How can I read this much?

[FutureDoc4]

This is for other current 2nd years or 3 year students... how are/did you get through all this reading for pathology? It just seems like so much. Am I overdoing it ? Here is my plan/actions so far:

1) Preread BRS chapter before Robbins

2) Read Robbins Chapter (I am reading 'Daddy' which I am sure is not helping my time issue), putting notes into BRS

3) After those two, I am going to read the Goljan Chapters and then transfer notes from BRS into Goljan where applicable.

Is this just completely overdoing? I like prereading with BRS before Robbins first because they are short chapters (10 pgs) (the new Goljan, each chapter is 20 pages, much to long I think to read first). Any other thoughts or suggestions what other people are doing?

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[ToastyEM80s]

For one thing, you are reading Robbin's, that is insane! That book is meant for pathology residents not MSII's, it contains way too much detail you won't need in the future unless you plan on becoming a pathologist.

I hardly read any books during my second year, I mostly read the lecture notes. Everyone learns differently, and you have to find what works for you. But, my logic in 2nd year was to read the lecture notes multiple times instead of reading multiple sources one or two times (since what will be tested will most likely come from the lecture notes).

 

[FutureDoc4]

I will say, we are given very little in terms of lecture notes. I mean we have lecture slides, but no handouts explaining everything. We are just expected to read (whatever we choose to read).

 

[MilkmanAl]

Cut out Robbins, for sure. Between the BRS and Goljan, there's no way you need another source.

 

[spicedmanna]

Well, I don't know your school's system, but you shouldn't need more than Goljan for the pathophysiology. It's a fine source by itself and actually goes a bit beyond Step 1 material. If there is something you want to learn more in depth, you can take a look at Robbins. I never had to. Then, again, my school stressed slides a lot more. There aren't enough pics in Goljan, so you may have to use a different source for slides. I think Robbin's Atlas is pretty good for that and there are several online sources that have good pictures. In terms of boards, Goljan was more than sufficient, along with doing questions.

 

[njbmd]

This is for other current 2nd years or 3 year students... how are/did you get through all this reading for pathology? It just seems like so much. Am I overdoing it ? Here is my plan/actions so far:

1) Preread BRS chapter before Robbins

2) Read Robbins Chapter (I am reading 'Daddy' which I am sure is not helping my time issue), putting notes into BRS

3) After those two, I am going to read the Goljan Chapters and then transfer notes from BRS into Goljan where applicable.

Is this just completely overdoing? I like prereading with BRS before Robbins first because they are short chapters (10 pgs) (the new Goljan, each chapter is 20 pages, much to long I think to read first). Any other thoughts or suggestions what other people are doing?

Leave the review books for now. They are not a good use of your time. You can read the bold headings in Robbins and get essentially the same info as trying to wade through a review book. You can't "review" what you haven't learned in the first place. When you are done with your second year coursework, you will have plenty of time to review as long as you have mastered the material.

You don't have to read every word in Robbins but reading the bold headings and the captions under the photos/tables will help you to get the big picture if you are previewing before a lecture. Then you can listen to the lecture with an idea of what is in the book and what is actually important to know. Most of Robbins is a review of Physio and Micro anyway.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

throw your robbins down a well, use wikipedia

 

[xanthomondo]

throw your robbins down a well, use wikipedia

Or at least use baby Robbins.

 

[tjaze]

GOLJAN IS MONEY!!! Robbins is useless, you'll never remember it later, and it's way too much for Step 1 and even class. BRS is good, but doesn't correlate pathology with pathophysiology. Having a solid understanding of Goljan is good for 250+ on the Step 1. And you'll still pass your classes with adding the lecture notes.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Leave the review books for now. They are not a good use of your time. You can read the bold headings in Robbins and get essentially the same info as trying to wade through a review book. You can't "review" what you haven't learned in the first place. When you are done with your second year coursework, you will have plenty of time to review as long as you have mastered the material.

You don't have to read every word in Robbins but reading the bold headings and the captions under the photos/tables will help you to get the big picture if you are previewing before a lecture. Then you can listen to the lecture with an idea of what is in the book and what is actually important to know. Most of Robbins is a review of Physio and Micro anyway.

I totally disagree with this advice. I find textbooks a complete waste of time, and you certainly do not need them to learn a subject. Stick with Goljan and the BRS. Personally, I'd only use Goljan, but if you like having multiple sources, go for it.

 

[fourchambered]

You read to learn the material and have a functioning framework in your brain. You don't read for the sake of "completing the reading." Stick to your favorite source out of the three, and use the others as reference to better that framework.

 

[psipsina]

I totally disagree with this advice. I find textbooks a complete waste of time, and you certainly do not need them to learn a subject. Stick with Goljan and the BRS. Personally, I'd only use Goljan, but if you like having multiple sources, go for it.

Agreed. Big robbins was WAY overboard for my school and for the step. I used it to fill in the blanks when the board review books or class notes weren't sufficient for me to understand the concept, but never as my primary source. If anything maybe read thru robbins once, not to retain but to get a big picture and then study the board review book.

 

[EBI831]

don't listen to all these people. it can be done. the problem is the order you are going in. review book first wastes time b/c you don't know it. i don't believe in overkill, i believe in thoroughness and my Step 1 and path grades never suffered for it.
#1 read robbins; yes, BIG ROBBINS! It has all you need; read it without trying to memorize everything ; just read it to enjoy
#2 read rapid review
#3 read brs (usually the shortest of the three)

i even found time to read the first aid organ systems books.

The trick is that once you read the info in its entirety in papa robbins, its so easy to breeze thru the rest of the books. Seriously, it's like 15 mins for rapid review max and 10 for BRS. I did, however, space it out and do brs before bed or something or the morning before b/c it can get boring to read the same thing over and over.

I think both books are useful. There is stuff that rapid review sucks at explaining that BRS is money for. And then there's some stuff that rapid review is good at expanding (i know hard to believe) from big robbins.

So basically, revise your order and you are set to rock 2nd year and boards path.
*Also, stop annotating. The point of a review book is to contain the info you need. It's more efficient to just re-read...don't worry you wont' forget...between reading and lecture.

 

[username456789]

don't listen to all these people. it can be done. the problem is the order you are going in. review book first wastes time b/c you don't know it. i don't believe in overkill, i believe in thoroughness and my Step 1 and path grades never suffered for it.
#1 read robbins; yes, BIG ROBBINS! It has all you need; read it without trying to memorize everything ; just read it to enjoy
#2 read rapid review
#3 read brs (usually the shortest of the three)

i even found time to read the first aid organ systems books.

The trick is that once you read the info in its entirety in papa robbins, its so easy to breeze thru the rest of the books. Seriously, it's like 15 mins for rapid review max and 10 for BRS. I did, however, space it out and do brs before bed or something or the morning before b/c it can get boring to read the same thing over and over.

I think both books are useful. There is stuff that rapid review sucks at explaining that BRS is money for. And then there's some stuff that rapid review is good at expanding (i know hard to believe) from big robbins.

So basically, revise your order and you are set to rock 2nd year and boards path.
*Also, stop annotating. The point of a review book is to contain the info you need. It's more efficient to just re-read...don't worry you wont' forget...between reading and lecture.

That sounds like hopefully good advice (I'm just starting my M2 year). Do you guys get extensive class notes? We do, and I feel like sometimes stupid details get picked out to be tested, in which case I might miss these types of questions if I'm "sacrificing" time combing through my notes repeatedly in order to read big Robbins.

I know, I should probably get away from this "Grades matter" mentality, especially since boards are more important apparently, but it's tough for me.

 

[Bonesaw45]

If grades really matter to you, and they nit pick form the notes then why not just focus on the notes and combine them with the great framework laid out by Goljan? Then fill in the conceptual gaps with primary resources like Big Daddy Robbins. Not to say that reading primary text isn't important but personally I get nothing out of the big academic books.

Then again you have to make the method your own, everyone has a different method that works for them. However, you are not going to gain that much more understanding from reading all three sources it is all incredibly repetitive (I tried this the first few weeks of school, with Baby Robbins + Goljan + Class Notes). School is stressful enough, don't add more by over reading. Just because the three different books CAN be used at the same time doesn't mean that they SHOULD.

 

[EBI831]

That sounds like hopefully good advice (I'm just starting my M2 year). Do you guys get extensive class notes? We do, and I feel like sometimes stupid details get picked out to be tested, in which case I might miss these types of questions if I'm "sacrificing" time combing through my notes repeatedly in order to read big Robbins.

I know, I should probably get away from this "Grades matter" mentality, especially since boards are more important apparently, but it's tough for me.

To be honest, I found in path that there really couldn't be nitpicky stuff that they chose because path is pretty universal barring the professor's personal research that they put on tests. Robbins has everything you need. I just paid attention in class and participated (easy to do when you have all the background down). Oh and if you have time, read the BRS physio area corresponding to pathophys the weekend before you start (it helps a lot...and that usually comprises the obscure stuff that profs tend to pull out of their a**es for tests). I basically took the day before the test off of class and went to the library at 7:00 am and spent from 7am - like 4pm reading all the class notes...you'd be suprise how much breezes by as review after you have robbins/brs/goljan down. And, with all of this I still had time to go out on the weekends and have fun and I wasn't freaking out before tests in case you're wondering if it'll suck the life and fun out of you to do this schedule.

 

[ninjapenguin]

I think whether to use Robbins or BRS/RR as a primary read is a matter of personal preference... no one can really tell you what to do, since only you know how you learn best.

As for myself, I read the corresponding chapter in Robbins after lecture, and then only use it as a reference from thereon. The rest of my studying is mainly from the syllabus (annotated with some information from Robbins) and then reviewing Goljan to tie it all together.

 

[deleted263296]

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[FutureDoc4]

Thanks everyone for the very insightful advice. I am still going to take some time to decide what to do. But, I know many mentioned notes. We did not receive any this year for path. (First year we got a packet of notes for anatomy, biochem etc.). This year however, they told us they expected us to do the reading, so that is out. I am really not worried about my grades to much (we are a P/F school, I am sure there is some internal ranking, but I really do not care). I just want to rock the boards. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[TexasTriathlete]

Throw the Robbins down the well
So my country can be free
You must grab him by his horns
Then we have a big party

 

[deleted263296]

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[spicedmanna]

Thanks everyone for the very insightful advice. I am still going to take some time to decide what to do. But, I know many mentioned notes. We did not receive any this year for path. (First year we got a packet of notes for anatomy, biochem etc.). This year however, they told us they expected us to do the reading, so that is out. I am really not worried about my grades to much (we are a P/F school, I am sure there is some internal ranking, but I really do not care). I just want to rock the boards. Thanks again for the advice.

You can find some pretty comprehensive pathology notes, by subject, here:

http://www.pathguy.com/

This professor is listed as a useful reference in the back of First Aid. It's probably more than you'll need, though, so you may have to do some sorting.

 

[kryptik]

If you will replace Daddy Robbins with Mama robbins i dont see why you cant read all 3 books. Personally i read mama robbins to get the big picture before class then its all RR thereafter, i only do the questions at the end of the chapters in BRS, usually after robbins, lectures, RR the BRS questions are a walk in the park. Once in a while if i come across a question in BRS i had no clue about i read that section in the BRS and thats it.
Another thing is to do as much questions as possible, thats more helpful than reading multiple sources. I use Robbins Review and its solid.

 

[deleted263296]

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[HPSPpayissues]

what did you get on the VR of MCAT? I had time to read both Robbins and RR.

 

[Blesbok]

I used goljan and BRS. Then I would use baby robbins and big robbins. The key is to learn what to read in big robbins and what to skip over. If I simply didn't have time, big robbins was the first thing that would left out of my study schedule.

 

[username456789]

I used goljan and BRS. Then I would use baby robbins and big robbins. The key is to learn what to read in big robbins and what to skip over. If I simply didn't have time, big robbins was the first thing that would left out of my study schedule.

Out of curiosity, how did you (or anyone on here, really) go about taking notes down? Also, did your school give you pretty comprehensive note sets for path?

I tend to write down A LOT and it slows me down sometimes and cuts into my reading time. Do you guys mostly just keep reading and reading these books until it sticks in your head?

I did well M1 year, but it involved me virtually transcribing my notesets. I'm not planning on transcribing Goljan/BRS/Robbins!

 

[deleted263296]

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[username456789]

I wouldn't change what's worked for you, though.

That's what I'm worried about, changing horses midstream. But I'm a few weeks into M2 and already I'm noticing it's taking me longer since the material is a little more dense. So I'm not sure how long I can keep it up.

 

[HPSPpayissues]

better get used to reading FAST. it is no surprise that those who usually do well on Step 1 did well on the VR of MCAT. The more you read the better you will do for your courses. The faster you read on Step 1, the better you will do. TRy taking a quick one week speed reading seminar.
I had no problem reading Goljans, BRS, First Aid, Robbins, etc along with all other class materials, and I still had time to sleep and work out a lot and even ask girls out.

 

[FutureDoc4]

better get used to reading FAST. it is no surprise that those who usually do well on Step 1 did well on the VR of MCAT. The more you read the better you will do for your courses. The faster you read on Step 1, the better you will do. TRy taking a quick one week speed reading seminar.
I had no problem reading Goljans, BRS, First Aid, Robbins, etc along with all other class materials, and I still had time to sleep and work out a lot and even ask girls out.

Wow, I am so impressed. Just your ability to read, work out, and ask girls out. I am just awe struck. Please, your greatness, tell me how can you do it all? (Did one single girl ever say yes to you?)

Do you always talk down to people so much? My verbal score on the MCAT was very good. (but in fact, a 2 second search through the literature and discussed in depth on this board---BS score correlates better with Step I score). I tend to be busy with other things beside school, (research, fiance), so I am trying to determine what to really focus my time on. Please don't post again to tell us how "awesome" you are. You are way to amazing for this forum.

 

[Bonesaw45]

I bet HPSP didn't do well on VR.....

 

[Pinkertinkle]

better get used to reading FAST. it is no surprise that those who usually do well on Step 1 did well on the VR of MCAT. The more you read the better you will do for your courses. The faster you read on Step 1, the better you will do. TRy taking a quick one week speed reading seminar.
I had no problem reading Goljans, BRS, First Aid, Robbins, etc along with all other class materials, and I still had time to sleep and work out a lot and even ask girls out.

studies show that biological sciences has the highest correlation with step 1. That VR stuff is some kaplan rumor.

 

[pink girl]

The only way to be unique is to study hard and be smarter and more efficient than everyone else around you.
It is not in a book, it is between your ears.

 

[Jolie South]

I hate review books and find them a complete waste of time. There isn't enough info. I use lecture notes to study and Robbins to fill in the extra details/mechanisms that aren't explained well there. Robbins is great for providing a different perspective and there are great images and diagrams. I definitely don't learn all the detail there is.

I'm not a "just learn the basics and pass" kind of person though.

 

[VoiceofReason]

I think I posted this in another path text thread but I'll repost:

In my opinion what you could do is read goljan but any time you come across something that you're not totally clear on, you go to your searchable electronic copy (try your school's library website) of robbins and get the necessary detail.

In other words only go to robbins when you encounter something thats less than crystal clear in goljan, and then annotate the margins -- thats what they're there for. If you're not doing this for at least a third of the stuff then you're probably not being honest with yourself about how well you understand it (assuming its your first time through a path text).

 

[MilkmanAl]

I hate review books and find them a complete waste of time. There isn't enough info.

I'm on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. I find that review books have all the detail necessary to ace any class you want and that textbooks are stiflingly detailed. I see no reason to read 1000 small-print pages when I can get the same amount of information out of a 400-page, smaller book.

 

[Jolie South]

I'm on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. I find that review books have all the detail necessary to ace any class you want and that textbooks are stiflingly detailed. I see no reason to read 1000 small-print pages when I can get the same amount of information out of a 400-page, smaller book.

I find that review books give you the "what" but not the "why" or "how." If I don't understand the mechanistic details behind the pathophys, it makes little sense and I don't retain the information.

 

[bola]

Hey FutureDoc...if you're getting overwhelmed with all the reading I'd say go with the barest minimum first and climb up from there as you have time.

I suggest going with your class notes, BRS Phys and Goljan (+audio). If you find yourself finishing this with extra time or if you need explanations not found in any of those resources then go for Wiki, Robbin's or even Harrison's.

The goal of the first 2 years of medical school is to build a mini encyclopedia up there (and pass your exams and the Boards of course!) and the most important thing is finding what combo makes you retain the most info. If you're cramming a 101 things from various sources you will be too overwhelmed to retain anything.