Learning Medical Terminology

USMLE STEP 1 STUDY TOOLS AND TIPS

It is approaching that time of year where the second year medical students are preparing to cram for the United States Medical Licensing Exam Step 1. A test some consider to be the most important exam of medical school and subsequently determines the rest of your life. That is a little dramatic but I think it should be your goal to do the best you can. Here are some of the tools I used to study for Step 1:

First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 2017

This is the holy bible of USMLE Step 1 studying. I highly recommend this book and I think almost every medical student who has taken the test would say the same. I would read through this book 2-3 times to really have it sink in.

Pathoma

A lecture series made by a certifiable genius: Dr. Husain Sattar, a pathologist from the University of Chicago. This series was amazing and incredibly detailed. A lot of high yield material is covered in his lectures. 

https://www.pathoma.com 

USMLE World

The question bank of all question banks. Though it may be school dependent, almost everyone from my medical school chose to go with this question bank. A couple thousand questions covering the majority of USMLE Step 1 topics. The questions are challenging but you will see your scores improve as you continue to study throughout your first and second year. I’ve even used this product for Step 2 and I am currently (literally open on my computer) using it for Step 3. My number one goal would be to complete every question offered in this question bank, it is a lot but well worth it.

https://www.uworld.com

The rest are to cover my weakest subjects from USMLE Step 1: Biochemistry, Microbiology and Pharmacology. I recommend the following tools to turn your greatest weakness into your greatest strength:

Microbiology

Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple

Lange Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Flash Cards

Pharmacology

Clinical Pharmacology Made Ridiculously Simple

Lange Pharmacology Flash Cards

Biochemistry

Clinical Physiology Made Ridiculously Simple

Lange Biochemistry and Genetics Flash Cards

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· 2/1/2016 ·

Biology flashcards from this morning. Good way to start the year.

How is everyone’s day? I love studying the human heart, it’s the best topic in my syllabus. I can’t understand any other sciences though so adios, my inner Christina Yang.

It’s a beautiful day to save lives.

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☪⚛

Here are some posts about cosmology, astrophysics and physics. I separated some of the main posts about space. Follow the list below ↓

Space-Time Fabric

What are Gravitational Waves?

What is Dark Energy?

What is Gravitational Lensing?

What are white holes?  

Interacting galaxy

Quark epoch

Cosmic microwave background

The collision of two black holes holes

What is a Quasar?

What are Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs)?

What are Pulsars?

What is a Supernova?

What are white dwarfs?

What are brown dwarfs?

How did a solar eclipse prove the theory of relativity?

Black hole vs star

Millisecond Pulsar with Magnetic Field Structure

Some intriguing exoplanets

Cepheid star

UY Scuti

TRAPPIST-1 planets

Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) 

Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)

Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA)

Very Large Telescope (VLT)

What is the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)?

ESO Telescopes Observe First Light from Gravitational Wave Source

Keck Observatory

Coronal mass ejection

Stars

Interesting facts about stars

Stellar parallax

Edwin Hubble

Interstellar asteroid Oumuamua

The most distant supermassive black hole ever observed

X-ray binary

Black holes

What is an Exoplanet?

Smith’s Cloud

Type Ia supernova

Protoplanetary disk

Magellanic Clouds

Herbig–Haro

Constellations

Solar system: Formation

Comets

Sunspot

Plasma Sun

Mercury

Venus

Mars

Ceres

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

Pluto

67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Zodiacal Light

Eclipse

Excitation of atom by photon

String Theory

Quantum Entanglement

Quantum Particles

What are the four fundamental forces of nature?

Nine weird facts about neutrinos

IceCube ( IceCube Neutrino Observatory)

What are Quarks?

Quantum Vacuum

Fermions and Bosons

30 years after the detection of SN1987A neutrinos

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO)

The Large Hadron Collider

Vampire squid

This Photo of a Single Trapped Atom Is Absolutely Breathtaking

Halo (optical phenomenon)

Dirty thunderstorm

Bioluminescent Plankton

Where Your Elements Came From 

IG: astronomy_blog

My blog

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Where do you recommend getting textbooks from? (renting, buying, online etc)

well textbook companies are evil and sometimes you have no choice but to buy a textbook new, but for other times where that’s not the case i’d recommend you check out slugbooks! ^_^ they compare a bunch of different sites selling the textbook you need so you can find it at the cheapest price :) it’s like the kayak of academia lol!

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Ariel did not simply ‘give [her] voice up for a man.’

Since childhood, Ariel has been among my favorite Disney princesses. I connect with her deeply – and whenever someone (like Keira Knightley recently) brings up the old line that she is a ‘bad role model’ for young girls because she ‘gives up her voice for a man,’ my heart breaks. 

That reading of Ariel’s character is reductive and inaccurate.

Everyone always mentions that Ariel was interested in the human world before meeting Eric, but not as many people point out how radical that makes her in the context of her own society.

Ariel lives in a society that is xenophobic towards humans, Triton at various points calls them “barbarians,” “savage,” and “incapable of any real feeling.” She lives in a society that constantly tells her that her interest in the human world is wrong and bad, something she struggles with at the start of Part of Your World: 

By seeking a fuller understanding of the human world, Ariel actively challenges her father’s xenophobia, thinking for herself instead of accepting her society’s fears and prejudices.

The film goes out of its way to establish Ariel as an outsider within her own society. Think for a moment about the opening lines of Part of Your World: 

Look at this stuff. Isn’t it neat? Wouldn’t you think my collection’s complete? Wouldn’t you think I’m the girl The girl who has everything? Look at this trove, Treasures untold How many wonders can one cavern hold? Lookin’ around here you’d think Sure, she’s got everything…

People who criticize Ariel so often mis-characterize her as simply a spoiled teenager. The very statement, “She gave up her voice for a man!” implies she’s a foolish girl who throws her life and agency away in a fit of pique.   

 Yet, the opening of Part of Your World anticipates that certain members of the audience will have a superficial understanding of Ariel’s pain and directly addresses that. On a superficial level, Ariel does seem like “the girl who has everything.” She is the daughter of the most important merman in Atlantica, she has countless treasures hidden away in her grotto…

But that’s the thing, you see. They’re hidden in her grotto. Ariel may be the daughter of the sea-king, but the sea-king hates and fears humanity. Part of Your World is the most heartbreaking rebuttal to anyone who sees Ariel as a shallow teenager because it shows how alone she truly is. Except for Flounder, she has no one under the sea she can genuinely confide in. (She confides in Sebastian, of course, but he was sent by her father to spy on her and he does betray her trust – by mistake, but he does). Her sisters and the rest of Atlantica presumably do not question the prejudices that cause the human world to be forbidden to the sea folk.

Ariel is an outcast, forced to hide who she is from the people who should love her unconditionally.

The more Part of Your World goes on, the more devastating and resonant Ariel’s collection of artifacts becomes.

These artifacts represent a void in her life and, at the same time, are the only means she has of filling that void.

She longs to have knowledge, but her society imposes ignorance on her. She longs to see the human world herself, to ask questions and finally be answered – but it is all denied her. The imposed ignorance forces her to live vicariously through the artifacts she collects.

She cannot see a couple dancing, so she must content herself with a music box.

She can only experience the shadow of fire on oil and canvas.

Her collection perpetually reminds her that there is a world beyond her reach. At the same time, it is her central way of interacting with that world. Yes, she can go up to to the surface and talk to Scuttle, but her collection is something so much more personal. These are items she saved from the ruins of ships, sometimes at the risk of her own life… so she could study them, learn from them, and lament the unjust rules of her society that prevent her from learning more…

Her courage, her curiosity, her thirst for knowledge are all bound up in these precious possessions.

And yes, they are objects. Yes, she wants more than a collection of objects. But this collection is all she has. And, as far as Ariel knows, it is all she will ever have…

When you’re all but alone in the world and you have only meager scraps to cling to, those scraps mean the world to you.

And, I remind you, Ariel cannot even openly enjoy her collection of scraps, the shadows of a world she cannot touch. She has to hide even them, guard them, keep them secret.

Ariel’s grotto is a place of solace and security where she can be herself without fear of judgment.

There is a reason the destruction of Ariel’s grotto harrowed me more as a child than any other scene in a Disney film. I could hardly watch it. I hid my face. I begged my family to skip scene. I was reduced to a sobbing mess. On a personal level, it harrowed me more than the destruction of Cinderella’s dress.   

That reason is because, in watching the scene, I felt the pain of a place of refuge being invaded.

By the time we reach the destruction of the grotto, we are as emotionally invested in Ariel’s collection as she is because we see that the objects are more than objects. They are extensions of herself, encapsulating all her feelings of hope and hopelessness.

Destroying those items is like annihilating a part of her soul.

That is why I hate the “she gave up her voice for a man” line of thought so much. Because it so blatantly disregards the context of the film. Because it paints Ariel as a shallow teenager. Because it places blame for what follows solely on Ariel’s shoulders and absolves Triton of any wrongdoing.

I want to tread carefully here because, like Ariel, Triton is a nuanced and complex character. He has good intentions and cares about his youngest daughter. 

Yet, even a well-intentioned individual can be in the wrong. Even an individual who is right about certain things (Ariel is indeed impetuous and reckless at times – though I hope my analysis reminds readers that those are not her sole character traits), can be wrong about other things.

And Triton’s confrontation with Ariel highlights his failings and his faults.

Look at Ariel’s face when she first sees her father in the grotto:

The enhancement of expression in animation allows the audience to clearly see the fear in her face.

Triton has created an environment where his own daughter is afraid of him.

No parent should do that to their child.

Confronting Ariel, Triton says, “I consider myself a reasonable merman. I set certain rules and I expect those rules to be obeyed.”

On one level, Triton is right to expect his children to respect the rules he sets in place.

 What I feel Triton misses, however, is that respect is not the same as intimidation.

Since Triton wants Ariel to accept his rules based solely on his authority as her father, he makes it impossible for there to be any communication between himself and his daughter.

This dynamic means that he will not listen to Ariel even when Ariel is in the right and he is not. Children should listen to their parents, but in the same way, parents should listen to their children.

Triton may be in the right to worry about his daughter’s safety, but his fear is still born of bigotry – bigotry that Ariel recognizes and rejects.

Triton, after all, grows angry at his daughter because she wouldn’t let another living being die. He specifically calls her out because she “rescued a human from drowning.” When Ariel counters that allowing someone helpless to miserably drown is cruel, he shuts her down with: 

When Ariel points out the illogical nature of her father’s brutal line of thought and says, “You don’t even know him!”, Triton responds:    

Even if a viewer is largely sympathetic to Triton, that viewer cannot ignore Triton’s prejudice in this moment.

He generalizes millions of people.

And if the rules he sets down include the tacit understanding, “Let innocents die because, by virtue of their humanity, their lives have no value,” then maybe those rules deserve to be broken. Maybe those rules need to be changed. 

Ariel may be a teenager, but she is wiser than her father here.

(Also, can I say that Ariel’s body language here breaks my heart every time I see it? She’s swimming away from her father, recoiling… 

…until she’s cowering behind Eric’s statue. She looks like she’s about to cry as her father pours forth more vitriol… 

…and after she bursts out with the exclamation, “Daddy, I love him!”, she’s terrified that she’s said it.)

Triton believes that he alone is in the right and destroys the grotto because he feels it is “the only way” to “get through to” his daughter. He believes he must be cruel only to be kind.  

Yet, in the end…

…he only succeeds…

…in being cruel.

Triton’s unwillingness to listen to his daughter – his unwillingness to treat her with the same respect he demands of her – only widens the gulf between them.

 Ariel does not go to the sea-witch because she has been mooning over a man.

Ariel goes to the sea-witch because she has no voice in her own home. Becoming human, she gains the ability to live life on her own terms. Becoming human, she ironically gains the voice she has been denied for so long.

Ariel goes to the sea-witch because her father sends a message to her – a message that she does not matter, that there is no place for someone like her in Atlantica.

Triton may never have meant to send that message, but send it, he did… and he should be held accountable for that.

Indeed, the film does hold him accountable for that.

After destroying the grotto, Triton realizes he has done a horrible thing.

Look into his eyes after Ariel falls to weeping:  

Look at the regret in his eyes. Look at the remorse. He knows he has gone too far. He never meant to hurt his daughter like this.

And when Ariel vanishes from Atlantica, Triton takes responsibility for his actions. What does he say when his daughter cannot be found? Does he say, “What folly has my daughter gotten herself into now?”

No. He says: 

Simply saying that Ariel ‘gave up [her] voice for a man’ ignores the painful complexity of the situation in which she finds herself. It ignores the depth of her motivation. It ignores Triton’s culpability. It ignores her best character traits and only highlights her flaws (and yes, she has flaws, for she is a multifaceted, well-written character.)

But Ariel’s rejection of prejudice, her ability to see beauty in a group that nearly everyone around her demonizes, her courage and determination and love, are all venerable traits…     

…and Ariel’s courage, determination, and love are what inspire Triton to open his heart and change.

Some people say that The Little Mermaid is more Triton’s story than Ariel’s. I disagree and feel that assessment unfairly dismisses Ariel’s emotional journey. Triton has a compelling arc in the film – but that arc is only set in motion because of Ariel’s agency.      

He learns from his daughter’s example.

He grows because of her.

Why don’t we talk more about Ariel, the young woman who always challenged her father’s prejudice? Why don’t we talk more about Ariel, who actively spoke out about the flaws she saw in her society? Why don’t we talk more about Ariel, whose actions helped change that society for the better? Why don’t we talk more about Ariel, who formed a bridge between two worlds and enacted positive change?

Why don’t we talk more about that Ariel?

I know Ariel can be impulsive, but she is sixteen years old, and her impulsiveness only makes her character realistic. She makes mistakes but, like her father, she owns up to those mistakes and learns from them:

There are critics of Ariel’s character who want to make the story of The Little Mermaid black and white. Because Triton recognizes Ariel’s impulsiveness, they ignore Triton’s faults and trivialize Ariel.

Yet, the story the film presents is not so black and white. Ariel and Triton are not so one-dimensional.

They both learn from each other and grow together.     

This embrace is so meaningful because, by the end of the film, Triton finally shows Ariel the same respect he asks of her and in so doing, he earns her respect.

Ariel, meanwhile, recognizes her own mistakes and gains a new appreciation for her father.

The Little Mermaid is a beautiful film and Ariel is a brave, inspiring, complex heroine. 

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TERRAFORM: ambient electronic sci fi playlist for space kids trying to ace their finals

( listen on spotify / my other playlists )

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dropbox containing linguistics textbooks

contains 34 textbooks including etymology, language acquisition, morphology, phonetics/phonology, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, & translation studies

dropbox containing language textbooks

contains 86 language textbooks including ASL, Arabic, (Mandarin) Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Hebrew (Modern & Ancient), Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovene, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese, Welsh

dropbox containing books about language learning

includes fluent forever by gabriel wyner, how to learn any language by barry farber, polyglot by kató lomb

if there’s a problem with any of the textbooks or if you want to request materials for a specific language feel free to message me!

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Free Online Language Courses

Here is a masterpost of MOOCs (massive open online courses) that are available, archived, or starting soon. I think they will help those that like to learn with a teacher or with videos.  You can always check the audit course or no certificate option so that you can learn for free.

American Sign Language

ASL University

Arabic

Arabic for Global Exchange (in the drop down menu)

Arabic Without Walls

Intro to Arabic

Madinah Arabic

Moroccan Arabic

Catalan Sign Language

Intro to Catalan Sign Language

Chinese

Beginner

Basic Chinese

Basic Chinese I. II, III, IV , V

Basic Mandarin Chinese I & II

Beginner’s Chinese

Chinese for Beginners

Chinese Characters

Chinese for HSK 1

First Year Chinese I &  II

HSK Level 1

Mandarin Chinese I

Mandarin Chinese for Business

More Chinese for Beginners

Start Talking Mandarin Chinese

UT Gateway to Chinese

Chino Básico (Taught in Spanish)

Intermediate

Chinese Stories

Intermediate Business Chinese

Intermediate Chinese Grammar

Dutch

Introduction to Dutch

English

Online Courses here

Resources Here

Faroese

Faroese Course

Finnish

A Taste of Finnish

Basic Finnish

Finnish for Immigrants

Finnish for Medical Professionals

French

Beginner

AP French Language and Culture

Basic French Skills

Beginner’s French: Food & Drink

Diploma in French

Elementary French I & II

Français Interactif

French in Action

French for Beginners

French Language Studies I, II, III

French:Ouverture

Intermediate & Advanced

French: Le Quatorze Juillet

Passe Partout 

La Cité des Sciences et de Industrie

Frisian

Introduction to Frisian (Taught in English)

Introduction to Frisian (Taught in Dutch)

German

Beginner

Beginner’s German: Food & Drink

Conversational German I, II, III, IV

Deutsch im Blick

Diploma in German

Rundblick-Beginner’s German

Advanced

German:Regionen Traditionen und Geschichte

Landschaftliche Vielfalt

Hebrew

Biblical Hebrew

Know the Hebrew Alphabet

Teach Me Hebrew

Hindi

A Door into Hindi

Business Hindi

Virtual Hindi

Icelandic

Icelandic 1-5

Indonesian

Learn Indonesian

Irish

Introduction to Irish

Italian

Beginner

Beginner’s Italian: Food & Drink

Beginner’s Italian I

Introduction to Italian

Italian for Beginners 1 , 2, 3 , 4 , 5, 6 

Intermediate & Advaned

Intermediate Italian I

Advanced Italian I

La Commedia di Dante

Japanese

Genki

Japanese JOSHU

Japanese Pronunciation

Sing and Learn Japanese

Tufs JpLang

Kazakh

A1-B2 Kazakh (Taught in Russian)

Korean

Beginner

First Step Korean

How to Study Korean

Learn to Speak Korean

Pathway to Spoken Korean

Intermediate

Intermediate Korean

Nepali

Beginner’s Conversation and Grammar

Norwegian

Introduction to Norwegian

Norwegian on the Web

Portuguese

Curso de Português para Estrangeiros 

Pluralidades em Português Brasileiro

Russian

Beginner

Easy Accelerated Learning for Russian

Advanced

Reading Master and Margarita

Russian as an Instrument of Communication

Siberia: Russian for Foreigners

Spanish

Beginner

AP Spanish Language & Culture

Basic Spanish for English Speakers

Beginner’s Spanish:Food & Drink

Fastbreak Spanish

Introduction to Spanish

Restaurants and Dining Out

Spanish for Beginners

Spanish for Beginners 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Spanish Vocabulary

Intermediate

Spanish:Ciudades con Historia

Spanish:Espacios Públicos

Advanced

Corrección, Estilo y Variaciones 

Leer a Macondo

Spanish:Con Mis Propias Manos

Spanish: Perspectivas Porteñas

Swedish

Intro to Swedish

Swedish Made Easy 1, 2, & 3

Ukrainian

Read Ukrainian

Ukrainian Language for Beginners

Welsh

Beginner’s Welsh

Discovering Wales

Multiple Languages

Ancient Languages

More Language Learning Resources & Websites!

Last updated: March 1, 2017

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as i get farther along this academic road, i can see that people are becoming increasingly secretive about their grant proposals, statements for faculty applications, fellowships, etc. what is your policy on sharing these things? i ask because i think you are a Normal Human Being who is a Decent Person, and sometimes this secrecy or tendency to distrust makes me sad!

i understand and i really dislike it as well, but i think it’s important to remember that much of that distrust comes from real and historical patterns of intellectual theft (which hit disproportionately across academia). it’s shitty! the world is a better place when we can share openly and help each other get through the absolute absurdity of the academy! but i can’t think badly of anyone who chooses not to spread their materials around. even though they’re not the same kind of work as, say, a book chapter or an article, we put a lot of labor into documents like proposals and applications, and i think it’s okay to be protective of that labor. 

that said, i’m really open with mine, particularly with people that i actually know. my roommate’s getting a big folder of fellowship and job application materials from me, for example, which is partially bc i love him & the other younger premodernists in my program and want them to succeed, and partially bc i want to save our shared advisor some work. my fellowship group have swapped and given feedback all our job materials, and juliana @caffeinebooks & i exchange proposals all the time. i’m happy to share things like cover letters and research statements with people that i know, because i want to save them some of the angst i went through (which was already ameliorated by the folks who did this for me). it’s harder to muster that kind of generosity towards people i don’t know, because, as selfish as it sounds, i spent 9 hours getting the wording on that cover letter right and i’m enough of an asshole to want to reserve the fruits of that labor for people i know and love, at least until i’ve moved on to other forms of labor. i was not planning on sharing my job materials until i got a job. now i’m cool with it.   

i feel an obligation to pay forward a lot of the help that i’ve gotten on my materials from people who shared theirs with me. but i also understand not being comfortable doing that, or only being comfortable doing that in certain ways. the giving and the getting should be balanced, IMO, but i think it’s up to the individual to decide what that balance looks like for them.

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How I Make Notecards! :)

After my post about notecards and midterms, a lot of you guys sent me messages about how I make them, what kind of cards or rings I use, etc. Soooo, without further ado…

I’ll be using my Chemistry notecards as an example since they’re probably the most well done AND they’re even color coded!

STEP 1: Gather materials (that sounds really science-class-procedure-y) 

I personally use unruled index cards from Target (they’re like $0.49 per pack and really good quality) and two different writing utensils…usually some sort of marker and then my trusty Pilot G2. I like for my notecards to be on a ring (good for storage but I take them off when I’m quizzing myself), so I’ll need one of those and a hole punch (mine’s Swingline and I LOVE it).

STEP 2: I make a list of what I need on my notecards and then start labeling the front side of the index cards. My Chemistry notecards are just material from my 1st semester, so I make them as I go along, but you can make them all at once too! (wouldn’t really recommend it, it ends up being really time consuming)

STEP 3: Once I’m done labeling the front side with concepts such as Molarity, questions like “What is an aqueous solution?,” diagrams like Solids VS Liquids VS Gases on a molecular basis, etc., I go back to actually write out the content on the back of the cards. I define words, copy practice problems, draw diagrams, and the like. 

STEP 4: When all the notecards are done, I break out a pack of colored notecards to act as divider pages. I have a color-coding guide:

STEP 5: Since my notecards are for the entire 1st semester, I take some plain white notecards to use as dividers for different chapters. For this, I cut up a small sheet of paper or an index card, fold it in half, and tape it to the right edge of the card, so that it acts as a tab. 

STEP 6: After all that is done, I punch holes in the upper left corner and put them on the ring so that the order isn’t messed up (my Chem notecards are actually numbered though, so it’s not an issue)

STEP 7: Then I make my cover! I like this part the most. I cut out a piece of scrapbook paper so it’s 3in X 5in, and I punch a hole in the upper left corner. I tape a sticky note that’s been folded in half on the center (if the paper has a subtler pattern you can just write directly on it) and I use a marker/pen to write the class and/or subject. 

STEP 8: Finally, put that on the ring and then you’re done! I flip through my notecards before major tests to get a brief overview of the content before going to my notes/the textbook, or I take them off the ring to quiz myself. Study them however you’d like :)

This was my first tutorial-y post…I hope I helped and answered your questions! 

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