Is Pathoma a must?

[Foot Fetish]

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Would it be a mistake to not use Pathoma? I am going into my second year and using Brosencephalon Anki deck as my main content learning resource. I dabbled with Pathoma during M1 (first 3 Chapters), and I thought it was excellent. HOWEVER, I also found it a bit too slow/passive to just sit there and watch, even on 2x speed. Nowadays, instead of previewing the material with Pathoma, I just go straight into the flash cards. Obviously I get the vast majority wrong on my first pass, but I just keep pressing "Again" until I am able to rote memorize the content. Whenever something doesn't make sense, I will pause and consult Wikipedia for some background info before resuming the rote memorization. Finally, once I have memorized all the cards for the topic, I move on to practice questions.

So, I guess you could say that I am learning by trial and error the entire time.

Is there anything wrong with this? For some reason, I just have this aversion to sitting there and reading a textbook or watching videos. I get antsy and feel like I'm wasting time that could be spent memorizing.

 

[LyMed]

Is there anything wrong with this? For some reason, I just have this aversion to sitting there and reading a textbook or watching videos. I get antsy and feel like I'm wasting time that could be spent memorizing.

IMO, I encourage my students to learn and appreciate the pathophys, and try to steer them away from rote memorization. This is done for two reasons - it helps you retain the information more, and helps you in answering questions that may not be asked in a straightforward manner.

However, in the end Pathoma is a SUPPLEMENTAL resource. If it doesn't work for you, then don't waste your time with it. Just make sure you're doing practice questions/NBME to make sure you're improving your scores the way you'd like.

 

[.hematoma.]

Dude there are so many questions that have previously been asked about Pathoma, and so many people have discussed the merits of the book. Just do it.

 

[Womb Raider]

Personally thought pathoma was way too basic. It might be a good start to begin learning about the material but it's nowhere near comprehensive enough. If I could do it all over again I'd skip pathoma and do B&B.

 

[LLCoolK]

I wouldn't skip the first 2-3 chapters of pathoma. super high yield for real step exam

 

[Deejay Khaled]

-

 

[rafa 22]

it's a supplemental source. use if it works. don't feel obligated because it is popular and often used. the learning process is individualized.

 

[Newyawk]

The learning process is definitely personal. However, I attribute my knowledge of path almost entirely to the foundation that pathoma set up for me. I didnt use it as my last resource only. I used it as my first AND last resource. I started and ended every system with pathoma. There are various reasons why 10 people can use the same resources and get vastly varying results - no doubt one of the reasons is improper use of the resource. I had classmates who only used pathoma and FA - mistake. I had classmates who only relied on class notes - huge mistake.

And for the record, i thought it was super slow during M1 too. Come november of m2 and i loved it so much i went thru it 4 times. It sounds like youre at a school thats subject based which would make pathoma even more perfect.

 

[ortnakas]

Memorization isn't everything. Pathoma will help you understand it.

 

[Med student 18]

I think your shift is mainly on memorization which is a problem. To have it in your long term memory you are going to have to understand the concept and review it a bunch. So is pathoma a must..... no, use it or whatever other resource you want but make sure you understand the material! it will make memorization much easier.

 

[Pepe18]

.

 

[rrxr]

I used nothing but first aid and question banks and I got ~260. But I HATE listening to lectures so that's why I went against what like 95% of people at my school do. I'm ok with reading textbooks but I just didn't have enough time to do that and get through multiple qbanks.

Just give yourself a hard look in the mirror, figure out what your learning style is (usually questions vs lectures vs proper textbook vs FA/kaplan/whatever review books), and go with the most commonly recommended resource of that style.