On Becoming a Physician with a Heart: In Your Bookshelf (Part 2)

With the #char tips in the previous blog post, we can now talk about some practical tips for the first year in medical school. I am the thrifty bordering stingy type of person so I always see to it that I am able to save money in my expenses, when possible.

While it is true that medical school is an expensive degree program, there are different ways for you to save money. Let us start with the books:

Say hello to my pretentious "I Read" bookmark. Haha.

Must-buy books for your first year in CIM are: Harper's Biochemistry, Ross' Histology, Guyton's Physiology, and Gray's Anatomy. 

• A go-to store here in Cebu for those books is the C&E Bookshop since they give 15% discount for CIM students. It is located near Redemptorist Church (best to consult Google Maps for instructions on how to go there). Their medical books sell like pancakes because other medical students also purchase their books from C&E. It is best to call C&E Bookshop (Tel #: (032) 253-8120) to inquire about availability and reserve those books.

• You may also look for medical books for sale at olx.ph and ayosdito.ph. An alternative will be to look for someone from a batch ahead of you and purchase their old medical books. It may take some time and patience to look for books there but the efforts are worth it since they are way, way cheaper than the original prices. According to my friend, you can haggle with the seller by asking for Php 300 to 400 off the price tag posted.

• Another option is to have laser-printed copies of the books. I have not tried this for myself yet, but you can ask around for someone who can make them for you. A batch mate recommended Ems Medical Books and Printing Services (Contact #: +639273734579). You just have to make sure of the printing quality, especially the effect to the text upon highlighting.

• You may also search all over the internet for torrent links and downloadable e-books of the said medical book titles. Just be careful with scams and viruses. 

• For books that you'll only be using some parts of (like those in the reference list), it is best to photocopy the important pages instead of buying the whole book. Of course, you can use your library privilege and borrow the book for no cost at all, just make sure you return the book on the due date (library fine per day: Php 20).

Good-to-buy: Netter's Atlas of Anatomy

Buy it if you want to have your own copy of Netter's beautiful anatomically-correct artworks to supplement your study of anatomy. However, you can make do with an e-book and just borrow the book from the library during dissection.

Get real: You won't have the time and attention span for the big bad-ass Mama Gray (around 7k pesos). Go for the Baby Gray (around 3.5k pesos) instead

Mama Gray is this thick hardbound anatomy book weighing approximately 5 kilograms. It can topple your book stand, study table, and bookshelf if they are not sturdy enough. It contains in-depth information regarding the human anatomy. But let's get real, speed reading its pages which would most likely be the case given the weekly exams would only cause information overload and untoward nap times. On one hand, Baby Gray is the simpler, cheaper and more readable version. Just remember to be thorough with your studying and pay attention to correlates and discussions.

Not a save-your-money tip but a save-your-soul tip: Make study notes

Your future self panic-studying for the final exams will thank you for it. Formulate your own shorthand but make sure that you understand it when you read your notes few months later.

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I will be writing about other money-saving tips in my next blog post. Stay tuned for more. Oh, if you have some questions, go and write them below.

Until the next adventure,

Dena