Textbooks in medschool

[jw020]

i'm really excited to be starting my first semester at COMP next month. But one thing that has hit me has been the loads of textbooks that i saw as "required".

Now in undergrad it was really common for us to opt out of textbooks and still perfectly fine in classes (exceptions exist of course). I wanted to see what everyone else's opinion and how they approached the textbook load? (no need to be COMP but thats always great too =D)

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[supergumbo]

I'm concerned with this too. Many would say it's just like buying books in undergrad, assess the ones you need and forget the rest. However, med school seems like a whole different beast, and I bought a good # of the books (for low price of course, amazon is the way to go imo) just to feel safe and start class on the right foot.

 

[Semicolon]

I have heard from current students that purchasing the required texts are a huge waste of money, and that it is better to focus on board review books that you can follow along with your lectures and note packets.

 

[iluvmed&ba6eekh]

i'm really excited to be starting my first semester at COMP next month. But one thing that has hit me has been the loads of textbooks that i saw as "required".

Now in undergrad it was really common for us to opt out of textbooks and still perfectly fine in classes (exceptions exist of course). I wanted to see what everyone else's opinion and how they approached the textbook load? (no need to be COMP but thats always great too =D)

I'm actually at COMP now for ISAC, and so far I've learned that you don't really have to buy all the "required" textbooks. Most of the current students that I've talked to have told me that they mostly use lecture notes and board review books, and so far, I've been doing the same.

Talking to current students has been the best help for me, they're pretty cool and have great advice.

Join the COMP 2013 facebook group is you haven't already done so!

 

[XRanger]

My curriculum starts with anatomy and biochemistry....do you know which board review books are good for these subjects?
for anatomy, would netter's alone be enough? for biochem, I'm thinking either rapid review or BRS, which one would you recommend?

 

[JAR]

There will be plenty of powerpoint slides and handouts to go over leaving very little time to use textbooks. If you don't understand on a slide/handout, look it up online.

 

[jw020]

I'm actually at COMP now for ISAC, and so far I've learned that you don't really have to buy all the "required" textbooks. Most of the current students that I've talked to have told me that they mostly use lecture notes and board review books, and so far, I've been doing the same.

Talking to current students has been the best help for me, they're pretty cool and have great advice.

Join the COMP 2013 facebook group is you haven't already done so!

Thanks very much for the info. So I assume it'd probably be wiser to just wait and see as classes start to note which books to get?

 

[iluvmed&ba6eekh]

Thanks very much for the info. So I assume it'd probably be wiser to just wait and see as classes start to note which books to get?

In my opinion, yes. And as mentioned before, you're most likely not gonna have time to read all those textbooks they "require."

But I've only been here for three weeks, so it might be a good idea to ask others as well.

 

[danzman]

Books are for losers. Google is far better. Seriously though, you will never need a book.

 

[Mochajonz]

It really depends on how your curriculum is set up as to whether or not you need books.

If you go to a lecture based program you may be able to get away with a few required books and review books.

The review book mentality may make it easier to get good grades, but won't help you get a higher scores on board exams.

 

[metalmd06]

I'm in a PBL program, so the primary source of my learning is through textbooks. I really think that it is valuable to have at least one textbook for each major subject. If you're in the lecture based curriculum, you can use them to prepare the night before, or clarify information you didn't quite understand during lecture. This is what I did for our fundamentals course; the first 7 weeks of school. I would not advise buying review books and using them as a primary source. While they are a valuable resource, they don't present the information in a way that is readily understandable. They assume you know the information and reinforce key concepts. Take First Aid or the rapid review series for example. First aid pretty much just states facts and provides stuff like pneumonics. Rapid review is in outline form. Books like Guyton (phys), Robbins(path), and parham (immuno) will fill in the why for those facts and help you make connections. Reading is key in medical school.

 

[jw020]

thanks metal for the input. For clarification, It's not that I didn't intend to buy textbooks, more just confused on how to approach which books to buy (i'm quite certain you aren't suggesting to buy all the listed "required"). I think for the moment though, i'll wait until the 1st week of classes to see how the lectures/professors operate. Thanks very much for the input!

 

[Trevelyan]

Well, unless things change, my experience in my first two years of COMP was that all you needed pretty much were the Power Points and Word documents that get posted on Black Board. I rarely used books.

 

[Georgie Zephan]

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[TexasTriathlete]

I stand firmly in the "no textbooks" camp