Is FA actually that helpful? I mean I'm considering buying it, but like do I need to get the 2016 one when I'm taking boards next year?
I'll just pass along what I was told -- and when I applied it, it worked like a champ --- Most of the problem with medical school is as was stated previously -- volume of information -- and if you don't have a background clinically, you may not know what's important -- now, some can figure it out, others are so anal retentive that they want to do/learn everything -- great idea but medical school would be 12 years long and by then the info would be outdated ---
but I digress: As I was told by a very successful 3rd year at the time (and I wished I had understood what he was saying then) was this:
1) Get the latest copy (or one year prior) of FA. go down to your local Kinko's printing and have them take off the cover and 3 hold punch the thing --
2) slip your new best friend into a 3 ring binder (may want to get 2 just in case);
3) Now, before each class block starts, grab the associated section of FA and memorize it. Period. Until you can reproduce it cold on a blank sheet of paper -- for me, that translates into one reading of all pages, one reading for detail of all pages, one reading subsection by subsection for understanding followed by one more general reading --
4) now, when you're in class and you've got it with you, feel free to add notes -- use notebook paper if you run out of room -- so that you understand the particular topic and it's minutiae -- do it legibly since you'll be using it later. You can also add sections of Robbins/Cecils which can be easily copied/downloaded PRN
5) use this new study buddy you've created to study for your exams -- since you've already memorized it before beginning any of the assigned reading, you'll key in on what's important automatically since "hey, that was in FA" --
6) Get a question bank and do it for each class block -- repeat it frequently along with your OCD like reading of your FA section as annotated.
And when it comes time to study for boards -- go back to your qBank and your by now well fleshed out study buddy and spend 6 weeks going through that thing in detail -- repeatedly and using the Qbank, repeatedly ---
The key comes from guided repetition and thinking," how could I ask this as a question and what would the distractor answers be?" -- if you've got a colleague who is serious about studying and NOT about turning study time into a BS session, play the "how are they going to ask about this" game with them --- My study buddy and I increased our exam scores by a letter grade doing that -- alas we learned this late in 2nd year.
have fun --- and yes, the hard work is worth it -- there is no feeling like knowing WTF you're doing and integrating all that reading into a live human case ----
