Year One Textbooks

[xffan624]

So... what if I REALLY want to pre-study because I am freaking out that I am completely unqualified and that getting into an MD school was a fluke? And this is made worse by the fact that at my school pre-clin is 1.5 years (so I better be on top of boards).

Whats the best book/thing to get through? The 500pg physiology text above? Or any good resource for anatomy (I am scared, I don't even know the names of the two long bones in the leg)?

I didn't either. I did fine in my courses in MS1. If you want a head start though, they're the tibia and fibula.

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[Pasmal]

I wouldn't recommend buying books ahead of time; it's a crapshoot. I sat in the medical library during M1 and went through resources to try to find the best ones for me personally. I ended up checking out the good ones and buying them if they were good enough to use for review during M2.

 

[DrEnderW]

If you want a head start though, they're the tibia and fibula.

Could have sworn it was tibula and fibia...

 

[Anastomoses]

The best advice I can give you, Mr. premed...though I make it a habit not to talk to premeds, is be fascinated. Dive in with all the curiosity of a 2nd grader and first year will rock your pants off. All in all, can you believe what people would have paid to know what we know about the human body about 100 years ago?

 

[DocVapor]

The best advice I can give you, Mr. premed...though I make it a habit not to talk to premeds, is be fascinated. Dive in with all the curiosity of a 2nd grader and first year will rock your pants off. All in all, can you believe what people would have paid to know what we know about the human body about 100 years ago?

1 Meeeeeelion dollars?

 

[Anastomoses]

1 Meeeeeelion dollars?

more.

 

[Priapism4tooLong]

The best advice I can give you, Mr. premed...though I make it a habit not to talk to premeds, is be fascinated. Dive in with all the curiosity of a 2nd grader and first year will rock your pants off. All in all, can you believe what people would have paid to know what we know about the human body about 100 years ago?

Why don't you like talking to premeds? Is it because you think you are better than them?

 

[Serous Demilune]

Why don't you like talking to premeds? Is it because you think you are better than them?

That's the definition of a med student

 

[PL198]

BRS is 100x more necessary than any textbook for first year.

 

[Anastomoses]

Why don't you like talking to premeds? Is it because you think you are better than them?

Because it's painfully boring. Before I got into med school I didn't try to bore other people with my "hopefulness". Most of them won't get in and they are just wasting my time and theirs. Once they get in, then we can talk about tangibles.

Don't misunderstand, I'll talk to them about shoes and cars and sports.

 

[DermViser]

BRS is 100x more necessary than any textbook for first year.

You can know BRS back and forth and still fail course exams.

 

[PL198]

You can know BRS back and forth and still fail course exams.

Well yeah which is why I said than any textbook. However I still think even the most nitpicky stuff, someone would be able to get a grasp of enough to pass course exams with just BRS, and I go to a school where our class exams are nothing like USMLE questions or exams.

 

[masaraksh]

BRS is 100x more necessary than any textbook for first year.

Bulk Reefer Supply?

 

[NontradCA]

Not as bad as I thought it would be. Granted I buy cheap knock-off cartridges that I'm sure are slowly destroying the printer somehow, but the print quality is pretty good and I get about 2000 pages from a $30 cartridge (vs. $70 for the OEM ones).

What's wrong with an iPad, you tree ravager.

 

[NickNaylor]

What's wrong with an iPad, you tree ravager.

I don't like doing long-term reading on electronic devices - I'm old school, what can I say.

 

[starstarie]

I was one of those "trying to pre-study" kids too... Id been out of school a while and am quite an anxious person. I bought first aid before classes started. Opened it once, realized it was insane and then closed it again and got back to my summer. Seriously, the 2 months of studying you do will be the equivileant of 1 week or less when classes start. Just not worth it. Without the structure of school its pretty impossible to get much out of it, in my experience.

 

[DermViser]

What's wrong with an iPad, you tree ravager.

You can't highlight text and write in it.

 

[DermViser]

I was one of those "trying to pre-study" kids too... Id been out of school a while and am quite an anxious person. I bought first aid before classes started. Opened it once, realized it was insane and then closed it again and got back to my summer. Seriously, the 2 months of studying you do will be the equivileant of 1 week or less when classes start. Just not worth it. Without the structure of school its pretty impossible to get much out of it, in my experience.

First Aid is not meant to read like chapters in a textbook.

 

[Amygdarya]

You can't highlight text and write in it.

Actually, you can.

 

[DermViser]

Actually, you can.

Every time you open up the book on your iPad? It saves your notes and highlights when you open it up?

 

[Anastomoses]

Every time you open up the book on your iPad? It saves your notes and highlights when you open it up?

Actually, yeah. I could highlight/take notes on Guyton pages on my tablet. And they stay that way.

 

[DermViser]

Actually, yeah. I could highlight/take notes on Guyton pages on my tablet. And they stay that way.

I like the physical highlighting and actual writing one can do in books. They've done studies showing that your neuronal circuitry changes when you actively write and highlight (write more than highlight) when you learn and recall things. Unless the iPad allows you to do the same with a stylus or something.

 

[username456789]

Every time you open up the book on your iPad? It saves your notes and highlights when you open it up?

I've been doing some Bolognia/Andrews reading on a tablet lately (I much prefer the real thing to electronic, but lugging around two volumes of Bolognia isn't practical) and the nice part is that highlighting/notes are saved. Unfortunately, there's no way to transfer real world highlighting/notes into the PDF (well, except the obvious tedious option).

That said, I learn best when taking physical pen/paper notes. It's how I got through med school.

 

[Anastomoses]

I like the physical highlighting and actual writing one can do in books. They've done studies showing that your neuronal circuitry changes when you actively write and highlight (write more than highlight) when you learn and recall things. Unless the iPad allows you to do the same with a stylus or something.

I don't highlight anything anyway. Hightlighting (even w/o the benefit of studies linked to my neuronal circuitry) turns off my brain instantly. Writing/paraphrasing/having an off thought or link in my life related to the mechanism or material I'm reading...that does it for me.

 

[Anastomoses]

I was one of those "trying to pre-study" kids too... Id been out of school a while and am quite an anxious person. I bought first aid before classes started. Opened it once, realized it was insane and then closed it again and got back to my summer. Seriously, the 2 months of studying you do will be the equivileant of 1 week or less when classes start. Just not worth it. Without the structure of school its pretty impossible to get much out of it, in my experience.

You can't pre-study Review Books...which is what FA is. FA is a hot mess if you haven't studied that material yet.

However...you can prestudy with better material. This isn't directed at you starstarie:

It's really weird when people on SDN tell other students not to prestudy. Apparently it's hard for them to remember those months leading up to med school when you're ready to pop out of your buttons and just...conquer medicine. Some people need to prestudy...not to mention, there ARE things you can do to benefit yourself. It's not like as soon as lectures start, boom a magical button goes off and you get to learn the real stuff.

 

[DermViser]

I don't highlight anything anyway. Hightlighting (even w/o the benefit of studies linked to my neuronal circuitry) turns off my brain instantly. Writing/paraphrasing/having an off thought or link in my life related to the mechanism or material I'm reading...that does it for me.

Well actual highlighting doesn't do it as much, as it's entirely passive. When you're writing, your brain is actively filtering the information as to what is important and what is not (as is linking a piece of information to a life experience -- I did that too!). It's the synaptic plasticity (thus changing the neuronal circuitry) in this process that allows you to retain and recall information. Highlighting doesn't do it as much.

 

[Amygdarya]

Every time you open up the book on your iPad? It saves your notes and highlights when you open it up?

I like the physical highlighting and actual writing one can do in books. They've done studies showing that your neuronal circuitry changes when you actively write and highlight (write more than highlight) when you learn and recall things. Unless the iPad allows you to do the same with a stylus or something.

Handwriting with a stylus is still a little awkward but it is possible (depending on how much you write and how neat your handwriting is); you can certainly draw diagrams etc. You can also insert typed notes pretty much anywhere in the text. Highlighting is no problem at all. All the notes and highlights are saved.

I like physical books as well, but the obvious advantage of the electronic ones is that you can have multiple tomes on a single slim gadget and don't have to shlep around humongous medical books, as GuyWhoDoesStuff mentioned.

I, too, have heard that handwriting helps with remembering things better than typing does, which is why I'm planning to make handwritten outlines... but we'll see how it goes when I actually start medical school

 

[DermViser]

You can't pre-study Review Books...which is what FA is. FA is a hot mess if you haven't studied that material yet.

However...you can prestudy with better material. This isn't directed at you starstarie:

It's really weird when people on SDN tell other students not to prestudy. Apparently it's hard for them to remember those months leading up to med school when you're ready to pop out of your buttons and just...conquer medicine. Some people need to prestudy...not to mention, there ARE things you can do to benefit yourself. It's not like as soon as lectures start, boom a magical button goes off and you get to learn the real stuff.

I don't think it's the actual prestudying that's the issue for people who advise against it on SDN (not me). The problem is that the person asking about prestudying goes all gungho and puts forth such a huge amount of effort and energy that by the time they start classes, they've exhausted themselves, with little benefit to show for it and not being that much farther ahead than their . We aren't talking about people lazily flipping through Netter's cards to get the Anatomy terminology down - we're talking about people freakin' reading chapters in Moore and Dalley's Clinically Oriented Anatomy, thinking they're going to be so far ahead.

 

[DermViser]

I've been doing some Bolognia/Andrews reading on a tablet lately (I much prefer the real thing to electronic, but lugging around two volumes of Bolognia isn't practical) and the nice part is that highlighting/notes are saved. Unfortunately, there's no way to transfer real world highlighting/notes into the PDF (well, except the obvious tedious option).

That said, I learn best when taking physical pen/paper notes. It's how I got through med school.

Oh, ok, it's a PDF version of Bolognia and Andrews viewed on an iPad with highlighting and typed comments through Adobe Acrobat. Yes, the books are a pain to lug around esp. if you have to travel between sites. I wonder if it's different if you could read it on a Tablet PC and write on it using a stylus.

 

[Wordead]

Is it just me or does Guyton sound like it could be a type of cheese?

That's because you've heard of Gruyere and your brain is getting confused, you DAMN RUBE. A TYPE OF CHEESE? I HATE YOU. I BET YOU CANT EVEN PRONOUNCE CHARCUTERIE

/rabid mini-stroke

 

[Psai]

You can't pre-study Review Books...which is what FA is. FA is a hot mess if you haven't studied that material yet.

However...you can prestudy with better material. This isn't directed at you starstarie:

It's really weird when people on SDN tell other students not to prestudy. Apparently it's hard for them to remember those months leading up to med school when you're ready to pop out of your buttons and just...conquer medicine. Some people need to prestudy...not to mention, there ARE things you can do to benefit yourself. It's not like as soon as lectures start, boom a magical button goes off and you get to learn the real stuff.

Dude I can barely remember the stuff I learned for step 1 already and I basically killed myself for the past few weeks trying to learn it all. If I tried to start early, I don't think I would have put in the same time and dedication. Before you start medical school, you greatly underestimate the amount of material you cover every day. I still think pre-studying is a waste of time because you won't get through much, you won't remember much and what you do remember will probably be unimportant.

 

[DermViser]

Dude I can barely remember the stuff I learned for step 1 already and I basically killed myself for the past few weeks trying to learn it all. If I tried to start early, I don't think I would have put in the same time and dedication. Before you start medical school, you greatly underestimate the amount of material you cover every day. I still think pre-studying is a waste of time because you won't get through much, you won't remember much and what you do remember will probably be unimportant.

I could be wrong, but I think she's referring to more of an advantage of breeding familiarity with the material so that the class syllabus is not as overwhelming.

 

[masaraksh]

That's because you've heard of Gruyere and your brain is getting confused, you DAMN RUBE. A TYPE OF CHEESE? I HATE YOU. I BET YOU CANT EVEN PRONOUNCE CHARCUTERIE

/rabid mini-stroke

Wrong.

I have heard of Gruyere (and actually I lived in Zurich for a year where it is very popular). I am rather well versed in cheeses.

However, I still believe that Guyton can pass as a name for a cheese.

I think FROMAGERIE is more relevant to this topic.

 

[username456789]

Oh, ok, it's a PDF version of Bolognia and Andrews viewed on an iPad with highlighting and typed comments through Adobe Acrobat. Yes, the books are a pain to lug around esp. if you have to travel between sites. I wonder if it's different if you could read it on a Tablet PC and write on it using a stylus.




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I actually have a Microsoft Surface Pro 2 that I bought not too long ago, and it comes with a stylus that works pretty well.

That said, I still really only read Derm books (and they are PDFs) on it when I'm traveling. At home, I've got the actual book in front of me, and I take a good number of handwritten notes on college-ruled notebook paper in a big binder. Not quite as extensive/obsessive as my med school notes, but still a decent amount of effort/work put in.