Gunner Training...how to use it and for which subjects?

[Gunneria]

Hey guys,

I was wondering how you integrated gunner training into coursework and USMLE prep. I signed up for the free trial to get a brief glance and the interface seems awesome and convenient. I like the notion of being constantly tested to learn the details for long-term retention which I think will help alleviate the burden down the road when studying for the step and trying to recall old stuff.

With this in mind, I hear gunnertraining reflects first aid but in the interest of time and efficiency, is it advisable for all subjects? Similar to how people replace first aid Micro and Path with CMMRS and RR Path, do you still need to use GT all the time? How do you integrate GT with First Aid, which I assume you intend to annotate down the road? I think my concern is I want to be sure to make time for the core elements of most people's studying (an annotated First Aid, Goljan Path audio/RR path, BRS phys, and CMMR) but was wondering how people managed to utilize various sources to do this. I suppose the dilemma down the road would be should I look at one of the essential review books or use GT to study a particular topic provided the limited time I would have down the road.

Thanks

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[Bernoull]

Hey guys,

I was wondering how you integrated gunner training into coursework and USMLE prep. I signed up for the free trial to get a brief glance and the interface seems awesome and convenient. I like the notion of being constantly tested to learn the details for long-term retention which I think will help alleviate the burden down the road when studying for the step and trying to recall old stuff.

With this in mind, I hear gunnertraining reflects first aid but in the interest of time and efficiency, is it advisable for all subjects? Similar to how people replace first aid Micro and Path with CMMRS and RR Path, do you still need to use GT all the time? How do you integrate GT with First Aid, which I assume you intend to annotate down the road? I think my concern is I want to be sure to make time for the core elements of most people's studying (an annotated First Aid, Goljan Path audio/RR path, BRS phys, and CMMR) but was wondering how people managed to utilize various sources to do this. I suppose the dilemma down the road would be should I look at one of the essential review books or use GT to study a particular topic provided the limited time I would have down the road.

Thanks

search the GT thread, many ppl have posted their study strategy.

 

[Gunneria]

I kind of did search but I wanted to resurface an important issue again. After days of figuring out whats an efficient and realistic way of integrating everything for Step 1 prep, I am in a dilemma with different solutions. My big concern is how COMPLETE is GT? The fact of the matter is I think we all are concerned about incompleteness, understanding, and retention of material. I think many of us will use BRS as the prime source of physio and RR Goljan path for Path and read perhaps the best, condensed book (HY anatomy for anatomy, HY embryo for embryo, Lippencott or RR Biochem for biochem) in other subjects to fill in gaps left by FA so we end up with our master annotated, godly FA book with all the answers (well sort of).

To be honest, I think the difficulty people have is how to use Gunner Training while also trying to not let go of First Aid and the other cool high yieldbooks. It seems like GT is great for its quizzing features and its qbank. It seems too time consuming having all different sources being thrown at you at once. For example, I think I prefer to annotate FA from my primary sources (HY anatomy and embryo, Biochem, and perhaps keeping BRS physio and RR Goljan Path as independent sources). Unless you have a different learning style, I think, retention-wise, at the end of the day, its best to use your own source and handwritten annotations to study material and having one source (i.e.- you can't draw diagrams, cool visual mneomincs for biochem pathways into GT and in a way that you'll remember, while getting the completeness you wanted.

So I wanted to ask again, for those who used/are using GT, do you think its anatomy covers all the high yield in FA + HY anatomy, do you think its biochem hits all the RR biochem book points, etc...basically is GT the annotated FA that most of us can use thus obviating the need for other sources?

 

[ipizzy]

1. No single source is complete
2. No way to find out if GT covers enough of what YOU want, unless you try it for yourself.

It seems like you have very specific ideas of what you want out of test prep sources. I like GT a lot and find that it covers much of what I need to know for qbanks, but I can't address how it may or may not 'obviate the need' for other sources as I was never planning on using HY anatomy or other subject-specific review books and I haven't touched any of those. Just get a free month trial from someone and look through the cards so you can compare your sources with GT.