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i'll be having pharmacology next sem, any tips?

HI! :)

Pharmacology is the heart of pharmacy. You need to have a good memorisation skill but understanding it will be the key. Sad to say, there is no shortcut. You need to take a lot of your time to study it by heart. 

In studying the drugs:

Study the normal mechanism of the body

Study the abnormal mechanism of the body

Compare the normal & abnormal mechanism of the body

Study how the drug works to correct the abnormal mechanism of the body

for example you are studying cardiovascular drugs: 1. study the normal physiology of the heart 2. study what happen when a person has a cardiovascular disease 3. study the difference between a normal heart & a heart with cardiovascular disease 4. study how cardiovascular drugs will correct the condition

Use flashcards, notecards & the likes

Use one side of the card and write the drug & other side with is mechanism of action

Use one side of the card and indicate its pharmacologic category & the other side with the list of drugs under that category

This are very handy & you can bring it anywhere you go. :)

Be creative, Use Mnemonics

In this way, the information will  be easy to remember.

For example,

the non-specific beta blockers are NSTP (Nadolol, Sotalol, Timolol, Propranolol) 

specific beta blockers are BEAM (Bisoprolol, Esmolol, Atenolol, Metoprolol)

beta blockers, mostly but not all the time, ends with -olol

angiotensin II receptor antagonist usually ends with -sartan (Losartan, Candesartan)

HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors usually ends with -statin (Simvastatin, Atorvastatin, Rosuvastatin)

ACE inhibitors usually ends with -pril (Captopril, Lisinopril)

Proton pump inhibitor - ends with -prazole (Pantoprazole, Esomeprazole)

H2 receptor blockers -ends with -tidine (Famotidine, Cimetidine)

Be productive during internships. Use that as an opportunity to be more familiar with the drugs.

The arrangement of medicine either in the community or hospital setting is mostly by their therapeutic category. Observe. Read. Write. Repeat. In this way you will be familiar with the drugs more.

Guide books & Apps

there are a lot of guide books like Pharmacopeia, but due to technology it is easily accessible to everyone today. :) There are several apps that are downloadable for free in the Apps Store & Google Play like…

Epocrates

Micromedex Drug Information

Monthly Prescribing Reference

The course itself is not easy but if you have the determination to study & to learn, nothing will come difficult.  Good luck to you! I know you can do it. :)

Trigonometry.

TOP 5 SITES FOR STUDENTS (a)

Gathered a few websites that I think would help you academically and financially!

Money Saving Expert - Started by Martin Lewis in 2003. Money Saving Expert bills itself as “dedicated to cutting your bills and fighting your corner through journalistic research, cutting-edge tools and a massive community”.

Cite This For Me - This site writes a bibliography and checks references so there’s no chance of being unjustly accused of plagiarism. It’s very frustrating to lose marks on an assignment for incorrect referencing.

Springboard Survey Panel - Students can join SpringBoard America Survey Panel to make their opinion count, and earn real cash and prizes for filling out surveys along the way.

Unidays - This is totally free to join, and used by over 4.3 million students every day. Signing up provides discounts on fashion, technology, music, stationary, food and more.

Opinion Outpost - Students sign up to complete surveys and give their opinion on various products and services for cash and prizes. Great way to earn a little side cash for books or clothes.

💓 day 4 of 100 days of productivity 💓

studying for my final exam of the semester (!!!) with my brand new mildliners! i can definitely say that it took me a long time to decide if i really needed them, but now that i have them, i personally couldn’t imagine studying without them. if you’re on the fence about purchasing them, like i was, i highly recommend them! hope you’re having a fantastic day xx

I need advice. I've always had a problem with my grades. I've failed a lot of classes, not because I don't understand, just because I'm so depressed I can't find the motivation to do a single thing. I know that this year I NEED to get good grades. Report cards are almost out. Im more depressed now then ever. I have bad grades at the moment. I just recently learned that I have to put my cat down, and that is making it hard for me to even speak, let alone get stuff done. Any advice

/hugs/ I’m so sorry to hear that you’re going through a rough time. Especially with your cat. 

First thing is first: take time. From what you’ve written, it doesn’t sound like the content of your classes is causing you trouble. Rather, it seems like there’s external factors that’s preventing you from studying - circumstances which are triggering your depression etc. 

Studying with depression is difficult. Consider professional help as an option. Rely on your support network. Learn to forgive yourself for not performing at your best because of your mental illness. Remember - it is something to be managed; not a barrier to your success. 

I’d also consider speaking with your faculty/ advisor etc. There may be formal avenues of review or adjustments to where/ when you take your exams and/or deadlines that may help relieve the stress in the interim as you get back on your feet. 

Here’s some tips re: motivation 

Five Practical Study Tips to Keep Motivated in School by @nag-aaral/ @sadgirlstudying​ (working link by @pas-au-talent​)

Motivation by @areistotle 

Motivation masterpost by @elkstudies​ 

Motivation masterpost by @artkidstudies 

Tips for avoiding burnout and staying motivated by @coffeesforstudiers

And for dealing with failure: 

Dealing with Failure

Shit Grade? Feeling better after a terrible exam

This response

And this one

And this one here 

On Bad Semesters by @post–grad​

This Masterpost by @areistotle​

How to Fail by @psychstudyblr​ 

Good luck - give yourself time. Focus on “how” (not just a demand - ‘need’) to get exams. Celebrate your victories - not matter how small. Because it’s going to be a slow process. But you’ll get there. It may not be the ‘perfect’ solution or the perfect ‘result’ you want - but hell, we’re human. It keeps things interesting. 

Very long but interesting chapter : depressive and bipolar disorders

(Don’t you love when your notes end right at the bottom of the page? I do!)

i know you're super busy all the time but just in case - any tips for law firm networking events? or, alternatively, as i have both this week, on how to sell yourself at an interview? you seem to be a person who knows how to play the game. anyway! loads of luck with all your things!

Networking events are a) the worst, b) incredibly valuable in expanding your circle of personal and professional contacts. Most of my tips are spawned from me viciously hating them, and simultaneously knowing they are Important For Career Development.

First of all, if you’re waiting for the magic rom-com moment when you totally connect with someone and they hire you on the spot—it’s not going to happen. (I definitely had to kill that fantasy, several times.)

Instead, it’s best to think of networking as a meet cute—the goal is to make an impression, and for that person to know who you are when you follow up with them afterwards.

….and you are going to follow up afterwards.

Start with people you know. There are a lot of networking events I’ve attended where there are classmates/professors in attendance. It is perfectly good manners to approach someone you know, greet them, and then introduce yourself to whoever they’re talking to.

I mean, obviously you can’t be an asshole about it, you don’t want to interrupt them, but I’ve definitely pulled this move with great success. 

“Hey, [FRIEND] I saw you and I just had to say hello. Oh, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, I’m [NAME], I’m in [FRIEND]’s Corporate Law class.”

It also works really nicely if you can slip a compliment in for friend, both because it’s classy and they feel obligated to reciprocate.

Go in with 2-3 general questions that require more than a brief answer. Some of my favorites are “What’s the most interesting or challenging project/issue you’ve worked on in the last 6 months?” “What brought you to [area of specialization]?”

These are good because they don’t require you knowing anything about the person, but can get them to open up about their work. I haven’t met a lawyer who doesn’t enjoy sharing their war stories.

Work the room. If you’re talking to a single person for more than 15 minutes, you’re probably spending too much time with them.

It is totally appropriate to ask for a business card! Ask for a business card! This helps for the next step which is…

Follow up within the next business week. As I said before, networking events are meet cutes. If you really want to develop this individual as a contact, you’re going to have to keep reaching out to them.

I’ve had the most success in finding and friending them on LinkedIn directly afterwards. (Literally, I go home and spend an hour finding everyone I talked to.) In my connection request, I thank them for the conversation and mention one specific thing they talked about.

Then, about a week later, I email them directly and ask to grab coffee/have an informational interview.

Attach your resume to the request, and send them a reminder email 24 hours before with your resume attached.

Keep up contact. These types of relationships aren’t a one-shot deal, you need to stay at the forefront of the minds. Like the articles they post on LinkedIn. Reach out and congratulate them on new jobs/awards.

Almost all attorneys publish pretty frequently through their firm website/blog. If they post something related to your interests, I suggest reaching out and saying so—a couple sentences wishing them well ought to do the trick.

If you’re reading through this and it sounds incredibly daunting, it is. But it is also one of those things that gets easier with practice. Be polite, relaxed, and professional, and chances are you’re already leagues ahead in the game.

adapted from this response

1. Write your notes in a way where you can test your retention and understanding. 

Many people write notes that do a great job summarizing their materials but their notes are not designed to promote learning, retention or diagnosis of their weaknesses. But my notes can – and so can yours. Simply put my notes can be used like flashcards because I write them in a form where I separate a “stimulus” from a “response.”  The stimulus are cues or questions (think: front side of flashcard), while the response is the answer to the cue (think: back of flashcard).  But the stimuli are to the left of a margin, while the responses are to the right. The key advantage of this is that just by putting a sheet of paper on top of your notes, you can hide the responses, while leaving the stimuli visible. You can have multiple margins and multiple levels of stimuli and response for greater information density. When you get good at this you can write notes in this form in real-time. To get some idea of what I’m talking about google for “Cornell Notetaking method”. My notetaking method is a variant of this. I usually use completely blank paper to do this because regular lined paper has too small a margin. To give you an idea of how powerful this notetaking method can be, I learned several courses just hours before the exam and still got an “A” in all of them during a difficult semester where I had too many competing priorities to spend long hours studying. Had it not been for this notetaking method I don’t think that would be possible. 2. Develop the ability to become an active reader (this is the perhaps the most important advice I have to share). 

Don’t just passively read material you are given. But pose questions, develop hypotheses and actively test them as you read through the material. I think the hypotheses are part of what another poster referred to when he advised that you should develop a “mental model” of whatever concept they are teaching you.  But a mental model can be much more than simple hypotheses. Sometimes the model resembles a story. Other times it looks more like a diagram. But what they all have in common is that the explain what is going on. Having a mental model will give you the intuition and ability to answer a wider range of questions than would be otherwise possible if you lacked such a mental model. Where do you get this model? You creatively develop one as you are reading to try to explain the facts as they are presented to you.  It’s like guessing how the plot of a movie, before it unfolds. Sometimes you have to guess the model based on scarce evidence. Sometimes it is handed to you. If your model is a good one it should at least be able to explain what you are reading. Having a model also allows you to make predictions which can then be used to identify if your model is wrong.  This allows you to be hypersensitive to disconfirming evidence that can quickly identify if your model is wrong. Oftentimes you may have two or more models that can explain the evidence, so your task will be to quickly formulate questions that can prove one model while disconfirming the others. To save yourself time, I suggest focusing on raising questions that could confirm/disprove the mostly likely model while disproving the others  (think: differential diagnoses in medicine). But once you have such a model that (i) explains the evidence and (ii) passes all the disconfirming tests you can throw at it then you have something you can interpolate and extrapolate from to answer far more than was initially explained to you. Such models also make retention easier because you only need to remember the model as opposed to the endless array of facts it explains.  But perhaps more importantly, such models give you intuition. Of course, your model could be wrong, but that is why you actively test it as you are reading, and adjust as necessary. Think of this process as the scientific method being applied by you, to try to discover the truth as best you can. Sometimes you will still be left with contradictions that even your best models cannot explain. I often found speaking to the professor after class to be a time efficient of resolving these contradictions. I discovered mental modelling as a survival mechanism to pass my studies at the University of Waterloo – where their teaching philosophy is misnomer because their teaching philosophy is to not teach as well as they could. You can see this from their grading philosophy. Although they don’t use a bell curve or other statistical grade adjustment, they make their exams so hard that the class average is usually between 68 (C+) and 72 (B-) in spite of the fact that their minimum admission grades are among the highest in Canada (you need more than A+ to get into several of their engineering programs). The only way they can achieve such low test averages from otherwise high performing students is by holding back some of what they know, and then testing what they didn’t explain well in lecture on their exams; or by not teaching to the best of their ability.   This forces students to develop the ability to teach themselves, often from materials that do not explain things well, or lack the introductory background knowledge needed to understand the material. I realized I could defend against such tactics by reverse engineering the results into theories that would produce those same results; i.e. mental model induced from scarce facts.     Then when I got to MIT I found myself in a place with the opposite teaching philosophy. Unlike Waterloo, if the whole class got an “A” the MIT professors would be happy and proud (whereas at Waterloo an “A” class average would be the cause for a professor’s reprimand). The mental modelling skills I developed at Waterloo definitely came in handy at graduate school because they enabled me to learn rapidly with scarce information. 3. Be of service to your fellow classmates.

I’ve personally observed and heard anecdotal stories that many students in highly competitive programs are reluctant to share what they know with their peers; a good example being the vast number of students in a top ranked science programs competing for the very few coveted spots in med school. I’ve seen people in such situations be afraid to share what they know because the fear it could lead to the other students “getting ahead” while leaving them behind. I would actually recommend doing the opposite: share liberally. You can’t expect help from others if you are unwilling to help others yourself. I spent hours tutoring people in subjects I was strong in. But, conversely those same people were usually happy to help me with my weaknesses when I needed it. I also found it easier to get good teammates – which is essential to getting good grades in team-based classes. I found I learned a LOT from other people. And their questions helped me to prepare for questions I may not have thought of – some of which would appear on the exams. 4. Understand how the professor grades. 

Like the real world, the academic world is not always fair. You need to understand who is grading you and what they are looking for. Oddly, if you actually answer questions as written, you won’t get full marks from some teachers. Some professors expected more than the answer. Some only accepted the answers taught in class as opposed to other factually correct answers – which coincidentally can easily happen if you rely heavily on mental models. Some expected you to not even evaluate whether the answers to their multiple choice answers were true or not; only to notice which answer choices aligned or did not align with the theories taught in class.  Some highly value participation in which case you ought to have a mental model of what they are teaching based on their assigned readings. The sooner you know who you are dealing with, the sooner you can adjust to their way of grading. Thankfully I considered the vast majority of my professors to have graded in a fair manner. 5. Get involved in research while still in undergrad.

Academics is a means to an end. To me that end was “solving problems” and “building stuff” specifically systems and organizations.  Depending on the school you apply for, your research may be just as important, if not more important, than your grades. In fact if all you have are good grades your chances of getting into a top ranked CS program with a research component (e.g. MIT, CMU) are slim to nil; though you might still be able to get into a top-ranked courseware-based Masters (such as Stanford where there is no masters thesis). I did an Artificial Intelligence research project in undergrad and posted it on the internet. Not long after it was cited in three patents from IBM, AOL and another inventor. Then 40 other people cited my work. I feel this helped me get into MIT because they saw that I could come up with theories with practical applications. It also led to internships with top research teams whose work I am still in awe of. This research also helped my graduate application. None of this would have been possible if I didn’t do research in undergrad. 6. Attend classes.

I do not understand the students who claim they did well without attending class. Many professors will only say certain things in class. Many classes only present some of the material in class. If you don’t attend class you simply won’t get that material. You also won’t be able to ask immediate follow-up questions. I also found speaking to the professor after class was an efficient way to resolve contradictions I had found with my mental model. 7. Time management is key – especially in undergrad. 

In my competitive undergrad program I once learned that a friend who achieved top 5% status actually timed how long he ate. While I do not suggest going to such extremes I offer this modest advice. I suggest spending no more than 30 minutes trying to solve a problem you can’t solve by yourself before appealing to office hours or another knowledgeable student. I also suggest you ask questions of your professor during or after class as opposed to leaving the class confused. This reduces wasted time in an environment when time is a very precious commodity. 8. Going out and having fun is conducive to good grades. 

In my early undergrad years I studied as hard as I could. And I thought this meant putting in as many studying hours as possible. But I later realized that going out and having fun refreshed the mind and increased grades. Unfortunately it took at least 2 years for me to understand this lesson. 9. Learn how to do advanced Google searches.

This is an essential skill that enables you to answer your own questions, quickly. At a minimum I suggest you learn how to use the following Google search operators  ~, -,*, AND,OR, and numeric ranges via the double dot (“..”) operator.  The “site:” operator is also often helpful. I also found adding the word “tutorial” to a Google search often yields great introductory materials. 

10. Turn weaknesses into strengths.

While studying for standardized exams I learned the importance of addressing one’s weaknesses as opposed to ignoring them.  If you make a mistake on a question, it is because of a weakness within you. If you do not address that weakness it will follow you to the exam. I learned this lesson when studying for standardized exams. I was able to legally buy 30 old exams and thought the best approach to studying for the exam was to do as many old problems as possible. But as I completed each exam I kept getting the same score  (+/- 5%) over and over. I had plateaued! But then I made a tiny tweak and my scores kept going up. Specifically, after each old exam, I would identify my weaknesses that led to each wrong answer, prioritize the weaknesses according to the degree to which they affected my score, and would address them in that order.  When I did that, my scores increased steadily all the way to the highest possible percentile (99%). I later realized that such standardized tests are designed to provide consistent scores (if the student does not study in between the subsequent exams to address their weaknesses). In fact that is one of the statistical measures used to measure the quality  of a standardized exam and it’s called “Reliability”  (Google for “psychometric reliability” to see what I’m talking about).

very confused by Master’s students in one of my module who seem to freak out at the idea that they be forced to use a citation style they are not used to (forcing them to use either MLA, APA or Harvard) … Don’t people use Zotero, or Mendeley ?? or any tool to which you just say which style you want to use??? The the smart smart computer does its thing ??? Do they FULLY WRITE ALL THE REFERENCES BY HAND ??? INCLUDING THE BIBLIOGRAPHY ??? I AM WORRIED