some tips on lecom core (following anatomy)

[Igor4sugry]

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I want to offer some hints on what resources to use during your core courses (biochem, micro, phys). It is also important to note that anatomy was the easy part of the 1st year. Core has more information and less time to study it, so it is important to study correctly.

[1] BioChem
I found the required Marks textbook to be too long.
Use
A. Lippincott Biochem (http://www.amazon.com/Lippincotts-I...try-American/dp/0781769604/ref=dp_ob_title_bk) it has many good pictures.
B. BRS Biochem

[2] Immunology
Lectures alone are good, and I found the Immunology section in Lange review of micro/immuno quite helpful. http://www.amazon.com/Review-Medica...=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255181669&sr=1-6

[3] Micro
This is a pure memorization course. On the exams you are litteraly respoinsible for 60+ bacteria or 40+ viruses.
Once again, the required textbook had too much information to sift through. The best way to memorize all these is to make tables. The tables should will give you all the important information at a glance, and can be used very quickly to review. They take time to make, but save a lot of time in the end. Table should be in column format having the following columns (Organism; Virulence Factors; Clinical Presentation; Treatment; Transmission)
Use
A. Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple http://www.amazon.com/Clinical-Micr...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255180870&sr=1-1
B. Micro cards: http://www.amazon.com/Microcards-Re...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255180890&sr=1-1
-> These are especially useful b/c they have small clinical vignettes and show the most high yield information on each bug/virus.


[4] Physiology
This can be a difficult subject because it cannot be memorized. It is heavy on the boards and the concepts can take time to learn and understand. The lectures alone are not sufficient, I strongly suggest reading the required textbook. Also use the practice problems from the question book (http://www.amazon.com/Guyton-Hall-P...=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255181444&sr=1-5)

Hope this helps.

Good luck

 

[engineeredout]

Awesome post, thanks. I was definitely wondering what books to actually buy for core. Are there any good practice problem books for micro/immuno? I assume that BRS biochem has problems like BRS Gross (which is my bible) right?

Scary to think that anatomy is the easy part. I'm getting through it all right (though that might be debatable depending on how the head and neck exam goes), but still it's hard to imagine something worse. I'm sure it'll all work out though.

Thanks again.

 

[bleeker10]

Thanks for the post. I bought all the required books because I will be reimbursed by the Army. Looking through them, I can see a trend of which ones I will actually use. The physio book seemed to be really dense and not easy to read and keep up with on a daily basis. I bought the BRS Physio book but I was told by a second year that the study guide that goes along with Guyton's is better. What do you think?

 

[ChiDO]

Different students learn different ways; if you found what you do in anatomy useful, then follow the same pattern. If you like reading the books, do it; if you don't, don't. This is what I used:

Biochem: Lecture notes + RR Biochem (rarely)
Micro: Lecture notes (made tables) + CMMRS (just read it once during M1)
Immuno: Lecture notes only
Physio: Lecture + BRS
Path: Lecture notes + (Goljan during systems)