How do you study/retain Micro??!

[nope80]

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I really need some advice here as Micro is killing me. There is such a plethora of information and I really am having trouble remembering the minutiae and just putting all together. I've been studying it the past two days and I feel like nothing is sinking in. I'm using FA, med essentials, ridiculously easy, RR so there is definitely no shortage of materials..I just don't know how to get it to stick.

Any suggestions? Any ideas about what is really HIGH yield vs medium yield vs low yield??

 

[Captopril]

I really need some advice here as Micro is killing me. There is such a plethora of information and I really am having trouble remembering the minutiae and just putting all together. I've been studying it the past two days and I feel like nothing is sinking in. I'm using FA, med essentials, ridiculously easy, RR so there is definitely no shortage of materials..I just don't know how to get it to stick.

Any suggestions? Any ideas about what is really HIGH yield vs medium yield vs low yield??

According to a former question-writer for the exam, bacteriology+virology are very high yield. Everything else is still definitely fair game, but you are likely to see a much higher ratio of bact n viruses in comparison to fungi, parasitology, prions, etc

 

[harrypotter]

Something that I found helps is when trying to learn all the bugs - instead of just blunt memorizing, I focus on what makes each bug different fr each other. So far it's been higher yield than trying to memorize every single characteristic for the bugs.

Also I do about 2 hrs of bugs every other day w flashcards - so I try to keep looking at them.
Yeah, bugs suck.

 

[kdburton]

I keep hearing that the BRS Micro Cards are good for getting some high-yield info... I read CMMRS a little while ago, but I've forgotten a lot, so when I go back to review micro I'm planning on hitting those cards + FA hard. I agree with a previous poster about bacteriolog+ virology being the biggest (but thats only based on what I've seen on USMLE Wolrd so far, so who knows how helpful that is)

 

[silas2642]

I really need some advice here as Micro is killing me. There is such a plethora of information and I really am having trouble remembering the minutiae and just putting all together. I've been studying it the past two days and I feel like nothing is sinking in. I'm using FA, med essentials, ridiculously easy, RR so there is definitely no shortage of materials..I just don't know how to get it to stick.

Any suggestions? Any ideas about what is really HIGH yield vs medium yield vs low yield??

I memorized everything that was in first aid about a week and a half ago... but it all fell out of my brain. Dammit.

 

[nectarine]

the flow-chart algorithms in UW explanations/FA help me with which ones have diff. types of hemolytic qualities, which are lactose fermenters, etc.

 

[sebsvenmdc]

I think my study approach is different to a lot of SDN folks. I would die if I had to study 1 subject for several days. I use a shot-gun approach and try to study 5 or 6 things a day. I do a bit of path, phys, micro, neuro, pharm, etc. every day. That way, I'm keeping stuff circulating in my brain continuously. It allows me to tweak continuously too. I can't imagine say spending 5 days on path 4 weeks ago, and not having access to it again before the test. So, I pretty much just do a little bit of everything everyday. My scores are pretty solid so I guess it works?

 

[ENThopeful]

I found that reading studying it in bits and pieces helped. I did read through everything maybe in a morning and didn't touch it for 2 weeks, then hit it again. Its way too frustrating trying to memorize everything at once. Microcards are also a god send, at least for me. Id get them instead of reading that awful 400 page book - it has 200 cards of everything I feel like you need to know.

 

[TMP-SMX]

If you hate studying micro you are not going to retain the info. You have to find it interesting and have a good foundation in comparing organisms based on their characteristics. Know how to differentiate the different gram positives by staph from catalase-coagulase-novobiocin and then strep from hemolysis-antibiotic sensitivity (opto/bacitracin)-and NaCl. Obviously you have to know the gram positive rods too and how to differentiate bacillus as the aerobe and clostridium as the anaerobe and all of the other interesting characteristics of organisms like actinomyces "sulfur granules", nocardia (acid fast), and listeria tumbling motility at room temp, growth at 4ºC, only G+ with LPS, and clinical characteristics. Know how to differentiate the gram negatives based on things like oxidase (Pseudomonas+), lactose fermentation, maltose/glucose in N. meningitidis vs. only glucose in N. gonorrhea, sorbitol negative EHEC, Salmonella is H2S positive.

The toxins are also extremely important to know by organism and what other organisms have similar toxins.

Diptheria/Pseudomonas XEF2 through ADP ribosylation and so block protein synthesis
ETEC LT and Cholera Toxin activate Gs and increase cAMP through adenylate cyclase
Pertussis toxin inactivates Gi and therefore increases cAMP causing whooping cough and Anthrax Edema Factor is an adenylate cyclase on its own
ETEC ST activates guanylate cyclase and increases cAMP with similar effects
EHEC and Shigella have Shiga toxin (phage transduction) and therefore prevent protein synthesis in the host through cleaving the 28S portion of the 60S ribosome
C. diff prevents actin polymerization and kills enterocytes causing pseudomembranous colitis post antibiotic
S. aureus TSST and Strep has a similar toxin
Botulinum...
Tetanus...
etc...

I could go on forever but you get the point. There are just some things you have to know and understand but you can make connections with what you've already learned to make it quicker.

 

[ZagDoc]

I tried a couple times just going through and trying to memorize the micro section of FA and just wasn't retaining info well.

I started making strides when I broke the information down. I took one session, and redrew the flowcharts enough times until I could tell you what was gram (+) cocci, catalase (-), beta hemolytic, bacitracin resistant, or what was gram (-) rods, lactose fermenting, oxidase (-), etc. (aside: those 2 pages of charts are probably the highest yield thing in the micro section by far. My micro score jumped immediately after I could narrow down the bug based on culture characteristics). Another session I memorized what each fungus looked like. Another, I memorized mechanisms of virulence factors. The integration came after I had each component down cold. Trying to do it all at once was too much for me, and I think FA is too disjointed and piecemeal to really get it down by just reading through it. I found that for the majority of the micro questions in UW, they give you several hints at the pathogen. You could get the question right either by knowing that crypto causes pulmonary infection in immunocompetant hosts, or that its stained with india ink, or by recognizing its halo on the smear.

 

[Captopril]

I tried a couple times just going through and trying to memorize the micro section of FA and just wasn't retaining info well.

I started making strides when I broke the information down. I took one session, and redrew the flowcharts enough times until I could tell you what was gram (+) cocci, catalase (-), beta hemolytic, bacitracin resistant, or what was gram (-) rods, lactose fermenting, oxidase (-), etc. (aside: those 2 pages of charts are probably the highest yield thing in the micro section by far. My micro score jumped immediately after I could narrow down the bug based on culture characteristics). Another session I memorized what each fungus looked like. Another, I memorized mechanisms of virulence factors. The integration came after I had each section down cold. Trying to do it all at once was too much for me, and I think FA is too disjointed and piecemeal to really get it down by just reading through it. I found that for the majority of the micro questions in UW, they give you several hints at the pathogen. You could get the question right either by knowing that crypto causes pulmonary infection in immunocompetant hosts, or that its stained with india ink, or by recognizing its halo on the smear.

This is the best micro advice I've read in a long time. Much better than the typical "read FA and you'll be fine" or "do flashcards". I appreciate your willingness to actually describe what you studied. And to anyone else who did the same, thanks. You make SDN a better place.