Nervous After Week 1...Advice?

[MissionStanford]

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I'm only into week 1 of my first year of medical school but already pretty nervous. The volume of information given in just 1 week was pretty intense, but I think what worries me the most is histology. I can study concepts and facts like in most classes, but histology is completely new to me. Looking at a picture of a cell or tissue section and being expected to identify it is really difficult for me. We've only had 3 lectures on histology, but these pictures just look like little dark blobs and circles, etc. What's the best way to study for a class like this? Keep looking at pictures in an atlas and the professor's PowerPoints? Anything else?

 

[Señor S]

I made Anki decks of the professor's images and it worked well for me.

 

[joker2400]

The key to success in years 1+2 is repetition.

 

[Southplains]

http://www.lab.anhb.uwa.edu.au/mb140/

There's a good website for practicing histology identification. Like said before it's all about seeing it multiple times, but also you'll acclimate a lot with time. By Christmas (before really) you won't feel overwhelmed. Just "here we go again.."

 

[DermViser]

Repetition, Repetition, Repetition, esp. Histology.

 

[operaman]

Google "shotgun histology"

I think this link was where I went:
http://www.medicalschoolpathology.com/ShotgunHistology.htm

Nice discussion through normal pathology. Repetition is everything, and looking at lots of different pictures and quizzing yourself is important too. You're building the foundation for pathology next year when all those pretty tissues get f-ed up by disease. Histo is a great thing to study when you're tired and worn out from everything else because it really doesn't take that much critical thinking at this stage to look at pictures and recognize what it is.

Ideally you'll want to be able to look at any slide, have an idea of where it came from, what it is, and what all the different structures are.

 

[TheShaker]

Yeah, histo isn't being very good to me either. 🙁

"Hmm, I wonder what that arrow is pointing to...that structure 2mm away or that structure 3mm away? Or do I not know enough to realize that there's a structure right beneath the arrow...?"