AOA Guide to the Second Year

Jefferson Medical College Alpha Omega Alpha Guide to the Second Year

Immunity, Infection and Disease

BOOKS
There is a simple book that is recommended for summer reading entitled, “How the Immune System Works.” Some people bought this and read it because it is simple and easy to use. It is a bit basic, but a nice intro.

The book that is ‘required’ or ‘heavily recommended’ is “Basic Immunology” by Abbas and Lichtman. It is relatively well-written and can clear up some confusing topics from class. In addition, there are some very good graphics that summarize main topics. For microbiology, “Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple” is a must! It provides easy ways of remembering all the bugs and the corresponding pharmacology. Many reread this book for the boards!

SYLLABUS
Very comprehensive. Dr. Jungkind’s notes are very long, but go to his lectures or get a copy of his PowerPoint because he puts a star on the slides that contain the exam information.

Use “Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple” to supplement the antibiotics lectures. It gives useful ways to memorize the drugs and their applications.

A good way to approach the material is to create your own charts/table, listing the organism, defining characteristics, treatments, etc. - you will learn a lot making this and it condenses the material for ease of studying later.

LAB
You need to wear a long white lab coat. They will supply the coats or if not, will tell you where to buy them. If they do supply them - remember they are to be used during the class and thrown away at the end of the block (don’t throw them away after the first lab - they are needed the entire block).

During the first lab, you will watch a video and then take a quiz. The quiz is handed out before you watch the video. In each of the following labs, you are required to identify an unknown. It’s usually quick, and there are a lot of lab assistants to help.

The flow sheets in the lab manual are useful for the exams. This is the easiest lab course ever and should prompt no anxiety. Hand in all of the lab assignments (which are mostly fill-in-the-blank) and you will do fine.

ONLINE QUIZZES
These are based on the clinical conferences and are worth 5% of your grade. To get full credit, you need to pass each quiz. If you go to the conference, take notes, read them just before you take the quiz, you will be fine. In the past, the quizzes have been open-book, but timed, so you don’t want to waste your time looking for the answer. Many instructors will emphasize the material on the quizzes. If for some reason you are not comfortable taking the quiz on line, you can go to the micro department and take a paper quiz. If you have a problem with the quiz online or are told you never took it, go to the Micro Dept Office to take the paper version. Keep an eye on which quizzes it says you complete (usually on a website within the Microbiology pulse site).

EXAMS
There are three exams. The third exam is not cumulative, but does review some material from the first two exams. This is good because there is not a lot of new information and it is a good review. If you know your syllabus, you should do well.

Last updated: March 2010