Tips for review anatomy/physio prior to medical school?

[pdqpdq]

I know most people would suggest not to study prior to matriculating, but due to COVID19 I have too much free time + quarantined. I am looking to just refamiliarize myself with basic anatomy - not study. I have heard from MS2's at the school I'll be attending that anatomy is extremely rigorous on MS1's and many students have to repeat. I barely remember any anatomy from undergrad. If I wanted to review some high yield anatomy in advance how would you go about doing so?


Thanks in advance.

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[aSagacious]

The atlas that my school used was Gilroy/Thieme. It's not "high yield" since it's an exhaustive textbook, but if you want to learn anatomy it's very good. I won't chime in as to whether one should prestudy.

 

[scubascuba]

I really like the Complete Anatomy app (~$50). It's a detailed 3D anatomy model and they have a few courses that run through all the body systems which I found pretty useful.

 

[deleted1005514]

I recommend Rohen’s, plus a good atlas like Thieme. Rohen’s gets you accustomed to seeing cadaver images, and I think there’s a Rohen’s anki deck somewhere.

 

[gatorsbruh]

Complete Anatomy app. For me it was one of the best and most worthwhile $15 I've ever spent on study materials. It was my savior for reviewing anatomy on surgical aways and I highly recommend it

You sound committed to pre-studying, but please don' t overdo it. As one of my interns told me (an MS4), "Enjoy every relaxing moment. Even those times you're sitting on the couch bored with nothing to do. Because you're about to not be bored again for a very long time"

 

[Tiran145]

Ya we are actually doing our heart anatomy via complete anatomy due to campus shutting down so noncadavers. It’s pretty good

 

[datboi_58]

There’s a few FREE online courses (as well as many other cool ones) on Edx.org. Most are self-paced and you can just bounce around to whatever topic you want to learn. Not super in-depth but also not just completely basic from what I’ve seen so far.

 

[esob]

Depends on what your intention is. If you want to learn where things are and what they look like so that you can feel comfortable in the lab, then one of the above-mentioned apps will work. If, instead, you want to be able to answer anatomy based questions for written exams, then you should use something that has content and questions, ie, boards and beyond, RX360, Amboss, etc.

 

[premed_mamba]

Just download the dope anatomy deck in anki and go through that.

 

[Domepiece]

Netters or bust
but also go get an Xbox or something and spend your time doing that instead

 

[swoopy]

For anatomy:

• Atlases:
  • Netters
  • Complete Anatomy app
• Texts:
  • Moore's Clinically Oriented Anatomy (there's a "big" and a "baby" version)

For physiology: Costanzo Physiology

Biochem (Lippincott's).

video resources: Boards and Beyond, Sketchy Pharm, Dr. Satter's Pathoma vids, Physeo

Hope that helps.

 

[Captain_Falcon]

Dont bother, the impact itll have is marginal at best. Do yourself a favor and learn how to cook or bake something new. Read a new book series you've never had time to. Pick up a new exercise, be that running cycling swimming yoga etc.

 

[protectyaneck]

Don't. The only "preparation" you should do for medical school is learning to live away from home/college if you haven't done that before. Or get better at it (e.g., cooking, exercise).

 

[Ho0v-man]

The majority of your class has never taken anatomy. It’ll be fine. I had a very good anatomy background prior to med school and it only provided a marginal advantage.

We actually were conducting a study on mine and several other classes at the time I did anatomy. The only significant advantages in performance were in those with a 1+ year background in cadaver dissection. Even then, the top performers frequently had no anatomy background. So whatever you accomplish in this interval is very likely to be of no utility.

 

[esob]

The majority of your class has never taken anatomy. It’ll be fine. I had a very good anatomy background prior to med school and it only provided a marginal advantage.

We actually were conducting a study on mine and several other classes at the time I did anatomy. The only significant advantages in performance were in those with a 1+ year background in cadaver dissection. Even then, the top performers frequently had no anatomy background. So whatever you accomplish in this interval is very likely to be of no utility.

I would simply say to OP to take any advice as an n=1. At my school, for example, many of the top performers were on their 2+ wet lab from SMP's, MS programs or previous health care occupations (such as PT).

Also, after about 3 weeks in medical school, I realized that everything I needed to know for NBME exams and step 1 was in 1st Aid. Since then, I haven't attended lectures and have used boards and Rx exclusively. Those 3 weeks in med school didn't fundamentally change me which is why I find it perplexing when people say "don't study bnb or 1st aid b/c you won't learn anything until your a medical student." Prior to urban legend, nothing changes when you become a medical student except the workload, which is why taking some of that heft off your plate prior to starting seems like a no brainer.

TLDR; the material doesn't change; only the amount of time you have to cover it changes.

 

[Ho0v-man]

I would simply say to OP to take any advice as an n=1. At my school, for example, many of the top performers were on their 2+ wet lab from SMP's, MS programs or previous health care occupations (such as PT).

Also, after about 3 weeks in medical school, I realized that everything I needed to know for NBME exams and step 1 was in 1st Aid. Since then, I haven't attended lectures and have used boards and Rx exclusively. Those 3 weeks in med school didn't fundamentally change me which is why I find it perplexing when people say "don't study bnb or 1st aid b/c you won't learn anything until your a medical student." Prior to urban legend, nothing changes when you become a medical student except the workload, which is why taking some of that heft off your plate prior to starting seems like a no brainer.

TLDR; the material doesn't change; only the amount of time you have to cover it changes.

Agree with the bolded. But that’s certainly nowhere close to what you need to pass any anatomy exam at my school. Tuning out the class minutiae and focusing on board material works pretty well for classes like path and phys but you will absolutely fail in a major way if you do that in anatomy. I think it’s fine for something like sketchy micro if you just have to pre-study but anatomy typically varies considerably between schools so I don’t think it applies. OP says their anatomy is notoriously rigorous and NBME anatomy is a joke so that’s why I’d recommend just waiting until he/she starts and learn from the school material.

But like you said it’s an n=1 scenario I guess.

 

[esob]

Agree with the bolded. But that’s certainly nowhere close to what you need to pass any anatomy exam at my school. Tuning out the class minutiae and focusing on board material works pretty well for classes like path and phys but you will absolutely fail in a major way if you do that in anatomy. I think it’s fine for something like sketchy micro if you just have to pre-study but anatomy typically varies considerably between schools so I don’t think it applies. OP says their anatomy is notoriously rigorous and NBME anatomy is a joke so that’s why I’d recommend just waiting until he/she starts and learn from the school material.

But like you said it’s an n=1 scenario I guess.

This is a fair point, as I can only speak to NBME anatomy exams.

 

[aSagacious]

Tangentially related to the above...

I know that the above posters are not recommending studying to the boards at the expense of "minutiae." But I have heard a bunch of people over the years recommend studying Step prep material in lieu of their med school lectures.

I would like to make a plug for trying to learn "everything about everything." Sure, it's lower yield, way more work, and not necessarily going to be on the USMLE's. However, I can't tell you how many times in real life I come across something and the only reason I can Google my way to the diagnosis is because somewhere in the cobwebs of my memory I vaguely recall learning about something once in my preclinical years.

You are only going to have the patience to methodically and systematically learn about the entire human body once. Might as well give it your all the first time around. Your future self will thank you.

I will now dismount my high horse.

 

[esob]

Tangentially related to the above...

I know that the above posters are not recommending studying to the boards at the expense of "minutiae." But I have heard a bunch of people over the years recommend studying Step prep material in lieu of their med school lectures.

I would like to make a plug for trying to learn "everything about everything." Sure, it's lower yield, way more work, and not necessarily going to be on the USMLE's. However, I can't tell you how many times in real life I come across something and the only reason I can Google my way to the diagnosis is because somewhere in the cobwebs of my memory I vaguely recall learning about something once in my preclinical years.

You are only going to have the patience to methodically and systematically learn about the entire human body once. Might as well give it your all the first time around. Your future self will thank you.

I will now dismount my high horse.

I think this would be perfect (and what I attempted initially) if we could just throw out 2 years worth of nonsense classwork from undergrad and make med school 6 years. Unfortunately, the breadth of knowledge about the human body coupled with the need to maintain EC's and even squeeze in the tiniest bit of personal time to maintain your sanity makes this approach untenable for most. I would even wager that it is a component to the phenomena of the steady decline in empathy experienced during the preclinical years.

It is admirable, however, if you are able to maintain that pace while keeping your well-being intact. I haven't personally met anyone yet who could.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Depends on what your intention is. If you want to learn where things are and what they look like so that you can feel comfortable in the lab, then one of the above-mentioned apps will work. If, instead, you want to be able to answer anatomy based questions for written exams, then you should use something that has content and questions, ie, boards and beyond, RX360, Amboss, etc.

God please do not buy these resources before med school. For one, everyone responds to them differently. Free trials are really important because what works great for someone may not work at all for someone else, and you really can’t tell if it will work until you’re actually using it to learn the material in school. Also schools almost always have really good group discounts.

 

[esob]

God please do not buy these resources before med school. For one, everyone responds to them differently. Free trials are really important because what works great for someone may not work at all for someone else, and you really can’t tell if it will work until you’re actually using it to learn the material in school. Also schools almost always have really good group discounts.

Exactly, free trials for all of them are a smart idea. That said, however, we are one of the largest medical schools in the country and we didn't get discounts on any products outside of what the company offers on a national level to everyone, so I'm not entirely sure what kind of discount y'all got, unless you mean the five finger discount.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Exactly, free trials for all of them are a smart idea. That said, however, we are one of the largest medical schools in the country and we didn't get discounts on any products outside of what the company offers on a national level to everyone, so I'm not entirely sure what kind of discount y'all got, unless you mean the five finger discount.

No we got like 50% off almost every resource through group discounts via our school. Rx, amboss, etc.

 

[esob]

No we got like 50% off almost every resource through group discounts via our school. Rx, amboss, etc.

Nice, I'm an RX ambassador and I've only ever seen 40%, but they offer that everywhere. I do know amboss does some group discounts, I forgot about them.

 

[deleted1005514]

Exactly, free trials for all of them are a smart idea. That said, however, we are one of the largest medical schools in the country and we didn't get discounts on any products outside of what the company offers on a national level to everyone, so I'm not entirely sure what kind of discount y'all got, unless you mean the five finger discount.

Someone from our school (a student) will usually contact the resource and ask them for a group discount, then advertise it on our class facebook page. Sometimes they offer the discount no matter how many students sign up, and sometimes they stipulate a minimum number of students in the group to offer the discount.

 

[esob]

Someone from our school (a student) will usually contact the resource and ask them for a group discount, then advertise it on our class facebook page. Sometimes they offer the discount no matter how many students sign up, and sometimes they stipulate a minimum number of students in the group to offer the discount.

Are you talking about amboss specifically (b/c I have seen that) or other resources? I have not heard of BNB giving a group discount and I know RX's max discounts are through the ambassadors, which have nothing to do with group #.

 

[deleted1005514]

Are you talking about amboss specifically (b/c I have seen that) or other resources? I have not heard of BNB giving a group discount and I know RX's max discounts are through the ambassadors, which have nothing to do with group #.

I've seen it with amboss for sure, and I've met osmosis ambassadors before. Not sure about others specifically, just remember seeing posts on and off about discounts last year. I don't remember seeing BnB discounts though.