Immunology

This course is a broad overview of the immune system and serves as an introduction since many students may not have had much prior immunology experience. Thus, it follows that you will cover a multitude of topics - however, the course does not go into fine detail on the subject. You will learn about the major immune cell types and their functions, explore immune-modulated therapies, and discuss immunodeficiencies/disorders of immune regulation. The class is lecture-based, and much learning will be done during your own time outside of class. There are daily online self-assessments to gauge your level of understanding and will be quite helpful in preparing for the weekly quizzes.  

There are weekly quizzes throughout this block with approximately 5 questions. These will focus on the material covered during the prior week and will be most helpful in preparing for the Brightspace exam. The questions are for the most part basic and straightforward.

There is a Brightspace-based midterm exam (40-50 questions) which will be tailored to the material covered in the lecture. Weekly quizzes, worksheets from class, and review sessions will be the most helpful in studying for this exam.

The immunology final is an NBME format exam ( 70-80 questions). As this is an NBME exam the questions may be higher-order or more detailed than what was included in the Brightspace quizzes and midterm - First Aid, Red Robbins, or a USMLE question bank will be more geared towards these types of questions.

Immunology class is typically in the latter half of the mornings Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The first part of the morning and the other two days of the week are dedicated to Pathology course content. In-class time is mostly spent on lectures, however, there are several **Worksheet Sessions which will entail working through questions relevant to class material as part of a group. The schedule above reflects the amount of time that you can expect to be in class.

**Usually one worksheet session per week

• Lecture - The supplementary videos on Brightspace from Kevin Shim are helpful for pre-preparing lecture material or for ensuring you understood the key concepts from the presentation - or both! Depending on your level of comfort with immunology you may want to prep the material beforehand, but there is no expectation for you to have done so. Watch the supplementary Kevin Shim videos (on Brightspace) for basic understanding. You may find that lectures are not very helpful because they are typically given by different people, mostly PhDs, and may contain way too much detail than is necessary. 

• Worksheet Sessions - These sessions will run the most smoothly if you review the worksheet the night before and attempt to answer the questions for yourself. Almost all of the questions can be answered by reviewing the lecture PowerPoints. These worksheets are crucial for weekly quizzes, and also for the mid-term so make sure you know the content on them. They are high yield.

• Self Assessments - There will be daily self-assessments provided for you to monitor your progress throughout the course. They are not graded and are just for your review - so this is an excellent way to ensure you are understanding the key concepts of this class. These also are similar to the weekly quiz questions so do them. Non-NBME examinations are of a similar difficulty and content as the self-assessments, as opposed to the weekly quizzes.

• Quizzes - These quizzes will only be about 5 questions each, and many of these questions will be pulled from that week’s self-assessments. The questions are rather straightforward.

• Midterm Exam - There will be a very relevant review session prior to the Brightspace midterm exam that you should attend. It will be high yield content. Additionally, review the self-assessments, quizzes, and class worksheets. If you know the worksheets, the review session content, and have kept up with the self-assessments and quizzes you should be solid.

• Final Exam - Prior to the final exam (NBME), review the past graded quizzes and other self-assessments. There will be a review session similar to the one for the midterm, but may not be as tailored to the NBME exam style of questions. Boards & Beyond, Red Robbins, First Aid, or the Eerie Guide (mentioned below) can all be sources to pull from when preparing for this test.

*Most important resources are in red

• First Aid & Anki - First Aid has an excellent condensed review of the major topics of this course. It can be helpful to review material throughout the course or to review key concepts for the final exam. Anki cards can be unsuspended based on either the First Aid tags or the Boards & Beyond tags, if you use Boards & Beyond. Use Anki if it works for you, but do not consider it a necessity.

• Pixorize Immunology - Brief mnemonic videos about high-yield topics and immunodeficiencies. Anki decks for Pixorize can be found online and unsuspending and reviewing cards as you go through the videos is a useful review method.

• Supplemental Videos in Video Library - These were made by a Rochester student and are quick, but packed with high-yield content. A great way to review before exams, or to prepare for lecture the next day.

• Boards & Beyond - This is a great resource that will ensure you are prepared for both Brightspace and NBME exams if you have watched all of the immunology videos by the end of the block. This is also paired nicely with many Anki decks if that is a study tactic that works for you.

• Other Resources - Ninja Nerd Immunology - if you are a visual learner and need a better explanation of basic concepts this is the YouTube channel for you.

• Sketchy Pharm - watch the relevant videos on drugs that you learn during this block. The anti-neoplastic drugs are going to be the most relevant to this course but not necessary, you can hold off until the pharmacology block or later.

• Pathoma - you can watch the Chapter 2 videos as these will be the most relevant to course material. This will be helpful for STEP 1 but is not necessary to pass the course.

• Student Made Resources - There are multiple study guides made by students from previous years.

• How the Immune System Works - A nice option for those who enjoy reading textbooks. Some have recommended doing a first-pass through this the weekend prior to the start of the course but is definitely not considered a necessity.

• Amboss & USMLE Rx - if you have a question bank you can do 10-20 questions per day as practice. This is good practice for STEP 1 but not necessary to pass the course.