Relevant pre-reading suggestions

[ThreadStalker]

Let me apologize in advance if there are other threads pertaining to this topic, but I'm writing from my cell phone and the search function doesn't work.

Unfortunately, I never made it off the waiting list this year, so I'm already looking towards next year to (hopefully) matriculate. The upshot here is that I have a whole year of relative under-employment to prepare for school. I'm curious if anyone here, particularly current students, residents, or physicians, have suggestions for reading material or activities that are particularly helpful for preparing. I'm thinking about buying an anatomy book and flashcards and a book on memorization techniques. What other topics or tools would you all suggest?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ejw5075]

Let me apologize in advance if there are other threads pertaining to this topic, but I'm writing from my cell phone and the search function doesn't work.

Unfortunately, I never made it off the waiting list this year, so I'm already looking towards next year to (hopefully) matriculate. The upshot here is that I have a whole year of relative under-employment to prepare for school. I'm curious if anyone here, particularly current students, residents, or physicians, have suggestions for reading material or activities that are particularly helpful for preparing. I'm thinking about buying an anatomy book and flashcards and a book on memorization techniques. What other topics or tools would you all suggest?

Awesome handle

If you can learn anatomy, whether on your own or through a course I would highly recommend that. We have a couple masters of anatomy students who obviously know it very well but also an ex physical trainer who knows his stuff (and is a fantastic teacher for those of us who many not love the subject)...

Read Gawande's books and of course my blog if you want to be super successful

 

[Law2Doc]

Let me apologize in advance if there are other threads pertaining to this topic, but I'm writing from my cell phone and the search function doesn't work.

Unfortunately, I never made it off the waiting list this year, so I'm already looking towards next year to (hopefully) matriculate. The upshot here is that I have a whole year of relative under-employment to prepare for school. I'm curious if anyone here, particularly current students, residents, or physicians, have suggestions for reading material or activities that are particularly helpful for preparing. I'm thinking about buying an anatomy book and flashcards and a book on memorization techniques. What other topics or tools would you all suggest?

There are many threads on this topic and the consensus is NOT to try to pre-learn med school. There is really nothing you can do to get a leg up. You are almost always better off resting up and being fresh, ready to hit the ground running. Most of what makes med school hard is that you are learning how to learn the material at a certain pace and with a certain focus, not the material itself. There will be time in med school to learn what they want you to learn, and generally no one is ahead or significantly better prepared. Plus to a not small extent you can lock in "black pearls" if you try to learn things from resources your professors consider inaccurate, so often you would be better off never picking them up -- once you learn something it's very hard not to use that knowledge when rushing through a multiple choice test, even if you've later been told it's wrong. Watch all the House episodes if you must do something medically related.

 

[drizzt3117]

I'd consider getting a biochem book like lippincott's illustrated biochem, maybe a moore's and netter's, and take very detailed and neat notes that you can review in the future.

 

[ejw5075]

There are many threads on this topic and the consensus is NOT to try to pre-learn med school. There is really nothing you can do to get a leg up. You are almost always better off resting up and being fresh, ready to hit the ground running. Most of what makes med school hard is that you are learning how to learn the material at a certain pace and with a certain focus, not the material itself. There will be time in med school to learn what they want you to learn, and generally no one is ahead or significantly better prepared. Plus to a not small extent you can lock in "black pearls" if you try to learn things from resources your professors consider inaccurate, so often you would be better off never picking them up -- once you learn something it's very hard not to use that knowledge when rushing through a multiple choice test, even if you've later been told it's wrong. Watch all the House episodes if you must do something medically related.

isn't this typically the advice given for someone with a summer before medical school? OP has over a year...

 

[Law2Doc]

isn't this typically the advice given for someone with a summer before medical school? OP has over a year...

The time interval is irrelevant. Many of us had "glide" years and came to the same conclusion.

 

[ThreadStalker]

There are many threads on this topic and the consensus is NOT to try to pre-learn med school. There is really nothing you can do to get a leg up. You are almost always better off resting up and being fresh, ready to hit the ground running. Most of what makes med school hard is that you are learning how to learn the material at a certain pace and with a certain focus, not the material itself. There will be time in med school to learn what they want you to learn, and generally no one is ahead or significantly better prepared. Plus to a not small extent you can lock in "black pearls" if you try to learn things from resources your professors consider inaccurate, so often you would be better off never picking them up -- once you learn something it's very hard not to use that knowledge when rushing through a multiple choice test, even if you've later been told it's wrong. Watch all the House episodes if you must do something medically related.

I'll pass on House, Scrubs is more my style.

How about non-medical class subject books then? As in, what other sorts of knowledge (like the memorization technique book I mentioned) do you wish you had (or that you did have and found useful) before you started med school?

 

[mauberley]

My completely unfounded advice would be to read up on medical terminology if you must do some pre-gaming.

 

[Law2Doc]

My completely unfounded advice would be to read up on medical terminology if you must do some pre-gaming.

Read House of God. The more you know about gomers, turfing and circling the drain, the more ready you will be for the wards.

 

[Law2Doc]

My completely unfounded advice would be to read up on medical terminology if you must do some pre-gaming.

I'll pass on House, Scrubs is more my style.

How about non-medical class subject books then? As in, what other sorts of knowledge (like the memorization technique book I mentioned) do you wish you had (or that you did have and found useful) before you started med school?

If you can learn some Spanish that would serve you well at a lot of med schools. As for TV shows, you can at least learn a medical topic or two from House. Scrubs is purely entertainment. I've never gotten an answer right from scrubs, but I did snag a point on Step 3 from a House episode...

 

[mauberley]

Read House of God. The more you know about gomers, turfing and circling the drain, the more ready you will be for the wards.

Don't forget buffing.

 

[JESSFALLING]

I think the parts of MS1 that are the hardest for most students are anatomy, immunology, biochemistry, and neuro... All of those are difficult to prep for on your own, though...but if you can and want to try, those are the key areas.

Other than that, you might enjoy reading up on some psychology, nutrition, business, ethics, health policy, and medical terminology. I think that these topics will be of great use to you throughout your career.

 

[isoquin]

I would agree that pre-learning is not the way to go. I like the suggestion about learning Spanish.

 

[ThreadStalker]

If you can learn some Spanish that would serve you well at a lot of med schools. As for TV shows, you can at least learn a medical topic or two from House. Scrubs is purely entertainment. I've never gotten an answer right from scrubs, but I did snag a point on Step 3 from a House episode...

What do you mean "Scrubs is purely entertainment"! I thought that was what medicine was all about. I'm already working on the spanish, actually. Good to hear that others think this is a good idea. I do have to ask, though, are you seriously advising me to avoid reading anatomy for fear of acquiring "black pearls" but suggesting that there is useful (and accurate) knowledge to be gained from "House M.D.".

I think the parts of MS1 that are the hardest for most students are anatomy, immunology, biochemistry, and neuro... All of those are difficult to prep for on your own, though...but if you can and want to try, those are the key areas.

Other than that, you might enjoy reading up on some psychology, nutrition, business, ethics, health policy, and medical terminology. I think that these topics will be of great use to you throughout your career.

That's 2 votes for terminology, I'll look into that. If you have any specific title suggestions I'd love to hear them.

Thanks for all the input here!

 

[Law2Doc]

... I do have to ask, though, are you seriously advising me to avoid reading anatomy for fear of acquiring "black pearls" but suggesting that there is useful (and accurate) knowledge to be gained from "House M.D.".
...!

yes and here's why. When you "learn" something from a science text, you mentally "log" it away in your brain as good information. Even if maybe it turns out not to be. So it becomes very hard to unlearn.When you watch a TV show as entertainment you don't. Your brain knows this is something you are storing away in the pop culture and trivia garbage bin. So your brain never looks there first for the answer. But that doesn't mean that when you have no clue for an answer and are wracking your brain trying to come up with something, you wont be able to pull this back out of the bin. You will know it's suspect, and often recall where you "learned" it, so you can weight it accordingly. At least that's how my brain retrieval system seems to work. Which means that stuff you learn that purports to be actual knowledge is more dangerous in terms of black pearls, while stuff you "learn" from inane TV shows is less likely to trip you up because your mind is taught early on not to give these "facts" the same import.