Agent Splat said:
Speaking as a 7th year med student at MCW, I've heard that it depends on your learning style/ability. If you're good at memorizing lots of random stuff, biochem is more your thing, but if you're good at seeing the big picture and applying trends, physiology is easier for you. Just what I've heard.
What about that dog lab stuff? What do we do in there?
I've heard of the 5 year plan, but 7??? Have fun explaining that one to residency programs.
1. Spring semester is probably harder than first, due almost entirely to phys. I also thought it was more interesting (despite being harder, phys is better than biochem) and you probably spend a comparable amount of time in class, I think. I had 2 semesters (including lab) of physiology in college and they exhausted my knowledge bank in about 4 lectures. The intimate understanding that you have to have with the material is unlike anything I had experienced to that point (and maybe since). Somewhat like biochem, most of the questions don't test your recall of info. They test your ability to apply it, sometimes 3, 4, 5 steps down the line, so you really have to get it rather than just being able to pull out an answer. The bottom line is that you absolutely cannot get behind in phys. The thing that helped me was taking the graphs in the text, drawing them, and making myself explain why the graph looked like it did. Also, this is a great class in which to utilize the tutors for several reasons: they can dumb it down for you, they can hopefully give you clinical examples that make it make sense, and they can clue you in to areas that traditionally trip people up. If Scott McEwen is tutoring, definitely hit up his sessions--he's a great guy and an awesome teacher.
The other stuff second semester is filler. Just get through CTB--it's not that hard if you put in a little time. Definitely the easiest class--think of it as devo in the spring. Neuro is a little out there at times, but I think it's being run better now than when I took it. The exams are reasonable and some of the teaching is good. Oh, and the neuro book is good if you want to do neuro, otherwise it's just a decent reference that you can check out once in awhile.
2. Despite what PETA would have you believe, the dog lab is awesome. you basically open up Fido and do different things to him to see how he responds from a cardiovascular/hemodynamic standpoint (drugs, caval occlusion, etc). Each group has a prof, so the teaching is pretty individualized. I also took this opportunity to clarify things from lecture that I didn't get since it was applicable to what we were doing (ie. what the dog just did seems different from this graph in Guyton...).
OK, I think that covers it. Now I'm gonna go back to having my dad prep me for interview season--there's no way that people are going to be as ruthless as him.
🙄
