Gunner Training/Firecracker for MS1

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Hyperthymestic

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I was looking over the threads for gunner training/firecracker and this seems to be THE tool for step1 prep along with FA, etc. My question is how beneficial would it be for me to go along with GT as I go through my classes starting in first year? Or should I just wait until MS2/dedicated study time for step1 to start using it?

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yea I've skimmed through that, I was wondering if anyone has specifically used it from MS1 on, and not just in the few months leading up to step1. I saw a few people in there that did that but I was wondering if that was the norm/actually efficient.

EDIT: ie. Did you use it during MS1?
 
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Consensus is that it works for some and doesn't for others, as with most all prep materials aside from FA and UW. That being said, many who drop out of the program or didn't use it at all wished they had used it earlier alongside classes, rather than after the new year in MS2. It can get overwhelming though.
 
Consensus is that it works for some and doesn't for others, as with most all prep materials aside from FA and UW. That being said, many who drop out of the program or didn't use it at all wished they had used it earlier alongside classes, rather than after the new year in MS2. It can get overwhelming though.

Thank you. That was exactly what I was looking for.
 
I've been using it since about midway through M1.
 
Not a horrible idea, IMO. The less time you give yourself, the more overwhelming the program will be.
 
I'll be an M1 in the fall, and my school takes Step 1 after clinical rotations. Does anyone have experience doing Gunner Training or Firecracker during M1/M2 in this situation? I'm guessing I won't have time to keep up with Gunner Training or Firecracker once clinical rotations start, so would that make it not worthwhile to do get started on it during M1 and M2? I'm wondering if the whole value in the spaced repetition would be lost if I had a big pause (during clinical year).
 
I go to a school with a pretty traditional curriculum and I have used GT/FC since I started MS1. I banked as I went. I like it that said I go to a pass/fail school, if grades were a factor different story.

From my experiences the earlier in MS1 you are the less relevant the FC material is (you invest a significant amount of time in it but it is not very helpful for class). As you go it becomes increasingly more helpful. Towards the end of the year I fell behind a little on banking in prepping for classwork and I know that on our final 2 exams 3 of the questions that I got wrong were ones that were specifically stated in FC but I just couldn't remember at the time.
 
I started with it at a HPF school during anatomy (first med school block). Kept up with it for about a month and then started putting it off. I think I have about 1000 questions a day to do, and haven't even looked at it in months. I was debating catching up over the summer, but not sure how much I believe it'll be worth it.
 
i wish i used it more duirng MS1.. i probably wouldve done much better.
 
Can anyone comment on how much the actual time commitment is during MS1?

I understand that "it's a lot" but what are we talking about here?
 
I go to a school with a pretty traditional curriculum and I have used GT/FC since I started MS1. I banked as I went. I like it that said I go to a pass/fail school, if grades were a factor different story.

From my experiences the earlier in MS1 you are the less relevant the FC material is (you invest a significant amount of time in it but it is not very helpful for class). As you go it becomes increasingly more helpful. Towards the end of the year I fell behind a little on banking in prepping for classwork and I know that on our final 2 exams 3 of the questions that I got wrong were ones that were specifically stated in FC but I just couldn't remember at the time.

Why is there such a time commitment for GT/FC?
 
People's answer to how much time it takes will vary but will always be significant. The way it works is that you bank questions and then those questions show up at spaced intervals. Depending on how much you bank (and how quickly) and how well you know the material is how much time you will have to spend each day.

From personal experience I will say that I banked pretty slowly (end of 1st year about 55% banked). I think that this is key, bank too quickly and before you know it your daily question total will be huge. Early in first year I would say that I kept my question total around 100-120 questions per day. This probably took me an hour or slightly over each day.

Currently my question totals are closer to 250-300 questions per day. That is well over 2 hours a day. Now I recently added the micro section so I am hoping it will go down in the near future but still that is a significant commitment each day.

OK just saw withrye's post above mine. Trust him he is complete and likely can give a much better answer than I could.
 
For the most part, the more you bank, the more time it is going to take. Be prepared to spend 2-3 hrs per day at some point. If you have to take a few days off for a test or something, be prepared for 500-600 questions or more. It is a great program, but you have to put in the time for it to work.
 
For the most part, the more you bank, the more time it is going to take. Be prepared to spend 2-3 hrs per day at some point. If you have to take a few days off for a test or something, be prepared for 500-600 questions or more. It is a great program, but you have to put in the time for it to work.

It seems like people who have used it (or wish they did) feel like the time commitment is worth the reward. But 2-3 hours a day on JUST past material seems a bit much. =/
 
It seems like people who have used it (or wish they did) feel like the time commitment is worth the reward. But 2-3 hours a day on JUST past material seems a bit much. =/

You can be more selective as to what is high yield if you use Anki, which is a spaced repetition flashcard system. You can also customize the spacing algorithm such that you do fewer/less frequent reviews (but obviously have lower retention). Regardless of what system you use, your maximum rate of learning things with >90% retention is going to be 100-200 facts per minute spent per day per year. As in if you spend an hour a day for a year, you'll learn and retain (with >90% retention) 6000-12000 facts. They'd better be high yield facts that you choose to review. If you go for lower retention, you can get up to 300 facts per minute per day per year at like 60% retention. (It's not a linear increase up because you'll have to spend extra time relearning the things you don't retain.) But those reviews will be painful and your mastery of the high-yield fundamentals will be spottier. FA probably covers like 20,000 facts.
 
You can be more selective as to what is high yield if you use Anki, which is a spaced repetition flashcard system. You can also customize the spacing algorithm such that you do fewer/less frequent reviews (but obviously have lower retention). Regardless of what system you use, your maximum rate of learning things with >90% retention is going to be 100-200 facts per minute spent per day per year. As in if you spend an hour a day for a year, you'll learn and retain (with >90% retention) 6000-12000 facts. They'd better be high yield facts that you choose to review. If you go for lower retention, you can get up to 300 facts per minute per day per year at like 60% retention. (It's not a linear increase up because you'll have to spend extra time relearning the things you don't retain.) But those reviews will be painful and your mastery of the high-yield fundamentals will be spottier. FA probably covers like 20,000 facts.

I read your blog and it looks like you're a stats guy and I'm sure you've done youre background research so that's why I'm asking this--

Source? I find that hard to believe as an overarching truth for every student
 
I was looking over the threads for gunner training/firecracker and this seems to be THE tool for step1 prep along with FA, etc. My question is how beneficial would it be for me to go along with GT as I go through my classes starting in first year? Or should I just wait until MS2/dedicated study time for step1 to start using it?

I hated it.

It depends on your curriculum. If your curriculum teaches what they do or maybe uses the NBME exams, then I think it may be useful. If you go to a school that teaches a lot of clinical stuff or has a lot of research stuff, you'll be screwed.

It ended up being a HUGE waste of time. And I mean HUGE. The $ was cheap but the time wasting was terrible.

Honestly, you want to be a super gunner and have way too much time and energy on your hands? The best strategy I've ever heard is to do tons of questions. So during M1, you could buy a question book for physio or anatomy or whatever. Then during M2, buy pathology question books and do all you can (robbins + lippincott). Then in the final 6 months, move to qbanks.

One of the high scores I saw that didn't do a billion GT cards everyday was a guy who literally did like 3 books of pathology practice questions (lippincott, robbins, webpath, etc) - then all the qbank ones. You basically have an endless reservoir of experience.

OR you could be normal and just work hard on what is in class and do pretty much just as good.

The whole memorizing of facts thing is huge and important - but I think it's overrated. I think the people who do tons of questions develop a better thought process - which I think is more applicable to your future. Facts come and go but problem solving skill will stay with you.

For the most part, the more you bank, the more time it is going to take. Be prepared to spend 2-3 hrs per day at some point. If you have to take a few days off for a test or something, be prepared for 500-600 questions or more. It is a great program, but you have to put in the time for it to work.

Haha, yup. And wait until in M2 and you are needing to put 20 hrs a week in - with class and clinical responsibilities. (our school may have been different with clinical activities, which is maybe why I didn't have the extra time). Anyway, totally not worth it in my book.
 
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