Actual usefulness of first aid

[speedyxx626]

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Hey guys, I'm currently an M3 and I took step 1 back in April right before they changed to the new exam format. I'm trying to come up with a tip sheet for) for step 1 studying for the M2s at my school and wanted to see if people agreed with me about the usefulness of first aid. I personally found the book to the completely USELESS for MY exam and can't think of a single question I could have gotten correct because of the book. I scored very well on Step 1, but I just feel like I would have scored the same even without using first aid. Did anybody else feel similarly after taking their exam?

 

[Daitong]

Hey guys, I'm currently an M3 and I took step 1 back in April right before they changed to the new exam format. I'm trying to come up with a tip sheet for) for step 1 studying for the M2s at my school and wanted to see if people agreed with me about the usefulness of first aid. I personally found the book to the completely USELESS for MY exam and can't think of a single question I could have gotten correct because of the book. I scored very well on Step 1, but I just feel like I would have scored the same even without using first aid. Did anybody else feel similarly after taking their exam?

uhm...what'd you do instead? Just UW?

 

[Mad Jack]

New exam talk is overblown, FA is still plenty useful. My exam was pretty much covered by UFAP+Goljan.

 

[Taco Time]

*I have not taken Step 1 (fellow MS2 here)*

I think the big thing to stress to students who will be taking step 1 is to not necessarily try and memorize every detail in FA but instead work on having a solid understanding of the material. It's a lot easier to piece together the big picture (+all the little details) once there's a solid conceptual foundation. This is what I've been realizing as I have started reviewing material.

Everyone that I know who did well on step at my school stressed doing practice Qs and learning concepts well in class, which is big with physio and path. Everything else I've been told is literally the abc's of how to de well with step via sdn -- UFAP + sketchy + more questions. Of course, some people do well on step w/o FA, and I think that's incredible, but it is by and large a great resource if used correctly by focusing on understanding, then memorizing.

 

[speedyxx626]

uhm...what'd you do instead? Just UW?

I did UWorld, first aid and pathoma. But like I said, in retrospect I don't think there were more than 3-4 questions I got right because of first aid (and they were bioethics/stats questions) . Just don't feel like I got a very good return compared to the time I invested in reading first aid. Other people in my class have said the same, but I wanted to see if people elsewhere felt the same way of not.

 

[speedyxx626]

*I have not taken Step 1 (fellow MS2 here)*

I think the big thing to stress to students who will be taking step 1 is to not necessarily try and memorize every detail in FA but instead work on having a solid understanding of the material. It's a lot easier to piece together the big picture (+all the little details) once there's a solid conceptual foundation. This is what I've been realizing as I have started reviewing material.

Everyone that I know who did well on step at my school stressed doing practice Qs and learning concepts well in class, which is big with physio and path. Everything else I've been told is literally the abc's of how to de well with step via sdn -- UFAP + sketchy + more questions. Of course, some people do well on step w/o FA, and I think that's incredible, but it is by and large a great resource if used correctly by focusing on understanding, then memorizing.

I COMPLETELY agree on what they told you with regards to doing well and truly understanding the big concepts from the first two years. It sounds stupid and almost too obvious but that really is what I think helped me the most. On the other hand, I think first aid kind of caters to the people that like to memorize facts and regurgitate them onto an exam rather than really understanding concepts. That's probably why I found it so useless... If I could go back in time I never would have used it.