Thank you so much for sharing your experiences!
Your advice is really valued.
Could a former post bacc please describe any study methods they found to be most useful for mastering the program material?
For example, is all the material on the power points relevant to the exam or should students look elsewhere to be fully prepared?
Should notes be taken by hand or with a laptop?
Thanks so much everyone
Personally, I preferred printing out notes because I write faster than I type. I know other people who used the computer and they did just fine so it's a personal preference.
So here's what I did for each class. Hopefully it'll help you guys as well.
Fall Semester:
Physiology - We had two professors with significantly different teaching styles. One had brief powerpoints but left out important information. Another would go on tangents and have cluttered powerpoints with unnecessary information. I used other sources such as BRS Physio and Costanzo's Cases and Problems which helped me out a lot. Rather than rote memorization, understanding the material was key.
Biochemistry, Genetics, Cell Biology - Go over powerpoints. That's all I did for these classes. For part of Genetics and Cell Biology, we had Hussain. He's a great guy but his lectures drag on and it's hard to understand him at times. His test questions were very fair though and the highlighted/bolded parts of his powerpoints were usually high yield.
Histology - Go over as many different types of pictures as much as possible. Know the key differences between the cell types and such because the quality of the pictures on the test is terrible. I read Ross' Histo book which helped me a lot for this class.
Microbiology - I made charts of each bacteria that we talked about and listed distinguishing features. I forgot to mention in my previous post, but this class could potentially weed people out. We had 2 test and the second test was approximately 60% of our grade.
Critical thinking - the first half of this class was just memorizing medical terminology. The second half was a waste of time IMO. We had to read articles and interpret them which I'm sure many of you guys have prior experience. On our last test, we were tested on Andrew Wakefield's controversial paper. While this class is an easy A, it's just as easy to get a B or lower if you don't give at least a little time.
Fall semester will be hard in the sense where you're trying to get used to the teaching styles and the amount of information presented (med school will probably be worse). Try your best to get a high GPA this semester like some of my classmates pointed out. You'll feel better during the spring when you get your conditional acceptance letter earlier. Personally, I wasn't any more confident during spring even after getting my fall grades.
Spring Semester:
Anatomy - We had multiple professors, but Kulesza wrote most of our questions. Along with the powerpoints, we had to rely on the clinical supplement that the medical students used, the histo book from Fall semester, and any additional notes that he gave us. Any of those materials were fair game. This was one of the hardest classes due to the testing style and the amount of material that could be on the test. I went through everything a couple times before a test and I drew out diagrams to prepare.
Pathology - Stevens will say to go over the book as well as the learning objectives, but I just did the learning objectives. I didn't look at the book once and I did fine. She also reused her questions on the final (she specifically mentioned this to us) so that helped as well.
PHARMACOLOGY - I made a drug chart for each lecture and I did learning objectives after class. I reviewed the powerpoints along with the material that I made and before a test, I would cross out each learning objective that I could recall without looking at my notes. There's a lot of overlap between the types of drugs and the effects, but I managed.
Virology - Same idea as Microbiology. Virus chart.
Immunology - Hussain taught the class, but the first test was written by another professor. There's only one test so it weeded out a lot of people. I went over the powerpoint many times. It's doable though but the material can be obscure.
Introduction to Clinical Med - I just went over the powerpoints. It's just an introduction course so the material wasn't as hard.
Overall, the post bacc course was hard for me; maybe it'll be easier for you guys. Just don't come in thinking it'll be easy to get the 3.0 because it's not. But I'm sure you guys can do it. I hope I was able to help you all with some information about the classes you'll be taking. Meet a good group of friends who will push you to do well. Don't get distracted by frivolous things and don't draw attention to yourselves with the administration.
TL;DR: Do well in post bacc, find good study habits, get into medical school.