Microbiology

[kiranp88]

Hi guys,

I am about 3 months out from my boards and am trying to learn some microbiology. My background is very weak and I feel like I don't remember anything but the common ones like Staph aureus and strep! I have the Lippincott's flashcards (but they have so many and some low yield bugs). What is the best way to learn Micro (w/o learning random BS which is probably not tested but still do really well). AKA I have no idea where to start for micro!! (I don't like the first aid section). I have done UWORLD questions and I tend to get most micro wrong (so I do really suck). Thanks!!!

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[Rock13]

Hey there,

Look I think it's easily possible to make micro one of your strongest subjects, as many have done on these forums, by rote learning the bugs from a good set of flash cards. You have the Lippincott cards already, so it's just a matter of sitting down and learning them. Most of the bugs are probably fair game.

It really just sounds like rote learning isn't your thing. You could take a look at the mnenomic-style learning like Picmonic, SketchyMicro or even Clinical Micro Made Ridiculously Simple (CMMRS). I personally found Picmonic and CMMRS both didn't work for me, whereas the examples from SketchyMicro stuck in my head extremely well, but they haven't gone public yet.

I am still waiting for my Step 1 score, so I don't know how I performed in the micro portion, but you probably need to over-prepare and learn some random BS, so that you can do well. In fact for my exam, First Aid micro would have been sufficient. But I can tell you that my percentages for Micro in UWorld were in the low-80's solely because of memorising these flashcards - I would have been scoring <40% before studying them, to give you an idea of my background micro knowledge.

Good luck.

 

[dh12]

i actually made a flashcard app for step 1, and just updated it with micro

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/usmle-step-1-flashcards/id468610722?mt=8

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Myndspark.MedicalBuzzwords

the reason it costs a little bit is because I had to pay the developer...though its still cheaper than everything else Good luck man!