1st Year Courses

Exams

 * 4 Exams
 * Midterm Lab
 * Midterm Written
 * Final Lab
 * Final Written
 * The questions will be clinically oriented and for the most part second or third order. Study with this in mind.
 * Ex) A 48 year old male is involved in a skiing accident. He is complaining of pain in his upper right arm, and on x-ray you see a mid-shaft humerus fracture. What will be the most likely sign seen on physical exam?
 * A) wrist drop
 * B) flattened deltoid
 * C) inability to oppose thumb
 * D) Waiter’s tip sign
 * You have to know the radial nerve runs along the mid-shaft of the humerus and that it is responsible for the extensor muscles which oppose the flexor muscles in the forearm
 * Loss of this action → wrist drop.
 * Always learn anatomy which is associated with known disease. Most of these examples are found in the lecture material and in the blue boxes. Know all the blue boxes!
 * Make sure you know all the innervations and blood supplies to structures mentioned in lectures!
 * Take the practice tests put out by the faculty. Take it once you feel prepared but also early enough to study the parts that you missed.
 * BRS Anatomy has a plethora of questions with nice explanations that are slightly more difficult but similar to the exam. If you like doing questions, purchase this review source.

Difficulty

 * GAR is your chance to learn what works for you. Your study habits from undergraduate may work and they may not. Ask your tutors and other second years how they study and find what will fit with your personality. In the end you need to LEARN the material for the long-term.
 * Start studying early and keep up. It is much easier to learn 4 weeks of material in 4 weeks! Each day (weekdays only) you skip means the same amount of learning over a shorter period of time.
 * This is one of the few classes where you could have multiple people getting upper 90s-100s on all exams.

Books

 * Atlases
 * Netter’s – Most popular atlas. Easy to learn from and great to study from. The only complaint about this book is that your cadaver structures will not look bright red, blue or yellow as is illustrated in the book.
 * Rohen – This atlas has real photographs which makes it invaluable for correlation with your cadaver. Some people preferred this resource more than Netter’s especially when it came to studying right before the test, because it looked much more like the real thing.
 * Gilroy – Very good atlas. Has some explanations and functional descriptions, but if you’re going to buy just one atlas, pick one of the first two.
 * Books
 * You don’t have to completely read the textbook to do well in GAR. Some of you will prefer to read Essential Clinical Anatomy (ECA), but others will choose not to read it at all. Regardless of your study methods, you must know the blue boxes found in ECA! If you only buy the book for that purpose, make sure you utilize it. Don’t just read summaries made by your classmates.
 * Don’t hesitate to put your questions from lecture or reading on the discussion board. Dr. Miller is famous for his quick and thorough responses, but make sure you have attempted to find the answer before posting a question. Check the discussion board to learn from Dr. Miller’s posts to other students.

Lab

 * Spend time outside of assigned time in the GAR lab for review 2-3 hours a week.
 * It is very important to have study partners. It is easy to confuse structures. Having someone else there can help you avoid this pitfall.
 * Review all of the structures again before the lab exam (They give you a “hit list”).
 * Know the structure, function, and innervation if it’s a muscle. Test questions are often second and third order.
 * As mentioned above, going to lecture before lab is extremely helpful. Think of lab as study time. If you don’t know what you are dissecting before lab, it is much harder to learn.
 * Look at other cadavers in the lab. Your lab exam is presented on your dissected cadavers. Be comfortable identifying “hit list” structures on a few other bodies.
 * Each Friday there will be a pathology presentation, which is recorded and made available online. Pay attention to the presentations and watch the recordings at least once before the test. There will definitely be a few questions on the exam.
 * In lab time, take turns quizzing each other and make lab productive!

High Yield Material

 * Go to lecture and WAC.
 * Almost all of what you need to learn will be presented in lecture.
 * You can also listen to the lectures on Tegrity, but for this class in particular, going to class is more beneficial. It is an excellent preview for lab, and it will help you get the most out of your time.
 * Dr. Riascos’ radiology lectures are entertaining and will cover most of what you need to know for exams. They also will not be put on Tegrity.
 * Attend WAC on Fridays. It is a lot of fun, and it will help you fill in gaps of knowledge that you have for the test.
 * Using your own notes - learn everything presented in lecture.
 * Make sure you use your atlas or lecture slide pictures when studying and reviewing. A big mistake is to simply read the text without identifying the structure in an atlas. Try to find the structures without looking at the labeling!
 * Be prepared for lecture. This could involve pre-reading ECA. Remember, each day you will have lecture, lab, and/or PBL; all of these will involve the same material. Get the most out of your day by having some understanding of what you are trying to learn.
 * Know the blue boxes from ECA.
 * There WILL be questions on the exam taken directly from blue boxes. They should be easy points if you keep up with it.
 * Take time to study lab outside of class.
 * Go through MyCitrix Intro to Radiology.
 * There is a radiology computer program through MyCitrix. Much of the radiology test questions come from this. You should look at these images at least once. If you have time before the practical or the exam, we would recommend quickly reviewing the images because they will be identical to those on the test.
 * There may be a PowerPoint/PDF version of all the slides floating around
 * Cross-Sectional Tutorials
 * Pay attention to the Cross-sectional tutorials. You will obviously need to pass the quizzes to pass GAR. Knowledge from the tutorials can make itself useful during the exams. The cross-sections will especially help with your understanding of radiologic studies viewed in similar cuts.
 * Some questions from the Cross-sectional cases showed up on the exams.
 * Tutoring
 * Sign up and attend tutoring. A good tutor(s) should-
 * Point out high yield information (i.e. what will be tested).
 * Point out information that you didn’t think was important.
 * Give you some information that may or may not have been mentioned but is important.
 * Reinforce the concepts and direct your studying.

Exams

 * 3 exams
 * Midterm Written
 * Final Lab
 * Final Written

Difficulty

 * Important Note: If you haven’t had biochemistry make sure you STAY ON TOP OF THINGS. This material is covered very quickly. Focus on the rate limiting enzymes and the material covered in lecture. Dr. A has great notes posted below his power points. This class really favors the biology/biochem/genetics majors so if you did not get a lot of these classes in undergrad you need to work hard.
 * MCT exams are your first exams that are not really strict memorization GAR style.
 * ​You will need to really focus upon the pathways, thinking through, understanding concepts, and applying them. Going to tutoring helps solidify this style of thinking/questioning.

Books

 * Lippincott’s Biochem Review – Highly recommended. Only book worth reading. Doesn’t have any info that is not in lecture but good way to learn Biochem. Read chapter that correlates with lecture material as you go through the class
 * Junquiera’s Histology – Buy this book if anything to have with you as an atlas for lab. Keep up with the lab material here.
 * Would not recommend buying other books. With the two above, and lectures  you will have everything you need to honor this course.
 * Robbins pathology - You can buy as a reference and for PBL since you will have to buy it anyways later, but don't worry about reading it until PHD.
 * Katzungs Pharm – If you really want a reference book for pharm this is the one to get. Again, completely unnecessary.
 * Lippincotts Pharm – This book is way too long to be of any use. Additionally it has a lot of errors according to Amazon.
 * Medical Genetics - Do not buy it as lectures will cover everything.
 * First AID- you can buy it if you want and look up any drugs or pathology that you see in lecture. Do not spend time actively studying it though as you will get nothing from it.

Lab

 * Pay attention in lab. Histology pictures directly from lab will make their way on to the exams.

High Yield Material

 * Know the lectures. This is the most high yield by far.
 * Watch a lecture live or on tegrity (at this point it is very viable to use only tegrity if you do not want to go to lecture) and then go through the powerpoint 2-3 times the same day, or handwrite out your own notes. Then move on to the next lecture.
 * For biochemistry focus on key enzymes and what activates/inhibits them, reactions they catalyze, why reaction is important, and if mentioned what happens when the enzyme is deficient. You will need to draw reactions many times on paper to learn them – do not just stare at them on the screen or in a book.
 * It may also be helpful to make a list of the key enzymes and quiz yourself on what they do.
 * Go to tutoring to help learn the material and focus on what is important and what isn’t.
 * When you get to Carroll’s lipid lectures (which are terrible) – watch these videos on youtube by hyperhighs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAqL9fLwnDs&feature=channel
 * There are some misconceptions that we do not learn pharmacology at this school - this is false.
 * In MCT you will learn the basic principles of pharmacology and then in each systems based class you learn all the drugs associated with it (i.e, in Cardio you learn all the cardio drugs). Learn the lectures and if you are still confused ask a tutor or look at Katzung.
 * Review all the PBL cases. A question or two will come from each case.
 * Know Dr. A’s lectures for biochem. They are very high yield for the test.
 * Know the histology and some of the lab stuff. Remember that they will put histology pictures on the written exam.

Exams

 * 3 Exams
 * Midterm Final
 * Final Lab
 * Final Written

Difficulty

 * Like any other class – STAY ON TOP OF THINGS.
 * Immunology week will probably be the most intense week so make sure you’re on your game for this week.
 * Try to condense each lecture in to a few high yield page notes.
 * Write down each microbe on a sheet with all the facts about it. Some people like to make charts as well. Make sure you know all the bugs.
 * Make note cards for all the cytokines – every time a function is mentioned for a cytokine add it to your card. Go through these cards often. First Aid has a pretty good chart in the immune section that can help you get the cytokines down.
 * Pay attention in lab and know the pictures. Also know the pictures from Schnadig’s lecture. The organ specimens presented during lab are high yield as well.
 * Know each lecture well, Dr. Nichols will have at least 2-3 questions or more from each lecture. Also go to her reviews, she will emphasize important concepts which may not be covered in lecture but are important.
 * Cytokines/chemokines are super important for the first test! Make sure you know all that are presented in lecture/Nichols’ extra sessions

Books

 * Immunology - The immuno book is money. It has just about the right balance of detail. Definitely read this book if you haven’t had immunology before. Read once but don’t memorize every little detail - lecture has all the details but this book is easier to learn from.
 * Microbiology – “Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple” is a great book. Lectures are sufficient for the most part but they may throw one question on micro not covered in lecture. Just read through the bugs covered in lecture here once or twice. The Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple had many mnemonics and pictures that were helpful in remembering the bugs and drugs. Look through the relevant mnemonics and pictures in the “MMRS” book to help you learn information that was covered in class. DO NOT read the assigned text. Dense and a big waste of time.
 * Pathobiology – Buy the current edition of Robbins and also buy the pocket companion version. Big Robbins is very dense and I recommend reading through the pocket version at least once for readings before looking at the big one. Robbins isn’t necessary and has a lot of unnecessary material but presents it in a good way and has nice charts and pictures. If anything read the “baby” Robbins and skim the big one. Before each lab there will be required reading and a quiz over the reading that does not count toward your grade. I would only do the lab readings if you had an excess of time, the lab PowerPoints will provide you with all the information you need for the exam.
 * Another opinion about Robbins: Some people prefer to straight read the large version, because it gives detailed reasons and mechanisms for underlying diseases. In this way, you can understand a lot more whereas you will be straight memorizing at times with Baby Robbins alone.
 * Additional Books – Some people really like the Lange Immunology book so it might be worth checking out.

Other Resources
 * Pathoma videos - supplemental review, some info may not be covered in class

Lab

 * Lab will generally be a few cases that you run through and look over the pathology. Make sure to understand the concepts covered and understand what is going on in the pictures. The lab final was pretty hard so don’t blow this test off. Keep up with the material throughout.
 * Make sure you know all of the lab PowerPoints for the lab test, they are high yield. Make sure you know the content in them and be able to apply any concepts that were covered
 * Highly recommend paying attention to images from the Robbins Assigned Readings. Our lab final had many images pulled directly from the Robbins textbook.
 * Recommendation for lab readings is to use “Baby Robbins” to understand concepts and use “Big Robbins” for pictures and skimming.

High Yield Material

 * PBL for PHD is pretty involved just like MCT. Studying the week’s lectures is almost always very beneficial for the case. Make sure you do your learning issues and try to go into some detail about the case (i.e. how the process happens – injury, cytokines, recruitment, repair, etc.).
 * Quizzes – Remember that quizzes are trying to test your understanding and not trying to see how well you can google - if you can’t explain it then there’s a good chance you have the wrong answer. Use the internet as a guide to understand concepts and as a quick reference.
 * Exams
 * As always – Lectures are the most high yield. Know your ppt very well.
 * Recommend making note cards for the cytokines, bugs, and drugs. They will definitely show up on the test.
 * Know the pictures from lecture and lab too – they can show up on the exam.
 * Lab Exam
 * The test will be about 40-50 multiple choice questions with pictures/specimens. With about a minute (45s, Year 2015) at each station and a minute rest stop after. Timing is somewhat of an issue and you should actively look at questions on the paper they hand you to prepare for the coming questions. Be sure to read the questions carefully and if write down notes about the exhibit if you are stumped.
 * Go through all the labs and make sure you study Schnadig’s ppt for those pictures too.
 * Make sure you look at all of the images/graphs on the test and use the information they provide you with to answer the question!

Exams
4 Exams:
 * Midterm
 * Lab Midterm
 * Final
 * Lab Final

Difficulty
This is your first systems based course so it will be more focused than previous courses but at the same time you will be covering more material than any previous course. So:
 * Stay on top of your lectures
 * Power points are super important
 * Lab is key to putting stuff together and will supplement lecture

Books

 * Nolte’s The Human Brain. You don’t need to read the entire text but a few key chapters are helpful to increase your understanding. Reading before neuro-anatomy lectures is highly recommended. This book is useful as a reference to help understand the material but you can get the info you need to get all of the questions on your test right from lecture/lab powerpoints. Use your personal preference.


 * Kandel. Many people don’t recommend this book. It is too detailed, too expensive, and not worth your time.


 * High Yield NeuroAnatomy. A lot of people found this book very helpful but it is not enough to be your only source for this class. You can alternatively get High Yield Brain and Behavior which has all of the chapters about the tracts from the other book (exact same text) except it has some additional chapters on psych that can be used as an additional reference.


 * Intro to Pyschiatry. This book is not necessary and a majority of people do not use this book.


 * Essentials of Psychopharmacology. Not highly recommended. Very dense.


 * BRS Physiology. This book is gold. It is great for every systems class. The neuro section in it is only about 20 pages and everything is high yield. This book really condenses concepts and puts it together in an orderly manner. Great review the week before the exam. The book has nice explanations and the quiz at the end is nice to assess your understanding. However, do not neglect lecture material. This book should be used as a supplement.


 * First Aid (Neurology and Psychiatry Sections). It is highly recommend to reference this book for this class as well as all the other organ based system courses. First aid is very good at condensing a lot of information into “high yield” material that you need to know for the exam. Before each lecture, I would recommend looking at the corresponding section in First Aid. You will be surprised how much easier the lectures become once you understand the basic knowledge presented in First Aid. Keep in mind that not all the information covered in lecture will be in First Aid and not everything mentioned in First Aid is covered in class. You will still be responsible for material presented in lecture.

Lab

 * Lab is VERY important. It ties together a lot of concepts and is essential to identifying structures and visualizing 3D models.
 * Dr. Neugebauer’s powerpoints for lab are CRUCIAL for both lab and lecture based material. They are very high yield and honestly some of the best ppt’s you’ll come across. Each lab instructor will have their own ppt but Neugebauer’s will be what you are tested on.
 * The lab ppts are brutally long (over 100 slides) but YOU MUST KEEP UP!!!
 * The day after lab go through every slide for that lab and try to let the material sink in. The slides repeat themselves from different labs so its not an overwhelming amount of info for the whole class. If you put these off then you will struggle to catch up later.

High Yield Material
Final comments: Don’t spread yourself too thin with too many resources. You can honor this class just with the lecture ppts, lab ppts and the handouts. Books should just supplement this knowledge. At a bare minimum: you MUST know the material on the slides.
 * Make sure you know your lesions – they are all in Neugebauer’s ppt.
 * Make sure you know your tracks and nuclei.
 * Begin learning neuroanatomy as soon as it is presented. DO NOT fall behind as neuroanatomy is GAR on steroids! This is just like the brachial plexus, you have to know it so spend a lot of time to commit the tracts to memory right from the beginning because they will be tested.
 * Be able to identify them on a image and describe everything about them.
 * Make sure you know your fiber types.
 * Make sure you know your psychiatric disorders, including the effects/symptoms drug abuse and withdrawal.
 * Make sure you know your drugs (especially psychiatric); the mechanisms and side effects. This deserves further emphasis—MAKE SURE YOU KNOW YOUR DRUGS. These will suck to memorize, but you’ve have to do it. Also know every drug that belongs to a class; there are a lot.
 * There are review ppts for lecture that go over drugs but new info is presented (in particular the sexual side effects). Go to this review and take good notes because this is the only place you get this information but you will get a question or two on it. Many of these random side effects can be found in First Aid as well.
 * For the midterm: You will cover seizures in PBL but nowhere in lecture do they really teach you the different types and how they present. You will probably be asked to identify what type of seizure a patient has based on clinical presentation.

Exams

 * 2 OSCEs
 * Fall
 * Spring
 * 2 Exams
 * Midterm (December)
 * Final (May)