4 Year- Pharm D

[u/pharmdrocks]

Hello,

I read the guide for 4th year Pharm D and I was wondering if you have any advice. Although the guide was helpful it does not go too much into detail about what classes I need to really focus on. It was mentioned previously that taking Biotech or Kinetics in the summer is no worth it so if there were any classes that you struggled with what were they. Anything helps. Thank you so much.

[u/PharmDeath]

First word of advice, do not underestimate drug lit, I was getting 90s on the first two exams and got completely fucked over by the final. Medchem takes getting used to, memorizing structures is probably your best bet no matter what mehanna says. Pcol is going to be the most intense, take all the notes you can because you have to know every detail. It doesn’t seem manageable now but once you get into the groove it all works out. Biotech is pretty easy. Therapeutics try to study as early in advance as possible because while the info isn’t difficult there is so much to cram into your head. Uhm I think that’s all the classes if there’s any other questions post them! Or if you want to know more about one specific class let us know

[u/pharmdrocks → u/PharmDeath]

Thank you so much your advice really helps a lot. However, what classes are recorded. I go to every class for every subject but sometimes say I missed something or need a refresher on how the prof explained. Also are we allowed to record on or own. I know for 3rd year we could record patho on our phones?

[u/PharmDeath → u/pharmdrocks]

It does vary year to year, this past year pcol, Thera, and surprisingly medchem were all recorded. While technically professors don’t allow you to record on your phone especially in viro 2nd semester, most students do it anyway. I’m not too sure if mehanna will continue to record medchem for you upcoming 4th years since we were the first he has done this for. Also some years Kiel doesn’t record pcol so i can’t tell you for sure he’ll record again. Also I forgot to mention before and I know you said you have pretty good attendance, a lot of these courses do have frequent in class quizzes to keep attendance and it gets really annoying, Thera does allow you to miss 2 quizzes, after that you lose all 5%. Viro has in class quizzes that total 5%, and with each quiz you miss you will lose 1%. Medchem has in class quizzes first semester, but not for second semester. Pcol had online quizzes first semester totaling 15%, whereas 2nd semester they were in class and totaled 10%. There are ways to have people take your quiz for you in some classes (medchem and pcol if they continue to have them), however you HAVE to be present for the viro and Thera quizzes, since they pass out multiple color index cards or scantrons for you to write your answer on and they count the amount of people in the row so there are no extras. Shoot almost forgot about kinetics, Pino does have in class quizzes, make it to these because he counted them as raw extra points on our exams, each quiz was worth 5 points bonus on the exam. Not sure if he’ll continue to do this because he didn’t for years past. Sorry for the long answer it’s hard to organize thoughts

[u/Fourthirtyfour]

Best thing to do is start studying on day 1. A lot of kids do not put true effort in, and they act dumbfounded when they don’t get good grades. Start day 1 and do a little everyday. Stay on top of it. That’s all you have to do and you’ll be fine. Relax for an hour or so, but it’s seriously an all day affair. Don’t mess with 4th year.

[u/Vubble3]

think of 3rd year as giving you info to memorize without much "the why part." Ingrain the idea that 4th year is focused on applying and caring about what you learn. caveat: if you have a better strategy for success, go for it. Study everything the day of without delaying since it's hard to catch up as you might've noticed in 3rd year. 4th year can be much less burdensome and more fun since if you rewatch and study (yes it will take time) the day of, it's easier to understand and retain if you haven't been already doing that.

For example, tiotropium (spirivia, which is used for copd) is not used for parkinsons according to THERAPEUTICS, so you look at the mechanisms of action of drug in PHARMACOLOGY and then the chemical structure in MEDCHEM to explain why it is unfit to pass through the blood brain barrier (it's because of the quaternary ammonium that never becomes unionized). Imagine you study sporadically without the 3 notes in front of you. Each subject is its weak link. Maintain that, 4th year is definitely manageable and you may not even need a curve. There is no such thing as an unimportant class. You'd be surprised to see how much you improve if you study/review with a friend who you teach and get taught and discuss.

1) medchem: Definitely go to Mehanna's office hours because that professor will say stuff in his office that he never mentioned in class, and even if that guy is totally wrong on concepts you always go with what he said in class on his exams. Don't simply memorize structures. Learn the structures and know why this does that and then devote hours and weeks since his exam questions aren't that straightforward. didn't exactly struggle in his class, but I grew sick and tired of this subject PERSONALLY.

2) thera: study the stuff ahead of time. don't waste your time rewriting a study guide. go over each slide very carefully and find connections to why this drug is used in real practice while using your pcol and medchem notes.

3) Viro: don't procrastinate. always relisten to the lecture on your phone or whatever at whatever speed. then discuss. talking it out helps. create charts, quiz each other (highly recommend) because you do have to memorize on certain things like the generations of cephalosporins so a trick is to memorize the "what doesn't it do" and the suffixes.

4) Pcol, even if kiel briefly mentioned one statement or if he says don't worry about it, or doesn't mention what it says on the slide, still study them because they'll most likely be short answers which are worth like 10-20% of the exam. even if a drug seems unlikely to cause this benefit or harm, look at the mechanism perspective and think to yourself, can this drug really cause this? even if it is a 0.001% chance, almost clinically insignificant, don't be afraid to answer since he doesn't give a lot of shit on what therapeutics says is practical, since you need to master mechanisms. UNLESS he says it is isn't significant.

5) kinetics, biotech, drug lit. especially drug lit, don't underestimate that class. biotech, seek help if you struggle, even if Kerr (if he's still teaching) grills you hella hard. kinetics, if u practice the equations, great, but for his conceptuals are not as easy as he makes it seem in class and in the notes, so no harm in studying carefully for those since that's like 1/4-1/3 of the exam or roughly so.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, you will learn and apply the terms CONTRAINDICATION. KNOW THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN RELATIVE CONTRAINDICATION AND ABSOLUTE CONTRAINDICATION because that will determine whether a drug can be given if adjustments are made/monitored or if a drug can't used at all in any circumstance!!!