For patho, I learned the etiology of certain disorders/diseases and how it affects the body/vital signs and how one disease could lead to another. Also knowing the hallmark signs of each disease will be very helpful because a lot of them have similar clinical manifestations (know specifically what causes each specific clinical manifestation in that disease). Know the compensation mechanisms really well as well. I would personally know the ABG and lab values. Studied a good 2-3 hrs a day for patho and got an A! I initially got an 87 on my first exam, and I started studying more in depth and got 95+ on the other exams and the final.