Abandoning GT/Firecracker?

[beatsbydre]

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I would like to share some of my thoughts on GT/Firecracker. I actually bought the program in the middle of M1 and spent 250 dollars on it, thinking that it'll be amazing to obtain a high Step 1 score. It started off easy, since you don't have that many questions a day. Then, once you start to hit 200-300 questions a day, it starts to become especially difficult to clear these questions since this takes a good 2-3 hours for me (GT is ridiculously dull (being asked simple and repetitive questions over and over again), so I often get distracted). My school has Honors/Pass system and our tests are all based on lecture materials (which don't correspond well with USMLE materials). I didn't have much time to spend on GT (also due to research, ECs, etc.), and I often had 1500 questions piled up waiting for me when I got back. I finished at 45% banked and 35% mastered.

I'm taking my steps this summer and I'm ready to say goodbye to GT. FA is a much more interesting/efficient read because of the abundance of RELEVANT pictures (in GT, they had a lot of pictures but they didn't correspond well with the text and that made it very confusing!). In addition, reading other review books and doing qbanks are a lot more interesting than answering the simplistic/repetitive questions on GT.

I'm not saying that GT is not effective for obtaining a high step score. I have no doubt that if you bank 100% of GT and make it up to 90% mastery, you'll have an incredible step 1 score. However, the effort needed to get to that level is immense. It is something you need to commit to every single day, regardless of your coursework/exam schedule. Then again, I'm pretty sure if you spent the same amount of time on FA and other review books, you'll also obtain an incredible step 1 score.

Just my two cents + I'm wondering if anyone else is in the same boat.

 

[Work]

i quit at the end of my first block during m2. i was around 60% banked, 50-55% mastery. i started in the summer but quit when it became overwhelming. best decision ever, and i've never looked back. the question load was impossible to do without committing serious hours to it. i've retained nothing from the program.

with step a few months away and having done some of uworld/rx/kaplan, i've realized that understanding how things work is infinitely more important and much easier to do than memorizing random facts with no context. first aid is my outline, and the qbanks/class material are my foundation of knowledge. i wasted so much time in retrospect. good riddance.

 

[Dr Ypaint]

I am in the same boat. Pretty much same experience as you. I have a 2 year subscription, with 70% banked 45% mastered. I have like +5000 qustions accumulated. Now i just use FC as an occasional quick reference when my copy of FA is not handy.

 

[dragon529]

+1 to ditching the boat. I thought I could handle doing the review Qs on a daily basis and have failed to do so. I'm just doing a block of Rx or UWorld Qs a day now instead..

 

[beatsbydre]

i quit at the end of my first block during m2. i was around 60% banked, 50-55% mastery. i started in the summer but quit when it became overwhelming. best decision ever, and i've never looked back. the question load was impossible to do without committing serious hours to it. i've retained nothing from the program.

with step a few months away and having done some of uworld/rx/kaplan, i've realized that understanding how things work is infinitely more important and much easier to do than memorizing random facts with no context. first aid is my outline, and the qbanks/class material are my foundation of knowledge. i wasted so much time in retrospect. good riddance.

I actually wouldn't think that it's time wasted. Efficient or not, all that time spent on GT is probably doing some good.

But glad to know that I'm not the only person feeling this way!

 

[MLT2MT2DO]

+1. Ain't nobody got time for that!

 

[jekyllish]

+1

Good idea, but practically, I don't have time to toss around on that.

 

[Leonidis I]

disclaimer: used gt free trial during part of m1, ditched it and started using anki. taking step1 next year (we take it after clinicals). i hope to have all of first aid and uworld down cold by the time i take it via anki.

IMO gt is good in its motive but poor in its design. SRS is a great learning tool but gt's questions are often too vague and the answer choices are too long and often superfluous. it basically breaks half the rules of supermemo's 20 rules for learning (http://www.supermemo.com/articles/20rules.htm)

anki is far superior because you can use sources that YOU like such as first aid, uworld, pathoma, etc. and make questions that YOU feel are high yield and worth remembering. this drastically lowers your daily review count. you can add also pictures from these sources if you have them on pdf or epub. not to mention you can tag cards extensively (i do it by source, subject, sub-subject, coursework specific, etc.) and then study those tagged cards separately either within our outside of your normal study schedule. for example - studying all cards tagged for a block exam the night before.

the search feature and browser are also great. there's also other tricks like limiting your daily review by time or card count. the suspend feature is also great because you can take a card you feel is way too easy or way too low yield out of your rotation but it will still remain in your browser so you can look it up when needed. for people into stats/data analysis you can also look at how you've performed over time, what subjects/cards you have trouble with to really hone in on your strengths and weaknesses. i could go on and on.

bottom line: don't let gt sour your view on SRS

 

[JShephard]

disclaimer: used gt free trial during part of m1, ditched it and started using anki. taking step1 next year (we take it after clinicals). i hope to have all of first aid and uworld down cold by the time i take it via anki.

IMO gt is good in its motive but poor in its design. SRS is a great learning tool but gt's questions are often too vague and the answer choices are too long and often superfluous. it basically breaks half the rules of supermemo's 20 rules for learning (http://www.supermemo.com/articles/20rules.htm)

anki is far superior because you can use sources that YOU like such as first aid, uworld, pathoma, etc. and make questions that YOU feel are high yield and worth remembering. this drastically lowers your daily review count. you can add also pictures from these sources if you have them on pdf or epub. not to mention you can tag cards extensively (i do it by source, subject, sub-subject, coursework specific, etc.) and then study those tagged cards separately either within our outside of your normal study schedule. for example - studying all cards tagged for a block exam the night before.

the search feature and browser are also great. there's also other tricks like limiting your daily review by time or card count. the suspend feature is also great because you can take a card you feel is way too easy or way too low yield out of your rotation but it will still remain in your browser so you can look it up when needed. for people into stats/data analysis you can also look at how you've performed over time, what subjects/cards you have trouble with to really hone in on your strengths and weaknesses. i could go on and on.

bottom line: don't let gt sour your view on SRS

How many anki cards did you make for step 1 so far?

 

[Bluesclera]

Yeah its good to use as a reference, but the questions are just bull...

 

[aidama]

I absolutely love firecracker, but I'm not banking *EVERYTHING*. I use it to annotate into my first aid. I'm only banking subjects that are pure memorization or are difficult for me (physiology, anatomy, biochemistry, microbiology, the pharmacology section and any drugs). Pathoma/goljan for the other systems.

Depending on how much I forget (thanks biochem) I only have 150 review a day. I mark stuff I "know kinda" a 4 (12 days) if I know it perfectly a 5(25 days).