Anatomy is consistently my worst but I don't want to spend too long on it...

[quepatho]

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I am doing at or above average in every area besides anatomy which is absolutely by far my worst (all 3 practice exams I've taken, it's off the charts bad).

What should I study to fix this? I have BRS anatomy and I've gone through part of it but (1) it's a really long book and (2) it somehow it doesn't stick....

I think I also have HY anatomy lying around here somewhere.

Out of 4 weeks - how much time should I dedicate to trying to learn a subject that just isn't my strong point?

 

[coralis]

I would recommend HY Anatomy or the tables and margins in RR Anatomy and Embryo. BRS is an insanely large book

 

[ScubaStarved]

I would recommend HY Anatomy or the tables and margins in RR Anatomy and Embryo. BRS is an insanely large book

BRS is long but eminently skim-able, except maybe the H&N chapter. I think I read thorax, abd, pelvis in one sitting (4 hours?).

I noticed anatomy was my weakest also, and spent 1.5 days with Thieme's atlas and a few more hours here and there on BRS. Went from missing 6 anatomy questions on NBME 11 to missing only 1 on NBME12. Thieme atlas is GREAT. (Don't own a Netter's to compare.)

Came to a great many realizations including:
Uterus anatomy is difficult only because half the illustrations give you a posterior view and the other half an anterior view, all without EVER noting the difference.
The abdominal and pelvis ligaments are mad easy with 20 minutes of viewing an atlas. (Spent probably 2-3 hours fruitlessly trying to memorize the FA lists, which are now completely unnecessary.

 

[quepatho]

BRS is long but eminently skim-able, except maybe the H&N chapter. I think I read thorax, abd, pelvis in one sitting (4 hours?).

I noticed anatomy was my weakest also, and spent 1.5 days with Thieme's atlas and a few more hours here and there on BRS. Went from missing 6 anatomy questions on NBME 11 to missing only 1 on NBME12. Thieme atlas is GREAT. (Don't own a Netter's to compare.)

Came to a great many realizations including:
Uterus anatomy is difficult only because half the illustrations give you a posterior view and the other half an anterior view, all without EVER noting the difference.
The abdominal and pelvis ligaments are mad easy with 20 minutes of viewing an atlas. (Spent probably 2-3 hours fruitlessly trying to memorize the FA lists, which are now completely unnecessary.

Thank you - I think I can finish HY in one day (like the coralis said).

I've never heard of Thieme's atlas (and I don't have my Netter with me, which is just as well since I never understood it anyway).

Does Thieme happen to be online? 🙂 Should I order it?

 

[ScubaStarved]

Thank you - I think I can finish HY in one day (like the coralis said).

I've never heard of Thieme's atlas (and I don't have my Netter with me, which is just as well since I never understood it anyway).

Does Thieme happen to be online? 🙂 Should I order it?

I can't really answer that for you. It's $60 and ships free from Amazon prime. It does have some mistakes, but quickly became one of my favorite medical books. It will also take at least 2 days to go through completely. The only time you might use it again is for your Ob/Gyn and surgery rotations.

If you have the time AND your library doesn't carry Netter's, maybe yes? If you don't have two days to devote, then there's no sense in throwing the money away..

 

[quepatho]

I can't really answer that for you. It's $60 and ships free from Amazon prime. It does have some mistakes, but quickly became one of my favorite medical books. It will also take at least 2 days to go through completely. The only time you might use it again is for your Ob/Gyn and surgery rotations.

If you have the time AND your library doesn't carry Netter's, maybe yes? If you don't have two days to devote, then there's no sense in throwing the money away..

I have a month left so maybe I will do that. Thank you.

 

[turkeyjerky]

Skip BRS and focus on HY; I wish I had done that myself (didn't discover HY until late in the game).

Bite the bullet and learn the anatomy--there was quite a bit on mine (esp pelvic stuff). One tidbit is that they love testing you on anatomical landmarks of bedside procedures.

 

[quepatho]

Skip BRS and focus on HY; I wish I had done that myself (didn't discover HY until late in the game).

Bite the bullet and learn the anatomy--there was quite a bit on mine (esp pelvic stuff). One tidbit is that they love testing you on anatomical landmarks of bedside procedures.

Yeah I've *noticed* all that pelvic anatomy. I'm reasonably sure I never learned it in the first place. We had to learn all of pelvic anatomy over approximately 3-4 days in first year (not kidding) - it was on the test with the entire rest of the thorax which we had about a week and a half to review.

As you recommend, the bullet will be bitten. 😳😳

Thank you for your advice.

 

[RySerr21]

I thought Kaplan anatomy was the best. I wasnt surprised by any anatomy questions on my exam, so take that for what its worth! I just used kaplan anatomy and FA, along with whatever came up on UWorld.

Keep in mind that your anatomy score may just be low b/c you are getting the embryo questions all wrong. There aren't very many quuestions per test anyway, and those two things are grouped into one category. My anatomy scores were low too, which was weird to me b/c it is one of my better subjects. I then realized I had never looked at anything related to embryo. As soon as I did that and I felt like i was getting the embryo questions correct, my anatomy score jumped to the top.

 

[quepatho]

I thought Kaplan anatomy was the best. I wasnt surprised by any anatomy questions on my exam, so take that for what its worth! I just used kaplan anatomy and FA, along with whatever came up on UWorld.

Keep in mind that your anatomy score may just be low b/c you are getting the embryo questions all wrong. There aren't very many quuestions per test anyway, and those two things are grouped into one category. My anatomy scores were low too, which was weird to me b/c it is one of my better subjects. I then realized I had never looked at anything related to embryo. As soon as I did that and I felt like i was getting the embryo questions correct, my anatomy score jumped to the top.

yeah, I also stink at embryology and I don't think that is helping. Good point.

(But also, every anatomy question I come to becomes a guessing game.)

I'm glad you didn't have too much anatomy on your exam! that I have the same!

Good luck I hope you do well 🙂🙂

 

[hrandani]

I thought Kaplan anatomy was the best. I wasnt surprised by any anatomy questions on my exam, so take that for what its worth! I just used kaplan anatomy and FA, along with whatever came up on UWorld.

Keep in mind that your anatomy score may just be low b/c you are getting the embryo questions all wrong. There aren't very many quuestions per test anyway, and those two things are grouped into one category. My anatomy scores were low too, which was weird to me b/c it is one of my better subjects. I then realized I had never looked at anything related to embryo. As soon as I did that and I felt like i was getting the embryo questions correct, my anatomy score jumped to the top.

What Kaplan book are you talking about? The Med Essentials book or the Kaplan subject books?

Their anatomy book for the program is horrific. It's just so bad. Instead of writing adrenal gland they write suprarenal gland. At several points they refer to the serratus inferior muscle. Yeah that's really intuitive. Not. And they don't explain any of the good stuff well. Other than that I agree that anatomy's pretty low yield and it's mostly embryo/clinical related.

 

[RySerr21]

What Kaplan book are you talking about? The Med Essentials book or the Kaplan subject books?

Their anatomy book for the program is horrific. It's just so bad. Instead of writing adrenal gland they write suprarenal gland. At several points they refer to the serratus inferior muscle. Yeah that's really intuitive. Not. And they don't explain any of the good stuff well. Other than that I agree that anatomy's pretty low yield and it's mostly embryo/clinical related.

The kaplan subject books......yes, the Kaplan anatomy book was really well done I thought....not sure what your point is about the adrenal gland.....another name for it is the suprarenal gland, it sits above the kidneys......😕

also, there is a serratus posterior inferior, perhaps they were referring to that? Hard to say....

Its just my recommendation...overall, it worked well for me. It was recommended to me by others, so I trusted their judgment and I think it did its purpose. Thats why its called a suggestion, the OP can take it or leave it.

 

[ArcGurren]

What Kaplan book are you talking about? The Med Essentials book or the Kaplan subject books?

Their anatomy book for the program is horrific. It's just so bad. Instead of writing adrenal gland they write suprarenal gland. At several points they refer to the serratus inferior muscle. Yeah that's really intuitive. Not. And they don't explain any of the good stuff well. Other than that I agree that anatomy's pretty low yield and it's mostly embryo/clinical related.

They're the same thing...

OP regarding the anatomy, I would also recommend the Kaplan book to clarify any questions you have. I've heard that pelvic and upper/lower limb anatomy are pretty high yield. Abdominal anatomy isn't as tough; Neuroanatomy is also pretty good to know, I wouldn't blow it off.

 

[jdmd1student]

So, Kaplan lectures = enough for U/L limb and pelvic anatomy???

 

[mrcmedman]

I've heard good things about HY Anatomy. So that's probably worth a look IMO.

Anatomy is traditionally a low yield topic. But you never know. My step 1 had lots of random anatomy questions (at least 20). And I had just studied the anatomy in FA, UWorld, and DIT. So, when I was hit with random abdominal, thoracic, pelvic, vertebral, and limb questions, I only knew like half of the answers.🙄