During your first year you will study the following subjects:
Medics and vets:
This is your biochemistry and genetics, also taught mainly through lectures (3 a week). There is 1x 4hr long practical session per term and also 1 PBL series during both Michaelmas and Lent terms.
These main 3 subjects are examined at the end of Easter term and count towards Tripos as well as 2nd M.B.
This is physiology and is mainly taught through lectures, 3 per week. The topics covered include electrophysiology, the cardiovascular system, respiratory, renal, digestive and thermoregulation. During Michaelmas and Lent terms there are also practicals which involve frog legs, sphygmomanometers, exercise bikes and Mars bars!
There are also histology practicals every fortnight (2hr) where you will be studying tissues under the microscope.
Introduction to the Scientific Basis of Medicine (ISBM)
This covers statistics and epidemiology and is taught through lectures. You will also get supervisions closer to the exam. It is examined by 10 multiple choice questions at the end of Lent term.
Medics:
Functional Architecture of the Body (FAB)
This is taught mainly through dissection sessions and supplemented with lectures, applied anatomy sessions and of course, supervisions.
You will have 3 x 2hr long dissection sessions a fortnight, where each group of students is assigned a cadaver. You will have a manual which you will be expected to read before each session so that you know what structures to look for. There will be anatomy demonstrators (either surgical students or surgeons) walking around the dissection room to help out and to quiz you on your fantastic anatomy knowledge!
There is typically 1 anatomy lecture per week.
Embryology is covered in this course and is taught through lectures.
The Social Context of Health and Illness (SCHI)
This subject is studied during Michaelmas and Lent terms. There is 1 lecture per week, normally featuring a patient who talks about their experience of illness. During Michaelmas, you also get supervision type teaching sessions (known as seminars), where you will discuss topics in groups of 8 and you may be set essay plans to prepare you for the exam. It is examined by 2 essays at the end of Lent term.
Preparing for Patients A (PfP A)
You will be put into groups of 4 and assigned a GP Practice to visit twice, once in Michaelmas and once in Lent. Some of them are quite far out, so make sure you’re organised in sorting out transport there, details of which will be in the booklet. Your group will split into 2 pairs. During the first GP visit, one pair will stay at the practice and interview a few patients, whilst the other pair will make a home visit to a patient (bring your bike!) for around 30-45 minutes. During the next visit, you will swap. There are introductory and review lectures along the way. You will have to submit a short piece of coursework, answering the questions from the booklet and submit it by a deadline which is usually before the end of Lent term.
The last 2 subjects are smaller and are only examined as part of your 2nd M.B.
Vets:
Veterinary Anatomy and Physiology (VAP)
Veterinary Anatomy and Physiology. The course consists of lectures, dissections (usually two to three per week), and ‘live anatomy’ classes. Dissection usually reinforces material presented during lectures, and live anatomy allows you to palpate for the structures described in lectures and dissected. Dissection mainly focuses on the dog, and species variations are highlighted throughout the year (rabbits, horses, sheep and pigs are also dissected during the year).
The content of the course covers:
Michaelmas – Skeletomuscular system.
Lent – Nerves and vessels, viscera of the thorax and abdomen, and digestion.
Easter – Digestion and urinary system.
There are three exams (VAP I, VAP II, VAP III), typically sat in the first week of June. VAP I consists of 15 short answer questions (ie true/false, draw a diagram of, write short notes on etc), VAP II is a practical exam (consisting of 40 rotating stations with various preparations, candidates move from station to station every three minutes and answer four questions per station). Together these exams contribute to the VetMB qualification, which must be passed to continue to the next year (pass/fail). VAP III is a two hour essay paper, consisting of two written essays, and contributes to your Tripos (the grade you receive ie Class I).
Tips:
Good textbooks (Maitland library)–
Anatomy of Domestic Animals, Pasquini, Spurgeon & Pasquini.
A Guide to the Dissection of the Dog, Evans & de Lahunta.
Make the most of dissections, make sure you look at all the material available (ie X-rays, preservation pots) and see all the structures described in the practical sheets.
Practice VAP I and III papers to make sure you get the timing right. VAP I is very tight on time, and it helps to have a routine, not necessarily answering the questions in the order they are presented.
Principles of Animal Management (PAM)
Principles of Animal Management. This consists of two lectures and three-hour practical animal handling classes per week during Michaelmas term, with the animal handling classes finishing before Lent term. Together these help you to acquire a basic understanding of animal husbandry, and of how to handle most domestic species (pigs, sheep, rabbits, cats, dogs, horses, cows, small birds, chickens, turkeys etc). PAM contributes to the VetMB qualification, and must be passed in order to proceed to next year. It is examined in the same week as ISBM (end of Lent term) by an hour of multiple choice questions.
Textbook recommendations:
Note: there is no need to buy all of these textbooks. Most people find it useful to own a copy of McMinn’s and A Thinking Approach to Physiology. Everything else can be taken from the library if needed.
FAB
– McMinn’s Clinical Atlas of Human Anatomy – great for revising for the steeplechase exam
– Gray’s anatomy for students – Good diagrams and quite clear
– Clinically Oriented Anatomy (Moore’s) – Has clinical boxes with good detail for essays
– Instant Anatomy by Robert Whitaker – Small book, good for summaries of nerves, arteries etc
HOM
– Textbook of medical physiology by Guyton and Hall – BIG physiology textbook. Good for cardiac.
– Medical Physiology by Boron and Boulpaep – an alternative physiology textbook. Personally, I preferred this one.
– Physiology by Berne & Levy – Good for digestive physiology
– A Thinking Approach to Physiology by Ian Sabir and Juliet Usher-Smith – Gives a more conceptual view of the HOM course
MIMS
– Fundamentals of biochemistry by Voet, Voet & Pratt – The lecture notes for some series are based on this textbook. It is very dense!
– Essential Cell Biology by Alberts et al. – Good background information but otherwise only a few chapters are relevant to the course.
Useful links:
Instant anatomy (log in with Raven details)