By Nur Atiqah Md. Osman
Everyone must be
really excited, nervous and has clueless
at the same time for this new semester.
Everything seems to
be new. New subjects. More relaxed
semester. Take it easy everyone! I will
try to give glimpse regarding this subject and how to tackle them.
What is Pharmacology?
A study about DRUGS obviously!
You’ll be learning of their mechanisms, mode
of actions and the receptors it acted on as well as the effects of drugs on the
body.
What Are We Learning?
For this semester
the topics that will be covered are PHARMACODYNAMICS, PHARMACOKINETICS and CARDIOVASCULAR
PHARMACOLOGY.
Pharmacodynamics
and pharmacokinetics are the essence of pharmacology. You’ll be grand if you
really master this from now. The most interesting part and giving you finally-so-called-future-doctor-knowing-my-drugs feelings is Cardiovascular Pharmacology. You’ll
be learning about types of drugs and their mode of actions trying to deal with
broken hearted issues ( oops :P )
It might sound
quite boring, but trust me! Never skip even A WORD from the lecture notes
including the IMAGES. Some of the questions in the Summer Exam
requires you to label the diagrams from the lecture notes,
some even ask about the types of serotonin receptor acting either at ligand
gated or voltage gated ion channel. Make
sure you know how to make any comparison, for example
muscarinic receptor and nicotinic receptor. Also, make sure you pay very good attention
for the clinical
trials steps. Keep that in MIND! :D
Any Additional Reading?
Personally, I didn’t
actually use Rang and Dale for my 2nd year Pharmacology. I survived with
lecture notes, tutorials, computer
assisted learning and all the scribbling during the lectures. If you want to
get 90 and above for your pharmacology, you have to read Rang and Dale ( I
don’t get 90 okay, obviously :P) That’s will just be grand if you plan to start
using it from now to make yourself familiarise before entering to third year (
I used Rang and Dale, Lippincotts, BNF mostly for my 3rd year Pharmacology).
Study group helps me A LOT! This is where I discovered I had this wrong understanding on certain concepts. And the best thing,
you’re not only helping yourself but your friends as well. You will remember
better if you start to teach people about it. :D
EXAM WISE?
Make sure you go
through again all the tutorials given. Some of the questions are
actually taken from the tutorials. Be truthful to yourself! If you don’t
understand anything, clear your thoughts
up ASAP! Approach your lecturers and friends to seek for the answers, or
perhaps MR GOOGLE?
I would suggest
prior 2-3 days before the exam, you should have a study partner somehow or perhaps
your housemate where you can start blurting out whatever topic you’re done revising
in a simplified manner. This helps me as well as for my last minute study, to
get things stuck in my brain longer.
Lastly, make sure
you DO the sample questions on blackboard, and the PAST
YEAR PAPERS too. Some portions of questions were taken from those
question bank. Again, make sure you read and understand every word in the
lecture note! And diagrams too!
Please come to ALL the lectures. There’s no point of
getting first class honour if you can’t even respect someone who is giving you
the knowledge simply by saying his lecture is just too boring, ye know? I kept
dozing off L. If you feel sleepy, get the pen and start scribbling whatever he
is saying. That’s one of the ways that keeps me awake in class.
Stay positive! Work
hard, pray hard everything will just be GRAND!
May He bless every
effort that you put in. Let’s study for
the sake of Him
Do contact me on
Facebook if you have any further questions!
Nur Atiqah Md. Osman is a Third Med in UCC.
