- Joined
- Jan 30, 2019
- Messages
- 21
- Reaction score
- 51
Hey friends,
I'm in my last week of studying for Step 1, and since I'm basically just retracing my steps through old UWorld incorrects now, I figured I'd take a sec to review a new resource I actually found pretty helpful - it's a new website called Pixorize. It's essentially Sketchy for biochem. I found out about it from a friend in my class. Biochem was one of my biggest weaknesses and my school taught it terribly, so I figured I would try anything that might help me improve. I did genuinely find it helpful, so I thought I'd add my 2 cents. It's so new that I figure not many other people know about it yet. (Note: no one at Pixorize knows me or asked me to write a review. All my reflections here are my own honest thoughts.)
Excellent:
-VITAMINS. I don't know how anyone got nutrition questions correct before this. There are many questions on UWorld where they essentially just ask you "which vitamin is a cofactor for this enzyme," and with these videos you'll have them down pat. IMO this is the best fleshed-out part of Pixorize.
-Biochemical pathways videos. They cover purine/pyrimidine synthesis, salvage, and breakdown, as well as fatty acid metabolism, Cahill/Cori cycles. They also have good videos on heme synthesis and catecholamine metabolism - those were always tricky for me to keep straight.
- Chromosomal abnormalities
- Inborn errors of metabolism
- Glycogen storage diseases
- Lysosomal storage diseases
- (These last four especially are all essentially straight memorization so it helps to have a visual mnemonic)
Good:
- Conditions where all the test writers expect you to know is what chromosome the gene is on, maybe one or two pathognomonic features, etc. Examples: tuberous sclerosis, NF1 vs. NF2, xeroderma pigmentosum, Marfan syndrome, etc.
- Dyslipidemia videos were overall good - they helped me remember which apolipoprotein goes with which molecule - but there were a lot of overlapping and inconsistent symbols, so I found myself still getting confused/getting some questions wrong on these. I think it's better to have an overall understanding of lipid transport throughout the GI system - the GI Pharm videos on Sketchy Pharm did a pretty good job of this, IMO.
Meh/you can skip:
- Basically all of the "pathology" oriented videos. I found the lung cancer videos, neurological disorder videos, etc not super helpful. Maybe it's because I had already learned those concepts well at that point and didn't really need them. I'm a very visual learner, but I think for separating oligodendroglioma vs. glioblastoma, for example, it's much better to have a picture of gross pathology or histology in your mind, rather than a sketch. Pathoma is still the gold standard for this type of learning, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. For something like giant cell arteritis, for instance, it's much better to visualize the processes going on and the patient presentation in your head than try to remember which scene covered it. (There is definitely a certain point of saturation with visual sketches - you can only keep so many in your head at one time).
- As a rule of thumb, sketch-type learning (sketchy, pixorize) should really only be used for "straight memorization" type stuff. This is probably the reason Sketchy Path never gained popularity. With pathology questions it's much better to understand how the system works.
Would love to see added:
- Glycolysis, TCA cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, HMP shunt, protein breakdown, glycogen synthesis/breakdown, etc. I was frankly surprised that these weren't included; I ended up learning them via Boards and Beyond instead.
- Cell biology such as DNA synthesis/transcription/translation
-Mitochondrial disorders
A few qualms:
- One thing I'll mention that didn't affect my learning but make me raise my eyebrows many times was lots of blatant symbol stealing from Sketchy. I'm not sure how copyright works with these things, but it did leave me feeling surprised. Be prepared to see the cancer crab, the immunocompromised cane, the dopamine rope, etc...
- Also, some of the symbols were mixed. "The matrix" was supposed to represent both methotrexate and the mitochondrial matrix. Probably best to give them separate symbols for clarity sake. (This didn't happen often though).
- One warning for people studying: just because a disease has a dedicated video doesn't mean it's "high yield" per se. I think they're trying to market themselves to the gunners by featuring ultra-rare stuff like Bloom Syndrome, Menkes disease, Refsum disease...but I think if you give these too much attention you could get tripped up. After learning about Menkes that I missed an easy question on UWorld related to osteogenesis imperfecta, I think partly because I really "wanted" it to be Menkes after having learned it. If these ultra-rare things do show up on your exam, they're more likely to ask you about some underlying principle related to that disease. For instance, I did get a UWorld question about Bloom syndrome, but it ended up asking me how helicase works rather than asking me to diagnose the patient. I could have answered the question without knowing anything about Bloom syndrome. Sometimes if you learn something ultra-rare you want to feel smart by being able to USE that knowledge and get a question right that no one else could. But, there's a pretty low chance it will show up, and IMO that time is much better spent reinforcing a more common, more high yield principle.
Overall I'm very grateful for Pixorize. It's not very expensive compared to other Step 1 prep materials, so I'd say it was well worth the money for how firm of a grasp it gave me on various biochemical pathways. It would have taken me way longer to learn the biochem section of first aid without it, and I'm not sure I would have retained it as well. It's still so early that a lot of videos are "in progress", but I imagine in a few years after building up their bank of videos, they'll be a competitor for sure.
Other resources I used (many of which I've mentioned) include Sketchy Pharm and Micro, Pathoma, Boards and Beyond, and obviously UWorld. My last practice exam (UWSA2) was a 254 so I'm crossing my fingers that I get something similar to that on the real deal next week! Happy to answer any questions about Pixorize or anything else related to Step 1.
I'm in my last week of studying for Step 1, and since I'm basically just retracing my steps through old UWorld incorrects now, I figured I'd take a sec to review a new resource I actually found pretty helpful - it's a new website called Pixorize. It's essentially Sketchy for biochem. I found out about it from a friend in my class. Biochem was one of my biggest weaknesses and my school taught it terribly, so I figured I would try anything that might help me improve. I did genuinely find it helpful, so I thought I'd add my 2 cents. It's so new that I figure not many other people know about it yet. (Note: no one at Pixorize knows me or asked me to write a review. All my reflections here are my own honest thoughts.)
Excellent:
-VITAMINS. I don't know how anyone got nutrition questions correct before this. There are many questions on UWorld where they essentially just ask you "which vitamin is a cofactor for this enzyme," and with these videos you'll have them down pat. IMO this is the best fleshed-out part of Pixorize.
-Biochemical pathways videos. They cover purine/pyrimidine synthesis, salvage, and breakdown, as well as fatty acid metabolism, Cahill/Cori cycles. They also have good videos on heme synthesis and catecholamine metabolism - those were always tricky for me to keep straight.
- Chromosomal abnormalities
- Inborn errors of metabolism
- Glycogen storage diseases
- Lysosomal storage diseases
- (These last four especially are all essentially straight memorization so it helps to have a visual mnemonic)
Good:
- Conditions where all the test writers expect you to know is what chromosome the gene is on, maybe one or two pathognomonic features, etc. Examples: tuberous sclerosis, NF1 vs. NF2, xeroderma pigmentosum, Marfan syndrome, etc.
- Dyslipidemia videos were overall good - they helped me remember which apolipoprotein goes with which molecule - but there were a lot of overlapping and inconsistent symbols, so I found myself still getting confused/getting some questions wrong on these. I think it's better to have an overall understanding of lipid transport throughout the GI system - the GI Pharm videos on Sketchy Pharm did a pretty good job of this, IMO.
Meh/you can skip:
- Basically all of the "pathology" oriented videos. I found the lung cancer videos, neurological disorder videos, etc not super helpful. Maybe it's because I had already learned those concepts well at that point and didn't really need them. I'm a very visual learner, but I think for separating oligodendroglioma vs. glioblastoma, for example, it's much better to have a picture of gross pathology or histology in your mind, rather than a sketch. Pathoma is still the gold standard for this type of learning, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. For something like giant cell arteritis, for instance, it's much better to visualize the processes going on and the patient presentation in your head than try to remember which scene covered it. (There is definitely a certain point of saturation with visual sketches - you can only keep so many in your head at one time).
- As a rule of thumb, sketch-type learning (sketchy, pixorize) should really only be used for "straight memorization" type stuff. This is probably the reason Sketchy Path never gained popularity. With pathology questions it's much better to understand how the system works.
Would love to see added:
- Glycolysis, TCA cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, HMP shunt, protein breakdown, glycogen synthesis/breakdown, etc. I was frankly surprised that these weren't included; I ended up learning them via Boards and Beyond instead.
- Cell biology such as DNA synthesis/transcription/translation
-Mitochondrial disorders
A few qualms:
- One thing I'll mention that didn't affect my learning but make me raise my eyebrows many times was lots of blatant symbol stealing from Sketchy. I'm not sure how copyright works with these things, but it did leave me feeling surprised. Be prepared to see the cancer crab, the immunocompromised cane, the dopamine rope, etc...
- Also, some of the symbols were mixed. "The matrix" was supposed to represent both methotrexate and the mitochondrial matrix. Probably best to give them separate symbols for clarity sake. (This didn't happen often though).
- One warning for people studying: just because a disease has a dedicated video doesn't mean it's "high yield" per se. I think they're trying to market themselves to the gunners by featuring ultra-rare stuff like Bloom Syndrome, Menkes disease, Refsum disease...but I think if you give these too much attention you could get tripped up. After learning about Menkes that I missed an easy question on UWorld related to osteogenesis imperfecta, I think partly because I really "wanted" it to be Menkes after having learned it. If these ultra-rare things do show up on your exam, they're more likely to ask you about some underlying principle related to that disease. For instance, I did get a UWorld question about Bloom syndrome, but it ended up asking me how helicase works rather than asking me to diagnose the patient. I could have answered the question without knowing anything about Bloom syndrome. Sometimes if you learn something ultra-rare you want to feel smart by being able to USE that knowledge and get a question right that no one else could. But, there's a pretty low chance it will show up, and IMO that time is much better spent reinforcing a more common, more high yield principle.
Overall I'm very grateful for Pixorize. It's not very expensive compared to other Step 1 prep materials, so I'd say it was well worth the money for how firm of a grasp it gave me on various biochemical pathways. It would have taken me way longer to learn the biochem section of first aid without it, and I'm not sure I would have retained it as well. It's still so early that a lot of videos are "in progress", but I imagine in a few years after building up their bank of videos, they'll be a competitor for sure.
Other resources I used (many of which I've mentioned) include Sketchy Pharm and Micro, Pathoma, Boards and Beyond, and obviously UWorld. My last practice exam (UWSA2) was a 254 so I'm crossing my fingers that I get something similar to that on the real deal next week! Happy to answer any questions about Pixorize or anything else related to Step 1.
