Rank Your Courses By Difficulty

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
I'll rank based on how terrible the experience was rather than grades.

Anatomy = Immuno/Micro = OMM > Mol. bio/Biochem > MSK > Neuro > B&L > Psych.

I think anatomy is only terrible because you haven't adapted to med school and there's lab to attend.
 
Anatomy >MSK=Psych=OMM>Neuro = Molecular>>Heme/Lymph>>>>>>>>>>Derm

Order mostly dictated by interest, except for Derm which is just easy.
 
Molecular/bio/immuno/micro (all in one big course at my school) >> anatomy > Neuro > heme> msk = derm=OMT
Anatomy itself is not terrible, but as a intro to med school it's heavy.

Psych was part of neuro and it was down on the list with derm and omt.
 
Only done first year.
Neuro=hardest
Anatomy= middle
Cell/biochem/genetics/molecular/micro/immuno= most volume but probably easiest.
Fav courses probably are micro/immuno in 1st year

Most stressful= hilariously... OMM
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Incoming MS1. Those of you ranking anatomy highly, had you previously taken an anatomy course in undergrad before having taken it in medical school?

Also what is MSK? Sorry if I sound like a noob haha
 
Biochem/physio >>>>>>>>>>>>>> everything
 
ace99 said:
Incoming MS1. Those of you ranking anatomy highly, had you previously taken an anatomy course in undergrad before having taken it in medical school?

Also what is MSK? Sorry if I sound like a noob haha
Click to expand...

Musculoskeletal
 
Last edited:
ace99 said:
Incoming MS1. Those of you ranking anatomy highly, had you previously taken an anatomy course in undergrad before having taken it in medical school?

Also what is MSK? Sorry if I sound like a noob haha
Click to expand...

Yes, I had anatomy in undergrad, but it was nothing like the one in med school. For me, I think what made anatomy a hard course is the MSK (musculoskeletal) part. I hate bones and muscles.

On the other hand, I found biochem/micro/immuno/molecular bio to be my comfort zone. Perhaps I can attribute this to my undergrad major, Cell Bio.
 
Yes, I had previously taken Anatomy, but like Ibn Alnafis said, it's nothing like med school. Med school everything is thrown at you faster than you can take it in, in more detail you thought possible. You're also taking it 1st semester, when you're figuring out how to study. 2nd semester was so much easier for me, after figuring out professors and what is expected.
 
I agree with the comments above with it being very different than undergrad. My experience was different than even most undergrads. I took it as a summer course with a professor that was notoriously difficult and said he tried to emulate the medical school experience by teaching it in regions instead of systems. When it came down to it, in medical school the volume is a lot higher and the tests are nothing like those in undergrad. I failed my first test miserably because I prepared the wrong way. I honestly recommend not taking undergrad anatomy.
 
AlbinoHawk DO said:
I agree with the comments above with it being very different than undergrad. My experience was different than even most undergrads. I took it as a summer course with a professor that was notoriously difficult and said he tried to emulate the medical school experience by teaching it in regions instead of systems. When it came down to it, in medical school the volume is a lot higher and the tests are nothing like those in undergrad. I failed my first test miserably because I prepared the wrong way. I honestly recommend not taking undergrad anatomy.
Click to expand...

when you say tests are nothing like UG...can you expand a bit?

Also what did you do to prep differently after that first test?
 
yanks26dmb said:
when you say tests are nothing like UG...can you expand a bit?

Also what did you do to prep differently after that first test?
Click to expand...
In undergrad it's more about identifying random structures or things are pretty straight forward from the book. In medical school it is the art of reading minds. You have to be able to get into the head of your professors and sort of tease out the important aspects of what they have said then. Then understand that as a concept and be able to apply it to a scenario where they ask about it. I know this sounds weird, but here's an example of a question "A rodeo clown hit by the horns of the bull immediately above the piriformis muscle. What muscle is affected?" So it's testing your knowledge of what nerve passes there and what it innervates. The professor had gone on and on about the nerves in that area and what each innervated, so in medical school, you had to sort of "know" that for this professor the nerves in that vicinity were more important than other topics he talked about.

My recommendation on how to study during anatomy is 2-fold: 1) Create an outline of only the key points discussed in each lecture not exceeding 2 pages typed. 2) Use anki with images just to to be able to test yourself as to general naming of things such as muscles.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
AlbinoHawk DO said:
In undergrad it's more about identifying random structures or things are pretty straight forward from the book. In medical school it is the art of reading minds. You have to be able to get into the head of your professors and sort of tease out the important aspects of what they have said then. Then understand that as a concept and be able to apply it to a scenario where they ask about it. I know this sounds weird, but here's an example of a question "A rodeo clown hit by the horns of the bull immediately above the piriformis muscle. What muscle is affected?" So it's testing your knowledge of what nerve passes there and what it innervates. The professor had gone on and on about the nerves in that area and what each innervated, so in medical school, you had to sort of "know" that for this professor the nerves in that vicinity were more important than other topics he talked about.

My recommendation on how to study during anatomy is 2-fold: 1) Create an outline of only the key points discussed in each lecture not exceeding 2 pages typed. 2) Use anki with images just to to be able to test yourself as to general naming of things such as muscles.
Click to expand...

thanks for the explanation...

in regards to anki..I'd like to use anki from Day 1...although I don't know if I'll know the best way to create anki decks right out of the gate...or at least not well enough to really prep for my first test.

I have my course schedule and can figure out what my first exam is going to be testing...is there a place I can browse pre-made anki decks to use for this early material?
 
yanks26dmb said:
thanks for the explanation...

in regards to anki..I'd like to use anki from Day 1...although I don't know if I'll know the best way to create anki decks right out of the gate...or at least not well enough to really prep for my first test.

I have my course schedule and can figure out what my first exam is going to be testing...is there a place I can browse pre-made anki decks to use for this early material?
Click to expand...

What is your goal for using Anki?

Do you want to use it as an aid for class or have everything consolidated for boards studying?
 
yanks26dmb said:
thanks for the explanation...

in regards to anki..I'd like to use anki from Day 1...although I don't know if I'll know the best way to create anki decks right out of the gate...or at least not well enough to really prep for my first test.

I have my course schedule and can figure out what my first exam is going to be testing...is there a place I can browse pre-made anki decks to use for this early material?
Click to expand...
I tried using Anki since day 1 for learning facts about the class, but that didn't work for me at all. Everything was jumbled up and random. I wasn't able to really make the connections well. I wasn't able to memorize that many facts and do well on my test. What did work for me was just using Anki to identify things on an image. At this point I only use it for histology. What worked for me was making a 2 page summary that I could follow.

In classes after that what worked for me was using Quizlet and modifying my cards to my learning needs. I put images on all cards with either a slide or an image, which help me keep context and recall the card. I stopped making my cards as a quiz about little random factoids (e.g. What test is used to confirm H influenza infection?) but instead about concepts such as "how does scoliosis develop in utero?" and then using them progressively as if reviewing key points of the lecture rather than reviewing them at random. I know some people that make on average 60+ cards per lecture hours using factoids quiz. I make 6-9 cards per lecture hour using concepts.

Hope that the first thing you try works for you. Then you can just use that technique for all classes. It took me a while to really find what worked for me. Once I did my quality of life shot up because I knew that as long as I did what I did I could succeed in that class and am generally ready 1-2 days before the test to get ~80. Before I had to wake up 4 hours before each test, continue cramming and hoping that I passed.
 
chizledfrmstone said:
What is your goal for using Anki?

Do you want to use it as an aid for class or have everything consolidated for boards studying?
Click to expand...

Ideally both.

I learn extremely well with flash cards so if I could have something off the bat, that would be very helpful for the I inundation of material in the first week or two of classes.

I figure once I see what my professors are looking for and how detailed to get, I can start making my own anki cards...
 
Neuro sucked but for me pharm was always my beast. Took the most work and time for me to remember the drugs, MOAs, indications, contraindications, adverse effects, etc. I did well in pharm but only because I devoted so much time to it.

Micro and anatomy were generally easy for me but I was a micro major and I took anatomy and advanced anatomy in undergrad and directed for and taught the anatomy lab.
 
Pharm = Immuno > biochem/genetics > Neuro > all else.

I just simply hate pure memorization.
 
It will largely depend on your learning style, professors, and time you put in. Most of the courses weren't difficult but a few are definitely time consuming (anatomy/pharm).
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Neuro > Biochem >>> Anatomy > repro > immunology > resp > renal >cardio > heme/onc > MSK > endo > geriatrics > pediatrics > Psych > Derm > EM

I was not a science major as an undergrad, had to learn pretty much everything from scratch each course until late in 2nd year where you start making second passes through some of the material.
 
Last edited:
For all of you posters talking about your hardest classes; i.e.biochem, pharm....does this mean you're on a non-integrated systems curriculum? Or are you just referring to the hardest parts of each system..?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Class Rank Importance?
Replies
15
Views
10K
Dr. Anonymouss
Dr. Anonymouss
P
Advice Needed: Am I Getting Ghosted by This Doctor?
Replies
4
Views
2K
voxveritatisetlucis
V
I
Does class rank matter if its ONLY preclinicals?
Replies
9
Views
4K
Cornfed101
Cornfed101
M
how much harder does OMM make your life?
2
Replies
53
Views
6K
Goro
Goro
MonsterGod
How did you guys decide on your specialty?
Replies
10
Views
3K
AlbinoHawk DO
AlbinoHawk DO
Top Bottom