Nernst equation problems - step 1

[TJDoc7]

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Hello...taking step 1 in a few weeks...coming along okay but was going through some problems/review, and ALWAYS having trouble with nernst equation problems (the ones with an ion and Ex, Em). Understand the concepts well enough to answer broad, applied problems using this concept (with membrane questions in cardio, etc..), but detailed, nernst-equation type problems give me a huge headache. Specifically, I noticed the kaplan books/qbank cover it much more in depth, while uworld gives these specific type of problems/concept...1, or maybe 2 questions at the most. I Read the uworld explanations, understand them and why..but when going back to the detailed-kaplan books (with solving for specific values, forces and directions, diagrams) having a bit of trouble and almost overwhelming me at how complex it is (to me that is). Had a few questions from anyone who can help out:

1) What's the best way to tackle/study these problems...have went back to kaplan notes, back to do questions/explanations and find that just clouding the issue more, and more importantly, wasting time on it.

2) Should I kind of bail on spending so much time on this as it is not highly reprsented on step 1? I know there is no way to say if I will/won't see a ton of these, but is it generally something that is very high yield, seeing more than 1/2 questions/exam? Doing okay overall with scores and understanding membrane phsyio when applied to other topics, but those damn questions...ughhh...

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[deleted103644]

Knowing detailed specifics of the Nernst equation would be pretty low yield (guess that P. Chem course was a waste...). I'd focus on knowing the contributions of reversal potentials & conductances in the determination of membrane potentials.

 

[ar2388]

awww... i miss chemistry....

to make this not a complete waste of a post, i would suggest you pick up a undergrad gen chem book and look at the section on nerst equations. maybe its just been so long that all you need is a few pages about the basics and a couple of really basic questions to really understand it all.
after all, you knew it as some point and it should come back much easier