Facts we need to know

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StilgarMD

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Recently, I've been trying to use Firecracker and First Aid to supplement my studying (Just so I have an idea of what I should be learning), and I've started to get discouraged. Firecracker cards range from ridiculously simple ("What does TSH Do?") to How the hell am I supposed to know this ("what group of people are most likely to get X cancer, or which signaling pathway each hormone uses").

Are the contents of Firecracker and Fire Aid (Organ systems) a reliable indicator of the level of detail we need to understand? I looking at these things now because I am strong conceptually with many things, and I can learn details, but I get a sinking feeling every time I see something a statistic, or something of that nature.

This is partially why I'm looking at these books in advance - there's no way in hell I could internalize that kind of information in such volume in 6 weeks. Should I make it a point to learn that stuff now?

Thanks for any input.
 
The only resources that you should aim to completely have memorized are First Aid (the original one, not basic science/organ systems) and Pathoma. The way that First Aid is structured is that every piece of information in there is an answer to a prior test question. It's "high yield" not as a predictive source, but by virtue of the fact that that information has appeared on a test before. Pathoma is just a beautiful, beautiful resource in its own right.

Everything else has unpredictable value. To address your particular examples, you should know certain key cancer associations (ie Japanase with EBV nasopharyngeal carcinoma and gastric adenocarcinoma, Burkitt's lymphoma in Africans, etc). Signaling pathways of hormones is high yield.
 
The only resources that you should aim to completely have memorized are First Aid (the original one, not basic science/organ systems) and Pathoma. The way that First Aid is structured is that every piece of information in there is an answer to a prior test question. It's "high yield" not as a predictive source, but by virtue of the fact that that information has appeared on a test before. Pathoma is just a beautiful, beautiful resource in its own right.

Everything else has unpredictable value. To address your particular examples, you should know certain key cancer associations (ie Japanase with EBV nasopharyngeal carcinoma and gastric adenocarcinoma, Burkitt's lymphoma in Africans, etc). Signaling pathways of hormones is high yield.

Usually Chinese, but yes.
 
The only resources that you should aim to completely have memorized are First Aid (the original one, not basic science/organ systems) and Pathoma. The way that First Aid is structured is that every piece of information in there is an answer to a prior test question. It's "high yield" not as a predictive source, but by virtue of the fact that that information has appeared on a test before. Pathoma is just a beautiful, beautiful resource in its own right.

Everything else has unpredictable value. To address your particular examples, you should know certain key cancer associations (ie Japanase with EBV nasopharyngeal carcinoma and gastric adenocarcinoma, Burkitt's lymphoma in Africans, etc). Signaling pathways of hormones is high yield.

What do you mean by "the original one" in reference to FA?
 
Recently, I've been trying to use Firecracker and First Aid to supplement my studying (Just so I have an idea of what I should be learning), and I've started to get discouraged. Firecracker cards range from ridiculously simple ("What does TSH Do?") to How the hell am I supposed to know this ("what group of people are most likely to get X cancer, or which signaling pathway each hormone uses").

Are the contents of Firecracker and Fire Aid (Organ systems) a reliable indicator of the level of detail we need to understand? I looking at these things now because I am strong conceptually with many things, and I can learn details, but I get a sinking feeling every time I see something a statistic, or something of that nature.

This is partially why I'm looking at these books in advance - there's no way in hell I could internalize that kind of information in such volume in 6 weeks. Should I make it a point to learn that stuff now?

Thanks for any input.

Are you an MS1?

I skimmed through the FA organ systems books as part of the proof-reading process and there really isn't anything in there that I don't know (or at least recognize) off the top of my head. Obviously the info is too much to learn/review in 6 weeks time, but I think all of it is fair game for Step 1.

Is there a particular detail you think is excessive?
 
I am an MS1. There isn't any particular detail that comes to mind, but as I was going through Firecracker, it was the Epi questions that were getting to me more. some of the other things are more reasonable, though still something I dread needing to internalize.
 
I am an MS1. There isn't any particular detail that comes to mind, but as I was going through Firecracker, it was the Epi questions that were getting to me more. some of the other things are more reasonable, though still something I dread needing to internalize.

You'll be amazed by how much you learn during M2. Don't worry, it'll come easier than you think.
 
Personally I'm not liking Firecracker anymore.

The question and answers are really out of proportion. I think I'm going to stick with the basics of UFP. (Uworld, First Aid, & Pathoma). Just keep doing it over and over again
 
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