Block 1 covers biochemistry, cell biology, cell signaling, genetics, basics of pharmacology, and some endocrinology for PBL. For anatomy you will cover the muscles of the upper body excluding the head and neck. For histology you will be covering the basics such as tissue types and hematopoiesis. For IPC you will be learning how to take a history. This seems like a lot, we know, but you’ll be starting shallow for much of it with time to review and dig deeper as you progress.
Resources
For PBL:
- Third Party Study Resources
- Resources for objectives
- Practice questions
For anatomy:
- Know structure, function, innervation, and what the structure is surrounded by. For tricky structures, knowing attachments can help, but don’t stress yourself out over it.
- The anatomy of this block isn’t terrible. All of the structures are things you utilize frequently and have an intuitive sense of how it works and where it is
- Have some idea of what you’re going to be doing in anatomy lab rather than going in blind! Whether that is going over lecture slides, anki cards, or watching the dissector videos. You’ll feel much more prepared and have better use of your time.
- Ninja Nerd video on the brachial plexus and other important structures. Knowing how to draw it out helps!
- Dr. Preddy Arm Anatomy Videos
- Make Anki cards over the anatomy lectures (or use PrAnki anatomy – see General Study Tips)
- PrAnki deck enhanced with screenshots from Complete Anatomy by Chloe G (Class of 2028) – Please note that importing this deck may overwrite any existing copies of the original Block 1 PrAnki cards in your current Anki installation: PrAnki Anatomy 2.0_Block 1.apkg*
- University of Michigan anatomy practice questions
- BlueLink Anki Deck: pre-made Anki deck with images of dissections from the University of Michigan
- Teach me anatomy
- The more you see the structure and what it looks like on a human body, the better! Utilize BlueLink Anki Deck or visit the actual anatomy lab to do this.
For Histology:
- Lectures will have everything you need (make flashcards)
- Histology Self-Exam atlas (best for testing yourself) – make flashcards from this atlas
- Blue Histology Quizzes
- Histology Guide
- Digital Histology (Pranav’s favorite) – website that has slides, labels, and descriptions for the histology of all tissues and organ systems
- Anki decks:
- PrAnki Histology Deck* – deck made by Pranav Suri of the class of 2024 based on histology lectures
- SAnki Block 1 Histology Deck – deck made by Sam Marshall of the class of 2024 based on histology lectures
- Liam Cler’s Krause Atlas Histology deck* – deck made by Liam Kler of the class of 2025 based on the Histology Atlas images
For IPC:
- Make a super over the lectures and study it (this was by far the most important thing!)
- Study the mnemonics, but other lecture material is more important
- The patient encounter is pretty straightforward. Just make sure you practice enough and memorize the different parts of the history! Don’t miss one of the easy components.
General Advice
- Make sure to start studying early
- Be able to draw out the metabolism pathways, and understand the clinical issues arising from enzyme deficiencies. Be able to think through why a pathway is occurring and what would happen if something went wrong.
- Boards and Beyond has all of the high-yield information for this block! I’d highly recommend watching the metabolism videos and doing the corresponding AnKing cards.
- Don’t stress too much over embryology, it’ll come back in future blocks!
*Disclaimer: Students should know that these flashcards are not provided by nor sanctioned by the School of Medicine. We have not checked them for accuracy, nor for whether the questions represent an appropriate balance of information, so they may not be representative of everything the students are expected to know. We recommend that students create their own study materials and believe they will get far more learning and understanding if they make their own flashcards rather than if they use pre-made ones.