PLEASE GIVE ADVICE FOR PATHOLOGY CLASS!!!!!!!

[DocToBe]

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My class doesn't have many lectures and we are assigned totally insane reading assignments in big robbins. Has anyone with that type of setup substituted intermediate robbins "basic pathology" for big robbins? If so, what were your experiences? What does everyone think? Thanks.

 

[AJM]

I used the intermediate Robbins, what we call "Baby Robbins", for the first part of Pathology -- our course director recommended it for the general path section. While it is easier to get through than big Robbins, and probably sufficient for general path, I found that it doesn't go into nearly enough detail, and I ended up switching to big Robbins after a couple of weeks. Although it seems like a lot of reading, I would highly recommend using Big Robbins -- you will find that you actually do need to know most of the details in there.

Have fun in Path! Even though it's a ton of work, it was definitely my favorite preclinical class! 🙂

 

[ghostcow]

What worked for me was using the infant Robbin's and the big Robbin's. Big robbins is great but the detail is often overkill but does help explain things which are fuzzy or are of great importance in the depth is warranted. That said I did end up reading about 40-60% of the Big and most of the infant. The infant is great for quick review of high yield stuff just before the test. It worked for me, problem is you will not is going to work for you until the course is half over. Good Luck.
MOO!!!

 

[Katie]

As someone who took Pathology alongside the second year med students at Maryland, the best advice I can give you is to know all the "most commons" in the book. If the book mentions for example, that the most common site of colon cancer is in the sigmoid colon (I hope I got that right, I don't have Robbins in front of me) then absolutely know it. It will stand you in good stead for both the exams and the clinical years. good luck! I liked Pathology even though it was a lot of work (and as grad students I think we got a watered down version of some of the units).

 

[Cassidy61]

baby robbins has everything you need to get every path question right on step I. bearing that in mind, my advice (as someone who has gone through this) is to know every sentence of baby robbins. big robbins may get you some questions right on actual school exams, but trust me, boards will only ask the baby robbins material. also, get the robbins review question book. by far, the most high yield path questions ever!! and to cap it all off, BRS path is a great cram book. hope that helps.

 

[DocToBe]

Thanks for the responses. I spent the whole day Friday and Saturday doing the required reading in both big robbins and the intermediate basic pathology robbins book. My basic instinct on this issue is that there is no way that I will be able to do that much reading for path each week (100+ pages/week) in big robbins. We also have to attend small groups look at slides, etc. And not to mention, I'm also taking pharmacology, hematology ("medicine"), behavioral science, and physical diagnosis.

If path was my only class, I could surely keep up, but I'm trying to be more realistic from the start. I have devised a strategy which I think will work well.

here it is:

step 1: look and read the figures and tables that are in the week's reading in BIG robbins.

step 2: do the corresponding reading in INTERMEDIATE robbins.

step 3: read for serious details in BABY robbins, noting topics which were not covered in INTERMEDIATE robbins.

step 4: glance over those in BIG robbins.

Some might thing that this strategy is just as much work as reading the big book, but TRUST ME, I really think that overall, it's about 60% of the reading. The reading is easier too, which will make it easier to comprehend and RETAIN. The problem, for me, with the big book is that its so repetitive and long that I need frequent breaks and it just gets too frustrating after a while, so in the end, with the big book I just wind up reading a ton of pages, and taking DAYS to do that, and then not even remembering to much of what I read because of the difficulty I have keeping focused when a text is so damn long, boring, and repetitive.

This is the first class we've had where there are NO lectures whatsoever, so it has been difficult to figure out how to study for it.

If anyone who has gone through this could comment on my above devised strategy PLEASE comment! Thanks to all and may we all have a great academic year.

 

[PimplePopperMD]

My path professor told us that if we knew the outline at the beginning of each chapter, we'd be really on top of things. Spend fifteen minutes BEFORE READING just looking at, and studying, the outline at the beginning of the chapter you're about to read. It puts things into perspective.

Have BRS Path handy while reading, to remind you of what's important.

I used big Robbins. More pictures, and let's face it... you got this far, you know how to separate what's important from the nonsense.

Path is the most interesting class, and most important class, you'll take. Learn it well for boards.

 

[Hannibal Gabriel]

There were path lectures our pathology class here at U. of Kentucky, but if your class is like ours, the lectures will only take material that is mostly clear and straightforward and make it more complicated and confusing than it should be. Just suck it up and read the big Robbins. You might hate it, but Robbins is the most complete, most useful, and most downright loveable textbook you will ever find in medical school, and if you know Robbins, you will be The Man (or Woman, or whatever) in pathology no matter where you're in school. No other class can make such a claim about its textbook. So take advantage of it. Knowing Robbins also makes the boards much easier, as knowing pathology requires that you tie together and thus remember some things that might not have seemed clear in other classes like anatomy or physiology.

 

[biddu]

I ,myself first read a text book then use big robbins as refferance .Big R is good for figures.In our collegetext book of Harse Mohan is a popular book for Pathiology.

 

[Djanaba]

Consider purchasing the question book companion to the Robbins series. They are excellent, boards-style questions, and a super way to both test yourself and figure out what you need to study as you go through chapters and classes. It was SUPER for my path review for Step I and I wish I would have used it during classes.

 

[PimplePopperMD]

Oh, I can't believe I forgot about that question book. Probably one of the greatest books I've bought. I've just sold all my books except:

Netter
Micro made ridiculously simple
ROBBINS
ROBBINS QUESTION BOOK.


The robbins question book is harder than class exams will be, and harder than boards. But it's fantastic. has pictures, has clinical vignettes... i used to go to a noodle shop with a buddy, and we'd decompress a bit with pad thai and shoot questions back and forth. it's actually fun... the questions make you think. GET THE BOOK!