What do you think of this plan Given your situation: * ✅ Year 3 MBBS * ✅ CA at end of August * ✅ Weak foundation in Immunology, Physiology, Pharmacology * ✅ No time for flashcards * ✅ Need maximum clinical correlation I would not study preclinicals as separate subjects. Instead, I’d study them in this order: Phase 1 (7-10 Days Foundation Rebuild) Day 1-2: General Pathology 1. Cell injury 2. Inflammation 3. Acute vs chronic inflammation 4. Healing and repair 5. Edema 6. Thrombosis 7. Embolism 8. Shock 9. Neoplasia These topics explain: * Pneumonia * TB * Wound healing * Cancer * Heart failure * Sepsis ⸻ Day 3: Immunology 1. Innate immunity 2. Adaptive immunity 3. B cells 4. T cells 5. Antibodies * IgG * IgA * IgM * IgE 6. Hypersensitivity I-IV 7. Vaccines 8. Autoimmunity 9. HIV basics Clinical correlations: * Asthma * Eczema * Vaccination * SLE * Rheumatic fever * Kawasaki disease ⸻ Day 4-5: Cardiovascular Physiology 1. Cardiac cycle 2. Cardiac output 3. Stroke volume 4. Preload 5. Afterload 6. Blood pressure regulation 7. Frank-Starling 8. RAAS 9. Heart failure physiology Clinical: * AF * HF * Shock * Hypertension * CHD ⸻ Day 6: Respiratory Physiology 1. Ventilation 2. Perfusion 3. V/Q mismatch 4. Oxygen dissociation curve 5. Hypoxia 6. Acid-base basics Clinical: * Asthma * Bronchiolitis * Pneumonia * Croup ⸻ Day 7: Renal Physiology 1. GFR 2. RAAS 3. Fluid balance 4. Electrolytes 5. Acid-base regulation Clinical: * UTI * CKD * Nephrotic syndrome * AGN ⸻ Day 8: Pharmacology Basics 1. Pharmacokinetics 2. Pharmacodynamics 3. Drug metabolism 4. Drug interactions 5. Adverse drug reactions Then move to drug classes. ⸻ Phase 2 (Clinical Pharmacology) CVS Drugs 1. ACE inhibitors 2. ARBs 3. Beta blockers 4. CCBs 5. Diuretics 6. Statins 7. Anticoagulants ⸻ Respiratory Drugs 1. Salbutamol 2. Ipratropium 3. Inhaled steroids 4. Montelukast ⸻ Infectious Disease Drugs 1. Penicillins 2. Cephalosporins 3. Macrolides 4. Aminoglycosides 5. Anti-TB drugs 6. Antivirals basics ⸻ Endocrine Drugs 1. Metformin 2. Sulfonylureas 3. Insulin ⸻ Rheumatology Drugs 1. NSAIDs 2. Colchicine 3. Allopurinol 4. Steroids ⸻ O&G Drugs 1. Oxytocin 2. Magnesium sulfate 3. Methyldopa 4. Labetalol 5. Nifedipine ⸻ Phase 3 (Clinical Anatomy Only) Upper Limb 1. Brachial plexus overview 2. Radial nerve 3. Median nerve 4. Ulnar nerve 5. Shoulder joint ⸻ Lower Limb 1. Sciatic nerve 2. Femoral nerve 3. Common peroneal nerve 4. Hip joint 5. Knee joint ⸻ Surgery Anatomy 1. Thyroid 2. Breast 3. Inguinal canal 4. Hepatobiliary system 5. GI tract ⸻ O&G Anatomy 1. Pelvis 2. Female reproductive tract 3. Fetal skull ⸻ After This Start studying your clinical postings by systems: Respiratory * URTI * Tonsillitis * Bronchiolitis * Pneumonia * Asthma * TB CVS * CHD * HF * AF * Rheumatic fever Renal * UTI * CKD * Nephrotic syndrome * AGN Neuro * Febrile fits * Epilepsy * Stroke * Bell’s palsy MSK * OA * RA * Gout * Ankylosing spondylitis * Fractures O&G * Pregnancy * Labour * APH * PROM * Preterm labour * Hypertension in pregnancy * Diabetes in pregnancy Paeds * Growth & development * Immunisation * Nutrition If you follow this flow, you’ll rebuild the 20% of preclinical knowledge that gives you 80% of the clinical understanding, instead of drowning in entire textbooks.
This is a well-structured, pragmatic plan. Here's my honest assessment:
What Works Well
The core philosophy is sound. Studying preclinicals through clinical context rather than as isolated subjects is exactly how knowledge sticks. A Year 3 student who understands why Frank-Starling matters in heart failure will retain it far better than one who memorized it for a physiology exam.
The sequencing is logical. Starting with General Pathology is the right call - cell injury, inflammation, and healing are the "operating system" that everything else runs on. Once you understand inflammation properly, immunology becomes revision rather than new learning.
The 80/20 principle is correctly applied. The topics selected are genuinely high-yield for clinical work. You haven't included renal tubular physiology minutiae or obscure pharmacokinetic equations - the omissions are deliberate and correct.
Gaps and Risks to Address
1. The timeline is optimistic, not realistic.
Day 1-2 for General Pathology covers 9 major topics. Neoplasia alone (cell cycle, oncogenes, tumour suppressor genes, staging, grading, metastasis) is a full day at meaningful depth. If you rush it, you'll end up with surface-level understanding that won't survive clinical questioning. Consider either:
- Splitting General Pathology into 3 days, or
- Being ruthless: do cell injury + inflammation + healing on Day 1, then thrombosis/embolism/shock/neoplasia on Day 2 without touching anything else
2. Immunology in one day is the weakest link.
This is your stated weakest subject and you've given it one day. Hypersensitivity I-IV + autoimmunity + HIV + vaccines in a single sitting will produce shallow pattern recognition at best. Given your clinical list includes SLE, rheumatic fever, and Kawasaki - all of which require genuine immunological reasoning - this deserves Day 3 and Day 4, with Day 4 being a bridge into clinical immunology (complement, ANA patterns, ANCA, etc.).
3. Pharmacology Phase 2 has no timeline.
Phase 1 is Day 1-8. Phase 2 (Clinical Pharmacology) has no day allocations at all. This creates a planning gap - when your CA is August-end, you need to know exactly how many days Phase 2 and Phase 3 will take so you can work backwards from the exam date.
4. Acid-base appears twice but never completely.
You introduce acid-base basics in Respiratory Physiology (Day 6) and acid-base regulation in Renal Physiology (Day 7). This split is fine conceptually, but in practice students end up half-understanding it in both sessions. Better to fully complete acid-base on Day 7 and just reference it on Day 6.
5. Phase 3 Anatomy needs clinical anchoring too.
You've done this well for Phases 1 and 2 but Phase 3 lists anatomy topics without clinical correlations. Add them explicitly:
- Brachial plexus → Erb's palsy, Klumpke's, Saturday night palsy
- Inguinal canal → direct vs indirect hernia, laparoscopic repair landmarks
- Fetal skull → instrumental delivery, moulding, CPD
Without the clinical peg, anatomy revision feels abstract and is harder to recall under exam pressure.
6. Neurology is underweighted in the preclinical phase.
Your clinical list includes stroke, epilepsy, and Bell's palsy, but there's no neurophysiology or neuropathology in Phase 1. Even a half-day on:
- Neurotransmitters (dopamine, ACh, GABA, serotonin)
- Action potentials and synaptic transmission
- Blood-brain barrier ...would significantly improve your pharmacology understanding (anticonvulsants, antidepressants, antipsychotics) and your clinical neurology reasoning.
Suggested Adjustments
| Phase 1 (Revised) | Days |
|---|---|
| General Pathology | 3 days |
| Immunology | 2 days |
| CVS Physiology | 2 days |
| Respiratory Physiology | 1 day |
| Renal Physiology + Acid-base (complete) | 1 day |
| Pharmacology Basics + Neuro basics combined | 1 day |
| Total | ~10 days |
Then assign explicit day counts to Phase 2 and Phase 3, and reverse-engineer from your August exam date to see if it's feasible.
One Practical Suggestion
For each topic in Phase 1, use this structure instead of reading chapters linearly:
- What goes wrong? (the pathology/disease)
- Why does it go wrong? (the mechanism - physiology, biochemistry)
- What do we do about it? (the drug/intervention)
- What does it look like? (the clinical presentation)
This keeps every preclinical concept tied to a clinical outcome and prevents the drift back into textbook-style learning.
Overall verdict: This is a genuinely good plan that most Year 3 students would benefit from. The philosophy is right. The main corrections needed are timeline realism (especially immunology), explicit day-allocation for Phases 2 and 3, and adding a neuroscience component. Fix those and you have a solid 6-week pre-CA framework.
Im quite weak in preclinicals like anatomy to pathology
Asking for Preferences
Good - 10-12 weeks with near-zero retention is actually a workable situation. Here's the full revised framework:
The Core Problem
You didn't forget preclinicals. You never built the understanding that allows memory to form. Passive reading of Guyton or Gray's without clinical anchoring produces exactly this - studied but retained nothing. The fix is not to re-read the same material. It's to learn it differently this time.
Rule for everything below: Never learn a preclinical fact in isolation. Every mechanism must connect to a disease. Every drug must connect to a mechanism.
10-Week Master Plan
Week 1-2: Foundation (The "Why Things Go Wrong" Block)
This is your highest-leverage investment. Get this right and everything downstream becomes easier.
Week 1 - General Pathology (5 days)
| Day | Topic | Clinical Anchor |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cell injury - causes, reversible vs irreversible, necrosis vs apoptosis | MI (coagulative necrosis), TB (caseous), gangrene |
| 2 | Inflammation - acute, mediators, exudate | Pneumonia, appendicitis, wound |
| 3 | Chronic inflammation + granulomas + healing/repair | TB, Crohn's, wound healing post-surgery |
| 4 | Oedema + thrombosis + embolism | DVT, PE, pulmonary oedema in HF |
| 5 | Shock + neoplasia basics | Septic shock, tumour staging, carcinogenesis |
Week 2 - Immunology (3 days) + Microbiology basics (2 days)
| Day | Topic | Clinical Anchor |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Innate immunity + adaptive overview + B cells + antibodies | Vaccination, opsonisation, passive immunity |
| 7 | T cells + MHC + hypersensitivity I-IV | Asthma (Type I), contact dermatitis (Type IV), haemolytic transfusion reaction (Type II), SLE (Type III) |
| 8 | Autoimmunity + HIV basics + complement | SLE, rheumatic fever, Kawasaki |
| 9 | Bacteria basics - gram stain, common organisms by system | Pneumonia (Strep pneumo), UTI (E coli), meningitis |
| 10 | Viruses + fungi basics + antimicrobial resistance | HIV, influenza, candida, MRSA |
Week 3-4: Systems Physiology
Week 3 - CVS + Respiratory (5 days)
| Day | Topic | Anchor |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Cardiac cycle, cardiac output, Starling's law | Understanding HF, preload/afterload in clinical context |
| 12 | BP regulation, RAAS, baroreceptors | Hypertension management, why ACEi works |
| 13 | HF physiology + compensatory mechanisms | HF with reduced vs preserved EF, treatment rationale |
| 14 | Ventilation, perfusion, V/Q mismatch | Pneumonia (consolidation), PE (dead space) |
| 15 | O2 dissociation curve + hypoxia types + acid-base intro | Anaemia, CO poisoning, respiratory failure |
Week 4 - Renal + Endocrine + Neuro basics (5 days)
| Day | Topic | Anchor |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | GFR, tubular function, RAAS (renal side) | AKI, CKD, diuretic mechanisms |
| 17 | Fluid/electrolyte balance + full acid-base (metabolic + respiratory) | Diarrhoea in kids, DKA, SIADH |
| 18 | Glucose regulation + insulin + glucagon | DM Type 1 vs 2, DKA vs HHS |
| 19 | Thyroid + adrenal physiology | Hypothyroidism, Addison's, Cushing's |
| 20 | Neurotransmitters + synapse + pain pathways | Why opioids work, GABA and benzos, dopamine in Parkinson's |
Week 5-6: Pharmacology (Clinically Structured)
Do not study pharmacology as "drug classes." Study it as "problems to solve."
| Day | Problem | Drugs |
|---|---|---|
| 21 | Pharm basics - PK/PD, metabolism, interactions | First-pass, half-life, CYP450 |
| 22 | Patient with hypertension | ACEi, ARB, CCB, thiazides, beta-blockers - mechanism + side effects |
| 23 | Patient with heart failure | ACEi, beta-blockers, spironolactone, furosemide, digoxin |
| 24 | Patient with AF + anticoagulation | Rate vs rhythm, warfarin, DOACs, heparin |
| 25 | Patient with asthma/COPD | Salbutamol, ipratropium, ICS, montelukast - receptor mechanisms |
| 26 | Patient with infection | Penicillins, cephalosporins, macrolides, aminoglycosides - mechanisms + resistance |
| 27 | Patient with TB | RIPE regime, mechanisms, side effects, DOT |
| 28 | Patient with DM | Metformin (how it works), sulfonylureas, insulin types |
| 29 | Patient with pain/inflammation | NSAIDs, paracetamol, opioids, steroids |
| 30 | O&G emergencies | Oxytocin, MgSO4, methyldopa, labetalol, nifedipine - why each is used |
Week 7: Clinical Anatomy (Surgery + O&G focus only)
Don't revise all of anatomy. Revise only anatomy that gets asked in clinical exams.
| Day | Focus | Exam relevance |
|---|---|---|
| 31 | Brachial plexus - roots, trunks, cords, terminal branches | Erb's, Klumpke's, wrist drop, claw hand |
| 32 | Lower limb nerves - sciatic, femoral, peroneal | Foot drop, femoral nerve stretch test |
| 33 | Inguinal canal + femoral triangle | Hernia types, femoral artery access |
| 34 | Thyroid + breast + axilla | Thyroid surgery complications (RLN), breast lymphatics |
| 35 | Pelvis + female reproductive tract + fetal skull | Station, engagement, CPD, instrumental delivery |
Week 8-10: Clinical Systems (Your Original Plan)
Now you study clinical postings properly - but with the preclinical foundation built:
- Week 8: Respiratory + CVS
- Week 9: Renal + Neuro + MSK
- Week 10: O&G + Paeds + Revision of weakest areas
Resources - What to Actually Use
For someone who retained nothing, textbooks are the wrong tool. They're written for students who already understand the subject. You need:
| Subject | Resource | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Pathology | Robbins Basic Pathology (not the big one) - read chapter summaries only | Concise, clinical boxes throughout |
| Physiology | Costanzo Physiology | Short, diagram-heavy, clinically oriented |
| Pharmacology | Katzung Basic & Clinical (chapter summaries) OR Lippincott Pharmacology | Lippincott has better clinical correlation boxes |
| Anatomy | Snell's Clinical Anatomy by Regions - relevant chapters only | Everything is tied to clinical scenarios |
| Immunology | Roitt's Essential Immunology or Abbas (first 10 chapters only) | Abbas is better written for clinical students |
Supplementary: Sketchy, Osmosis, or Ninja Nerd videos for any topic that doesn't stick after reading. Use videos as rescue, not primary learning.
The Single Most Important Habit
At the end of every topic, ask yourself:
"If I saw a patient with this disease tomorrow, what would I expect to see, and why does it happen that way?"
If you can't answer that, you don't understand the topic yet - regardless of how many pages you've read.
Honest Assessment of Your Timeline
10-12 weeks for near-zero preclinical retention is tight but achievable if you accept three constraints:
- No perfection. You are not preparing for a preclinical specialist exam. You need functional understanding that supports clinical reasoning.
- Active learning only. For every hour reading, spend 20 minutes doing something with the material - write a mechanism, draw a pathway, explain it aloud.
- Triage ruthlessly. If a topic doesn't appear in your clinical postings or CA past papers, skip it.
You have enough time. The original plan's philosophy is right. The revision above just paces it more realistically for someone rebuilding from scratch.
What if i watch videos from dr bhanu prakssh
Searching the Web
Dr Bhanu Prakash USMLE medical videos YouTube topics covered review
Dr Bhanu Prakash - Honest Assessment for Your Situation
Short answer: Yes, use him - but strategically, not as your only source.
What He's Good At
- Animated visual explanations - his drawing style makes mechanisms stick far better than text for someone who retained nothing from reading
- Pathophysiology - his explanations of how diseases develop are genuinely strong
- Pharmacology - drug mechanisms explained visually with mnemonics, works well for the "why does this drug work" problem
- Microbiology - probably his strongest subject, organisms + diseases + drugs tied together
- Physiology - CVS and renal especially, good diagrams
His channel covers exactly the subjects you're weak in: pathophysiology, pharmacology, microbiology, and basic physiology. That's a direct match for your needs.
The Real Risk - Passive Watching
This is where most students using video resources go wrong, and it's important to be direct about it:
Watching a 20-minute video and feeling like you understood it is not the same as learning it.
The feeling of understanding while watching is real. The retention 3 days later often isn't - especially for someone who already has a pattern of "studied but retained nothing."
The reason you retained nothing from your preclinicals the first time was likely passive engagement - reading or listening without actively processing.
Videos carry the same risk at higher speed.
How to Use Him Correctly
The 3-step rule for every video:
- Watch once - don't pause, don't take notes, just understand the flow
- Pause and reconstruct - close the video, take a blank page, redraw the mechanism or write the pathway from memory. Don't check. Just produce.
- Compare - go back, see what you missed, fix it
This takes 1.5x longer than just watching but produces 5x the retention.
Where He Has Gaps
| Area | Gap | What to use instead |
|---|---|---|
| Clinical Anatomy | Limited coverage | Ninja Nerd Anatomy or Acland's videos |
| General Pathology (deep) | Surface level on some topics | Pathoma (Dr Husain Sattar) - this is the gold standard for pathology in your situation |
| Obstetrics & Gynaecology | Not comprehensive | Your clinical posting notes |
| Immunology | Decent but incomplete | Osmosis Immunology playlist fills gaps |
Recommended Combination
| Subject | Primary | Backup |
|---|---|---|
| Pathology | Pathoma (Dr Sattar) | Bhanu Prakash for specific mechanisms |
| Pharmacology | Bhanu Prakash | Lippincott for reference |
| Physiology | Bhanu Prakash | Costanzo for deeper reading |
| Microbiology | Bhanu Prakash | Sketchy if mnemonics help you |
| Anatomy | Ninja Nerd | Snell's for clinical cases |
Revised Daily Workflow Using Videos
Replace "read chapter" in the 10-week plan with:
- Watch Bhanu Prakash video on the topic (20-40 min)
- Reconstruct on blank paper (10 min)
- Answer one clinical question or case on that topic (10 min) - use your past CA papers or make up a quick scenario
- Write 3 bullet points: mechanism, clinical presentation, drug treatment
Total per topic: ~60-70 minutes instead of 2-3 hours of passive reading with lower retention.
Bottom Line
Bhanu Prakash fits your situation well - he's made for MBBS students who need visual, mechanism-based learning. The plan works with videos as your primary input. Just make sure every video is followed by active recall, not more watching.
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