3rd year

Page created on October 28, 2020. Last updated on December 18, 2024 at 16:58

Third year, like second year, requires lots of reading. However, the exams of third year are much, much simpler and kinder, so life will be much better than in second year.

The biggest difference between second and third year are the exams. In second year exams, the examiner will insult you, dig for holes in your knowledge, and fail you for not knowing small details. In third year exams, the examiners actually want to pass you. They don’t insult and are in most cases quite nice and helpful, helping you if you’re stuck and always doing what they can to prevent you from failing.

When I was in third year, we had pharmacology 1 and 2, with pharma 3 (final) being in the fall semester of fourth year. Nowadays this is different, so you now only have pharma during the fourth year. In my opinion, this new way of doing it is much better than the old way.

Fall semester

You should spend the majority of the semester studying pathology, the biggest subject. You should study pathophysiology only 2 – 3 weeks before the midterm, and not study any microbiology (or pharma) until the exam period.

You should do the pathology and pathophysiology exams first, but you can choose yourself which one to begin with. Most people start with pathology, as it’s the biggest one, but some people start with pathophys because they don’t want to take the chance of not getting an exam spot in pathology in the first weeks. In that case you should start pathophysiology 2 – 3 weeks before the midterm and continue study it until the exam period. Whether you begin with patho or pathophys, you should take the first one in week 1 and the second one in the end of week 2 or beginning of week 3.

Then you should do microbiology and internal med propaedeutics, in any order you want. Internal med needs only a couple of days, micro needs a week or so. You should leave the two behavioural science subjects for last.

Pathology 1

Pathology 1 and 2 are the biggest subjects of third year, and they’re so big that it will make you feel dwarfed, but there’s no reason to worry. Like I said, most people pass all exams in third year on their A chance, sometimes needing a B chance in one or two subjects.

Pathology has three types of topics: macropreparations, histopathology slides, and theoretical topics. Legendary Lee have notes for all three, but his notes for the macropreps and slides are not very good. Someone named Ane made quite nice notes for the theory topics, but I wouldn’t recommend them over mine.

Pathophysiology 1

Pathophysiology 1 and 2 are the second biggest subjects of third year. Before I made my notes most people studied the so-called Sumit notes, with a few sadists resorting to studying the book made by the department. At that time, it was known as the blue book because the front was just blue. This book was written in 2007, I think.

Last year, 12 years after the original release, the department published the second edition, now giving it a real front and hardback. They’ve made some changes to the content, but from what I’ve heard there are still mistakes, and the book is still unnecessarily complicated and bad at explaining.

I’d recommend you to use my notes instead, supplementing with the new book if you feel it necessary.

Microbiology 1

The holy grail for microbiology is something called Sketchy Micro, which is a product made by some geniuses to teach microbiology in the best way. They’re short videos with short sketches and stories which are designed to make you remember the most important things about each virus, bacterium, fungus, antibiotic, etc. It’s quite expensive, but if you gather some friends and split the cost, it’s more than worth it.

In the microbiology 1 exam there are four blocks: general microbiology (containing basic stuff about everything), viruses, immunology, and antibiotics. Specific bacteria are part of micro 2 and not micro 1. You should watch the virus videos of sketchy for the virus block and maybe the antibiotic block. For the other blocks most people read the book “Microbiology made ridiculously simple”, which I did as well and can recommend.

Basic surgical techniques

The exam for basic surgical techniques takes place during the semester, not during the exam period. There is one written part, where they ask ridiculous questions from their booklet, and one practical part which is fairly simple. Don’t spend many days on it.

Internal medicine propaedeutics

This is a relatively simple exam, where your Hungarian knowledge as well as practical skills are what will be tested for the most part. You might get a few simple theoretical questions as well (unless you get one of the angry examiners, in which case you might get grilled).

Behavioural science 4: Neuropsychology

In the last seminar of this subject the teacher usually goes through each topic and tells you which slides are important and what you should talk about, making life very easy for you. Spend 1 – 2 days during the exam period studying for it. The oral exam is extremely easy and nice; I’m sure the average layperson could pass it without studying.

Behavioural science 5: Medical psychology

When I had this subject there were 1 or 2 midterms you could pass to get exemption from the exam, but I don’t know if that’s still an option. I failed this, so I had to have the oral, which was a nice experience. I don’t remember what I studied for it though, sorry.

Spring semester

The story of the spring semester is the same as for the fall semester: read patho and some pathophys before the midterm. The pathophys 2 midterm is easier than the pathophys 1 midterm, but you only need 40% to pass either, so few people fail them. If you fail, you’ll draw an extra theoretical topic on the exam, which is usually not big deal.

When the exam period comes, do patho and pathophys first, beginning with either. Then you have to do surgical propaedeutics, which is only written in the first week of the exam period. Then do the patho/pathophys, then micro, and lastly public health 4.

Pathology 2

Same as for pathology 1. I’d recommend my notes over Legendary Lee’s or Ane’s.

Pathophysiology 2

Same as for pathophysiology 1. I’d recommend my notes over Sumit’s or the book.

Microbiology 2

The microbiology 2 exam is easier than the micro 1 exam. There is no block system, and everything they ask is covered by sketchy, so when studying for the exam you only have to sit and watch sketchy videos for days. Those were good times. You’ll have to watch Sketchy videos for bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. There ask more questions about bacteria and viruses than fungi and parasites. I actually (barely) passed the exam even though I never watched sketchy about fungi or parasites (I didn’t have time).

Public health 4

There is a lot of overlap between public health 4 and microbiology, as well as some overlap between public health 4 and pathology, making it one of the easier public health exams. I’d suggest you to take it soon after micro 2, to reap all the benefits of the overlapping curriculum. I’d recommend my notes on the subject.

Surgical propaedeutics

• Sandra’s notes

Surgical propaedeutics has one written exam in week one (Wednesday I think); the subsequent chances are oral. Few people fail the written chance though, but even though it is at an inconvenient time, I recommend you to take it instead of waiting for the oral.

It’s a quite easy exam, with much overlap with pathology. A girl in my year called Sandra made some good notes which I used for the exam and passed with good margins, so I can recommend them. I have her permission to share them here.

Almost all the topics from surgical propaedeutics are included in the surgery final on 6th year as well. Some topics names are identical, while some are only similar. You could compare the topic lists of surgical propaedeutics and surgery final as well study those 6th year topics which are relevant. They’re based on the propaedeutics lectures.