MD Study Guide 2026
Everything you need to pass the MD exam in one place: the exam format, every topic to study, real practice questions with explanations, flashcards, and full-length practice tests. Free, no sign-up needed.
📋 MD Exam Format at a Glance
📚 MD Topics to Study (69)
✍️ Sample MD Questions & Answers
1. A 45-year-old man has hypertension, hypokalemia, and a plasma aldosterone-to-renin ratio of 35 (elevated). What is the most likely diagnosis?
An elevated aldosterone-to-renin ratio with hypokalemia and hypertension is the hallmark of primary hyperaldosteronism due to autonomous aldosterone secretion.
2. A 22-year-old woman has a pattern of unstable relationships, chronic feelings of emptiness, frantic efforts to avoid abandonment, and recurrent self-cutting. Which personality disorder is most likely?
Borderline personality disorder is characterized by unstable identity, intense fear of abandonment, chronic emptiness, and impulsive self-destructive behaviors including self-harm.
3. The combining form 'pneumo-' or 'pneumono-' refers to:
Pneumo- derives from Greek 'pneumon' meaning lung or air.
4. Which test is most sensitive for detecting early iron deficiency before anemia develops?
Serum ferritin falls first in iron deficiency, reflecting depleted iron stores before iron-restricted erythropoiesis and anemia develop.
5. Aldosterone causes sodium retention primarily by upregulating which channel/transporter on the apical membrane of principal cells?
Aldosterone increases transcription and membrane insertion of ENaC on principal cells of the collecting duct, promoting sodium reabsorption.
6. A marathon runner collapses and is found to have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The mechanism of sudden cardiac death in HCM during exertion is most likely:
Exercise-induced LVOT obstruction and septal ischemia (from small vessel disease and increased oxygen demand) create an arrhythmogenic substrate that can trigger ventricular fibrillation.
🎯 Free MD Practice Tests
📖 MD Guides & Articles
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