Fall 2021
Highlights: The volume and pace of the material can be daunting at first. Each semester is subdivided into three parts - approximately one month intervals with an exam blocks (similar to a finals week for quarter systems) with random assignments or weekly quizzes sprinkled throughout depending on the professor. For example, the students attend approximately 10 lectures of material followed by a week of exams (see schedule below). The most difficult class was definitely Molecular and the "easiest" i.e. most enjoyable Epidemiology by far. Keep scrolling a short list of highlights that helped for each class.
Epidemiology
This is a course where you learn by doing. You need to routinely apply the knowledge by drilling practice problems sooner than later. Dr. Segars' style of teaching may startle you at first, but he's just really passionate about Epidemiology. He wants you to understand and develop a stronger sense of scientific literacy and provide tools to navigate this every growing mountain of evidence.
Best Advice: Retype his notes in transcript form (if that's how you work) and rearrange his tables in a way that makes sense to you. For example, he has a three page summary of appropriate statistical tests, but I found it more useful for Exam 3 when consolidated into one. See below for an example of what I mean!
General Thoughts: This will be a more difficult course for anyone without much exposure to scientific literature or statistics. Also, he can get carried away on his tangents so don't lose focus on the specific teaching point that you will be tested on.
Here's an example of remaking tables in a way that will make it make sense (for me at least). I found it more useful to convert his three-page decision tree model (top) into a table that I could rewrite from memory during the test (below). I made a blank version to study with a partner or in my spare time for recall maintenance.
Molecular and Cell Biology
This was definitely the most difficult course during the Fall semester. It's taught primarily by Dr. Ford for the first couple months and supplemented with Dr. White, and Dr. Sarsour. The last exam had a guest lectures from the elective courses. Dr. Bittel discussed Molecular Genetics and Dr. Andersen taught a lecture on Embryology.
Best Advice: Review with a study partner after class, retype notes as needed (Dr. White), pay attention to details in figure illustrations, and go to tutoring session. Dr. Ford is incredibly intelligent and her slides are dense with useful summary tables. She will word her quizzes differently from what's in lectures to challenge students into really understanding concepts or specific details in their own. These quizzes are key so I found it most useful to bundle screenshots of unanswered questions and use them for an ordered review leading up to each exam.
General Thoughts: I tried reading the book at first, but stopped shortly after week 1 given the high volume of lecture slides (Dr. White). Preview the lecture for 15-30 minutes in advance e.g. night before. Also, sometimes lectures are split up over a weekend (Part 1 Friday, Part 2 Monday), so rewatch the 2 recordings at 2x speed in sequence to get the full picture.
Histology
Dr. Andersen's notes are clean, but I still found it useful to have a retyped version of each lecture to read in a single document. For some reason I really prefer to have a master document with all notes typed out so I can 'control/command find' it when reviewing with a study partner to find the targeted detail within a few seconds rather than navigating between a dozen different lectures.
Best Advice: Pay attention to his grandpa jokes/description e.g. neutrophils 'dancing' together in photomicrograph to establish a useful memory anchor for recall. There is a lot of crossover in histology between the other subjects (immunology, physiology, anatomy) so it can be useful perspective when studying separate topics.
General Thoughts: Dr. Andersen's had a couple family related/medical emergencies during the semester and ended up teaching remotely via zoom after Test 1. It became increasingly difficult for me to stay engaged as the material became more complex, but he was reasonable when it came to testing.
Human Anatomy I
Dr. Fitch is two parts immense knowledge and one part quirky. His lecture slides are dense with key information so make sure to read through his content thoroughly. I prefer tidy notes and found it useful to generate a table summary (example below) to see a block of information in its entirety rather than scroll through 10 slides.
Best Advice: Download Complete Anatomy (3D4Medical) app. It's worth the extra ~$40 investment because I did not take anatomy prior to this course and found his verbal descriptions, illustrations and physical models difficult to visualize at times. Personally, I really need to zoom in, twirl, see the standardized actions (excessively), origins/insertions every possible way to really understand and memorize the content. Utilize YouTube and rewatch repeatedly as needed if you run out of inspiration for clever mental shortcuts for difficult topics e.g. 'brachial plexus shortcut'
General Thoughts: Dr. Fitch is a great professor and I appreciated his insight/candor after 20+ years of teaching.
Human Physiology I
Dr. Fitch tends to explain a concept that most pre-med students are familiar with but in greater detail. He simultaneously wants the students to become independent learners and challenges us to complete five to ten assigned readings which make up 20% of each exam based on his syllabus. They are not incredibly difficult questions, but don't let these slide because the last thing you want is to be spending dedicated time study time playing catchup rather than working through practice questions.
Best Advice: Pay attention to his pathway summaries and theoretical illustrations. They may seem mundane or low-fidelity drawing (from ten years ago), but they are key to they style of questions he may ask on a test. A word of caution: don't let overconfidence get the best of you when it comes to this material.
General Thoughts: It's easy to become disoriented among the details of notes. Know the critical components (increase/decrease, activates/inhibits) of each lecture cold in a Q&A format when studying with a partner. For example:
Q: What is the the equation for Mean Arterial Pressure?
A: Cardiac Output (CO) x Total Peripheral Resistance (TPR)
Q: What is the equation for Cardiac Output and the factors that apply its subcomponents individually and collectively?
A: Cardiac Output = Heart Rate (HR) x Stroke Volume (SV); Heart Rate is individually affected by a decrease in the parasympathetic nervous system signaling while Stroke Volume is impacted by an increase in End Diastolic Volume (EDV). Additionally, an increase in epinephrine and increased sympathetic nervous system response can trigger a net increase in Cardiac Output.