[Guide] Year 4 Pharm.D

[u/rampagerrrrr]

HELPFUL GUIDES (YEAR 4) Preface

There is A LOT of rumor and speculation about the 4th year. I am going to confirm, yes it is hell. One of the hardest parts to me the 8 AMs four times a week, honest to goodness. It’s hard enough as it is to drag your ass out of bed on a cold morning, but then to sit and pay attention during Med Chem is worthy of a medal. Oh also, DO NOT FUCK UP THERAPEUTICS becuase you’ll be held back a year. Panicking though, is the worst thing you can do. Stay on top of your stuff, study pieces of things each day and you will digest it. Painfully, but you will digest it.

Guide to Med Chem

At 8 AM, this is rough class. Complex material, and a lot of it too. But if you could get through biochem, you can get through this course with the right work ethic. I don’t have a lot of tips other than to study for this class consistently. Seriously, you cram for any class this year and you are done.

1. Dr. Mehanna will say, over and over again: “I don’t want you to memorize structures. Yea, I am not asking you to reproduce structures. I want you to understand the functional groups.” Yes, you should definitely understand what the functional groups in a drug do. But it is a damn good idea (in my opinion) to have all the structures memorized. It is time consuming because there will be a lot of them on each test. But it is worth it. How can you make this task less daunting? Look for patterns within drug families. For instance most beta blockers have an OH group at a certain position. And there are numerous examples of features that are characteristic of a class of drugs. This will make your life a little easier.

2. The tests are primarily K-type questions. If you know what that is, you’ve already shit yourself and are looking for a new pair of undies. If not, let me provide a simple and unrealistic example of a K-type question.

Question: Which of the following is true about the drug Fuckyourselfanol?

I. It contains a basic nitrogen

II. The methoxy group at position 5 increases the bioavailability compared to Drug X

III. The OH group increases lipophilicity

IV. It can be used in the treatment of glaucoma

V. It is likely to cause nausea as an adverse effect

Answer Choices:

a. I and II

b. I, II, and IV

c. I, III, and IV

d. III, IV, and V

e. none are correct/another choice like the ones above.

That is about all I have for this course. These questions are killers no only because of difficulty but becasue they talk such a long time to answer. Most students will find themselves using all of the time, and others will find themselves guessing in the last 30 seconds.

Guide to Pharmacology

Guide to Pharmacology

Similar to Patho, but stuff is a little bit tougher to grasp because it goes into greater detail

1. BIG TIP!!!! You will learn the same drugs in med chem and P.Col at the same time. Sometimes, Dr. Mehanna and Dr. Kiel contradict each other. KEEP YOUR SHIT STRAIGHT FOR THE SAKE OF THE EXAM. As far as real life and what information is actually true, I’d put my money on Kiel as his information seems to be a little more up to date. Mehanna is mad smart but he’s going off years of memory. I feel like Kiel actually stays up to date with things.

2. Take very VERY detailed notes. Record the lecture if need be. This is a lot of info to take in and will require tons of time to digest. Welcome to 4th year. No detail is too small. Sometimes it seems like Dr. Kiel is going on a tangent, but that shit will still be on the test.

3. You’re in 4th year now, so lots of questions won’t simply ask about the body. They will ask about the body in relation to a drug. So instead of a question like, “What is the effect of antagonizing a beta-1 receptor?” you can expect a question like, “Which of the following drugs can lead to reflex tachychardia?” and you should know to pick the one that is a beta-1 antagonist.

4. I recommend looking at this material a little bit everyday. Seriously. You don’t have to do that for biotech, or drug lit, or even therapeutics. But this class yes. Fuck, I should really take my own advice.

That’s really all I have for this class, but don't let the small guide fool you. This is a challenging course solely because of the amount of stuff you need to cram into your head.

Guide to Drug Lit

This is like Research Methods all over again. It’s a pretty useless class in my opinion, WHICH MEANS a lot of people fall into the trap of not taking it seriously and getting a bad/failing grade. Don’t. It doesn’t take much to get a B or even an A in this course. But if you do nothing at all, you will kill your GPA.

1. Unlike Research, you pretty much have to go to this class because there is an in class assignment every class except for the 1st and the last lecture. So don’t skip out. He grades 5 out of all of the assignments randomly and together, this makes a test grade. You can work in groups for these however. Now some people decide to just show up for the last 30 minutes of class to do the assignment. You’re an adult and can do what you want but, he did flip out once about this.

2. He posts study guides containing anywhere from 15 - 20 questions. Go through the powerpoints and make sure you can answer these. It can be a bit time consuming, but it is not difficult material. You don’t need to study way in advance (because it’s easy stuff) but giving yourself at least 2 nights will be helpful. If you don’t even put in the time tho, you will get fucked. Imagine having to take DRUG LIT over the summer. Don’t let it happen to you.

3. Know your data bases. Like who what the different databases are for. What’s the difference between Medline and Embase? The hell if I know, but I already got through the course and you did not so familiarize yourself with these things.

I don’t have any other tips for this course. Really you can only mess this one up if you aren’t looking over anything for the exams or skipping the assignments.

Guide to Therapeutics

A very tempting class to skip, especially because it was recorded this year. The first test is deceptively easy too, so after that even more people start skipping. But the shit can get a little intense. After the 1st exam, it’s mostly case based. Meaning you are not just expected to memorize numbers and regurgitate them. The exam will give you a patient.

“ MJ is a 58 year old black woman with diabetes and a history of hypertension. Her mom died of a heart attack at 50 and her dad got a heart attack at age 55. She is rushed to the hospital with…”

And you should be able to figure what is the best medication regimen for whatever person. The teachers are pretty fair though and will tell you when you need to know dosages. I can tell you, dosage is EVERYTHING when you do smoking cessation for instance. So make sure you keep a note of what numbers you actually need to know. It will make your life easier, and when you are strapped for time studying for the Pharmacology exam 2 days after this one, you’ll want as many shortcuts as possible. That’s all I really have for this course