How important are textbooks in medical school?

[Peepdis]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I cant really seem to find an answer to this question. How much reading is considered required to maintain oneself in medical school? Can you just gleam all the info you need from analyzing the lectures? If not, how many chapters a week is considered reasonable to do well? To survive?

 

[AlteredScale]

I cant really seem to find an answer to this question. How much reading is considered required to maintain oneself in medical school? Can you just gleam all the info you need from analyzing the lectures? If not, how many chapters a week is considered reasonable to do well? To survive?

I've been given access to the lectures for the school I'm headed to and there's ALOT of info on those already. I think textbooks in medical school are meant to supplement what is provided in the lecture notes provided by medical school faculty. So I don't think there's a lot of textbook reading. Could be wrong though.

The on textbook I know you will read alot is First Aid for Step I.

 

[DrEnderW]

This is likely going to be a personal thing or on a class-by-class basis.

Personally, I didn't read a single textbook in undergrad but have been all about it in med school. It's a nice 2nd/3rd way to see material and makes it stick for me. Maybe I didn't really get a concept from a lecture but it made sense in a book or I could recall a BRS figure but not the one from my notes. This is going to be completely personal preference. I just get more out of reading sometimes than an additional pass thought a ppt.

High yield review books are great before exams too and put things in context for boards.

The book that I feel is most important M1 is Constanzo Physio or, at least, BRS physio (baby version of big Costanzo).

 

[AlteredScale]

This is likely going to be a personal thing or on a class-by-class basis.

Personally, I didn't read a single textbook in undergrad but have been all about it in med school. It's a nice 2nd/3rd way to see material and makes it stick for me. Maybe I didn't really get a concept from a lecture but it made sense in a book or I could recall a BRS figure but not the one from my notes. This is going to be completely personal preference. I just get more out of reading sometimes than an additional pass thought a ppt.

High yield review books are great before exams too and put things in context for boards.

The book that I feel is most important M1 is Constanzo Physio or, at least, BRS physio (baby version of big Costanzo).

Quick question then: is it a waste of money to buy most med school textbooks then? (of course outside of BRS, FA...)

 

[DrEnderW]

Quick question then: is it a waste of money to buy most med school textbooks then? (of course outside of BRS, FA...)

I would wait if I was you, as you may inherit some PDF copies of less important ones.

I'd wait and see what you think of the class and prof notes before spending a ton of money. Amazon prime will get you a book <48hrs so no sweat if you change your mind. At my school the lists were way too expansive to be realistic.

The ones I would personally want Day 1: anatomy atlas, BRS anatomy, BRS physio, constanzo physio (personal opinion), and FA depending on your curriculum.

Remember, you may get a Netter atlas, Goljan RR Path, etc for different student orgs (like SOMA and AMA) that you may be joining anyways.

 

[Goro]

This will definitely vary from student to student, but we have noticed a few things worth mentioning:

Students who rely only on PPT files for study door poorly in our curriculum.
Faculty WILL give required reading assignments.
Some faculty haven't noticed that it's 2015, and students learn in different ways.

I cant really seem to find an answer to this question. How much reading is considered required to maintain oneself in medical school? Can you just gleam all the info you need from analyzing the lectures? If not, how many chapters a week is considered reasonable to do well? To survive?

 

[AlteredScale]

I would wait if I was you, as you may inherit some PDF copies of less important ones.

I'd wait and see what you think of the class and prof notes before spending a ton of money. Amazon prime will get you a book <48hrs so no sweat if you change your mind. At my school the lists were way too expansive to be realistic.

The ones I would personally want Day 1: anatomy atlas, BRS anatomy, BRS physio, constanzo physio (personal opinion), and FA depending on your curriculum.

Remember, you may get a Netter atlas, Goljan RR Path, etc for different student orgs (like SOMA and AMA) that you may be joining anyways.

Great info. Thank you @DrEnderW !

 

[Peepdis]

This will definitely vary from student to student, but we have noticed a few things worth mentioning:

Students who rely only on PPT files for study door poorly in our curriculum.
Faculty WILL give required reading assignments.
Some faculty haven't noticed that it's 2015, and students learn in different ways.

Would you say that in your experience students who rely on say just the lecture and the occasional reading, have they been known to do well?

 

[Goro]

Hard to pin down. Our most successful students rely on multiple sources, including self-assessment. Our weakest use PPTs and First-Aid, or other poor review books only. (For real, First-Aid has lots of errors in it). The really weakest ones tend to not come to lectures and try to use Board prep instead of textbooks.

Would you say that in your experience students who rely on say just the lecture and the occasional reading, have they been known to do well?

 

[cliquesh]

I didn't read any text books during my 1st and 2nd years. I used mostly lecture notes/ppt and review books. Getting an anatomy book and robins pathology wouldn't be a terrible idea. I started reading speciality specific review books during my 3rd year (mostly case files and secrets). Once I decided on anesthesia, I read anesthesia specific textbooks during my 4rd year. I don't recall really reading any textbooks before this point. I have a couple thousdand dollars in anesthesia books now, hah.

 

[Seth Joo]

I cant really seem to find an answer to this question. How much reading is considered required to maintain oneself in medical school? Can you just gleam all the info you need from analyzing the lectures? If not, how many chapters a week is considered reasonable to do well? To survive?

I would say they are helpful as reference books, not as primary study tools, if you are at a school that uses PBL like LECOM Bradenton then you will need textbooks because its a self study program. Other schools where professors give lectures, your exams are based upon lectures, and the textbooks are more like reference materials, so if you are short on cash, borrow them from the library, buy the foreign English versions (the ones that are paperback), or buy used ones.

The most important books I could recommend are the First AID USMLE books, the Kaplan USMLE books, the BRS review books, Savarese OMM, those will help you absorb the material where it relates to boards.

 

[costales]

If you know a 4th year, they will gladly donate them to you.

 

[Seth Joo]

If you know a 4th year, they will gladly donate them to you.

That is another wonderful idea, get in touch with some 4th years, they might give them away or sell them at a discount.

I grew up in a culture where my parents buy everything new, but given the cost of medical school, new books won't be a lot, I think if you buy from Amazon or Ebay, you can get them cheaper than from buying them from the school.

 

[DoctorKrieger]

If you are the kind that likes e-books, you won't have to spend a dime on any book in all of med school. If you're like me and really need a physical copy, you still won't spend much even if you don't get any handed down to you.

For the hard sciences, check out a BRS book for that subject from the library and use it to supplement lectures. When you get into systems (if that's your school curriculum) I recommend getting both Big Costanzo and BRS Physiology. Read the relevant chapter in Big Costanzo first, then read the BRS chapter a couple times and answer the questions at the end. For path, you'll probably want to get your own copy of Goljan (Rapid Review). All of these books can be purchased new for under $50 each (be sure to look for used copies on Amazon too). If you want a path book with more prose, check out medium Robbins (Robbins Basic Pathology), Big Robbins is too much.

If you go through the relevant sections of these books first, going through your professors' powerpoints should be nothing more than a quick review. Again, if you're into pdf copies you'll be able to receive all these as a 'gift.'

 

[Giovanotto]

Can anyone help me to explain the 6,000 USD/year cost of books that BCOM is estimating? It seems incredibly high.

 

[Oh_Gee]

This is likely going to be a personal thing or on a class-by-class basis.

Personally, I didn't read a single textbook in undergrad but have been all about it in med school. It's a nice 2nd/3rd way to see material and makes it stick for me. Maybe I didn't really get a concept from a lecture but it made sense in a book or I could recall a BRS figure but not the one from my notes. This is going to be completely personal preference. I just get more out of reading sometimes than an additional pass thought a ppt.

High yield review books are great before exams too and put things in context for boards.

The book that I feel is most important M1 is Constanzo Physio or, at least, BRS physio (baby version of big Costanzo).

for BRS and constanzo, is one better than the other?

 

[jqueb29]

for BRS and constanzo, is one better than the other?

It depends on your objective. If you are trying to learn the material, BRS is not going to help, but Big Costanzo is excellent. If you've already got a good grasp on it and are just trying to test yourself, BRS is where it's at.

 

[asdf123g]

How does one know when to supplement information in a ppt point lecture and when not to (assuming everything in the ppt is concise and understood)?

 

[simbad8]

How does one know when to supplement information in a ppt point lecture and when not to (assuming everything in the ppt is concise and understood)?

If you understand it, why waste time reading more?

My recommendation: LECTURES first and foremost, FA pathoma and anatomy atlas (hard copies), everything else like Robbins and BRS are fine in PDFs. Also, practice questions! BRS, lippincotts, Tulane pharm (online) and Utah path (online) are really good. One mistake lots of my classmates made first year was using way too many resources... You don't want to get bogged down by thinking you have to read a million things when you don't. I learn from the lectures and if I don't understand something (rare because our lectures are pretty good) I just look it up. Google works too haha. But don't waste your money on textbooks that can easily be PDFs.

 

[simbad8]

Also, if your professor just TOTALLY sucks and doesn't teach you squat... Najeeb is magical.

 

[asdf123g]

Practice questions...do you do that to prep you for class/help u better understand the material for class or is that for future prep for boards?

 

[simbad8]

Practice questions...do you do that to prep you for class/help u better understand the material for class or is that for future prep for boards?

Def for class. There's no point in prepping for boards until later 2nd year. Learning everything well the first time around will also pay off later.