2nd Year Wisdom.

Info for Cambridge 2nd year medical studentsand anyone else who’s interested ;-)

by Christiane Riedinger 2012

No doubt, 2nd year is challenging, in terms of layout but also in terms of mass.

The content to learn is huge: ~200 lectures and practicals with at least 1500 pages of text to absorb.

Nothing seems off-limits in exams.

Working steadily throughout the year is the only way to get through without a last-minute panic.

To sum up:

Some info upfront.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/30-awesome-teachers-you-wish-you-had

Negative marking.Negatively marked exams are scary and unpleasant.

But with the right exam technique, everyone can do it.

You need to find out how much you know and how well you know it:

• Work through the exam content by sets of questions arranged by subject

• Answer and highlight the questions of which you are 100% certain (I)

• Answer and highlight the questions of which you are not certain but think you know the

answer (2)

• guess and highlight those questions where you have no clue what the answer is (3)

Now evaluate your results.

• is the percentage of answers in group (1) high enough? do you get a high enough score to

pass? if not, study more... don’t guess more!

• does answering the questions in group (2) give you a better or worse score? if yes, you can

be more confident. if not, you can’t afford to answer when you’re not 100% sure... study more.

• in the exam, you should always leave some answers blank (3), unless you are a genius or an

extremely lucky b****rd ;-)

The learning curve.

(For me, a graduate student not having to write essays and not having any holidays,) the learning curve felt really steep all year until very shortly before exams.

However these last few weeks/days when you’ve arrived at the shallow bit are the best time to appreciate the connections between the different subjects and lift your knowledge to the next level.

Many subjects are interrelated and pulling it all together is the best preparation for the clinical years, so it’s good to arrive there as early as possible.

(Perhaps the undergrads will reach the shallow bit earlier? I hope so for you guys!)

Proficiency

Time to exams

The subjects.

Pathology Pharmacology

• Immunology• Virology• TSEs• Parasitology• Fungi• Bacteriology• Cardiovascular• Cancer

• Drug-Receptor Interactions• Neural transmission• Cardiovascular• Renal• Pharmacokinetics• Inflammation• Chemotherapy

Immunology is the most important path subject as it is contained in all other subjects covered later in the year. Make sure you start the year knowing this well.

Negative marking in the exam means you need to know everything well and with certainty.

Every single word of the handout can come up in the exam, especially the footnotes!

Needs by far the most amount of work, not only because of the negative marking.

Reproductive Biology

• Endocrinology• Ethics• Sexual Differentiation• Gonads, Gametes and ovarian cycle• Fertilisation• Pregnancy• Population• STDs

Needs the least amount of work of all subjects. No negative marking.

Neurology

• Cerebral bloodflow and CSF• Somatic sensation and pain• Motor systems• Sensory systems• Development• Motivation• Mental Illness• Memory• Cognition• Pharmacology

The first term is more physiological, the second term more psychological, but still requires understanding of complex information.

Even though there is no negative marking, the open questions require quite intense preparation.

A mini-overview of all the subjects and a quick word of advice on each of them:

• Drug-Receptor Interactions• Neural transmission• Cardiovascular• Renal• Pharmacokinetics• Inflammation• Chemotherapy

• Immunology• Virology• TSEs• Parasitology• Fungi• Bacteriology• Cardiovascular• Cancer

The connections.

Pathology Pharmacology Reproductive Biology

• Cerebral bloodflow and CSF• Somatic sensation and pain• Motor systems• Sensory systems• Development• Motivation• Mental Illness• Memory• Cognition• Pharmacology• Neuroanatomy

Neurology

• Endocrinology• Ethics• Sexual Differentiation• Gonads, Gametes and ovarian cycle• Fertilisation• Pregnancy• Population• STDs

You can immediately see that there are no horizontal lines...

This is why most things only come together in the end, when you have worked through the whole material.

Ideally, subjects should be taught alongside each other, but now you know what to expect.

You have to be patient... ;-)

The lines show subjects that are interrelated. Just appreciate the connections, no need to look at the details.

The connections. ...more pleasantly displayed showing interrelated topics.

Pathology Pharmacology

Reproductive Biology & Ethics

Neurology

HypothalamusPituitary

HistopathologyImmunology

SignalingReceptors

Signaling & ReceptorsNeural transmission

Inflammation

SignalingReceptors

ImmunologyCardiovascularBacteriologyParasitology

CancerChemotherapy

some of Virology, TSEs(perhaps these two have the least in common)

The connections. ...now the most important connections are highlighted.

Pathology Pharmacology

Reproductive Biology & Ethics

Neurology

HypothalamusPituitary

HistopathologyImmunology

SignalingReceptors

Signaling and ReceptorsNeural transmission

Inflammation

SignalingReceptorsImmunology

CardiovascularBacteriologyParasitology

CancerChemotherapy

some of Virology, TSEs(perhaps these two have the least in common)

Now we know how things connect, and it is useful to keepthis in mind when learning individual subjects throughout the year.

Most connections are obvious, so no need to spell them all out in more detail.

However, when I was studying, I found myself constantly referring back to a single set of notes no matter what subject I was looking at.

These were my notes on signaling and receptors.

Out of all the connections between topics, SIGNALING AND RECEPTORS

touches on almost every subject in second year.

I found it really useful to have all the info about this in a single place.

This is what the rest of this presentation is about.

Use it as a reference whenever you need to.Hopefully it will save you some time!

The gist of this introduction.

Signaling and receptors.

• Ionotropic receptors

• Metabotropic receptors

• GPCRs

• Tyrosine kinase receptors

• Intracellular receptors

• Substances released at the synapse

• Arachidonic acid derivatives

• Cytokines

Cell surface receptors:

Cell signaling molecules:

Signaling and receptors.

• Ionotropic receptors

• Metabotropic receptors

• GPCRs - this is one of the most important topics this year.

• Tyrosine kinase receptors

• Intracellular receptors

• Substances released at the synapse

• Arachidonic acid derivatives

• Cytokines

Cell surface receptors:

Cell signaling molecules:

Remember from 1st year Biochemistry, there was something about G-proteins?This year, G-proteins will become your best friend...

Because they are so important, let’s start off with GPRCs.

AHHH! - It’s 6 months later and I have run out of time to finish this presentation!

That’s why I’ve now just scanned my most used MODA flashcards on GPCRS

in the hope that you find them useful.

Stage 2 keeps me pretty busy and I will probably not get back to seriously

creating more website content until June 2013... SORRY

Muscarinic AChR

stupid pneumonic: quit it quickly

Adrenoreceptors

stupid pneumonic: quit it sufficiently slowly

Adenosinereceptors

stupid pneumonic: see simplicity quickly

Histamine Receptors

stupid pneumonic: quit smoking immediately (or) quickly

Serotonin Receptors

stupid pneumonic: improved quality ion source (my favourite ;-))

Opiate Receptors

stupid pneumonic: opiates intoxicate instantly

Prostaglandin Receptors

extremely stupid pneumonic: stupid SI unitS

Dopamine Receptors

stupid pneumonic: dopamine sucks intensely

Angiotensin Receptors

Imidazoline Receptors

Bradykinin Receptors

Endothelin Receptors

Purinergic Receptors

Other

To be continued....