The Unofficial Guide to First Year - University of Oklahoma Health ...

UNOFFICIAL GUIDE
what led me to the deepest possible understanding of the material, and the more
you understand it now, the easier it will be to learn again for the final
exam/boards/residency etc… Also, this course will become very important for
the material presented in the second year, so learning it WELL the first time will
save you a lot of time in the long run.
There are a total of three exams. Many people felt the first exam was the hardest,
not so much because the material was the hardest, but because a large portion is
taught by Dr. Dormer, who can make things seem very complicated. He has a
tendency to ask questions in ways that create a lot of confusion. The second
exam probably had the most information, but was also equipped with some of
the best teachers. The third exam is comprehensive but other than that is
straightforward. It is heavily weighted with new material, with only about 20%
coming from the previous material. However, don’t put off studying the old
material, the questions are composed of very generalized, yet interrelated
concepts.
TEXTS
For me, most textbooks are pointless because each teacher’s syllabus has what
they want you to know. However, there are those that learn by simply reading
over things, and I knew some that relied completely on Costanzo’s Physiology. I
will admit I did open this book once or twice to look up a topic I didn’t
understand, but you can always borrow someone else’s book for 5 minutes if you
need to do this. BRS Physiology (also by Costanzo) offers a good review once
you already know the information and it has many easy practice questions if you
want to make sure you understand the very basic concepts. You pretty much
need this book to study for the comprehensive portion of the final.
SECTION REVIEWS
The course is organized around the various organ systems. Here is a summary of
each major conceptual section.
BLOCK I
CELLULAR ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY:
This portion is taught by Dr. Garrett and is relatively straightforward and a lot of
it you might remember from college (action potentials etc…). KNOW
OSMOSIS! This part keeps coming back in other sections. KNOW
MEMBRANE POTENTIALS! Many people found these hard. ALSO, KNOW
THE DRUGS. Dr. Garrett loves drug questions. There are many fancy equations
that the engineers will love, but you don’t have to know them or even do any
extravagant calculations. Just know the basics and the concepts.
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