How to study pathology for exams like NEXT, USMLE, UKMLA

The questions we get in the exams like NEXT, USMLE, UKMLA (PLAB)  these days are all clinical vignette types. That means a case is described and we have to find the diagnosis or any other thing related to the pathogenesis, morphological appearance, or clinical feature related to the vignette. This can be made easier if we approach the reading of the subject in the right way.

The book I am advising to use is Robbins & Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease.

You can find other books in the Pathology Books section.

Once you find the right book – you need to get the proper lecture material that will cover most of the concepts given in robbins.

Here are few resources for pathology that cover sufficient material.

  1. Pathoma – Pathoma is one of the best videos/notes that will clear all the relevant concepts of Robbins. 
  2. Lecturio – It is also a great resource to learn not just pathology but all the subjects. The Book-matcher feature of lecturio makes everything a cakewalk. 
  3. Medical School Pathology – This blog is great for pathology. All the robbins pathology-based PPTs and lectures are present for free.
  4. Goljan Pathology – Goljan Pathology Audio as well as Rapid review pathology book, everything is great.
  5. Ila Jain Khandelwal – Ila ma’am’s pathology lectures on marrow are the ones that I personally follow now for vertically integrating them with Medicine and Surgery. 
  6. Bookeshi – This the resources created by me. I have shared all the videos topicwise and they are according to the robbins pattern. It is hard to find a free single source for pathology. so I clubbed all the different ones at one platform.

Now after watching the lecture on any topic. It is time to give robbins a read. Do it as fast as possible because you are going to forget the lecture soon. 

Everyone does it till here. After this step, you need to get some vignettes and solve them. If you do that you will connect the topic with the vignettes and it will be easier for you to remember it. 

Where to find the Clinical vignette-based questions?

This where I am going to help you the most. There are 2 sources I am going to tell you that contain MCQs systematically arranged and your life will be much more sorted than before.

  1. Robbins and Cotran Review of Pathology,4e – This is the best book in the world for pathology vignettes. The questions are arranged in the same order as the topics are given in the book. And one more thing – Even though they are systemwide and not randomly arrange so you have an idea what the vignettes are about – It is not easy at all to answer some of the vignettes.

  2. USMLE Step 1 Secrets – I don’t care what other people say about this book – It is a great book to understand the diagnosis and the basic concepts behind its management.

If you follow this I am sure you are going to ace your exams.

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