as weird as that might sound. Know everything that has a rash--> = easy questions on step 1
Gastrointestinal Unit
M3 Advice
This was the last unit for us which is unfortunate because there is A LOT of material.
Differentiate between, pre, intra and post hepatic diseases. Understand liver enzymes well and what levels are seen in what diseases.
Again learn your physican findings well eg mid epigastric pain radiating to the back is likely pancreatitis, but colicky RUQ pain is probably something to do with the gall bladder.
Know the difference between a blockage vs infection vs inflammation of the gall bladder vs bile duct.
Differentiate between, pre, intra and post hepatic diseases. Understand liver enzymes well and what levels are seen in what diseases.
Again learn your physican findings well eg mid epigastric pain radiating to the back is likely pancreatitis, but colicky RUQ pain is probably something to do with the gall bladder.
Know the difference between a blockage vs infection vs inflammation of the gall bladder vs bile duct.
Good knowledge of histology and and basic physiology is very helpful. Most of what you need to know can be figured out from there.
One of the harder units...just because it was last and everyone wanted to start focusing on Step. Make sure you really learn GI because it's a huge part of Step 1.
Endocrinology Unit
M3 Advice
Breast questions I think were straight from her lecture.
Know the specific markers for the gonadal cancers.
If you understand the biochemical make up and breakdown of the androgens it helps.
Know basic axis and hormonal regulation. Everything you need to know can be figured out from there. Put time into learning ovarian and testicular tumors and breast disease early. Go over them many times.
pancreas
Know the specific markers for the gonadal cancers.
If you understand the biochemical make up and breakdown of the androgens it helps.
Know basic axis and hormonal regulation. Everything you need to know can be figured out from there. Put time into learning ovarian and testicular tumors and breast disease early. Go over them many times.
pancreas
Connective Tissue Unit
M3 Advice
Dr. Dhar gives you a chart of the drugs you need to know and their side effects etc. Thats ALL you need to know for the rheumatology pharm.
Listen to Dr. Nasser's lectures and pay attention to what he emphasizes - those are the exam questions. Eg. Grading severity of a fracture and what trumps the grading system...)
This will be your best taught course and easiest exam.. you can get 100%.
The best unit of the year.
Doughnuts or cookies everyday so go to class.Enjoy, the key points will be well highlighted and the exam avg. will be in the 90s.One of the easier and most enjoyable units. A lot of clinical stuff is provided during the afternoons so not a lot of lecture.
The lady that runs this unit is great- not too hard, and taught very well. She brings cookies and donuts and stuff if you go to class
Listen to Dr. Nasser's lectures and pay attention to what he emphasizes - those are the exam questions. Eg. Grading severity of a fracture and what trumps the grading system...)
This will be your best taught course and easiest exam.. you can get 100%.
The best unit of the year.
Doughnuts or cookies everyday so go to class.Enjoy, the key points will be well highlighted and the exam avg. will be in the 90s.One of the easier and most enjoyable units. A lot of clinical stuff is provided during the afternoons so not a lot of lecture.
The lady that runs this unit is great- not too hard, and taught very well. She brings cookies and donuts and stuff if you go to class
