best way to study phys w/ BRS physiology?

[anon311]

I'm breaking up my studying by subject (i.e., physiology, pathology, etc.) and was planning to use BRS physiology since I've heard so many good things about it. I'm on day 2 of using it and I'm sort of confused about what exactly people do with this book.

Is the point to read it and try to memorize everything? If so, isn't it overkill? For example, the second chapter goes into incredible detail about hearing. Which part of the inner ear is for high pitched, low pitched, etc., while in FA you can't even find the words "organ of corti."

If the point isn't to memorize but rather just to read BRS phys, why not read the physiology sections of each FA chapter instead? If the answer is "do both," doesn't that take a tremendous amount of time that could be better spent doing questions?

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[missmedschool]

No you are definitely not supposed to be memorizing everything. Theoretically the perfect scenario is that you already read BRS Phys during your physiology course so it's kind of a refresher for things that you're rusty on. It's also great because of the practice questions at the end of each chapter. But memorizing the whole book is unnecessary since Step is not solely phys. However the book should be an easy read and serve to refresh your mind on weak points. Phys was one of my lower subjects on practice Step tests; I reread BRS Phys, & remembered why I loved reading it the first time. It definitely helps. My physiology scores have risen significantly.

 

[Morsetlis]

BRS physiology is LESS than what I'm expected to know for the medical physiology course.

Why don't you use it as a quick "somebody made some great notes for me" reference in answering questions, or clarifying concepts that you don't know, or reminding yourself of some obscure facts about saliva that you couldn't remember.

 

[Aclamity]

BRS physiology is LESS than what I'm expected to know for the medical physiology course.

Why don't you use it as a quick "somebody made some great notes for me" reference in answering questions, or clarifying concepts that you don't know, or reminding yourself of some obscure facts about saliva that you couldn't remember.

lulz. that section was unnecessarily long, detailed, and sticky

 

[The kitchen sink]

lulz. that section was unnecessarily long, detailed, and sticky

And i forgot everything about it 😕

 

[mdeast]

I'm breaking up my studying by subject (i.e., physiology, pathology, etc.) and was planning to use BRS physiology since I've heard so many good things about it. I'm on day 2 of using it and I'm sort of confused about what exactly people do with this book.

Is the point to read it and try to memorize everything? If so, isn't it overkill? For example, the second chapter goes into incredible detail about hearing. Which part of the inner ear is for high pitched, low pitched, etc., while in FA you can't even find the words "organ of corti."

If the point isn't to memorize but rather just to read BRS phys, why not read the physiology sections of each FA chapter instead? If the answer is "do both," doesn't that take a tremendous amount of time that could be better spent doing questions?

BRS Phys is pretty condensed and relatively high yield. Actually one of the most useful First Aid supplements. It explains things better and gives you practice problems to test out using equations, etc. It's also a pretty quick read (you could go through the book in 1 day easy).

And as for the ear stuff. I've actually gotten questions on that subject (can't remember if it was UWorld, QBank, or NBME) and was completely "WTF? that's nowhere in First Aid". But...you still need to know it.

 

[Hardy Weinberg]

does it mean that whatever is in BRS phys, but not covered by FA, is NOT high yield? if a few questions is all you'll see in all of the q banks, i would gather that it's not a high yield subject and therefor does not belong in FA.

 

[san2]

Kaplan Medessentials is GOLDEN for physiology.

 

[fado]

What do you guys think of combining Kaplan Physio AND BRS Physio together? A couple of people from my school are doing that but it seems like a long and unnecessarily tiring approach to physio!