Biology of Cells and Tissues Survival Guide

Block Director:​ ​2019 - Dr. Webster; ​dan.webster@ttuhsc.edu​ ​(NOTE: was Dr. Hutson 2018 and previously, but he is retiring​)

Course Length:​ 8 weeks, October 28, 2019 – December 20, 2019

Number of units:​ 3 Units in 2019​ ​(was divided into 4 units in 2018)

Number of exams:​ 4; One written exam per unit with a single comprehensive custom NBME.

Weekly Setup

The weekly set-up for this block is much different than anatomy but more like the rest of the courses in your preclinical curriculum
going forward. There are 3 units: Biochemistry, Cell Biology, & Histology. For the first 2 units, you will have lecture ~3-4 hours of
lecture everyday from 8 or 9-12. For the last unit, you will have 2-3 hours of lecture in the morning, then the corresponding histology
lab till 12. Regardless of the unit, you will be done with lectures by 12 pm every day. Cell Biology and Biochemistry units will be about
two weeks per unit and histology will be closer to 3 weeks. You will have weekly firecracker quizzes that will test your learning over
the week’s material and an integrative P3 session that will occur during the histology unit. Make sure to get a 70% average on the
firecracker quizzes to avoid talking to block directors about your performance, take them seriously.

Lectures

Like was alluded to in the weekly setup section, this is much more of a traditional class structure that you are used to. Lecture slides
and/or notes are typically posted in advance for you to download. The professors will lecture the material that is in the required
textbook. Most of the professors provide supplemental handouts for each lecture as well. In the lectures there are a few questions to
test your knowledge on the material. In addition, there may be pre-made Anki Decks floating around that may be of help too; spaced
repetition of this material will help solidify the “nuts and bolts” for these concepts. It would also be beneficial to understand the
pathology that are discussed in lecture and linking them to the “nuts and bolts” with respect to substrate build-up, states of
homeostasis etc.

Labs
Histology labs will mainly be during the 3​rd unit. There will be 1 imaging techniques lab that you will have in the 1st unit. These labs
are ​NOT mandatory​. You will be assigned to a microscope & slide set with 3-4 other students. You will be responsible for the care of
your materials. There are also large-screen TVs that you can hook your microscope to for a larger image. For each lab, there will be
specific slides that you will go through that show the structures you went over in lecture. You don’t have to look through slides with
your group; you may form your own group and talk through the material with people you have already become study buddies with.
TAs will also be circulating throughout the lab to help you identify structures. Previously, a practice quiz was included in each lab to
help test your knowledge of the day’s materials.

Exams

The exams will be very similar to your written exams in anatomy. There will be 3 unit exams and a customized NBME. Unlike
anatomy, you will NOT have a laboratory practical. There will be histology slides on your written exam for the 3​rd ​. As was mentioned
previously, there will be a customized NBME that ​should ​have hand picked questions to account for material learned over the course
of the year.

Student Advice

*Please note, some of the advice that follows may seem to conflict. However, we thought it beneficial to recognize that there are
multiple ways to perform exceptionally in these courses. All in all, probably just focus on lecture for this class and you’ll be good.

Best
resource(s) for One thing I wish I did Any other advice for students about to start
Student me? One thing I'm glad I did: differently: BCT?
spend more time w lecture
anki, drawing out material, dont rely on just
1 anki pathways! an outside resource memorization heavy!
I wish I had rewatched the
lectures more and been
I made my own Anki more efficient with my time. Whether lab is helpful for you is really a personal
2 Lecture flashcards It goes fast! preference thing.
 Lectures. When I did it, I was glad I kept hoping to find useful The class is kind of like 3 different classes smushed
practice when I took time to preview videos on youtube, proved together, so don't be surprised if your study habits
3 questions lecture before attending to not be that helpful. change throughout the block
Do NOT think that since you are done with COA, you
Watched boards and can take a load off. This class, while it does not have
Anki, Boards beyond and took detailed Done more practice the added stress of lab or dissection, it should still be
4 and Beyond notes questions before exams. treated like a full-time job.
DO lecture ppts like 4 times, EVERYTHINg comes
from there. Right good notes and dont bother
watching them again, just go thru the slides. For
histo in the last one, USE the big ppt with all the
slides that the 2nd yrs will give you. Never went to
histo lab and I honored. For the final its soo much
Focused more on Lecture cell bio, know ur glycogen stuff well. Dont worry too
5 Lecture PPTS Lecture PPTS PPTS much about biochem on the final.
Supplemental
notes from
professors,
Boards and
Beyond, ESP
Questions for
Pelley lectures, Practice Questions! They Started questions sooner,
and Ben's become reeeeaaall pre-studied for histology Don't procrastinate, especially after Thanksgiving.
6 Modules important in BCT. lectures to avoid confusion. They say histology is easier, but it isn't. Stay vigilant.

If you love Anki, this is the class for you. Dillon

Medlock's anki deck is perfect and helps you
memorize all of the facts much quicker. When
learning lipid transport from Pelley's lectures, don't
Watched Boards & Beyond even bother watching his lectures until AFTER
Dillon Medlock's lipid transport instead of watching the boards & beyond videos in the
Anki watching Dr. Pelley's TTUHSC bible google drive. They explain it
7 Deck/Lectures Anki lectures 1000000x better. For the first two biochem units, the
 best way to learn all of the information is to draw out
huge concept maps and pathways. For learning
histology, you dont need to go to any of the lab
microscope sessions. Just study Viggy's histology
powerpoint and you'll be fine. I would also try to do
practice questions before the exam. BRS was pretty
helpful for me.
Lectures are actually good for this class, especially
Dr. Ganapathy's. I didn't go to class but made sure
to watch every lecture. Also, Dr. Pelley's practice
questions online are great for practice. Finally - and
my biggest tip for any class - Anki, Anki, Anki! Anki is
Boards and Practiced histology slides great for memorizing all the minutiae that we must
8 Beyond Dillon's Anki deck more. know.
Dillon's anki stuck to his Anki deck for
9 deck use Dillon's anki deck cell biology
I pretty much only studied lecture and got honors. I
used Dillon's Anki deck to review lecture material
and it was fine.

- Biochem: Dr. Ganapathy's lectures are gold for

biochem, I just made master maps of everything
based on his stuff.
- Cell bio: just tons of memorizing like biochem. Anki
is great for this.
- Histology: Dr. Hutson was my favorite, he told us
exactly what we needed to know. I thought going to
lab was useful just to interact with classmates and
talk through the slides. Noriko's review slides for
histo images were helpful for reviewing images.

For the NBME, it was helpful to go over biochem and

10 Lecture Lecture Focus more on lecture. cell bio again because it wasn't fresh. I was
 surprised how much histo was on the final though,
so don't forget to review that again.
Not underestimate the cell
11 Lecture Dissect lecture notes bio part Keep up with lectures
Lippincotts Draw mental maps of each pathway and organize
12 questions Ben's and firecracker Go to lecture more them by categoriea
Most lecturers in this block include everything in their
lectures and notes that you need to know for tests.
Some are harder to understand than others (Pelley),
but most provide plenty of resources to help you
succeed. I didn't use nearly as many outside
Reviewed lecture at my resources for BCT as I did for COA and I did well in
own pace (outside of class) Used my whiteboard more both classes. Ganapathy is one of the best lecturers
Lecture/lecture with a whiteboard, and in order to solidify concepts I've heard from...his slides and detailed lecture notes
13 notes attended histology lab. by visualizing them. will quickly become your best friend. Good luck!
Memorize Dillon's Anki deck. They can be difficult to
do because sometimes he just blankets texts all over
the cards, but I am not joking when I say every
single question on the test is from that deck. Three
days before I also did Pelley's ESP questions twice
that can be found here:
Dillon Medlock's https://www.ttuhsc.edu/medicine/medical-education/
Anki Deck, success-types/question-bank.aspx and BRS
Lecture, questions. Pretty slick work there. For histo,
GANAPATHY, Dillon Medlock's Anki Deck memorize all the pictures on the slides, and you're
14 Pelley's book Dillon Medlock's Anki Deck for Histo and Cell good.
 I wish I hadn't initially
latched on to Anki as one I think this class and its design are a great recipe for
Watched the lectures on of my primary learning burnout (almost everyone stops showing up to class
my own time at faster tools. It was much more (~180 students down to a consistent 50-60), some of
speed. Almost every single helpful as a review tool the lecturers and lecture topics leave a great deal to
lecturer spoke unbelievably after having seen the be desired regarding expectations/clarity, limited
slowly and it made more information in a larger resources to evaluate your understanding of material
sense to be doing context. There was just too prior to exams, etc.) so try not to let yourself get
Lectures, independent study during much information to try to overwhelmed and isolated. Watch/review the
lecture actual lecture hours and contain it all in my head lectures with friends, study in groups at least a few
objectives, and then watch the recordings without making a number hours each week (for the social interaction if nothing
the lecture later than to sit in class of connections via different else), and don't get discouraged. It'll be over before
15 notes watching them live. study methods first. you know it and you'll be on to greener pastures.
BCT is a memorization heavy block. I found
watching lectures online and pausing them to write
down important information to be a better use of time
than attending lecture in person. I say that as a
student that prefers going to lecture. Do not
Skip lecture and watch the Start skipping lecture procrastinate and start memorizing the cycles early.
16 Lectures. recordings. earlier Really know all the diseases.
Draw out the pathways in Practice questions for
Biochem, repetition is key. Biochem, I needed more
Focus on lecture slides review of acid-base and Understand the lectures and slides and you'll be very
and try your best to equations, aka the math. well set! Biochem is overwhelming at first, but just
understand it, not just More practice questions for draw the pathways and you'll get it! Dr. Ganapathy is
memorize it. In histology, Cell Bio (this unit was most amazing in this class. Cell bio was the toughest in
go to lab (not really for the challenging because its my opinion, so take that seriously and work hard
microscope) but to be able was so crammed for us!). early on. Ben's Modules are also good for reviewing
to ask questions to Dr. Utilize USMLE First Aid lecture! Histology was my favorite unit, Dr. Hutson's
Hutson and Dr. Webster earlier, they have so many drawings are great! The NBME was not too bad, do
LECTURE/SLID directly, they are amazing great pictures and easy practice questions from BRS, review notes in your
17 ES, 100% resources! mnemonics! weak areas, and review in First Aid!!
18 Lecture Firecracker practice More practice questions
 questions
First 2 units - mapping out
all the pathways on one
sheet, second two units -
attending lecture and I don't think I used any outside resources for this
reviewing it a second time class - using only what was given during class was
19 Lecture using the recordings Actually do the anki deck enough to honor
Use more boards and
20 Lecture Ben’s BCT Captivates beyond videos Swaggy G will change you
go over lecture more.
DON'T fall behind! This
21 LECTURE Only study lecture block is very fast paced. LECTURE HAS EVERY SINGLE TEST QUESTION.
watch lectures over again
when I felt unsure about If you anki the lecture, you can get a 100% on each
22 lecture not read the book something exam
A lot of second years told us that this class was
super easy and not time consuming as anatomy.
Lecture Because of this, I didn't devote as much time to it as
powerpoints, I did anatomy, which really hurt my grade for the first
shotgun Watch all of Ganapathy's Only study lecture test. For the rest of the tests, I spent a lot more time,
23 histology lectures powerpoints! and I did much better.