Best way to use Firecracker?

[tiramisucheese]

Our school provides Firecracker to us for free. I haven't gotten on the Zanki grind yet - mostly because I'm having trouble committing to doing the cards every day. I tend to study off of outlines, but I do feel like I'm missing details.

Would it be a good use of time to commit to FC? I've searched some older threads but would appreciate some current feedback. Thanks all!

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[afib123]

It is pretty much the same as zanki except firecracker I believe provides more detailed explanations. I hated fire cracker. Didn't feel it was high yield material and wasted 6 months on it

 

[CyrusHabs7695]

I agree with above. Ive used FC for the past few months and am switching to Zanki. I do however think FC is cool to have because even though I'm not doing their cards, I still go through and mark the topics so I can do the practice cases. Also, it is another good source to get some information from if you're lacking in a certain area

 

[Save a life]

Firecracker, albeit not a popular resource, is actually pretty nice. My school also provides it. I do the cases and use Zanki for flash cards. However, I have friends that use it daily and swear by it. Also, some upperclassman that have taken step said it’s alright.

 

[Jesus1]

Before you give up on FC, remember that it is actually a thorough resource for M1 and M2. FC in my mind is that one thing you can use to essentially understand and go through all the USMLE material in one spot. It is soul crushing and requires ridiculous amounts of discipline but if you start early (and are consistent), you can do really well on the USMLEs with FC being the source of the great majority of your knowledge. Banking 2 topics a day over a 2 year period is a lot easier than starting in M2 and having to bank 5 topics or more a day.
Got > 90 percentile on the USMLEs with this approach.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Our school provides Firecracker to us for free. I haven't gotten on the Zanki grind yet - mostly because I'm having trouble committing to doing the cards every day. I tend to study off of outlines, but I do feel like I'm missing details.

Would it be a good use of time to commit to FC? I've searched some older threads but would appreciate some current feedback. Thanks all!

I can’t imagine having trouble with zanki and being able able to commit to FC. FC is a whole other level of pain.

 

[gabloammar]

Before you give up on FC, remember that it is actually a thorough resource for M1 and M2. FC in my mind is that one thing you can use to essentially understand and go through all the USMLE material in one spot. It is soul crushing and requires ridiculous amounts of discipline but if you start early (and are consistent), you can do really well on the USMLEs with FC being the source of the great majority of your knowledge. Banking 2 topics a day over a 2 year period is a lot easier than starting in M2 and having to bank 5 topics or more a day.
Got > 90 percentile on the USMLEs with this approach.

May I know what your score was?

 

[Medic741]

Our school provides Firecracker to us for free. I haven't gotten on the Zanki grind yet - mostly because I'm having trouble committing to doing the cards every day. I tend to study off of outlines, but I do feel like I'm missing details.

Would it be a good use of time to commit to FC? I've searched some older threads but would appreciate some current feedback. Thanks all!

I marked topics as 'current' while watching my school's lectures. Did the cards after watching the lectures. Did "Today's ToDos" every day to get the spaced repetition in consistently since beginning of first year. Took NBME 15 a few weeks ago and scored a 230 'off the couch' without a dedicated period. Attribute that baseline to using firecracker (not an amazing baseline but not a bad one).

Tried Zanki and hated it. Prefer the open-ended structure of firecracker cards and the sufficient background that each card would give

 

[Eithz H]

It sounds crazy but I used Firecracker and question banks as my sole resource during med school. When I was on cardio, I would do the corresponding topic for each lecture. For example, if we were covering heart failure, I would do the heart failure cards. But when I say I would "do them" I would really take the time to know them well, often times by saying the concepts out loud to myself until I memorized/fully understood them. It definitely worked out too, got AMA and got 261 on step 1. Unfortunately the Firecracker cards for Step 2 and shelf arent nearly as good.

One thing thats important to realize though is that nearly all this material is essentially useless. Im saying this as a first year surgical resident who realized all that absurd time studying was for the sole purpose of doing well on an exam. Very little translates to being successful clinically.

Ultimately I would commit yourself accordingly. If I were to go back I don't think I would have busted my ass so hard learning the genetic factors contributing to Li-Fraumeni

 

[Medic741]

It sounds crazy but I used Firecracker and question banks as my sole resource during med school. When I was on cardio, I would do the corresponding topic for each lecture. For example, if we were covering heart failure, I would do the heart failure cards. But when I say I would "do them" I would really take the time to know them well, often times by saying the concepts out loud to myself until I memorized/fully understood them. It definitely worked out too, got AMA and got 261 on step 1. Unfortunately the Firecracker cards for Step 2 and shelf arent nearly as good.

One thing thats important to realize though is that nearly all this material is essentially useless. Im saying this as a first year surgical resident who realized all that absurd time studying was for the sole purpose of doing well on an exam. Very little translates to being successful clinically.

Ultimately I would commit yourself accordingly. If I were to go back I don't think I would have busted my ass so hard learning the genetic factors contributing to Li-Fraumeni

Wooot this is exactly what I’ve been doing. Stoked to see that it, in fact works!!! Congrats on your score!!

 

[mybluedog]

If anyone is looking to use firecracker, I'm selling mine for 230, originally brought for 350.
It expires on 9/9/2021, realized that I like another resource