Study Resources for Preclinicals
Written by Alisa Malyavko
Starting preclinicals is an exhilarating time! However, there is a lot of information that must be learned over the next two years, and it can be daunting at first. Additionally, the infinite list of outside resources can add to the first-year anxiety. I wanted to dedicate this post to provide an overview of some of the more common resources that float around during preclinicals to help you decide which ones are best for you!
First Aid – This book is a collection of all the high-yield facts you should know. Know this book front and back and you’ll be successful in preclinicals, on Step 1, and in your clinical years!
Anki - Many medical students swear by Anki for both their school’s course work and Step 1. For those of you who are not familiar with Anki, it is an application onto which you can download premade flashcards decks or make your own. Although I did not use Anki religiously during my preclinicals many of my classmates found the Zanki, lolnotacop, and AnKing Step 1 decks very helpful. It can be overwhelming at first but watching YouTube videos on setting up your account and adjusting the decks to fit your needs helps make this a very useful tool for now and the future!
Boards & Beyond - Boards & Beyond was one of my favorite resources. I relied on it heavily during both preclinicals and when I was studying for Step 1. This resource is run by Dr. Jason Ryan who has created summary videos containing high yield facts for all areas of preclinical study. These videos correlate with First Aid making it easy to use the two resources in combination.
· Tip: Watch Boards & Beyond as you go through First Aid and make notes about additional things said in Boards & Beyond to refer back to later - sometimes topics from other sections are referred to in the video and it’s nice to make notes of that in the current First Aid section.
· Tip: Boards & Beyond has good physiology videos (specifically cardiology and pulmonology) which helped me understand these topics better. “Physiology” by Linda S. Costanzo is also a great book resource for those who prefer having a physical resource and want to highlight and take notes on the pages!
Sketchy - Another high yield resource that is very useful during the immunology and infectious disease block of preclinicals as well as a good review for Step 1. Sketchy consists of short cartoon videos that use images to help you remember all the various bugs and drugs. They have videos for microbiology, pharmacology, pathophysiology, biochemistry, physiology, anatomy, and biostatistics & epidemiology.
AMBOSS - This is one resource that I started using more as I entered my dedicated Step 1 study period, but wish I knew about it earlier in my medical school career. The ABMOSS platform makes it easy to search any topic and provides you with evidence-based articles, tables and charts, and good overview summaries on the topic. AMBOSS also has its own question bank and doing questions after you review a particular topic helps solidify the information you just learned.
USMLE-Rx - This is a big question bank that I found very useful for our NBME exams at the end of each block. Not all students used this resource during preclinicals, some used these extra questions when studying for Step 1. Each question provides an explanation for the right and wrong answers as well as directions to other resources on that topic.
Osmosis - This resource contains very short (5-15min) videos that do a good overview of topics and can be a good place to start if a certain topic is confusing or wasn’t covered in your coursework
· Tip: I found it helpful to start with Osmosis and then transition to Boards & Beyond for more high yield details. Many students followed up this chain with Anki cards.
Ninja Nerd – This resource can be found on YouTube and is run by Zach Murphy. He takes big concepts and breaks them down piece by piece on a whiteboard. I have personally not used this resource, but my classmates found it helpful for the “overarching concepts” and then used Osmosis or Boards & Beyond to hone further in on a specific topic within that concept. One block that many students found this helpful for was the renal block.
Firecracker – Some use the phone application of this resource to do flashcards and short questions. This resource was not highly used among students at my medical school, but I have seen it used among students from other schools.
Quizlet – If the Anki platform is not for you, Quizlet can be a useful tool to make your own flashcards or search premade decks. I made small Quizlet decks throughout my precliincals and used a 300+ card premade pharmacology deck (Step 1 High Yield Drug List) for Step 1 studying.
Visible Body: Human Anatomy Atlas – This is a great anatomy resource that you can download onto your phone and iPad to help visualize anatomy as you go through the organ systems. This helped a lot of us especially during the height of COVID when our anatomy lab wasn’t accessible. It is on the expensive side, but there are occasional discounts which make it more affordable!
