What's the best resource for Step 1 Pharmacology?

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drmedstudent

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Lot of people recommend Lippincott Pharm. But I feel like its too detailed, and I'm not sure if its made specifically for Step 1, rather for learning general Pharm.

BQ: Anyone recommend using Lange Pharm Flashcards (rated as A+ by First Aid team) or Pharm Recall Book (which is a book and mp3 audio; rated as B+ by First Aid team)?
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My plan:

Kaplan Pharmacology Lecture notes + Brenner's Flash Cards

Going to try to keep it within the context of FA and not go over obscure drugs.
 
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I just finished Pharm yesterday. I used Kaplan and First Aid, but halfway through I realized that First Aid should be my main resource for Pharm. Lippincott's is definitely too detailed. As a matter of fact, Kaplan Pharm is too detailed. What I did during the latter half of my Pharm review was go over the Pharm sections in First Aid and then quickly read the corresponding section in Kaplan (and sometimes Lippincott's if there's something I needed to look up) and annotate the extra important things into First Aid.
I also used Brenner's flash cards (10 per day) as a way to keep the drugs fresh in my mind.
 
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For pharm I think what you need is a good flashcard stack. If you can get your hands on Lange Pharm Cards or any of the other cards with good reviews by other students, then you're pretty golden. It comes with a useful clinical vignette on one side and more info than you possibly need on the other.

Also, I thought the Baby Katzung book was good just for the list they have at the back for must know drugs. I did not read through the book but used it solely for consulting if I needed help to understand something.
 
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MilkmanAl said:
I read the pharm bits of FA and did all the UWorld pharm questions, and I'm pretty sure I just dominated the pharm shelf. I do need to brush up on all things adrenergic, though. 😛
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So you thought FA by itself is enough for the uworld questions then?
 
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Er...no, not really. I mean, it probably is technically, but I find it fairly difficult to integrate info on the level UWorld questions require after just reading the jumble of facts FA throws at you. Integrating info is usually a strength of mine, too. Basically, I think the two sources are on total opposite ends of the learning spectrum - mass memorization vs. active, integrative learning - and thus complement each other very well.
 
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Pharmacology topics worth reviewing in Katzung & Trevor's Pharmacology Review:
basic principles
adrenergics
cholinergics
CVS

The rest can be done from FA because it's straight up memorization and is relatively easy once you have the above topics down.

Set aside time intervals in your schedule to review material you have already covered up to that point. For example, 5 day interval of new material followed by 1/2 day of review of old material. Repeat.
 
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There was nothing on my exam for pharm that wasn't covered by firstaid or uw. Don't waste your time with other resources if you passed your med school classes with any understanding.
 
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bbm113 said:
There was nothing on my exam for pharm that wasn't covered by firstaid or uw. Don't waste your time with other resources if you passed your med school classes with any understanding.
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I disagree with this, I had 4-5 questions on pharm that were not in First Aid and not in UWorld--but then again those 4-5 questions may not be worth the extra time
 
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Cooolguy said:
I disagree with this, I had 4-5 questions on pharm that were not in First Aid and not in UWorld--but then again those 4-5 questions may not be worth the extra time
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Maybe I didn't say this right, for me first and and UW were enough. I guess its alot of the score your aiming for. You can get a solid 99 with only first aid and UW. Maybe you will get a few questions wrong, but it'll even out with all of the other subjects. When you start using alot of resources you take away from your time memorizing first aid and UW.

I guess if your already memorized first aid and hitting 250 on your NBMEs, add more resources.
 
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since First Aid doesnt stress much on Pharmacokinetics of each drug (ie. Drug-drug interactions, p450 thing, route of excretion, bioavailability) while review books like BRS, Lippincott, Katzung/Trevor do.....i was wondering if pharmacokinetics is asked a whole lot on the Step 1?

from the few questions that I've done in USMLErx, i havent gotten much/if any pharmacokinetics questions. (then again Rx mimics First Aid)..........i was wondering if you guys came across any such questions in the NBME tests, UWorld, real boards (for those who finished taking the test) etc
 
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You'll need to know the inducers/inhibitors of p450, for sure. For the other stuff you listed, it seems like knowing the big examples is sufficient. Toxicities are big. Method of action is ginormous.
 
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i havent gone thru all of it but is First Aid enough for the pharmacokinetics? ie. mentioning the big examples that you mentioned?

or do you recommend any outside source for pharmacokinetics?

and by toxicity you mean side effects right? lol (excuse my stupidity)
 
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i havent gone thru all of it but is First Aid enough for the pharmacokinetics? ie. mentioning the big examples that you mentioned?
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It'll get you most of them, yes, but I still recommend UWorld for the other 20-25% of stuff that FA doesn't cover directly.

and by toxicity you mean side effects right? lol (excuse my stupidity)
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Close enough. 😛
 
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knuckles said:
The Lange Pharm Cards are awesome. They were given the top grade by First Aid 2010, in the review section at the end.

They are concise, and pretty much contain all the must know facts. They're amazing for the class and I'm planning on integrating them into my pharm review this summer.

http://www.amazon.com/Lange-Pharmacology-Flash-Cards-Suzanne/dp/0071622411
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Ya i have Lange too. I really like them and they're rated as the best by First Aid. But a lot of people have Brenner flash cards (and a lot of people in this forum are also using Brenner).....

So any comments on LANGE VS. BRENNER........which is better?

Lange is A- by FA, Brenner is B+.
But Lange has only 189 flash cards........and Brenner has 576!!! Why so many? What does Brenner have that Lange doesn't?

Any thoughts?
 
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I'll give my vote for LANGE, although I should note that I don't have Brenner's nor have I ever used/seen them. With LANGE, I've been pulling out the cards applicable to each organ system as we've gone through the year. I add notes, draw pictures, highlight, etc. on the cards using class notes and the info. in the Pharm section of FA (and the tables from CMMRS for antimicrobials, etc.) for that organ system. It seems like the people who made the LANGE cards opened FA and copied it, which is actually kinda nice since it saves me time when I annotate them. When crunch month comes, I plan to use FA, UWorld, and go through the Pharm cards each night for maybe 30-45 min.
 
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drmedstudent said:
since First Aid doesnt stress much on Pharmacokinetics of each drug (ie. Drug-drug interactions, p450 thing, route of excretion, bioavailability) while review books like BRS, Lippincott, Katzung/Trevor do.....i was wondering if pharmacokinetics is asked a whole lot on the Step 1?

from the few questions that I've done in USMLErx, i havent gotten much/if any pharmacokinetics questions. (then again Rx mimics First Aid)..........i was wondering if you guys came across any such questions in the NBME tests, UWorld, real boards (for those who finished taking the test) etc
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Good question.. I ve been doing pharm for the last few days and I ve been wondering this myself. What is the correct level of pharm we should know?

FA basically lists A) the mechanism and B) if there are any larger-glaring adverse effects.. (except for ANS, and cardio where some physio is thrown in).

Is this the level we should aim to understand pharm for the boards?

Should we understand a bit more? Like if resistance developes to one drug what should be used next? ..etc:scared::scared:

P.S. i ll give my vote to Brenners... been using them lately. Never really looked into lange however.
 
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lol oh i didnt realize it was already in this thread....i found it from the same user on another thread....silly me. sry 4 being redundant
 
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