Approach to a First Aid Page?

[kattyboomboom]

How did you approach a page in First Aid? Did you read up on each page item separately and write things in? Did you read all of the relevant book (Clinical Microbio Made Simple) first, then read through the (microbio) section and make notes?? First Aid just seems like lists and lists of stuff...What's the fastest and most thorough way to do it?

I'm finding that reading around each page item is taking too long! eek!

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[MedLover25]

where are you in your studying?
first semester? end of first year? etc

 

[kattyboomboom]

End of second year. Taking the test in 3 months.

 

[Terpskins99]

How did you approach a page in First Aid? Did you read up on each page item separately and write things in? Did you read all of the relevant book (Clinical Microbio Made Simple) first, then read through the (microbio) section and make notes?? First Aid just seems like lists and lists of stuff...What's the fastest and most thorough way to do it?

I'm finding that reading around each page item is taking too long! eek!

What I did...

1. I'd read through a subject in first aid and kept a tally of topics I felt a little uncomfortable with.

2. I'd start reading up on that subject with outside sources (Kaplan review books, BRS, Rapid Review... etc etc) paying special attention to any of those specific topics.

3. While reading up on the subjects, I'd annotate the corresponding section in first aid with detailed explanations and such.

4. I'd likewise annotate first aid with any qbank/uworld question/answers that I thought were high yield.

5. Rinse and repeat.

 

[TinyFish]

FA is indeed just lists and lists of stuff...I found it kind of hard to get around FA while I was still taking classes, just because I was in a different "mode" of studying. In my experience, studying for boards is not at all like studying for classes, and one has to develop different types of study habits/methods for boards. Not sure how your schedule will work out, but if you're 3 months out and still taking classes, don't let the format freak you out. Once you start focusing on boards studying, you get used to FA very quickly and soon figure out how to fit it into your method of study.

I did what the above poster did: I kept my FA open at all times to the system I was studying that day, and flipped back and forth between FA and my references/secondary sources. Took notes from secondary sources into FA. Basically, I was using FA as a sort of check list to make sure that I was covering all of the essentials in my other sources, and if I had extra time that day, I read beyond what was covered in FA. Then I copied notes from UW into FA. Did all subjects in 2 weeks and 2 days, and by the time I was done, the outline/list format of FA provided a good way to review subjects very quickly.

 

[DMBFan]

I'm having a similar problem. I'm doing biochem right now, and I can't even find the relevant topics in FA. There is some stuff in RR Biochem that isn't even LISTED on FA, so I'm wondering if it's a huge waste of time to even read all of RR, or take notes on it, bec. I'll be taking notes on a LOT of stuff I can't even seem to find in the biochem section of FA!

 

[myrtle]

I'm having a similar problem. I'm doing biochem right now, and I can't even find the relevant topics in FA. There is some stuff in RR Biochem that isn't even LISTED on FA, so I'm wondering if it's a huge waste of time to even read all of RR, or take notes on it, bec. I'll be taking notes on a LOT of stuff I can't even seem to find in the biochem section of FA!

One thing that I've been doing is instead of copying stuff into FA, just writing the name & page number of a book if it's got a good explanation of something or if there's info there that FA doesn't have. That way it doesn't get so cluttered.

 

[osli]

You can also have the back cut off of your copy of FA and have it hole punched for a 3-ring binder. If you come across a great chart online, or something you type or write up that works well for you, or want to just photocopy a whole page that has a great synopsis or high yield section from one of your other sources it is then easy to add to the appropriate FA section.