How much time would it take daily to crush Firecracker during the M1/M2 summer for M1 topics? I don't want to have the time sink during the semester.
It would be pretty time consuming (and boring!) to do it all in the summer instead of maybe 30% during classes and 70% during summer. Probably a cumulative 80-100 hours just to bank the stuff (assuming you could bank about 40-50% of the site), then maybe 1 hour/day to keep up on the spaced repetition questions. I agree with mcloaf that FC is worth the time sink of doing it with your classes because it really hammers the info in as you go along and keeps it fresh.
2 points I'd like to make clear:
-My recommendations for when to start certain review sources should be considered with the caveat that I do a systems-based curriculum; I knew a bit of every subject (Path, Pharm, Physio) by 2nd semester MS1. If you're doing a subject-based approach (Cardio Phys, GI Phys, Lung Phys, etc.) then you should heed the other posters' warnings about review sources being meaningless until you've had Pharm, Path, Biochem exposure.
-The only thing that sets FC apart is spaced repetition! You'll get maybe 25% of its potential by banking and then not doing the recurring review questions as they come. This is why I think it's fine to do it along with your classes and take the time sink (even though it's scary to do so). Come the week before the test, you'll be the only one with instant recall of all that stuff from the 1st week of the test period if you've been banking as you go along and staying up on your review.
Thanks for the reply guys. Would you recommend getting the current edition of first aid or wait till after Jan to get the 2014 edition? Also, would you recommend signing up for a firecracker account?
Furthermore, what's the consensus of finding a research project to try to get some publications? What if it eats into my study time for preclinical classes? Thanks again.
I'm sure it doesn't matter which edition unless you'll end up 2 or more editions behind. Keep in mind if you have the edition before, you'll have a very complete errata to reference. As you saw from my previous posts, I definitely recommend FC, especially if you can commit to using it as a spaced repetition study tool.
Do research until you find it starts eating into your study time. If it does end up noticeably interfering, then wait until the summer or during a dedicated research rotation. Alternatively, if you find a very independent project, you could do the work for that only directly after test periods to minimize class interference.