Pathogen genetics on step 1... ?

[osli]

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After about 1000 Kaplan Qbank questions, I've decided that they apparently believe it is extremely important to know everything there is to know about bacterial, fungal, and viral genetics.

I'm not talking about basic prokaryote vs. eukaryote replication, or various viral replication schemes etc. Kaplan's questions are more about where drug resistance genes are encoded for a specific drug and/or in a specific bug, what type of genetic sharing might occur for various resistance genes and/or bugs, etc. I haven't gone through a dedicated microbiology review source yet - maybe that stuff is stressed as high yield? I was figuring I'd see more general questions about how G- vs. G+ bacteria passed genes, which ones typically carry plasmids, etc., and for drugs how resistance might develop (i.e., alkylation vs. receptor modification etc.).

Is this a "Kaplan" thing? In 1000 questions I've had at least 20 directly on this topic, which to me seems way over-represented. Did those of you who have taken step 1 see many similar questions on the real test? Do we really need to learn what type of drug resistance mechanism is most likely to be passed via an Hfr exchange?

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

FYI: Kaplan's Micro section is AWFUL.

This information is extremely low yield. I didn't get any questions on Rat Fever or how some bacterial gene casette is passed on. You're better to hit high yield stuff like from MMRS.

 

[lord_jeebus]

I agree, don't bother with that crap.

 

[osli]

👍 Good to know.

Most stuff that I "miss" I think "yep, I'll have to hit that in my studying" but every time one of these micro/gene questions pops up I think "are they serious?" After so many, I started to believe they were!