Path and Robbins

[rxfudd]

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OK - I know this has been discussed several times within the past month, but I have yet another angle on it that I need to ask about.

My school recently completely restructured our pathology course and from what I can tell, the main change is going from a format invented and refined by our old professor of 20 years or so to a new format that is 100% based on big Robbins. The old class relied solely on thick syllabi (which were effectively textbooks in their own right, written by the professor in full textbook style) and most people in the class did not read Robbins very extensively. The syllabi were complete and outside resources were not commonly used.

I got the new syllabus for the 1st quarter and it's about 100 pages long (vs. about 800 pages from last year's syllabi covering the same material). The syllabus is completely in outline format - no detail, just key words and phrases. The class seems to be structured such that each lecture covers a set number of pages out of big Robbins. So, lecture 1=pp 1-30, lecture 2=pp 31-60, lecture 3=pp 61-90, etc. The main ideas outlined in the syllabus are the same main ideas within each chapter in Robbins. Interestingly, they have gone to such pains to structure the class after big Robbins that each main idea is even presented in the exact same order that it is presented in Robbins.

So here is the question: If I'm essentially taking exams based on big Robbins, do I have to actually read big Robbins or will baby suffice? Is it really possible for the average student (who reads at an average speed and retains information at an average rate) to read big Robbins cover to cover multiple times? And be able to prepare for exams with it? I generally need to read something 3 or 4 times before it's committed to memory, and then review it 2-3 times right before the test. It seems like this would be a nightmare to do with big Robbins. The first 3 weeks of class covers general path, which is about 400 pages of text from big Robbins. That's a hell of a lot of info to read and memorize. Baby Robbins is about 200 pages - a lot more manageable.

Does baby Robbins cover the same topics in the same order? Is it just big Robbins without the fluff? The M2s at my school can't give much advice since their course was wildly different than this one is going to be (and they didn't have to read the text at all).

I've already bought big Robbins. The question now is whether baby Robbins would be appropriate to use in this situation (and keep big Robbins for reference).

 

[Street Philosopher]

how long is your path course? we're averaging about 5 pages of type notes for every 1 hr of lecture. since the last year at your school had an 800 page syllabus, that's about 160 hrs of lecture time if everything converts. (a big if but whatever). i'm trying to see if i am missing something and whether i should be reading the book in addition to the lecture for more content.

 

[rxfudd]

Originally posted by Street Philosopher
how long is your path course? we're averaging about 5 pages of type notes for every 1 hr of lecture. since the last year at your school had an 800 page syllabus, that's about 160 hrs of lecture time if everything converts.

Well, I forgot to mention that we also went from 4 quarters of path down to 3 quarters. The first quarter of path was General Path and took place in Q3 M1. Systems Path was taught through the entire M2 year. Now, we'll be covering General Path in 3 weeks with the remainder of the year devoted to Systems. In fact, our first quarter covers Gen Path + 4 systems. So when I say that last year's version of our current 1st quarter content took up 800 syllabus pages, I mean that they had general path in Q3 M1 (a 400 page syllabus) + 4 systems in Q1 M2 (another 400 page syllabus). Kind of confusing, but you can probably see why I'm a bit unsure about how to approach the class, given the extreme changes that have been made.

 

[Dr. Lector]

I say buy Goljan's pathology review about 300 pages and memorize it cover to cover, and do all the questions. Also get brs path about 400 pages and memorize it cover to cover and do all the questions. Doing both is not all that bad cuz it pretty much the same material just presented in a different way, doing this helps me retain things better. Then go to webpath and do all the questions then there shouldn't be a question that your school can ask that you can't answer, nor step 1 about path. I'm just an average guy I in no way in hell can memorize big robbins cover to cover about 1400 pages.

 

[rxfudd]

Well, our prof seemed to clear the situation up (had our first day of lecture today) - according to her, "[holding the skimpy syllabus] This is NOT the syllabus - this is a lecture outline so you know what topics to expect during lecture - the textbook IS the syllabus..."

Guess I won't be using baby Robbins...

 

[sacrament]

Originally posted by rxfudd
Well, our prof seemed to clear the situation up (had our first day of lecture today) - according to her, "[holding the skimpy syllabus] This is NOT the syllabus - this is a lecture outline so you know what topics to expect during lecture - the textbook IS the syllabus..."

Guess I won't be using baby Robbins...

If our prof told us that, I would use my copy of Robbins to beat myself to death.

 

[DrMom]

Originally posted by Dr. Lector
I say buy Goljan's pathology review about 300 pages and memorize it cover to cover, and do all the questions.

Goljan is my path professor & he's great!!! We basically get his materials in our notes handouts & he holds us responsible for the questions in the Robbins Review of Pathology. Baby Robbins is a recommended, but not required (nor needed) text.