How to Study Medical School Cellular Biology & Histology
Let's discuss histology first. Histology will likely be tested in both a standard exam-style format as well as as a practical, which will likely be based on identifying the type of cell or tissue that is seen. This can easily be learned with repetition, either by looking at slides yourself, or by compiling images of different types of tissues and cells and by looking for distinctive features. Within the overall context of medical education, however, unless you decide to go into pathology, histology is likely one of the least tested topics on the Step exams. Cell Biology will be very similar to your cellular and molecular biology courses in college with, perhaps, a stronger emphasis on diseases and pathology.
Steps to studying Cellular Biology & Histology (in order)
Go to class
Depending on how familiar you are with the material, you may choose not to go to class. Go to class if the ideas and concepts in the material are new to you. However, the majority of cell biology and histology learning stems from brute/rote memorization.
Read a text
While memorization has its place, going to class and reading a good text will help organize the material for you. Read this in addition to your lecture notes, as your professor may pull questions directly out of things that he or she emphasizes in the lecture notes. However, for the sake of overall education and understanding, these review texts will help you grasp the material in totality.
Make an outline of the lecture
Don't go overboard with the details in the outline; just write enough so that you understand the concepts and can see the differences between different topics or subjects within your lectures (such as the differences between TH1, TH2, NK cells...etc). The details will come with the flashcards. Draw out your mRNA, your transcription factors, and your helicases so you can see the progression and relationships between the different entities in what you're learning. Draw out basophils, eosinophils, and lymphocytes and see how they're derived from similar parent cells and detail how they're different.
Make flashcards
Cellular biology and histology are perfect courses for flashcards. There are so many little details and facts in these topics that make them perfect for one to one associations and facts detailed on flashcards. You will likely end up making 30-40 flashcards per lecture. Use these flashcards in conjunction with your outline to hit both ends of the learning spectrum: getting the concepts with the outline and hammering away the details with the flashcards. Don't forget to run through the flashcards multiple times whenever you can...making them really doesn't do much for your edification.
Review images
You will likely be given a box of slides and a microscope to use in preparation for the histology practical. While some may do very well looking at physical slides, there are multiple online resources and quizzes available which are more than sufficient review for cell and histology practicals.
Do questions
Like with any other medical school course, questions will help you understand which things to focus on and how topics are typically tested. Doing enough will give you a nose for understanding pertinent details during lecture and self study
.