MBBS Year 1 Help

Hello everyone,

I’m currently a first-year medical student at Newcastle University. I’m one month into my studies, and I’m finding it challenging to keep up with my study routine. My previous study techniques don’t seem to work well with my current workload, and I feel quite unsupported by my university. When I study, my goal is to prepare for my final exams, and I typically start preparing early. I’ve reached out to many seniors and teachers for textbook recommendations, but almost all of them have been unhelpful, suggesting I just stick to the slides.

Since our teaching is case-based, I feel overwhelmed by the information, making it stressful to think about revising. I’m nearing the end of my Foundation block, which consists of 40 topics/sets of slides, each ranging from 40-60 pages. Plus, I still have 13 more cases to study.

In a perfect world, I would love to have a revision guide similar to the CGP books we used for A Levels, allowing me to build on it and have one comprehensive book for each subject that I know inside out and can easily review. I understand that this may not be feasible, or at least I haven’t found it yet. I’ve attempted to create my own notes, but it takes about an hour per topic, which is a significant time drain since I have classes from 9 am to 5:30 pm, and that hour is just for note-taking, not for actually grasping the material.

Now, onto the main topic: I’ve discovered The Crash Course Series by Elsevier. The books appear to be user-friendly and not overwhelming. They cover some of the major subjects I’m interested in. Has anyone reviewed them? Do they cover the entire syllabus from year 1 to year 5? Are all the details included, or will I need to supplement them myself? I don’t mind adding a few details, but if I have to write an entire chapter, that would be an issue. I’m looking for a textbook for each subject that doesn’t seem daunting. Does anyone recommend it? I haven’t seen much discussion about it. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks!