FA Micro Section enough?

[LichenPlanus]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Has anyone had experience in whether FA micro was enough for Step 1? If not, what other source can you quickly blast through? It seems like the section is evolving to becoming harder and testing minutiae. Any input would be appreciated

I understand this question has been asked previously, however most threads are few years old. Thank you.

 

[Macaroon_Berry]

Yes, I believe it's enough. When you do mcq's like UWorld, you can add in extra notes, but otherwise First Aid is perfect for micro

 

[Baja_Blast]

FA and UW definitely enough. Spending time on anything else not necessary imo.

 

[aspiringmd1015]

if you wanna be a king, sketchymicro ftw.

 

[OnePunchBiopsy]

I used FA, UW, and lippincott microcards. The former 2 ended up being enough. Expect questions with straight identification of blood smears and gram stains. I had 2 questions where the answer relied on straight identification.

 

[seminoma]

Minimal micro on my exam, but none of it was in FA or UW.

 

[Transposony]

Minimal micro on my exam, but none of it was in FA or UW.

That's scary.
What other resource(s) do you recommend?

 

[seminoma]

That's scary.
What other resource(s) do you recommend?

None. At this point I can remember only 3 micro questions that weren't in FA. Can't remember any other micro questions (excluding abx questions) on my exam. Not worth it to use other resources for that few questions.

 

[asdfTT123]

I'll echo what semi said. My experience was similar to him/hers.

Micro was one of my strongest subjects going into it. I knew the FA/UW micro down cold. This is definitely enough to crush the micro on the NBME's, but half (or more) of the micro questions I had were ridiculous - weird atypical presentations of bugs with second/third order logic, a few unexpected parasite questions, and pics of some fungus (I presume its a fungus) that I've never seen before. I also had a question about a really common bug with a classic presentation but the answer choices were very perplexing. There weren't too many micro questions on my exam but I wouldn't say it was minimally represented.

Somehow I still managed to score "higher performance" in micro/immuno. I wouldn't recommend using other resources...nothing you can really do about these questions. You should be able to narrow it down and make an educated guess and move on.

 

[Wavy Doctor]

had 2 questions on dengue fever in the same Uworld block and was suprised to see it doesn't have an entry in FA besides being classified as a Flavivirus

can I trust FA here that dengue fever just isn't HY enough for Step 1 or could this be an example of a "contested omission" when putting together FA?

 

[shouldigomd]

Its all subjective but I would choose your resource and stick with it / have faith in it. Spreading thin is a recipe for disaster. FA, UW and pathoma was enough for me. I starred the section. Micro was one of my most confident sections but one of the ones I felt worst in after the test was over. Lots of bugs I didn't know about / obscure things I recognized from micro class and never saw again.

There are a few holes in FA that are covered in Uworld / practice exams. One of the things that comes to mind is antiseptics. Like isopropyl alcohol and what it kills, H2O2 and what it kills, etc. That wasn't covered in 2014 FA. FA is also a little week in the fungus but thats my opinion from seeing a lot of fungus on my test lol.

 

[Phloston]

Memorize the algorithm cards in the Microcards.