Organ-Based schedule

[abbaroodle]

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Hi,

I have decided to study in an "organ-based" format. I have seen quite a few discipline-based schedules, but no organ-system ones. I am trying to get an idea of how much time to spend on each organ and also the other stuff that doesnt fit (Behavioral Science, Bio Chem, Immunology, Etc.)

Anyone willin to share a sample schedule, preferably around 4 weeks of studying?

Thanks!

 

[manta]

well, i can't give you an exact schedule, but my study partner and i are going through the 2006 first aid (now in systems-based format!) - doing 16 pages per day (and using supplemental materials). the number of pages was based on how much time we had to cover the material that we didn't cover during finals. first aid also has seperate sections for behavioral, general pharm, micro, etc. so you could stay on a simialr schedule and get through those topics as well. i imagine if you feel like you had a specific weakness in one particular organ, you could partition days off accordingly.

 

[mlw03]

Hi,

I have decided to study in an "organ-based" format. I have seen quite a few discipline-based schedules, but no organ-system ones. I am trying to get an idea of how much time to spend on each organ and also the other stuff that doesnt fit (Behavioral Science, Bio Chem, Immunology, Etc.)

Anyone willin to share a sample schedule, preferably around 4 weeks of studying?

Thanks!

ah... nice to see a good question on here. i did just this and took 3.5 weeks to study. this is what i did, and i felt quite prepared, however note that i took pharm, micro/immuno, and path shelf exams right at the end of my ms2 year.

i spent 0.5 to 1.5 days on some of the non-organ topics, based on the 2006 first aid. about 1.5 days on behavioral, 1 day total for general micro and phar, etc. for the organs, i spent 2 days on neuro and cardio, 1 day on every other organ system.

 

[abbaroodle]

ah... nice to see a good question on here. i did just this and took 3.5 weeks to study. this is what i did, and i felt quite prepared, however note that i took pharm, micro/immuno, and path shelf exams right at the end of my ms2 year.

i spent 0.5 to 1.5 days on some of the non-organ topics, based on the 2006 first aid. about 1.5 days on behavioral, 1 day total for general micro and phar, etc. for the organs, i spent 2 days on neuro and cardio, 1 day on every other organ system.

In general, did you feel like it was a good plan? Did you find one day for each organ system worked and was enought? (I was thinking one for normal - anatomy, physio, histo, embryo - and one for abnormal - path and pharm. with some buffer time and an extra day for neuro and cardio also) It seems like some days will be light (renal, respiratory) and some will be really heavy (neuro and cardio come to mind!)

I was going to spend half a day on embryo (non-organ stuff) and half a day on general pharm concepts and a day on behavioral science. And then time at the end for review and panic I mean final preparations.

 

[Idiopathic]

In general, did you feel like it was a good plan? Did you find one day for each organ system worked and was enought? (I was thinking one for normal - anatomy, physio, histo, embryo - and one for abnormal - path and pharm. with some buffer time and an extra day for neuro and cardio also) It seems like some days will be light (renal, respiratory) and some will be really heavy (neuro and cardio come to mind!)

I was going to spend half a day on embryo (non-organ stuff) and half a day on general pharm concepts and a day on behavioral science. And then time at the end for review and panic I mean final preparations.

I felt like two days each for cardio, pulmonary, renal ,neuro, GI was enough. Started with reading a basic chapter our of Princeton Review. Went to anatomy/embryo text, physiology text, then pathology, then pharmacology and biochem (when applicable). Threw in pharmcards/pathcards and QBank questions and that took up most of two days.

Dont think renal and resp are light, because I think they are more challenging than cardio in many ways.

 

[mlw03]

In general, did you feel like it was a good plan? Did you find one day for each organ system worked and was enought? (I was thinking one for normal - anatomy, physio, histo, embryo - and one for abnormal - path and pharm. with some buffer time and an extra day for neuro and cardio also) It seems like some days will be light (renal, respiratory) and some will be really heavy (neuro and cardio come to mind!)

I was going to spend half a day on embryo (non-organ stuff) and half a day on general pharm concepts and a day on behavioral science. And then time at the end for review and panic I mean final preparations.

yes, i felt it was enough. i did all of embryo together as a half-day, and spent very little time on anatomy (except for neuro - definately be comfy with the ANS and cranial nerves) and histo, and considering my exam that was a good decision. then an entire 12 hour day for phys, pharm, and path, and then also some qbank, was enough for me. i should note that i only used 3 main sources though: first aid, qbank, and my original lecture notes for clafication.

and i agree that renal and pulmonary are not light sections, especially with respect to physio.

 

[CaptainZero]

I haven't taken the exam yet, so I can't exactly comment as to whether or not this will work, but, this is how i plan to approach it (as a frame of reference, I'm shooting for a 230-235 range score...or higher of course):

5 8hr days listening to Goljan Audio and making notes in my Rapid Review Path book.

3 days with Rapid Review Biochem (I may drop this to two days).

1.5 days each with basic Immuno (Lange) & molec cell bio (HY) (cell bio being probably my weakest area)

.5 day on pharm basic concepts (volume of distribution, kinetics...crap like that) (Pharm for boards and Wards) and embryo basic concepts (ch. 1-5 in HY)

3 days with Micro made redic. simple

then following that two days/system with the first day being embryo/anat/histo & Physio, and the second day being path (with a review of any micro that is pertinent to the system...e.g. bugs that cause pneumonia in resp) and pharm.

The only exception to the above 2 days/system schedule is cardio which I have three days planned and neuro/behavioral which I have 5 days planned (the last of which being bio stats/ethics). This will leave me with 4 days of review before my exam. Also, I plan on having about 2hrs/night for Q-bank.

Hopefully this will give someone ideas as to how to approach a sys. based study schedule. Also, since I'm starting today, I'm open to modification of this schedule, so i welcome comments from those of you that have taken the exam as to how you think this schedule will work...

 

[wam_256]

Guys...I found this link (Boston University)...here you are going to find several sample study schedules. You can choose from "organ/system-based" or by "subjects".
Hope this helps!
👍

http://www.bumc.bu.edu/Dept/Content.aspx?departmentid=42&PageID=7554

 

[abbaroodle]

When did you do some of the random anatomy? Arteries with cardiovascular? Muscles\Joints with Musculoskeletal? I know that this stuff is pretty low yield, but it seems to me you should at least look over the knee and ankle once before D-Day....

 

[CaptainZero]

When did you do some of the random anatomy? Arteries with cardiovascular? Muscles\Joints with Musculoskeletal? I know that this stuff is pretty low yield, but it seems to me you should at least look over the knee and ankle once before D-Day....

if that was directed at me...the first day of each system...along w/embryo and histo. Like you said...its low yield. and yes, i would do major arteries with the the cardio/vasc system, smaller ones with their respective systems...e.g. GI vessels with the GI system; major joints with musc skel.

 

[abbaroodle]

if that was directed at me...the first day of each system...along w/embryo and histo. Like you said...its low yield. and yes, i would do major arteries with the the cardio/vasc system, smaller ones with their respective systems...e.g. GI vessels with the GI system; major joints with musc skel.

It was directed at anyone who had advice or anything they thought was useful to add....thanks for your advice!