MD Board prep M1 with shortened curriculum

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tradkeke

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Hello y'all I am very fortunate to be starting medical school at a school with a 1 year preclinical curriculum (Duke).

I was wondering how to prep for boards with this shortened time frame? I notice many people saying don't do zanki until M2, but M2 for us in clinical experience.

What resources would you recommend for an M1 do to during a 1 year preclinical curriculum?

My ideas were: FA, pathoma, Zanki, and maybe some type of lecture like Golijan or boards and beyond in addition to obviously doing my class notes.

Any other ideas? Thank you

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Might be best that you reach out to 2nd/3rd years at Duke who have been through the curriculum (I do not know when that curriculum was implemented).

My guess is your best bet will be that of any other medical student, just on a faster time-scale.

That means, acing your classes and learning the material well the first time while using first-aid, B&B, Pathoma to supplement material from each block that your curriculum may leave out. Then using UWorld, First Aid, and Pathoma (AKA UFAP) as a core during your dedicated prep time to review and relearn. All other resources seem to be (from all of my forum browsing) less impactful and more helpful depending on your learning style. (I'm talking Zanki, Sketchy, and the like).

Again, best people to ask are those who have gone through it.

Best of luck, future doctor.
 
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you should be starting zanki day 1.
 
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Zanki possible in the summer.
Thoughts?
 
I also will be starting at a school with a ~1 year curriculum. I had a question about Zanki.

From what I've gathered (and please correct me where I'm wrong):

Do Zanki with the blocks as you go along M1, use BNB, pathoma, and sketchy where applicable.

My questions are:
1. When people do the above method do they still watch and make Anki cards over their school lectures? Or do they just watch them for the info but not necessarily make Anki cards?

2. After a block exam, you keep reviewing all Zanki cards until step 1, but do people review the cards they made for their class lectures/exams?

Zanki seems like such a big commitment and wondering if people use it as a supplement or as a replacement. I've read some reddit posts where people said they just used BNP and Zanki and didn't use class lectures/slides/etc.
 
I also will be starting at a school with a ~1 year curriculum. I had a question about Zanki.

From what I've gathered (and please correct me where I'm wrong):

Do Zanki with the blocks as you go along M1, use BNB, pathoma, and sketchy where applicable.

My questions are:
1. When people do the above method do they still watch and make Anki cards over their school lectures? Or do they just watch them for the info but not necessarily make Anki cards?

2. After a block exam, you keep reviewing all Zanki cards until step 1, but do people review the cards they made for their class lectures/exams?

Zanki seems like such a big commitment and wondering if people use it as a supplement or as a replacement. I've read some reddit posts where people said they just used BNP and Zanki and didn't use class lectures/slides/etc.

I’m in the same boat as you. I’ve been looking into this for months in preparation. Allow me to answer your questions:

1. Yes they do, however because they do Zanki at the same time, they only add cards for what isn’t in Zanki already.

2. Most info I have gathered suggests that they only study Zanki yet some might revisit their personal anki cards during dedicated to fill in gaps.

3. The people I know with the highest scores have used it as a replacement, using that rather than going to lecture. As for me, that’s what I’m probably going to do, along with BNB, Sketchy, and Pathoma.

Also, Zanki has a lot of Pathoma and BNB in it already
 
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I’m in the same boat as you. I’ve been looking into this for months in preparation. Allow me to answer your questions:

1. Yes they do, however because they do Zanki at the same time, they only add cards for what isn’t in Zanki already.

2. Most info I have gathered suggests that they only study Zanki yet some might revisit their personal anki cards during dedicated to fill in gaps.

3. The people I know with the highest scores have used it as a replacement, using that rather than going to lecture. As for me, that’s what I’m probably going to do, along with BNB, Sketchy, and Pathoma.

Also, Zanki has a lot of Pathoma and BNB in it already

Thank you!

Do you know if there is anyway to make sure that you aren’t making redundant cards while watching lectures if you’re doing BNB and Zanki along with it?

Maybe front load BNB and Zanki? Then watch lectures and such to fill in gaps?
 
Thank you!

Do you know if there is anyway to make sure that you aren’t making redundant cards while watching lectures if you’re doing BNB and Zanki along with it?

Maybe front load BNB and Zanki? Then watch lectures and such to fill in gaps?

What you said is pretty much why I plan on doing. What I see in lecture that isn’t in Zanki I’ll make cards for
 
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For your zanki learning resources-use costanzo for physio, pathoma for path, and bnb for basic sciences, sketchy for pharm/micro.

For strategy - look at the lecture day before (or couple days before) and figure out the concept they are going after. Learn that material using your learning resource, unsuspend relevant zanki cards and do them. Go to class or watch lectures, anything that’s important but not covered in aforementioned resources learn well. It’s best to look for premade decks from upperclassmen for class material and just unsuspend the relevant cards and do those. Making cards takes too long unless you already have a ton of experience using anki and making flashcards. The key is every time you do a card always reason through it and think of bigger picture, dont just memorize facts.

Do all due cards every day from that block and previous blocks, and the information will start coming together. As you go along you can even annotate into first aid/pathoma if that helps you.

Someone asked above if you can start zanki in summer and answer is absolutely yes, as long as you properly learn the material using the resources I mentioned before doing relevant cards. You don’t need to, but you can as long as you keep up with your review cards every single day.
 
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For your zanki learning resources-use costanzo for physio, pathoma for path, and bnb for basic sciences, sketchy for pharm/micro.

For strategy - look at the lecture day before (or couple days before) and figure out the concept they are going after. Learn that material using your learning resource, unsuspend relevant zanki cards and do them. Go to class or watch lectures, anything that’s important but not covered in aforementioned resources learn well. It’s best to look for premade decks from upperclassmen for class material and just unsuspend the relevant cards and do those. Making cards takes too long unless you already have a ton of experience using anki and making flashcards. The key is every time you do a card always reason through it and think of bigger picture, dont just memorize facts.

Do all due cards every day from that block and previous blocks, and the information will start coming together. As you go along you can even annotate into first aid/pathoma if that helps you.

Someone asked above if you can start zanki in summer and answer is absolutely yes, as long as you properly learn the material using the resources I mentioned before doing relevant cards. You don’t need to, but you can as long as you keep up with your review cards every single day.

Golden.
 
For your zanki learning resources-use costanzo for physio, pathoma for path, and bnb for basic sciences, sketchy for pharm/micro.

For strategy - look at the lecture day before (or couple days before) and figure out the concept they are going after. Learn that material using your learning resource, unsuspend relevant zanki cards and do them. Go to class or watch lectures, anything that’s important but not covered in aforementioned resources learn well. It’s best to look for premade decks from upperclassmen for class material and just unsuspend the relevant cards and do those. Making cards takes too long unless you already have a ton of experience using anki and making flashcards. The key is every time you do a card always reason through it and think of bigger picture, dont just memorize facts.

Do all due cards every day from that block and previous blocks, and the information will start coming together. As you go along you can even annotate into first aid/pathoma if that helps you.

Someone asked above if you can start zanki in summer and answer is absolutely yes, as long as you properly learn the material using the resources I mentioned before doing relevant cards. You don’t need to, but you can as long as you keep up with your review cards every single day.

By "look at the lecture" (first step) do you mean scroll through the slides or go through and takes notes?

Are there any resources you'll go through twice or does that method take you up until your exam date typically? For example I saw someone who said they did BNB and pathoma x2 each. Have you found that helpful?

Do you have an opinion on adding cards to Zanki for stuff covered in either the third party or your class lectures?

Thank you for a great write up!
 
By "look at the lecture" (first step) do you mean scroll through the slides or go through and takes notes?

Are there any resources you'll go through twice or does that method take you up until your exam date typically? For example I saw someone who said they did BNB and pathoma x2 each. Have you found that helpful?

Do you have an opinion on adding cards to Zanki for stuff covered in either the third party or your class lectures?

Thank you for a great write up!

So I actually did not use Zanki (wasn't around or wasn't popular back when I was prepping for STEP, not sure exactly), but I tutor students who have used zanki very effectively and have friends who use it or have used it to great success.

I'd recommend just look at the lecture slides briefly to know what the key points from lecture will be (should take 5-15 mins max, no notes). That way you can figure out what it is you need to learn before class. Then go to your learning resource on that topic, learn the material. Go into zanki, unsuspend the cards relevant to what you just learned, and do the cards before class. For basic sciences, zanki is not actually based off of BnB, so you could just use class for your primary learning resource. Depends how good class is. But for physio, path, and micro/pharm, I'd highly recommend costanzo, pathoma, and sketchy respectively.

After doing this prestudy, once in class, you get another dose of the material from another angle to help it stick. You can then review the lecture slides for understanding (just read it and try to understand, dont take notes) go into a premade upperclassmen deck, unsuspend cards relating to anything you hadn't covered in your prestudy, and do those.

Some people like to instead take notes for class concepts rather than doing class-based decks. Some people like to first go to lecture, and then go through the main zanki learning resource followed by zanki. You'll figure out what you prefer. Key is to make sure you understand the material well and keep up with cards every single day, no exceptions.

If you use this method you wont have to make multiple passes of BnB and Pathoma; remaining time should be spent on practice questions and hobbies/relaxation/etc
 
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Whatever you do, learn the material well the first time. Since you're learning in the span of 1 year what other people learn in 1.5-2 years, you'll necessarily have less time and more material to cover. So it's critically important that you don't fall behind. Outside resources should be used to supplement your studies and shouldn't be your sole resource. I would talk to second and third years there about when you take boards and how they prepared for it, but don't sacrifice learning the material well the first time to get a leg up on boards studying during your education. Doing well in classes IS studying for boards - I'm a firm believer that longitudinal studying is better than cramming in the span of a few months.
 
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Whatever you do, learn the material well the first time. Since you're learning in the span of 1 year what other people learn in 1.5-2 years, you'll necessarily have less time and more material to cover. So it's critically important that you don't fall behind. Outside resources should be used to supplement your studies and shouldn't be your sole resource. I would talk to second and third years there about when you take boards and how they prepared for it, but don't sacrifice learning the material well the first time to get a leg up on boards studying during your education. Doing well in classes IS studying for boards - I'm a firm believer that longitudinal studying is better than cramming in the span of a few months.

Agree completely, but I think sometimes there is a misconception that using 3rd party resources is not good for learning the material. Costanzo is the bible for physiology, while pathoma is a gold standard for the basics of path. Zanki is based directly off these. It is critically important to keep up with class and not just go rogue, but I think using these resources helps students better understand the material at a fundamental level rather than just memorizing class slides.

The key with zanki is that you are building a base of knowledge and making it very hard to forget, if used correctly. Some form of spaced repetition is essential in my opinion, zanki is only one option. The last thing you want to do is binge/purge before exams, and then forget it all and hope it comes back during dedicated. Especially with only a year, you won't have much time to really review stuff.
 
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Agree completely, but I think sometimes there is a misconception that using 3rd party resources is not good for learning the material. Costanzo is the bible for physiology, while pathoma is a gold standard for the basics of path. Zanki is based directly off these. It is critically important to keep up with class and not just go rogue, but I think using these resources helps students better understand the material at a fundamental level rather than just memorizing class slides.

Oh I completely agree about outside resources. But my stance has always been that they should be used as supplements and not as the primary resource. Unless your school is completely terrible and deviates entirely from LCME standards which I doubt Duke would. I think that Costanzo is a great supplement for physiology and actually Goljan Rapid Review is much better for learning path. Pathoma takes a very simplistic view of path and it reads more like memorizing random bullet points. RR is also in bullet point form but it goes into more pathophysiology and has more pictures, which makes it better to use as a supplemental path resource, IMO. Pathoma is great for refreshing your memory prior to boards.

I don't like Zanki because many of the Zanki cards are basically like "read my mind" whereas understanding the underlying concepts is more important. It's one of the reasons (I think) why students often struggle when transitioning from having done a lot of Zanki and then doing a UWorld question. Part of why UWorld questions are so "hard" is because they force you to think deeper about pathophysiology that you just don't get to do a lot of while doing Zanki. Spaced repetition is definitely key but I would suggest using a deck that is less about memorizing obscure facts but instead challenges you to think about the underlying concepts more.
 
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Oh I completely agree about outside resources. But my stance has always been that they should be used as supplements and not as the primary resource. Unless your school is completely terrible and deviates entirely from LCME standards which I doubt Duke would. I think that Costanzo is a great supplement for physiology and actually Goljan Rapid Review is much better for learning path. Pathoma takes a very simplistic view of path and it reads more like memorizing random bullet points. RR is also in bullet point form but it goes into more pathophysiology and has more pictures, which makes it better to use as a supplemental path resource, IMO. Pathoma is great for refreshing your memory prior to boards.

I don't like Zanki because many of the Zanki cards are basically like "read my mind" whereas understanding the underlying concepts is more important. It's one of the reasons (I think) why students often struggle when transitioning from having done a lot of Zanki and then doing a UWorld question. Part of why UWorld questions are so "hard" is because they force you to think deeper about pathophysiology that you just don't get to do a lot of while doing Zanki. Spaced repetition is definitely key but I would suggest using a deck that is less about memorizing obscure facts but instead challenges you to think about the underlying concepts more.

I agree with most of this and it really comes down to how you use your resources. If you use zanki as a way to keep concepts in your mind, it is effective. If you're just rote memorizing the cards themselves then it is useless. Most people use it somewhere in between these degrees. The people who use it to score highly think of the underlying concept each time they do a card and make edits to the cards where necessary to facilitate this understanding. This is why if you do the deck, it's really important to actually use the resource the deck was based on. Otherwise you end up memorizing facts rather than thinking of the big picture.

As far as Pathoma vs. Rapid Review that's an interesting debate. I agree Rapid Review is the more detailed text that delves into pathophysiology more, but many ultra high scorers use Pathoma + lectures (which will often be based off of Robbins, the bible for Path) + Qbanks to learn Path. Different strokes for different folks.
 
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I agree with most of this and it really comes down to how you use your resources. If you use zanki as a way to keep concepts in your mind, it is effective. If you're just rote memorizing the cards themselves then it is useless. Most people use it somewhere in between these degrees. The people who use it to score highly think of the underlying concept each time they do a card and make edits to the cards where necessary to facilitate this understanding. This is why if you do the deck, it's really important to actually use the resource the deck was based on. Otherwise you end up memorizing facts rather than thinking of the big picture.

I think this is a great characterization of how various people use Zanki. Here's the problem - there are 21,000 plus cards. I see people who are doing hundreds (some over a thousand) reviews + new cards every day. It's really impossible to do all of that while thinking about each concept in depth and annotating the cards. Let's say you have 500 reviews a day plus 100 new cards or so. So 600 in total. In order to think about each card in depth and think through the concepts, let's say you spend 30 seconds on each card. That's 300 minutes each day. Then let's say you don't recall concepts for 1 in 20 cards and you have to look it up on Wikipedia or First Aid or wherever and annotate the card. That takes you 3-5 minutes. So add on, on average, another 120 minutes. That's 420 minutes, or 7 hours, each day spent on just Anki. I would say that most people don't do this. Even if you assume 20 seconds spent on each card and 2 minutes for looking up and annotating (a really efficient person!) you would spend 260 minutes, or over four hours, on Anki. I know only a few people who do this. Most people memorize the content of the card without really thinking about the bigger picture concepts and how they relate to one another.

Plus, I can think of a hundred better ways to be spending those 4-7 hours of my day (I would spend maybe 1-2 hours max each day on Anki).

As far as Pathoma vs. Rapid Review that's an interesting debate. I agree Rapid Review is the more detailed text that delves into pathophysiology more, but many ultra high scorers use Pathoma + lectures (which will often be based off of Robbins, the bible for Path) + Qbanks to learn Path. Different strokes for different folks.

I don't think that RR should replace Pathoma for boards review at all. That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying that RR is a more comprehensive resource and there's nothing in Pathoma that I haven't already seen in RR. So RR is a great resource if you're learning the material for the first time; Pathoma is great for boards review because you have limited time. I know there are people who score very high using only UFAPS. But they also have had excellent pre-clinical preparation and learned the material well the first time. RR is one resource that I believe is great as a resource during your pre-clinical education.
 
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I think this is a great characterization of how various people use Zanki. Here's the problem - there are 21,000 plus cards. I see people who are doing hundreds (some over a thousand) reviews + new cards every day. It's really impossible to do all of that while thinking about each concept in depth and annotating the cards. Let's say you have 500 reviews a day plus 100 new cards or so. So 600 in total. In order to think about each card in depth and think through the concepts, let's say you spend 30 seconds on each card. That's 300 minutes each day. Then let's say you don't recall concepts for 1 in 20 cards and you have to look it up on Wikipedia or First Aid or wherever and annotate the card. That takes you 3-5 minutes. So add on, on average, another 120 minutes. That's 420 minutes, or 7 hours, each day spent on just Anki. I would say that most people don't do this. Even if you assume 20 seconds spent on each card and 2 minutes for looking up and annotating (a really efficient person!) you would spend 260 minutes, or over four hours, on Anki. I know only a few people who do this. Most people memorize the content of the card without really thinking about the bigger picture concepts and how they relate to one another.

Plus, I can think of a hundred better ways to be spending those 4-7 hours of my day (I would spend maybe 1-2 hours max each day on Anki).



I don't think that RR should replace Pathoma for boards review at all. That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying that RR is a more comprehensive resource and there's nothing in Pathoma that I haven't already seen in RR. So RR is a great resource if you're learning the material for the first time; Pathoma is great for boards review because you have limited time. I know there are people who score very high using only UFAPS. But they also have had excellent pre-clinical preparation and learned the material well the first time. RR is one resource that I believe is great as a resource during your pre-clinical education.

I really diagree with the entirety of this post.

First of all - when you review one card you cover the concept in depth in your head. Then move onto the next. Thing is thousands of those cards are close variants of each other, so when you get to a card related to that topic youve just covered, it takes you shorter amt of time to go through that concept in your head. You do this over and over again thousands of time, going through the concept in your head takes seconds. Its the initial learning of cards that takes a long time. And yes I know many people who do anki for 3-4 hours daily. That is not a massive amount of time to review information if you’re serious about doing well on step. That’s the whole point of spaced repetition.

High scorers study effectively. They dont take shortcuts like memorizing first aid, memorizing anki, etc. they seek in depth understanding of every concept in first aid and pathoma, and they commit this to long term memory. Zanki is one tool to do this that works very well if used correctly.

As far as pathoma and RR i disagree. RR is such a dense higher level book that you need a foundation to appreciate the connections it will make for you. If you go in blind, you will miss a lot of connections that the book is intended to make, unless you reread the book again during dedicated. Standard advice is to do pathoma first, and then if you are seeking connections that you arent getting from qbanks, do Golijan. Some people do it other way around, but this is not what i recommend and not what i see most ultra high (260+) scorers do. In fact most ultra high scorers I know don’t do RR but instead do a critical mass (5,000+) practice questions prior to hitting dedicated. But if it works for you it works for you and thats great.

I think sometimes, especially on sdn, there is an anti-zanki bias for no real reason - by people who have little experience with the program or regret not trying it earlier.

Going back to OP - If you want to truly master and commit to long term memory the information you need for step, zanki is one tool to do this. There are many other ways too. Key is to talk to upperclassmen, make a plan before entering school, and then adjust the plan as needed.
 
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@rball with Boards/Beyond becoming a really popular resource, what are your thoughts on Zanki vs Lightyear? Do you think incoming M1s should start Zanki or LY?
 
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@rball with Boards/Beyond becoming a really popular resource, what are your thoughts on Zanki vs Lightyear? Do you think incoming M1s should start Zanki or LY?

I think BnB is wildly inconsistent in quality. Some of their videos are amazing, some (especially their physiology) I find particularly poor as a learning resource. I think based on my experience Zanki is the way to go - Pathoma is a gold standard for path, Constanzo is gold standard for physio. You can use class materials/BnB to learn the releavant basic science stuff, and then edit/do associated zanki cards.

My recommendation with zanki though is to really ensure you've learned/understood material before doing the relevant cards. If you don't, it can really turn into a disaster and hinder your performance because you end up memorizing cards rather than using the cards to recall and engage with key concepts. Hope that makes sense.
 
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I think BnB is wildly inconsistent in quality. Some of their videos are amazing, some (especially their physiology) I find particularly poor as a learning resource. I think based on my experience Zanki is the way to go - Pathoma is a gold standard for path, Constanzo is gold standard for physio. You can use class materials/BnB to learn the releavant basic science stuff, and then edit/do associated zanki cards.

My recommendation with zanki though is to really ensure you've learned/understood material before doing the relevant cards. If you don't, it can really turn into a disaster and hinder your performance because you end up memorizing cards rather than using the cards to recall and engage with key concepts. Hope that makes sense.
Constanzo is too long. I read it on sections I'm struggling with personally
 
Constanzo is too long. I read it on sections I'm struggling with personally

Everyone has their own preferences. You can always use BRS physiology, which is costanzo in condensed form. Skim Costanzo phys, then read BRS as your main resource. Or maybe just use class + BRS.

The BnB videos I've seen for physio are subpar at giving you a fundamental understanding of the underlying physio (which is crucial for being a doctor and for step). I think BnB physio is probably useful if you have a good physio curriculum at your school and want to supplement. If you're trying to build your physio knowledge from scratch, costanzo/BRS is the gold standard.
 
Everyone has their own preferences. You can always use BRS physiology, which is costanzo in condensed form. Skim Costanzo phys, then read BRS as your main resource. Or maybe just use class + BRS.

The BnB videos I've seen for physio are subpar at giving you a fundamental understanding of the underlying physio (which is crucial for being a doctor and for step). I think BnB physio is probably useful if you have a good physio curriculum at your school and want to supplement. If you're trying to build your physio knowledge from scratch, costanzo/BRS is the gold standard.
Which sections are you referring to particular? Maybe we've done different topics?
 
Everyone has their own preferences. You can always use BRS physiology, which is costanzo in condensed form. Skim Costanzo phys, then read BRS as your main resource. Or maybe just use class + BRS.

The BnB videos I've seen for physio are subpar at giving you a fundamental understanding of the underlying physio (which is crucial for being a doctor and for step). I think BnB physio is probably useful if you have a good physio curriculum at your school and want to supplement. If you're trying to build your physio knowledge from scratch, costanzo/BRS is the gold standard.

Do you have an opinion on BnB biochem? I heard it was good, but obviously never used it. My school's first block (and I would imagine most other schools) is going to be biochem and wondering if I should spring for it at the beginning of the semester.
 
Do you have an opinion on BnB biochem? I heard it was good, but obviously never used it. My school's first block (and I would imagine most other schools) is going to be biochem and wondering if I should spring for it at the beginning of the semester.
I thought it was excellent. You're school may cover more but he gives you a good basis
 
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BnB physiology is excellent. BnB cardiac (he is a cardiologist trained at Harvard if people are unaware) and renal physiology is worth its weight in gold. Pulmonary was ok. Acid base was amazing. Hematology, didn't do but seemed pretty detailed.
Neurology again amazing and exactly what you need to know for clinicals and step 1.
 
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Do you have an opinion on BnB biochem? I heard it was good, but obviously never used it. My school's first block (and I would imagine most other schools) is going to be biochem and wondering if I should spring for it at the beginning of the semester.

BnB Biochem looks good but I don't have as much experience with it. Videos I've looked at seem very solid. When I was a student BnB wasn't as popular, and it's not a resource that students I tutor use as much, so admittedly don't have much experience with it.

As far as physio, Costanzo physio is known widely within the medical community (at least at the institutions I have been at) as the bible for physio. I know my IM peers even reference it occasionally. I think it is hands down the best textbook I used in med school. Zanki cards happen to line up perfectly in order with this text.

Nothing against BnB, I just think that for some of their cardio/renal/pulm videos if you don't have a foundation, you end up memorizing facts or going into higher level clinical applications rather than understanding basic physio concepts at a fundamental level. But if it works for you, it works for you and thats great.
 
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BnB Biochem looks good but I don't have as much experience with it. Videos I've looked at seem very solid. When I was a student BnB wasn't as popular, and it's not a resource that students I tutor use as much, so admittedly don't have much experience with it.

As far as physio, Costanzo physio is known widely within the medical community (at least at the institutions I have been at) as the bible for physio. I know my IM peers even reference it occasionally. I think it is hands down the best textbook I used in med school. Zanki cards happen to line up perfectly in order with this text.

Nothing against BnB, I just think that for some of their cardio/renal/pulm videos if you don't have a foundation, you end up memorizing facts or going into higher level clinical applications rather than understanding basic physio concepts at a fundamental level. But if it works for you, it works for you and thats great.

Guyton vs Costanzo? Is Guyton overkill? I've seen 99% of people say do Costanzo but some people say "If you really want to understand it buy Guyton" but they seem to be the very small minority.

Thanks for all the info!
 
Guyton vs Costanzo? Is Guyton overkill? I've seen 99% of people say do Costanzo but some people say "If you really want to understand it buy Guyton" but they seem to be the very small minority.

Thanks for all the info!

Def Costanzo. There are a few concepts in there that are oversimplifications but overall its more than enough for understanding fundamental physiology.
 
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When will you take step 1? Immediately after 1 year or do you get extra time to study?

Also i'll chime in that BnB was amazing for cardio, renal, and neuro. Okay for pulm. Watched some of the biochem and it was good but didn't watch the other topics just because it wasn't around when I was an MS1.

Surprised no one mentioned sketchy micro. I 100% recommend that for microbiology.
 
When will you take step 1? Immediately after 1 year or do you get extra time to study?

Also i'll chime in that BnB was amazing for cardio, renal, and neuro. Okay for pulm. Watched some of the biochem and it was good but didn't watch the other topics just because it wasn't around when I was an MS1.

Surprised no one mentioned sketchy micro. I 100% recommend that for microbiology.

Not OP, but my school also has 1 year preclinical and you take step after core rotations.
 
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