Pharmacology for the Boards and Wards

I have to admit, I picked this book up early and then didn't use it all year - I was skeptical. It really isn't very thick, seems almost superficial at times, almost never gives the full physiological picture like our full class did, and brushes over some seemingly important topics. So... all year I didn't read it, and overall did very average on all exams. I ended up using this for the final as I didn't think there was any other source I could get through in time. It turned out this little book worked wanders and though I did work very hard to learn the material in it, I feel like it was the single best boost to my pharm knowledge to date. All in all, a great final review for the Medical Pharmacology board.

I highly recommend this book for anyone studying for boards (I am currently studying for optometry boards). I will continue to carry it with me long after I have completed my exams. I will be sure to pick up Edition 3 if such a thing is in the works. It is presented in a way that just seems to make sense to me. I recommend this to anyone having difficulty in a pharmacology course. I have many other medical and reference texts, but when it comes to pharmacology this book seems to simplify the material and make comprehension possible.

I think this book is really going to help me out on the boards. Heard it about it from a friend.

This book rocks out. Pharm was my weakest subject going into the shelf exams and I wasn't sure of how to study for it. An older classmate told me to read this book. I read the book cover-to-cover then reviewed it as much as possible within three days and took my test. My raw score was a 100 points ahead of the class average! I am usually a little (i.e. a few points) ahead of the class average but this was unreal. When all was said and done I got a 93% on my Pharm-shelf. Besides Micro, it turned out to be my best grade! Trust this book. It has really good organization, it's concise, and it covers everything. Great book for shelf. I will lean more on First Aid for Step 1 and use this book as a general reference. God bless you all!

I have always been a fan of condensed information. I liked this book because it fits my study style perfectly. The information is presented in outline format. The key words that you need to know for the boards are set out in bold-lettering, and all the drugs are summarized in tables. I have Pharmcards, but I like studying off of tables for memorizing drugs better because it keeps the class of drugs together in my mind, and I can quickly go back to the text if I need information that is not presented in the table. This book is by no means comprehensive. For example, it doesn't give trade names or dosing schedules that you would need for third year while out on the wards, but it is great for learning all of the drugs for second year--and there are a heck of a lot of drugs to learn. You can buy this book at the beginning of the year and study from it to learn the drugs for each class that you have, and then you can use it again at the end of the year as a quick review when studying for the boards. Pharm is tough--I highly recommend this book.