How to read a drug monograph without getting lost

A monograph can run to several pages, and most of it is not what you will be asked about. The trick is to stop reading it top to bottom and start reading it with questions.

The five questions

For any drug, try to answer these in your own words:

1. What is it for?
2. How does it work?
3. What happens to it in the body?
4. What can go wrong?
5. What should the patient be told?

Everything else in the monograph either supports one of those answers or can wait.

Build a one-line summary

After reading, write one line per drug. Not a paragraph, one line. "Blocks X, used for Y, watch for Z." If you cannot write the line, you have not understood it yet, and that is useful to know before the exam rather than during it.

Compare, do not memorise in isolation

Drugs in the same class are easier to remember as a set. Put three of them side by side and note only the differences. The differences are what examiners tend to ask about, and they are much shorter than the full descriptions.

Say it out loud

Explain one drug to an imaginary patient in plain language. If you stumble, you have found the part you do not know. This takes two minutes and beats an hour of highlighting.