Entering your FINAL semester of preclinicals
Heather’s Art & Science of Medicine
Jumping into MED4
Success! You've arrived at the final semester of preclinical (for learning material anyway). Congratulations! This is a big semester, but have no fear, you'll be surprised how relaxed it feels in comparison to MED3. The topics for the semester are Cardiology II, Respiratory II (M4CAS1) ~ 2 months, Renal II, Endocrine II, and Reproductive II (M4CAS2) ~ 2 months. As long as you've set yourself up for success during the break, preparing for the 2-year cumulative M4CAS3 (~ 3 weeks) will be easy.
Of course, it starts with being prepared. Have a plan ready in advance. I used Cram Fighter to schedule all of my subjects ahead of time and make sure I was hitting all of the important review material that I needed. UWorld is also going to be an incredibly useful (but expensive) source.
| VOL 01 |
Firstly, it begins during the break. Here is a link to all the MED4 resources you'll need including syllabi, PowerPoints, and some helpful resources I used.
Use the Passtracker to keep yourself oriented to what videos you need to watch, and pay special attention to the histology!
Basically, you should aim to complete cardio and resp before the semester begins. During the semester, you should try to stay ahead of the pace. That means, attend lectures to review the material, stay up to date with anki, and make sure you use practice questions to study! Incorporating a lot of practice questions is going to be incredibly useful! And I know I already mentioned it once but, PAY ATTENTION TO ALL THE HISTOLOGY!!!
Resources
In case you were wondering, YES! You still need to keep up with anki. Other really good resources include First Aid (annotate while you watch these other sources); Pathoma, Boards & Beyond, and SKETCHY! You'll have so many questions that will be made easier by watching sketchy!
A little anxiety is totally normal. But, with the right tools and right prep, you can make that final CAS exam a breeze and head into BSIC and Step One with confidence! Follow the link at the bottom to watch the full summary on how to successfully enter MED4.
need more?
If you are looking for some additional help, we have a semester prep course scheduled to take you through the important parts of cardio & resp! Click the link below to learn more :)
Our biggest suggestion is to make sure you are absorbing the most amount of material possible, because there really is no time to go back when you already have a ton to review!
Here is to another successful semester! I’m wishing you all the success in the world and if you have any questions or concerns, please reach out. Be proud of your accomplishments and finish off your last semester of new preclinical content strong!
