FA Memorization in Percentage

[Blue Flame]

For those of you guys who've taken the real deal, how much of FA (in percentage) would you say you realistically had memorized walking in? I know everyone says know FA cold, but is that even possible (knowing/recalling every single fact in the 500+ page book)? My question includes the knowledge you had in your preconscious as well (facts that you can inherently recognize in questions, but would not necessarily be able to recite outright if asked to). Also, were the majority of questions you could not answer on your exam answers that could be directly found in FA, or were these in the minority? Thanks!

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[malin]

This is a hard question for people to answer. As you go through the UWorld question bank and reference the corresponding parts of First Aid where the answers are found, you'll grasp an understanding of how you need to learn First Aid. Sometimes one word in First Aid makes all the difference, and it's easy to quickly skim over that one word in First Aid.

I scored in the 250s, and would say I knew anywhere from 90-95% of First Aid. I truly tried my hardest to know it inside out, along with all the UWorld details that I wrote into it. You need to balance both understanding key concepts and pathological mechanisms (which FA has, but there's only so much it can pack in), as well as knowing First Aid inside out if you want to score well.

Really I think it's even more important to do as many practice questions as you can. I did UWorld twice and all the NBME exams (2500+ questions) as my 2nd question bank, for example.

 

[tasar1898]

I dont think its actually possible to memorize word for word 600+ pg's of super dense material for the common man.. I am now one month from* my test but if I had to guess i 'd say i knew about 60% of FA (factoid wise , i.e What are the causes of DPGN??Obviously I had a sense of the whole book). My test wasnt memorization heavy (factoid q's were like <20 ) and imho its not like you memorize FA and you are set for Step 1. It takes a deep understanding of it to be able to answer the hard questions in the real thing ( also lots of improvisation) . If it was that simple , everyone would just buy FA and only memorize that and get 250+

EDIT : AFTER my test

 

[walakin25]

glad you said this, on my 3rd read of FA, struggling cause bored of it and certainly nowhere close to having it memorized, maybe i have a bad memory haha

 

[tasar1898]

@walakin25 memorizing FA was the worst part of my prep too , I just wanted to tear the damn pages.. Generally , try (just putting in the effort forces things to your subconscious) to memorize it, but if you can't , no big deal...

 

[Pushtothestars]

@walakin25 memorizing FA was the worst part of my prep too , I just wanted to tear the damn pages.. Generally , try (just putting in the effort forces things to your subconscious) to memorize it, but if you can't , no big deal...

How did you get through FA in he first place? Lol. Having problems here -_-

 

[Jabbed]

If you have the time/$, I think it's worthwhile using Rx as a pass of First Aid. i.e., do a question, read the inset from FA that's at the bottom, rinse/repeat. At the very least it'll break up the monotony of page after page of reading.

 

[tasar1898]

@Pushtothestars you just push through.. 1st time I did a complete read through , it took me like 3 weeks..Memorizing this book is very important but for me getting 5-10 extra points wasnt worth the endless mindless hours I 'd have to put in to memorize it 100%.. Still , I admire ppl who can memorize 600pg's cold.

 

[Blue Flame]

I dont think its actually possible to memorize word for word 600+ pg's of super dense material for the common man.. I am now one month from* my test but if I had to guess i 'd say i knew about 60% of FA (factoid wise , i.e What are the causes of DPGN??Obviously I had a sense of the whole book). My test wasnt memorization heavy (factoid q's were like <20 ) and imho its not like you memorize FA and you are set for Step 1. It takes a deep understanding of it to be able to answer the hard questions in the real thing ( also lots of improvisation) . If it was that simple , everyone would just buy FA and only memorize that and get 250+

EDIT : AFTER my test

So just as an example, you did not know going into your test that herpesviruses acquire their viral envelope from the host cell nuclear membrane (rather than the plasma membrane) and were still able to score a 260+?

 

[tasar1898]

No , I knew micro very well due to sketchy + extensive effort on my part , I even knew hantavirus , arenavirus etc etc.. I 've memorized most tables and stuff (i.e arches , pouches , peripheral nerves ) but I didnt know other parts of FA ( inheritance of some diseases , all the weird causes of the various nephrotic syndromes , like gold therapy for RA causes glomerulosclerosis or something, all the different AIDS + HEP C drugs , had some repro cancers mixed up , and other stuff like that there and there) that seemed lower yield to me.. I could say that I knew most stuff conceptually to maybe recognize on stem. For example I didnt know all the different causes of Afib , but if they presented an old dude with neuro deficits and stem said that he drank 3L of beer 3 days ago and his chest felt weird , I could infer that its holiday heart