Pharm/Micro

[MDpride]

Have u guys tried SUMMARY TABLE at the end of KATZUNG for review?

Shall I buy Brenner's flash cards ( 2009 available) or lange ( 2007)?


Which one you guys think is best?


is MICRO cards ( by Sanjiv harpavat) worth buying?

is table in FA good enough?

I bought CMMRS during micro in first year, but never used it because i found prof. notes better because of pic.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Ryu02ETL]

I've used both microcards by Sanjiv and the new Lange (2009) pharm flash cards, and have been pleased with these products.

I haven't finished going through all of the Lange cards, but it seems like most of the drugs mentioned in FA are in this set.

 

[Elixir86]

Like the person above, I also have the Microcards and LANGE Pharm. cards. I went through the entire Micro. ones during our class and added some extra notes on them. I plan to use them (along with FA) for my Micro. studying when Board time comes around. My school does Pharm throughout the year so I have not gone through all the Pharm cards, but I plan to also add some extra notes to those cards if necessary so they will be "complete" and a good resource when Boards come along.

 

[Mehrdad1]

Lippincott's Pharmcards are also good, but VERY detailed, so be careful.

What about Bugcards? Has anyone used them for USMLE? I heard that they have mistakes, but has anyone made a list of corrections for them?

 

[LongIslProdigy]

I have both the Microcards by Sanjiv & the new (2nd ed) Pharm Flash cards by Brenner.

The Micro cards are GREAT thus far, especially the flow charts at the beginning of each microorganism, which show the tests used to differentiate everything. Also, for each bacterium, there is a clinical case, most common cause, key findings, etc...Very Helpful. I also like the included index which helps find what you're looking for quickly. Along w CMMRS and lecture notes, I have had no trouble in class.

As for the Pharmcards, I am a little disappointed. For one, not all of the drugs I have learned in class are included in each chapter. It seems that for each chapter there are more drugs I haven't learned than ones I have. Also, there is NO INDEX, therefore, if one drug falls into different categories, you have to search through to find it. The few cards I do use are somewhat helpful though. I emailed the publisher last week to see if they had posted an index with the card number for each drug, and they simply replied, "there is no electronic component to this publication." ...

If anyone has made one on their own or would like to try to make one with me...which shouldn't take too long divided by a few people...I'm just too lazy to list 250+ drugs on my own...please PM me.

I HIGHLY recommend Pharm Recall by Ramachandran though. Included with the book is a code to download review mp3's, and for each chapter it has every drug I have learned plus a few extra! Even more drugs than I need to know?? WooHoo This book is VERY HELPFUL and pocket size also!

 

[NRAI2001]

I bought the MICRO cards ( by Sanjiv harpavat)... I looked and tried to use them for a few days. I personally didnt like them; there is just something about them (and most of the other flashcards my friends have) that makes learning micro harder than it has to be. Its loaded with random (sometimes relevant and sometimes irrelevant) info and presents the info in a way that isnt so high-yield. They are in general very low yield. I bought them bc I m generally not a memorizer (more of a concepts type of guy) but I felt that these cards made it harder than it has to be.

Micro (and pharm) are daunting and look massive at first; BUT since last term I found that if you make you re own concept maps/charts it helps tremendously. The key is to not load them with too much info. THat way you get a larger more intuitive picture of whats going on and learning the details later will be much more easier and make more sense. Once you ve kinda created some sorta of structure to the info the details will fill themselves in. Especially when you start doing some practice questions.

I personally think its better to spend like 2 or 3 hrs making a few basic charts and then spend another 3 hrs doing practice questions rather than doing 4 or 5 hrs of flashcards filled with info you really dont fully understand.

Just my 2 cents....