How to study for Heme Onc

[enantio1988]

Hey all... any tips on how to best study for heme-onc in preclinical classes? What are some study resources/textbooks that have really helped? Thanks in advance 🙂

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[repititionition]

pathoma will get you *at least* 80% of the way there. For the last 20%, either read robbins or harrisons.

 

[Roxas]

Pathoma was amazing for heme

 

[NontradCA]

Yea, Pathoma. Robbins review matches up well for it too. That's all you need breh.

 

[bashwell]

Agree with the above. I'd say Pathoma will get you even more than 80%, maybe 90%+. Robbins Review is great, really helps you get into test taking mode.

 

[Psai]

I thought goljan was even better for heme than pathoma. It didn't really click until I listened to him talk

 

[PL198]

heme onc was one of goljans better topics

 

[Entadus]

Pathoma (3 times!)
Robbins - very good for clotting, leukemias/lymphomas
Robbins question book - there are 4 chapters: Hemostasis&shock, neoplasia, Red cell disorders, White cell disorders
USMLE-Rx had some good practice questions

 

[zhopv10]

Pathoma+goljan+firecracker for me (but that is basically my strategy for any of the topics ha)

 

[The Kraken]

Neither pathoma nor goljan were enough detail for classes for me, because why not lose the point of the material in mindless lists of translocations? The Goljan classification of leukemias by age will stick with me for life though, I love that man.

 

[PhillyMed777]

This is how I did it (with a 95-96 percent correct on exams for heme)
1) Pathoma once through normal speed
2) Goljian read through
3) FA read through
4) Read through class notes
5) Goljian again
6) Pathoma at 2x speed no breaks
7) Class notes 2 times (with 2nd being ultra fast)
8) goljian super rapid skim + ultra rapid skim of class notes night before the test

(This all doesn't take as long as it seems)

 

[cbrons]

99th %ile on HemeOnc Step I

But I authored the firecracker section on HemeOnc all of last year.

What I would recommend if you want to get those minutiae questions correct is read the white blood cell disorders chapter from the latest version of Big Robbins. AFTER you do pathoma and whatnot. The red cell chapter is a little less helpful.

If you have firecracker and they still have the sections I wrote on the leukemias and HL and NHL, ALL, AML, CLL, CML, and the others, I would say I packed pretty much everything you could reasonably be asked into those sections.

For some of the disorders of coagulation, it would help you understand as opposed to memorized how the coagulation cascade works. In fact, really understanding it will help you in a lot of areas in the future as well. This book is particularly helpful for getting the basics necessary to understand things like thrombotic microangiopathies and DIC: Clot or Bleed (and its written for medical students).
It is crucial in this section to have a thorough understand of primary vs. secondary hemostasis or you will just get destroyed by questions related to TTP, ITP, DIC, vWD, etc.

Also it should go without saying but definitely study the pharmacology for this section hard, because a good deal of Heme/Onc Step I questions ask about specific treatment or how drugs work.

Lastly, this is kind of a nerdy recommendation, but it helped me greatly is to memorize the reference range lab values (goes for electrolytes and CBC values). Know a hemoglobin of 19 is high without having to look it up, a hematocrit of 20% is low, WBC ct of 16,000 is high, etc. Can't tell you how much time it saved me on tests and Step I in general to never have to open the lab values thingy.