Conrad Fischer

[DocEspana]

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So I have a question and I dont have the time this week to look into it... so i will let SDN tell me what i need to know! Pre-emptive thank you is in order.

Thank you SDN.

Anyway, my school (Touro in NY) just put Dr. Conrad Fischer on the school staff to teach us Physio between his trips to other schools. So he's on our payroll and I've heard he is pretty awesome on the kaplan videos. I imagine he'll be pretty cool to have in person in the lecture halls to make our physio solid....

but all ive ever heard about him is literally "he is pretty awesome on the kaplan videos" nothing more specific than that at all.

He starts in next week or two, I'd assume, so I'd like to know if anyone has actually watched the kaplan videos or has some experience with him. As a bit of background, i've been to a live lecture at my school from Dr. Barone. That dude is crazy, but I loved him. Anything even close to Barone style learning? Just generally tell me what to expect from this guy and what the opinions on him are. Assume I know nothing except that he has a bald head and a great sales pitch.

 

[bbydoc]

So I have a question and I dont have the time this week to look into it... so i will let SDN tell me what i need to know! Pre-emptive thank you is in order.

Thank you SDN.

Anyway, my school (Touro in NY) just put Dr. Conrad Fischer on the school staff to teach us Physio between his trips to other schools. So he's on our payroll and I've heard he is pretty awesome on the kaplan videos. I imagine he'll be pretty cool to have in person in the lecture halls to make our physio solid....

but all ive ever heard about him is literally "he is pretty awesome on the kaplan videos" nothing more specific than that at all.

He starts in next week or two, I'd assume, so I'd like to know if anyone has actually watched the kaplan videos or has some experience with him. As a bit of background, i've been to a live lecture at my school from Dr. Barone. That dude is crazy, but I loved him. Anything even close to Barone style learning? Just generally tell me what to expect from this guy and what the opinions on him are. Assume I know nothing except that he has a bald head and a great sales pitch.

If I had to say it in one word: If you liked Barone, you will LOVE this guy!
He is the most entertaining lecturer Ive watched, Im sure there are other lecturers who can give you a better understanding of physio but no one takes you through boring stuff like this guy.
and he is chair of Kaplan Medical, so he pretty much knows what the boards is about.

 

[DRTigerlilly]

If I had to say it in one word: If you liked Barone, you will LOVE this guy!
He is the most entertaining lecturer Ive watched, Im sure there are other lecturers who can give you a better understanding of physio but no one takes you through boring stuff like this guy.
and he is chair of Kaplan Medical, so he pretty much knows what the boards is about.

It's very subjective
I know people that can't stand him...
he's knowledgeable, but sometimes he jokes around too much and it's like get to the point already. On some topics I think he actually makes more complicated instead of clarifying...on other's he is just awesome. It's going to be a very personal experience.

Barone ROCKS!!! (had to put that in there)

 

[Jaeger]

I've had Conrad fischer in kaplan live lecture for about 5 days i guess.I admit he's hilarious, he's got jokes . but... I mean he was wolfing down about 5 red bulls an hour and just bouncing off the walls.

He's very talkative, and makes alot of allusions, sexual innuendo, and says alot of random poetry and quotes nizami, rumi, robert frost and other random mystic poets and philosophers . It is somehow related to what he's discussing at the time.. but it doesn't help you learn anything at all and more distracting than anything else.

And he totally screwed up the physio portion of our kaplan live lecture ( he taught reviewed subjects which another lecturer, Dr.Noto was supposed to cover), so kaplan gave our class a 3 month subscription to their even more uber online material and Qbank, which was of no use because most of us already had subscriptions to Uworld. whoop di doo.

Dr. Wazir Kudrath is excellent, everything he said stuck and made sense, and also Dr. Noto is also excellent. Dr. Kudrath is on some of the newer videos, I think he does renal.

But In my opinion, conrad fischer isn't a great teacher, not because he's not knowledgable- he is. he's just not running on the same frequency as everyone else. Which is great, he knows so many "things", none of which will help you learn.

 

[bbydoc]

I've had Conrad fischer in kaplan live lecture for about 5 days i guess.I admit he's hilarious, he's got jokes . but... I mean he was wolfing down about 5 red bulls an hour and just bouncing off the walls.

He's very talkative, and makes alot of allusions, sexual innuendo, and says alot of random poetry and quotes nizami, rumi, robert frost and other random mystic poets and philosophers . It is somehow related to what he's discussing at the time.. but it doesn't help you learn anything at all and more distracting than anything else.

And he totally screwed up the physio portion of our kaplan live lecture ( he taught reviewed subjects which another lecturer, Dr.Noto was supposed to cover), so kaplan gave our class a 3 month subscription to their even more uber online material and Qbank, which was of no use because most of us already had subscriptions to Uworld. whoop di doo.

Dr. Wazir Kudrath is excellent, everything he said stuck and made sense, and also Dr. Noto is also excellent. Dr. Kudrath is on some of the newer videos, I think he does renal.

But In my opinion, conrad fischer isn't a great teacher, not because he's not knowledgable- he is. he's just not running on the same frequency as everyone else. Which is great, he knows so many "things", none of which will help you learn.

I stand corrected, seems to be a matter of taste then. I thought I learned some endo from him.
I have to agree with what you say about Dr Kudrath, watched his renal, respiration and cardio videos, he is quite good.

 

[DocEspana]

Well he should be giving lectures this upcoming week. He's been sitting in on some classes and getting oriented as to what we're getting taught and where we seem to needing his reviews in particular.

I'll be sure to report back on what he is like.

 

[Nellyakgo]

If you thought Barone was crazy, then Fischer will drive you up the wall!!
The 2 are totally different characters.
Totally agree with the comment that it's a matter of style.

 

[MrBigLips]

ive seen his kaplan lectures and id have to agree... hes bouncing everywhere. so make sure u get some sleep the night before class, and preferably a single read in before u go into his lectures. that way u can keep up when he dances from one topic to another.

 

[DocEspana]

in the first lecture. 15 minutes in. This dude is out of his mind... AND... I... LOVE... IT.

quote: "I want, with a burning passion, for you to bury NYCOM." I do enjoy inter-DO competition.

 

[bbydoc]

in the first lecture. 15 minutes in. This dude is out of his mind... AND... I... LOVE... IT.

quote: "I want, with a burning passion, for you to bury NYCOM." I do enjoy inter-DO competition.

thought so, live he would be even better...what do your peers think of him?

 

[DocEspana]

thought so, live he would be even better...what do your peers think of him?

Well asking around pretty much everyone was impressed with his energy. And while almost none of us have seen his recorded lectures, the one person i did talk to who had seen the recorded lectures said it was a whole different thing seeing him live. He is a ball of energy and, frankly, put us in our place a little bit by pointing out tons of questions everyone gets wrong on the USMLE/COMLEX that he wont let us get wrong.

e.g. the most common adverse side effect requiring cessation of statin drugs treatment a) GI issues b) liver issues c) rhadomyolysis d) cardiac issues e) kidney issues.

hint: despite everyone thinking rhabdo automatically with statins, liver damage requiring cessation of treatment is 50x more likely and the boards love to ask it.

he pulled out a bunch of those and I was really impressed that he seemed to just take a chapter of our physio review book and worked through all the highest yeild questions on it or the most frequently wrong questions on it. Other people felt he spent too much time joking around or trying to be quirky and not enough time plowing through the questions. I figure that 1) he'll pick up the pace more with future lectures and 2) that when the topics are a bit harder than osmotic volumes and basic drugs they will be happy he takes so much time out to be crazy. As its hard to forget crazy stuff like that.

Then again, I loved Barone live. I love this guy live. I appreciate energy and absurd mnemonics. It makes the lessons stick long term with me. He is a GIANT ball of energy.

 

[Nellyakgo]

The ratio of hard core info vs. the joking around does not change much with subjects, FYI.

 

[bbydoc]

I prefer his lectures anyday of the week even if half of it is joking around, the PHDs teaching us seem to be on a mission to be as boring as possible. result --> u fall asleep with open eyes and dont remeber a think...and its not just me...

pointing out questions most ppl get wrong is pretty cool, wished he did that more often in the kaplan lectures, anyway congrats to an awesome lecturer.

 

[DocEspana]

I prefer his lectures anyday of the week even if half of it is joking around, the PHDs teaching us seem to be on a mission to be as boring as possible. result --> u fall asleep with open eyes and dont remeber a think...and its not just me...

pointing out questions most ppl get wrong is pretty cool, wished he did that more often in the kaplan lectures, anyway congrats to an awesome lecturer.

yea. got him again tomorrow. pretty excited. He said hes going to try to keep this stuff as unique as possible from the kaplan material, but its still going to be focused high yeild stuff. Its just the newest variation of how he intends to teach it.

 

[DocEspana]

Dr. Fischer just called up Tao Le (primary writer of USMLE Step 1 First Aid) to tell him he made a mistake on First Aid. That, right there, is baller status.

specifically, that any physician assisted suicide is always amoral no matter how many times the question tells you the state has legalized it. First Aid suggests, through some creative wording, that there are some ways around the amorality.

 

[twocentnews]

in the first lecture. 15 minutes in. This dude is out of his mind... AND... I... LOVE... IT.

quote: "I want, with a burning passion, for you to bury NYCOM." I do enjoy inter-DO competition.

Why the hate for NYCOM? Did they refuse to hire him? 😉

 

[Nasrudin]

I think he's fantastic. Always look forward to when i can watch his videos to cover material in my coursework.

His twitter feed is interesting.

But I like a presentation that is more humanities and medicine oriented. Less dry. And less boring are key elements of the passive listening exercise for me.

You're lucky you get him live for school. Despite the entertainment. Make no mistake that crazy honky knows medicine cold. And a lot of that on stage energy you see goes into honing the latest medical knowledge for his presentations.

If you follow his work you'd know what I mean. Either way the dude is on point. I can see wanting a more reductionist style if that's what you prefer. But I love metaphor. Simplistic illustration, and animated stage presence for memory aids, so if you're like that you'll get a lot out of his work.

 

[Nasrudin]

Oh yeah...

If your a 1st year this year you'll catch the release of his upcoming Internal medicine ward mastery book. Too bad I'll miss that one. Might get it anyway.

The other thing about this dude is the rare combination of characteristics and experience he has. From being a PD to a pro boxer. An activist and student advocate to a Kaplan director. And so on.

You really get a unique combination of pizazz and substance. Clinical gestalt and academic rigor.

@seefisch is the twitter handle.

 

[islandCrazy]

I think his shinning point is actually his ethics book! I'm half way through it and that book is the key to answering those ethics questions on the step.