interesting strategy...

[anesthesiarocks]

talked to someone today taking the test in two days and their strategy has been to:

1) know ALL the immunology(he's practically memorized parham)
2) know ALL the biochem including genetics
3) know ALL the cell biology
4) know ALL the microbiology including antimicrobials

He's really into the molecular genetics/immuno side of things moreso than clinical stuff and pathology, pathophys, and pharm. He says if he can get 90% of the cell bio/immuno/biochem questions right while the rest of the students get 65-70% on average, that will be enough of a safety zone so that if he struggles relative to everyone else on pathology, physiology, and pharmacology he will still get a 225 or so.

I think it's a dicey proposition and would feel a little awkward going into the test knowing the urea cycle and DNA replication down to every little detail but not knowing path and physio well, but he's confident.

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[anesthesiarocks]

dude why are u spending your day defending your friends strategy....pat your boy on the back and let this go.....its not like people on here are all of a sudden gonna start agreeing w/ his plan...

they can disagree with it all they want(I didn't use it for example), but if they make faulty analogies like the previous poster I'll correct them.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

I disagree too.

 

[drguy22]

I disagree too.

hi pinkertinkle....long time no see..wats happening?

 

[Pinkertinkle]

hi pinkertinkle....long time no see..wats happening?

Not much just disagreeing with this studying strategy. What do you think about it?

 

[drguy22]

Not much just disagreeing with this studying strategy. What do you think about it?

ummm...just like the title says...interesting.....i have my doubts...

 

[VincentAdultman]

talked to someone today taking the test in two days and their strategy has been to:

1) know ALL the immunology(he's practically memorized parham)
2) know ALL the biochem including genetics
3) know ALL the cell biology
4) know ALL the microbiology including antimicrobials

He's really into the molecular genetics/immuno side of things moreso than clinical stuff and pathology, pathophys, and pharm. He says if he can get 90% of the cell bio/immuno/biochem questions right while the rest of the students get 65-70% on average, that will be enough of a safety zone so that if he struggles relative to everyone else on pathology, physiology, and pharmacology he will still get a 225 or so.

I think it's a dicey proposition and would feel a little awkward going into the test knowing the urea cycle and DNA replication down to every little detail but not knowing path and physio well, but he's confident.

I agree with 2 things:

1. Your friend is a *****.

2. By skipping out on the stuff that has the greatest relevance from a clinical standpoint, I really don't get why he wants to be an MD in the first place.

 

[ranmyaku]

Who posts for a friend anyway?

Did you actually have a discussion with your friend, and say, hey im gonna post this on an internet forum for you, since you are incapable of that yourself. I'll keep you posted on what everyone else thinks.

 

[winsicle]

Who posts for a friend anyway?

Did you actually have a discussion with your friend, and say, hey im gonna post this on an internet forum for you, since you are incapable of that yourself. I'll keep you posted on what everyone else thinks.

 

[RockShox]

Not to add to the other numerous posts...

But the other reason this strategy is stupid is because the test is not that linear.

The questions are not A = B. They are blends of several different subjects at once.... more like A to B to C & D then G what is F kinds of things. They want you to assimilate the WHOLE picture to get the answer not a specific subject. Sure there are many no brainer "its the gallbladder" type of questions but the ones that matter are much deeper. For example.

"A 14 yr boy presents with sudden onset of dyspnea and wheezing previous pulmonary testing showed an FEV1 of 70% normal. A medication was administered that resulted in tachycardia and nervousness but resolution of symptoms. What are the relative levels of cAMP in the affected cells?"

This could be a dumb example because I don't write questions but I didn't have a good example handy.

 

[anesthesiarocks]

Not to add to the other numerous posts...

But the other reason this strategy is stupid is because the test is not that linear.

The questions are not A = B. They are blends of several different subjects at once.... more like A to B to C & D then G what is F kinds of things. They want you to assimilate the WHOLE picture to get the answer not a specific subject. Sure there are many no brainer "its the gallbladder" type of questions but the ones that matter are much deeper. For example.

"A 14 yr boy presents with sudden onset of dyspnea and wheezing previous pulmonary testing showed an FEV1 of 70% normal. A medication was administered that resulted in tachycardia and nervousness but resolution of symptoms. What are the relative levels of cAMP in the affected cells?"

This could be a dumb example because I don't write questions but I didn't have a good example handy.

the question starts out with some path(onset of dyspnea/wheezing) and gives more path(normal FEV1) and then goes into pharm.

He didn't study any of those subjects so it wouldn't have mattered either way

 

[medicalmarvel]

sounds like a stupid strategy. just study everything.

this is the best idea

 

[Idiopathic]

the question starts out with some path(onset of dyspnea/wheezing) and gives more path(normal FEV1) and then goes into pharm.

He didn't study any of those subjects so it wouldn't have mattered either way

Well, good. Because thats certainly not stuff anyone would need to know.

Just remind your friend to tell me where (if) he ends up practicing.












And not because I want to correspond with him.

 

[N-Surge]

lol u kidding me? no time? thousands of med students do this every year, this guy cant find the time to study all 9 subjects?

seriously, its not just risky, but plain old stupid - what if he gets an exam where 80% of the ques deal with path? yes, I know, what are the odds of that happenening........

From my understanding, the odds are actually rather high.

Man, if I studied 1 thing it would be Path. If you choose your study aids right, this will include physio, pharm, micro/immuno, and even the genetics and biochem sorts of stuff. If I was to study only two books it'd be FIRST AID and Goljan RR. And if I was to only do one set of problems it would be Robbins RoP. Yeah, Path is key, so I hear.

 

[ranmyaku]

From my understanding, the odds are actually rather high.

Man, if I studied 1 thing it would be Path. If you choose your study aids right, this will include physio, pharm, micro/immuno, and even the genetics and biochem sorts of stuff. If I was to study only two books it'd be FIRST AID and Goljan RR. And if I was to only do one set of problems it would be Robbins RoP. Yeah, Path is key, so I hear.

That is my strategy actually. FA and RR path are the only books I'm using.

 

[N-Surge]

ranmyaku, the following is what I have thinned my major study aids to consist of;

1. Step Up; It's short! And, it may fill gaps in FA. I like reading complete sentences sometimes as well. Some of my friends pretty much said this was crap (or to be gentle, not worth the time). But one liked it. The NEW edition, with the changes, might actually be just fine. Again, a SHORT hit in the mix.

2. FIRST AID; The tried and true aid of aids, so I gather.

3. Goljan RR/HY; Been through most of it once. So, I am familiar with it.

4. Robbins Review of Pathology; A friend of mine only finished 5% of Kaplan QBank but completed this. He scored a 248. Yeah, I am not going to argue with that score. Sure, this is an N of 1, and one persons experience does differ from the next persons. However, it makes sense to me to piggy back this onto our RR Path readings.

5. UW QBank; Overall, I was convinced here that UW is somewhat better than Kaplan.

This list is mostly based on what I have learned from others. If anyone else is having a hard time thinning to a list of essentials, I hope this helps.

I may adjust this as I go along, e.g. read HY Embryo/Neuroanatomy, finish RR Biochem, and such. But it's a start, I think.