Approaching Heme/Lymph

[Palam]

So essentially I have the following sources, but am unsure (like most of my class) on how to approach this course. Another issue is the class ahead of us has not taken this organ system, so their advice is helpful but not tailored to our class's position. We have a week of cancer (neoplasia etc) lectures jammed in because that week was moved from the beginning of the year to now.

Our course is 5 weeks, lecture-based in tandem with histo/path labs. The written exam will be NBME, with a laboratory based practical

I have the following resources (not necessarily to be used):

Pathoma videos + book
Rapid Review path (but I ordered Robins because I think it might have more of a narrative form)
First aid + first aid organ systems
FA 2014 heme Anki cards
USMLE easy
USMLE RX
Firecracker
Lectures of course
(I have others but these were intended to be my primary sources)

My issue is coming up with a timeline and allocating the appropriate time to sources. I know Pathoma, FA, and one of the path books are must have/use, but again I'm concerned about when to get what done. When exams were lecture based, I would go through the lectures after class and either make outlines or make Anki cards. I would then do Anki cards as much as possible and that really solidified my memory of the material. I really didn't use outside sources other than wiki to look things up (although I regret not using BRS anatomy, it's quite good)

My plan is to start doing questions by the second week or so, because I think those will do a good job of letting me know what is going to be tested. That being said, I am unsure of how much time to spend on lectures, when to get through the pathology text, when to start pathoma, etc. I'd like to do Anki with lectures again but clearly I can't devote the time I used to.

Any advice is appreciated. I approached faculty and students but I think the faculty were as clueless as the students haha

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[sinombre]

You are overthinking it. Do the relevant Pathoma lectures prior to your class lectures. They don't take that much time to go through, and they are hugely beneficial. You don't really need anything else, just focus on learning the material well rather than using a million resources.

 

[Palam]

So don't use FA or Robbins? Interesting

 

[Palam]

Okay so to devise a game plan- I'll stick with firecracker (that's a side resource). I will use FA to get an overview and read goljan rapid review for an overview as well. But will stick to lectures/anki/pathoma as primary source.

 

[operaman]

If it were me:

1) Pathoma videos before/after every class lecture. In fact, probably can't watch these too many times. 2x them and they're very short.
2) Goljian lectures on this topic were arguably the best of all of them. I'd listen to these while driving/working out/going to bed/when tired of other stuff
3) Robbins - love this book. Read along with lectures.
4) Firecracker - bank all relevant cards early on and keep up with review questions. In addition, would do all questions in one sitting 1-2x during last few days before exam.
5) Lectures - obviously
6) Anki - make cards as you go from lectures if needed
7) NBME practice exams - not sure if they have these for preclinicals like they do for clinicals/steps, but would use them if available and pay for extended feedback if possible.
8) Question banks as needed starting halfway through; pick your favorite

 

[Palam]

If it were me:

1) Pathoma videos before/after every class lecture. In fact, probably can't watch these too many times. 2x them and they're very short.
2) Goljian lectures on this topic were arguably the best of all of them. I'd listen to these while driving/working out/going to bed/when tired of other stuff
3) Robbins - love this book. Read along with lectures.
4) Firecracker - bank all relevant cards early on and keep up with review questions. In addition, would do all questions in one sitting 1-2x during last few days before exam.
5) Lectures - obviously
6) Anki - make cards as you go from lectures if needed
7) NBME practice exams - not sure if they have these for preclinicals like they do for clinicals/steps, but would use them if available and pay for extended feedback if possible.
8) Question banks as needed starting halfway through; pick your favorite

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.

 

[jdh71]

You are overthinking it. Do the relevant Pathoma lectures prior to your class lectures. They don't take that much time to go through, and they are hugely beneficial. You don't really need anything else, just focus on learning the material well rather than using a million resources.

I disagree. He should read all of that five or six times. All of it. ????? Profit.

 

[sinombre]

I disagree. He should read all of that five or six times. All of it. ????? Profit.

Emphasis on the "?????"

 

[sinombre]

So don't use FA or Robbins? Interesting

You're an MS2 right? It's really just a matter of preference. If you actually master your class lectures and Pathoma, there's really not a lot else you'll need. Extra resources are fine, as long as you don't bite off more than you can chew and end up shooting yourself in the foot.

 

[Palam]

I am actually an MS1- This is our first system, hence me being lost. I went to a few professors and academic adviser to see what they had to say but they weren't very helpful (I don't necessarily blame them). They basically said not to ignore the lectures, but don't spend all my time on them because at the end of the day the teachers will pick questions from the NBME bank that may or may not directly correlate with what they taught. They also told me to focus on weaknesses, but I have no strengths haha!

Since my biggest roadblock at the moment seems to be that I don't know where to start exactly and when to move on to something else, I will use first aid to sort of delve into sections, so basically it starts with histology and then moves on to physio. We are doing a week on tumors, so I will start the neoplasia videos from pathoma as well.

 

[Palam]

I'm also a bit unsure of when to take notes versus just reading, because I used to take notes AND do anki cards. No way I can do that. A few people have moved on from Anki because of the time required to make cards, but it was really helpful for me when the exams were lecture based.

 

[Palam]

Stupid question: should I be including the first two chapters of pathoma? cell injury and inflammation/healing?

 

[Jabbed]

I'm also a bit unsure of when to take notes versus just reading, because I used to take notes AND do anki cards. No way I can do that. A few people have moved on from Anki because of the time required to make cards, but it was really helpful for me when the exams were lecture based.

@sinombre will disagree with me, but I don't think that it's worth it to make Anki cards of your class lectures. Stick to FA/pathoma for that.

You have way too many resources listed. Keep it simple. Lecture notes + 1 primary text book + 1 review book + 1 auxiliary lecture service + questions as time allows.

Don't study FA as a primary or secondary text. Use it to quickly review everything after you've gone through all of your other resources.

I don't count Goljan or Anki as time intensive resources because Goljan is used in the car and Anki is used during odd periods of free time during the day.

 

[sinombre]

@sinombre will disagree with me, but I don't think that it's worth it to make Anki cards of your class lectures. Stick to FA/pathoma for that.

Sorry, forgot to respond to this. I don't necessarily disagree... I think it depends on the individual. I seem to have a fairly different learning style than most people in my class, but what I do works well for me. It was definitely worthwhile to make cards of my class lectures as a primary study tool last year. This year I've changed things up a bit, but I still rely heavily on using Anki/flashcards/spaced repetition, at least for the first several times I see new material.

Definitely agree with the 'too many resources' part. And whether or not Anki is time intensive really depends how you use it. If you make thousands of cards for a block, it kind of has to be time intensive. But I understand that that's not how everyone uses it.