brs physiology = pass the class

[nonsciencemajor]

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Before starting med school, if I have read the big Constanzo book carefully and essentially know the BRS Physiology by heart, will I easily pass physio in med school?

Also I know a lot of you dont recommend pre-studying, but I am doing it anyway... I have only done the pre-req's so I decided to take physiology as an upper level science course to help me prepare.

Its too late now to change the plan, BUT if there is only ONE course you all had to recommend to prepare for med school which one would it be? Physiology, Biochemistry, Cell Biology, or etc...

 

[MilkmanAl]

One thing you will learn about med school is that you should always listen to the older students, regardless of how much you may want to go against what they recommend. The reason everyone suggests against pre-studying is that you likely won't learn things the way you need to for your classes, so no, reading and "knowing the BRS by heart" won't let you breeze through phys. Stop wasting your time, and tackle the subject as it comes.

In case that wasn't clear enough, there are no classes I'd pick to study beforehand.

 

[Jolie South]

One thing you will learn about med school is that you should always listen to the older students, regardless of how much you may want to go against what they recommend. The reason everyone suggests against pre-studying is that you likely won't learn things the way you need to for your classes, so no, reading and "knowing the BRS by heart" won't let you breeze through anatomy. Stop wasting your time, and tackle the subject as it comes.

In case that wasn't clear enough, there are no classes I'd pick to study beforehand.

agreed. You will soon lose your life to school. Might as well enjoy your freedom while you can.

 

[beyondbethany]

Why ask about this if you are taking a phys course? Just focus on the content presented in that class (and use the text required for your course). You will forget 95% of it before you get to your med school phys class, but what you learned earlier will come back quickly and help you (a little). Whatever you do, don't waste your precious time reading a textbook on your own, for any course.

 

[kingofthehill]

I don't think any med school class is "easily" passable. Don't waste your time studying beforehand.

Edit--I'll say that having some background knowledge does help when it comes time to study, but it does not mean you'll do ANY better on tests. My lowest test grade so far was in a subject that I had a whole YEAR of study in undergrad, and I didn't study any less for that test either. It just was that the particular questions and the way they were worded weren't in my favor, I guess.. I was really frustrated because I thought I'd be at an advantage, but that wasn't the case. On the other hand I've aced a few exams where most of the info was new to me. So there really is no way to get ahead....don't bother, please! Enjoy yourself while you can.

 

[MilkmanAl]

The multi-quote function and edit button are your friends.

 

[DrBowtie]

I don't think any med school class is "easily" passable. Don't waste your time studying beforehand.

Edit--I'll say that having some background knowledge does help when it comes time to study, but it does not mean you'll do ANY better on tests. My lowest test grade so far was in a subject that I had a whole YEAR of study in undergrad, and I didn't study any less for that test either. It just was that the particular questions and the way they were worded weren't in my favor, I guess.. I was really frustrated because I thought I'd be at an advantage, but that wasn't the case. On the other hand I've aced a few exams where most of the info was new to me. So there really is no way to get ahead....don't bother, please! Enjoy yourself while you can.

I would say the opposite. All medical school classes are easy to pass. They are difficult to do well it.

 

[silverhorse84]

One of the students in my class who is kicking butt, was a non science major and hadn't taken anything but the prereqs.
This does not mean you will do well, but it does mean that undergrad courses don't help that much. In fact, I think those of us that do have a heavy science background didn't do as well because we have a bit of false confidence in our past coursework - we didn't study as much as we should have and the exams weren't what we expected.

There really is no way to prestudy for medical school! Medical school is not that bad - there's a reason the drop out rate is so low. Don't be afraid of it. I know people say that its hard and takes up all your time, and to a certain extend that is true, but that doesn't mean its the hardest thing you'll ever do. I have time outside of school to join a choir and exercise and hang out with friends - and yes, I do get good grades (so far, as a first year). You will be giving up things in order to go to medical school, so there's no reason to start giving them up now!

 

[ensuii]

Before starting med school, if I have read the big Constanzo book carefully and essentially know the BRS Physiology by heart, will I easily pass physio in med school?

Also I know a lot of you dont recommend pre-studying, but I am doing it anyway... I have only done the pre-req's so I decided to take physiology as an upper level science course to help me prepare.

Its too late now to change the plan, BUT if there is only ONE course you all had to recommend to prepare for med school which one would it be? Physiology, Biochemistry, Cell Biology, or etc...

lol ur ******ed...

 

[greatnt249]

I would say the opposite. All medical school classes are easy to pass. They are difficult to do well it.

Easy is relative; you cannot simply approach medical school exams the same way you did in undergrad (i.e. crack open the book two days before the exam) and expect to do well on them (or even pass). They (medical school exams) are "easy" to pass once you've gotten the hang of studying in medical school, but it is nowhere near on the same level as easy in undergrad.

 

[shiftingmirage]

Its too late now to change the plan, BUT if there is only ONE course you all had to recommend to prepare for med school which one would it be? Physiology, Biochemistry, Cell Biology, or etc...

Study Hall. Seriously. This is your last time to go and have some fun. While there are down periods in med school, free time after exams, they are not as abundant as one would like. Enjoy the time you have before enlisting in med school, and the residency that follows.

 

[da8s0859q]

One thing you will learn about med school is that you should always listen to the older students, regardless of how much you may want to go against what they recommend.

This is gospel.

 

[nonsciencemajor]

if I can answer majority of the questions (~90%) in BRS Physio, am I in good shape for med school (especially for physio)? Will a solid understanding in Physio help me in other courses in med school, like biochem, cell bio, and histo?

 

[da8s0859q]

if I can answer majority of the questions (~90%) in BRS Physio, am I in good shape for med school (especially for physio)? Will a solid understanding in Physio help me in other courses in med school, like biochem, cell bio, and histo?

Theoretically, it'd probably be somewhat useful from time to time.

More to the point: if you got accepted, you're in good shape for med school as it is. Whatever you absolutely insist on doing despite what anyone tells you is just the negligible icing on the cake.

 

[Ischemic]

if I can answer majority of the questions (~90%) in BRS Physio, am I in good shape for med school (especially for physio)? Will a solid understanding in Physio help me in other courses in med school, like biochem, cell bio, and histo?

No, those BRS questions are freakin easy. At a minimum you should be able to answer those questions easy and under a minute. The questions in med school will rock the living **** out of you so get ready. You have no idea how hard these questions are going to be until you're there and there's no way you can prepare so stop trying.

No, all those other classes empahsize completely different things than whatever you learn in physiology. You can synthesize and make connections and you'll understand the bigger picture better but each has their own tricks in getting down.

I don't know why premeds think that they can "prepare" by studying in advance. Different ball game people. Just understand and accept you're gonna get rocked every now and then and the curve is gonna be ridiculously high. Try your best but doon't stress ... you're in med school already.

 

[nonsciencemajor]

if I can answer majority of the questions (~90%) in BRS Physio, am I in good shape for med school (especially for physio)? Will a solid understanding in Physio help me in other courses in med school, like biochem, cell bio, and histo?

No, those BRS questions are freakin easy. At a minimum you should be able to answer those questions easy and under a minute. The questions in med school will rock the living **** out of you so get ready. You have no idea how hard these questions are going to be until you're there and there's no way you can prepare so stop trying.

No, all those other classes empahsize completely different things than whatever you learn in physiology. You can synthesize and make connections and you'll understand the bigger picture better but each has their own tricks in getting down.

I don't know why premeds think that they can "prepare" by studying in advance. Different ball game people. Just understand and accept you're gonna get rocked every now and then and the curve is gonna be ridiculously high. Try your best but doon't stress ... you're in med school already.

This is very disheartening to hear that BRS questions are too easy. I was starting to feel very confident that I would ace med school physio.... but looks like I am starting to doubt myself again... but can you explain how med school questions are as compared to BRS? I heard BRS and Rapid Review Physio are what med students use to prepare for their exams in physio

 

[scarletgirl777]

This is very disheartening to hear that BRS questions are too easy. I was starting to feel very confident that I would ace med school physio.... but looks like I am starting to doubt myself again... but can you explain how med school questions are as compared to BRS? I heard BRS and Rapid Review Physio are what med students use to prepare for their exams in physio

Med school is not hard bc of the concepts, it is hard because of the amount of material you have to know at one time. This is why pre-studying would not help. It would help in an undergrad course where you have to learn difficult new concepts and ways of thinking, but the vast majority of medical school is about memorizing large amounts of information. So whatever you do now will probably help you very little later.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Just to reiterate the main point, here, it's no coincidence that you've heard the same advice from many different people in every single one of these threads you've created, OP. Listening would be wise.

 

[da8s0859q]

Just to reiterate the main point, here, it's no coincidence that you've heard the same advice from many different people in every single one of these threads you've created, OP. Listening would be wise.

Yep, but he won't. Instead, we'll see a thread sometime in December where the OP is giving the same advice to the Class of 2015 folks.

 

[DrBowtie]

This is very disheartening to hear that BRS questions are too easy. I was starting to feel very confident that I would ace med school physio.... but looks like I am starting to doubt myself again... but can you explain how med school questions are as compared to BRS? I heard BRS and Rapid Review Physio are what med students use to prepare for their exams in physio

People use their class notes to study for exams. They usually go into much more nitty detail than a board review book and also contain sometimes off the wall stuff from current research trials, the professors' own interests etc.

This is why people say wait. You can't study what you don't know is going to be tested.

 

[nonsciencemajor]

1. Answering questions like this is a waste because of what I pointed out in the post above this one that I made. i.e. that it depends on a school and how that particular school tests you and the professors test you. You will have professors who go easy on you and ones who ask really tougher then tough questions.
2. Like others stated, if you got in you are probably smart enough to do well. The BRS book is a review book and like any review book it is just there once you've gone over the syllabus. You can use it to practice to see if you understand the concept but it doesn't mean that its the same difficulty as a question on the test. Its just a reinforcement that you have an idea of what is going on. I use the BRS for practice questions but I also use the practice tests given to us and our quizzes for the exam as review.

Why are you so bent on this one class?

i only did the pre-req's and MCAT and a nonscience major needed for admission. One med student told me there is no way one can prepare for med school, but I insisted him to tell me one course that he recommends. He recommended doing physio and not undergrad physio but grad level physio (which means reading guyton (I chose big book constanzo) and doing brs physio). He said there is no point doing biochem, cell bio, immuno, etc.... But he did say do physio, and physio will cover enough biochem, cell bio, etc.. to give me a solid foundation to build upon when I go into med school taking these classes... In addition he made me realize medicine is heavily built upon physio principles, so for the sake of being a good clinician, mastery in physio is expected.... for these reasons i am doing physio

 

[nonsciencemajor]

While it is true that physio puts in perspective the importance of why you learn the other stuff, I don't think you need to go out of your way to learn everything all at once if you are a relatively smart kid.

Just so long as once you get there you learn how to study quicky i.e. that it is not solely memorization and requires putting 2 and 2 together in some classes and in other classes it is for the most part pure memorization. And learning how to master those two skills relatively well.

I don't think there is anything that will really prepare you for this stuff. I've taken some of the courses I'm taking now in ugrad and I don't think it prepared me for what I'm getting here at BU med because what they ask and focus on sometimes in ugrad is different then in medical school in terms of the actual test questions. its just not the same. My biochem class in ugrad, my bchm class in grad school Molecular Med, and my SMP med biochem class are all so different in their focus. I'd hardly say that one put me at a significant advantage for the other because the way the questions were written were different in all 3 as was level of difficulty. So perhaps its better you don't get yourself confused by taking the classes before med school.

Your med student friend is one med student with an opinion. It is no coincidence that there are several more med students on here telling you and SMP students taking medical school year 1 courses that there is no point in studying ahead of time.

Yes I know the focus is different in ugrad and med school. But that is why I am taking a graduate level physio course. And rather than using the required guyton textbook for the course, I am using Contanzo big book and BRS for this class, knowing that Constanzo is what is needed to know for medical school physio....

How can not knowing stuff in Constanzo not be helpful for med school prior to entering??? I agree, ugrad stuff may not be useful, but Constanzo teaches physio to med students so this book has to help me prepare for med school... right?

BTW... gujuDoc.... I really think it is funny how you put "NOT A DUDE!! ME = FEMALE!" and the SN gujudoc and the Om sign... its not too hard to figure out where you are from.. lol.....

 

[Dissected]

Yes I know the focus is different in ugrad and med school. But that is why I am taking a graduate level physio course. And rather than using the required guyton textbook for the course, I am using Contanzo big book and BRS for this class, knowing that Constanzo is what is needed to know for medical school physio....

How can not knowing stuff in Constanzo not be helpful for med school prior to entering??? I agree, ugrad stuff may not be useful, but Constanzo teaches physio to med students so this book has to help me prepare for med school... right?

BTW... gujuDoc.... I really think it is funny how you put "NOT A DUDE!! ME = FEMALE!" and the SN gujudoc and the Om sign... its not too hard to figure out where you are from.. lol.....

Medical physiology has a different emphasis from what your ugrad (or 'grad level' or whatever) course will teach you, but the basics are the same. If you are busting your chops right now and reading costanzo too (something I would never dream of doing in undergrad..too much extra work with no benefit in grades), it will help you move through the material a little faster when you are in medical school. There will undoubtedly be an emphasis on different things than what you learn now (every course is different), but any good physio class will provide good baseline understanding. If you really want to, you can go above and beyond, but its not going to put you that far ahead of the game. Physio is only one of many subjects you will have to cram into your brain in a very short amount of time. And you'll probably forget a bunch of the self-taught stuff by then anyway. I was glad I had physio in undergrad, but its not like I am breezing through school. There are more important things than being a neurotic bookworm and acing every test, and burnout is a b*tch.

 

[Dissected]

Just so long as once you get there you learn how to study quicky i.e. that it is not solely memorization and requires putting 2 and 2 together in some classes and in other classes it is for the most part pure memorization. And learning how to master those two skills relatively well.

Well said!! You learn how to do this pretty quick..

 

[MilkmanAl]

How can not knowing stuff in Constanzo not be helpful for med school prior to entering??? I agree, ugrad stuff may not be useful, but Constanzo teaches physio to med students so this book has to help me prepare for med school... right?

I don't think anyone is arguing that reading these books will not help. We're all trying to get you to realize that they won't help enough. You're looking for a golden ticket through med school phys, and that's not going to happen. Sure, if you memorize Guyton or Costanzo cover-to-cover and can instantly recall it all, you're going to do well. Obviously, that is not a realistic expectation. You're going to spend a hell of a lot of time reviewing physiology for minimal benefit down the line. Again, it isn't worth the effort. Chill out, and enjoy not being a med student.

 

[Jolie South]

I don't think anyone is arguing that reading these books will not help. We're all trying to get you to realize that they won't help enough. You're looking for a golden ticket through med school phys, and that's not going to happen. Sure, if you memorize Guyton or Costanzo cover-to-cover and can instantly recall it all, you're going to do well. Obviously, that is not a realistic expectation. You're going to spend a hell of a lot of time reviewing physiology for minimal benefit down the line. Again, it isn't worth the effort. Chill out, and enjoy not being a med student.

Agree 100%.

 

[greatnt249]

How can not knowing stuff in Constanzo not be helpful for med school prior to entering??? I agree, ugrad stuff may not be useful, but Constanzo teaches physio to med students so this book has to help me prepare for med school... right?

🙄

It'll help a lot only if your professors in medical school teach to the book, but none of the professors I've had so far do that. Instead, the book merely provides supplementary knowledge to what they will be teaching you in lecture. Thus, if you think that knowing the physiology book inside and out is going to guarantee that you'll ace the block, you're likely to get blindsided by questions on the exams covering points that simply weren't elaborated on much in the book.

I'd say what the others have said so far in that you're better off just waiting until you get to medical school to study this stuff, but it seems you aren't very receptive to that advice.

 

[howelljolly]

Before starting med school, if I have read the big Constanzo book carefully and essentially know the BRS Physiology by heart, will I easily pass physio in med school?

Also I know a lot of you dont recommend pre-studying, but I am doing it anyway... I have only done the pre-req's so I decided to take physiology as an upper level science course to help me prepare.

Its too late now to change the plan, BUT if there is only ONE course you all had to recommend to prepare for med school which one would it be? Physiology, Biochemistry, Cell Biology, or etc...

One class to focus on to prepare for med school? That question can be taken a number of ways, because it is a stupid question, in and of itself.

- An undergrad class to prepare for med school? Biochem. The carbohydrate and lipid metabolism dont change much between undergrad and med school.

- The class in med school that will prepare you for Step1, and 2, and for the clinical practice of medicine? Physiology. It applies to both the theory and application of medicine.

- A class that you can prepare for in a vacuum, without lectures and labs? Microbiology. Its a ton of memorization.