Firecracker

[JackShephard MD]

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med.firecracker.me

New medical education website rooted in an adaptive learning platform. Looks impressive, check it out.

Cheers.

 

[nabilesmail]

Yes it's easiest to try to add things as you learn them in school and then try to catch up with past material when you get a chance and it isn't too overwhelming.

I can only speak for myself, but with the amount of stuff in FC it can be a little excessive to know everything on every single card cold, especially as you start to flag more. Personally I'll give something a 4 if I am comfortable enough with it that I wouldn't have any trouble picking the answer from a list of choices. 5 if I actually know it cold.

That seems like a good idea. Also, lets say i just do a lecture, I memorize it, and activate the topic in Firecracker. Right now it gives me those questions essentially right away. Many of the times, I know the card cold (because I just did the lecture). How would you recommend i rate it in this case? So far Ive been giving it a 4

 

[Ophthoseidon]

Did anyone else notice in the review questions today it seemed like they weren't really review questions? I got a ton of those multiple choice questions today I have never seen before.

 

[abolt18]

That seems like a good idea. Also, lets say i just do a lecture, I memorize it, and activate the topic in Firecracker. Right now it gives me those questions essentially right away. Many of the times, I know the card cold (because I just did the lecture). How would you recommend i rate it in this case? So far Ive been giving it a 4

When it's my first time with a new subject that I just learned in class, the highest I'll rate anything is a 3. After that I'll willingly rank it 4's and 5's.

 

[smarts1]

I've been wondering... Does anyone feel like they're not really retaining the material from firecracker? I've been doing it since October last year, and while I have learned a couple things from firecracker and I can answer their questions, whenever I do questions from a review book or Rx, I can't really actively remember some of the material I've done through firecracker. It's really bizarre. I wonder if it's because my brain has been wired to just know the information in the way that firecracker has presented it, and I wonder if this is a sign that firecracker isn't for me...

Did anyone else notice in the review questions today it seemed like they weren't really review questions? I got a ton of those multiple choice questions today I have never seen before.

Happened to me yesterday also.

 

[DrEnderW]

That seems like a good idea. Also, lets say i just do a lecture, I memorize it, and activate the topic in Firecracker. Right now it gives me those questions essentially right away. Many of the times, I know the card cold (because I just did the lecture). How would you recommend i rate it in this case? So far Ive been giving it a 4

In my opinion, that's the best way to do things. I'm nearly 100% banked and when using that method, it has been the most rewarding.

Anytime I see something new, I rate it either a 2 or 3, especially if I just covered in the same day/day before. I save 4/5s for things that are truly committed to my longterm memory, not just a fresh new details I'll forget by the next weekend.

 

[apr27]

As a M1, is it okay to unflag material and then flag it again for second year? The way things are structured here, we pretty much go over everything again but with pathology next school year.

 

[DrEnderW]

As a M1, is it okay to unflag material and then flag it again for second year? The way things are structured here, we pretty much go over everything again but with pathology next school year.

What's the point of that? If you do that, you won't be reviewing that material repeatedly until you flag it again which defeats the primary purpose of using FC as a long term retention tool.

 

[abolt18]

What's the point of that? If you do that, you won't be reviewing that material repeatedly until you flag it again which defeats the primary purpose of using FC as a long term retention tool.

Ditto this.

 

[apr27]

What's the point of that? If you do that, you won't be reviewing that material repeatedly until you flag it again which defeats the primary purpose of using FC as a long term retention tool.

Good point. If I were to really get into FC right now, how would you approach it?

Thanks!

 

[chizledfrmstone]

I started day one and have kept up with it fairly well. I just flag stuff as we cover it in class. I tend to spend an hour or two on it each day. How fast I go through it largely depends on my motivation that day. Some days you have an exam or just don't want to do it and you can spread those questions out over the week which is a great option I take advantage of.

I actually think it makes a lot less sense to start in M2. You need to be focusing on question banks midway through M2, not flagging stuff from M1 in firecracker

I'm thinking of starting FC. Is Neuro a bad subject to start FC in and how should I flag stuff? Do I wait to learn it in class and then add those things?

 

[midweststudent1]

I'm thinking of starting FC. Is Neuro a bad subject to start FC in and how should I flag stuff? Do I wait to learn it in class and then add those things?

Yeah usually you have to wait until after you learn it to flag it. It's essentially first aid in question form, so it's difficult to learn from without at least a little context behind it....that being said, since we basically half a week and half off before neuro, I may try to work through some of the stuff beforehand. But after you get a decent number of stuff flagged, you'll have plenty of straight up review to keep you busy every day. Good luck with it!

 

[DrEnderW]

Good point. If I were to really get into FC right now, how would you approach it?

Thanks!

So what I've done (I've used FC essentially daily since winter M1 and almost 100% banked), is attempt to flag as much content as I could alongside class. Using this method, banking your content serves as another resource for class exams and then allows you to continually review that content until Step 1. Admittedly, this didn't happen perfectly M1, but I did a lot of catch up that summer and during M2. My advice would be just bank as much as you can with class and fill in the missing stuff when you have breaks in workload. Keep everything flagged and use the app/beta (app works best currently) to set an obtainable daily goal. I'd start at 100 and titrate up if it works with your school setup.

 

[apr27]

So what I've done (I've used FC essentially daily since winter M1 and almost 100% banked), is attempt to flag as much content as I could alongside class. Using this method, banking your content serves as another resource for class exams and then allows you to continually review that content until Step 1. Admittedly, this didn't happen perfectly M1, but I did a lot of catch up that summer and during M2. My advice would be just bank as much as you can with class and fill in the missing stuff when you have breaks in workload. Keep everything flagged and use the app/beta (app works best currently) to set an obtainable daily goal. I'd start at 100 and titrate up if it works with your school setup.

Appreciate it!

 

[deleted480308]

I just started up with firecracker...using it mainly for ongoing review. I went through and flagged everything we've covered so far and will flag new material as we hit it.

This leaves me hundreds of cards that are set for "study" that just carry over from day to day. I've been making sure to hit at least 25 or so of these each day to help whittle away at them and get them in rotation. I've been making sure to do all of the "review" cards though no matter what. With this being my first real attempt to review information that I haven't seen in months I've been hitting a lot of 1/2 but have noticed the repetition algorithm has been helping and it's starting to come back to me. If a card seems totally foreign, I just go find the first aid page/picmonic/kaplan lecture/school powerpoint about it for a quick method of getting some context.

Any suggestions from the more experienced FC users?

(in case it's relevant, I've started using combank/kaplan qbank for weekly question sets to review.....planning on using uworld in second year)

 

[DrEnderW]

I just started up with firecracker...using it mainly for ongoing review. I went through and flagged everything we've covered so far and will flag new material as we hit it.

This leaves me hundreds of cards that are set for "study" that just carry over from day to day. I've been making sure to hit at least 25 or so of these each day to help whittle away at them and get them in rotation. I've been making sure to do all of the "review" cards though no matter what. With this being my first real attempt to review information that I haven't seen in months I've been hitting a lot of 1/2 but have noticed the repetition algorithm has been helping and it's starting to come back to me. If a card seems totally foreign, I just go find the first aid page/picmonic/kaplan lecture/school powerpoint about it for a quick method of getting some context.

Any suggestions from the more experienced FC users?

(in case it's relevant, I've started using combank/kaplan qbank for weekly question sets to review.....planning on using uworld in second year)

I do not suggest flagging all the content you've come across and just whittling away at questions that carry over. That's a recipe for getting behind and having a huge daunting number staring you down. Read the section (or don't if it's fresh), flag, and take the quiz. In other words, move one topic at a time. Have you tried the app?

 

[mcloaf]

I just started up with firecracker...using it mainly for ongoing review. I went through and flagged everything we've covered so far and will flag new material as we hit it.

This is probably going to burn you out.

I'd make sure you're able to do all your daily review questions and then flag a few new topics each day and do the relevant study questions. There's not a really a point in flagging something if you don't have time to do the study questions, and having that many questions sitting there waiting to be done can be pretty demotivating.

 

[apr27]

Hey!! I had one more question. Since I'm a little behind in the FC game, would it be better to flag every topic I believe we've covered or flag a few topics from a single topic every day? Is it better to do a 100 questions/day encompassing several topics or, say, 100 questions on renal?

 

[Elevencents]

Hey!! I had one more question. Since I'm a little behind in the FC game, would it be better to flag every topic I believe we've covered or flag a few topics from a single topic every day? Is it better to do a 100 questions/day encompassing several topics or, say, 100 questions on renal?

Personal preference. I don't see either way being better than the other. I would prob do a mix to break up the monotony of seeing similar things.

 

[TheBob]

So, I have been using the beta for a while and it's working decently. However, there are a few issues that really lower the general experience.

• If you close down the session on the app, you will inevitably be forced to redo a bunch of the questions you have already answered that day before new questions start appearing. This is time consuming and annoying.
• Another issue I've experienced is the clumping of questions from the same topic. Similar questions testing the same concept are regularly appearing consecutive to each other. This really defeats the purpose of spaced repetition.
• Oh, and the increasing amount of multiple choice questions. They quite frankly suck. I would love to be able to opt out.

Anybody else experiencing the same issues?

I had all of these issues and got so frustrated with the beta problems, I completely stopped using FC last unit. I had a system that was working so smoothly for the first half of MS1, then I started getting a ton of repeaters, huge blocks of questions in the same topic, flagged topics weren't appearing, etc.

It takes dedication to spend at least an hour every single day doing FC as it was, but I liked the results I was getting on the desktop version.

Once I started dealing with all the other crap in a tough biochem unit, I put it aside. I am planning to make a comeback this unit, but I'm not touching Beta/mobile until it's fixed.

 

[abolt18]

I had all of these issues and got so frustrated with the beta problems, I completely stopped using FC last unit. I had a system that was working so smoothly for the first half of MS1, then I started getting a ton of repeaters, huge blocks of questions in the same topic, flagged topics weren't appearing, etc.

It takes dedication to spend at least an hour every single day doing FC as it was, but I liked the results I was getting on the desktop version.

Once I started dealing with all the other crap in a tough biochem unit, I put it aside. I am planning to make a comeback this unit, but I'm not touching Beta/mobile until it's fixed.

Website beta seems to be fixed. Haven't had these issues lately.

 

[Ophthoseidon]

I've been one to back firecracker through this entire time of their transition from the old web to the new interface because I believed them to have a superior service, but the past ~2 weeks I've become really sick of their ****. And where is @jwfirecracks ? He seems to have disappeared from the face of the Earth right when their site starts crumbling. He was very helpful in communication before.

 

[andrewsmack05]

I still do not understand why when I flag an entire topic like nephrology, why I do not get those questions right away? And why doesn't the percent complete go up in the organ system when you flag an entire section like nephrology?

 

[abolt18]

I still do not understand why when I flag an entire topic like nephrology, why I do not get those questions right away? And why doesn't the percent complete go up in the organ system when you flag an entire section like nephrology?

Not sure why flagged but unseen questions are not prioritized, but I can tell you the percent doesn't change until you've seen the questions and ranked them. Right now I answer all newly flagged topics in the old website and do all other questions on the beta.

 

[deleted480308]

I don't use the beta. On the "old" system, you can choose specifically to do the review, the new study, or catch up specifically.

 

[mcloaf]

So glad I never bothered with the beta. Still just chugging away on the website.

 

[DrEnderW]

I still do not understand why when I flag an entire topic like nephrology, why I do not get those questions right away? And why doesn't the percent complete go up in the organ system when you flag an entire section like nephrology?

You have to have completed the question for it to knock off a percentage. With the traditional website, you could flag a topic, but it would not enter your daily pool until you completed a quiz parallel from your daily review. It's the same now, except that you do the quiz questions whenever you want and they don't appear under a study questions tab (they appear as % complete). Functionally, it's the same thing. When you flagged a topic on the traditional site, you did not get questions in your daily review either. The entire premise of FC is seeing questions that are ranked lower sooner so if the question doesn't have a rating, the system doesn't work.

On another note, I haven't used the Beta in awhile, but I've had zero issues with the mobile app the last couple weeks.

 

[dermatoman]

Im an MS1 and I really want to destroy step 1. Do you all think its lean toward a lower rating of how well you knew an answer or higher?

 

[abolt18]

Im an MS1 and I really want to destroy step 1. Do you all think its lean toward a lower rating of how well you knew an answer or higher?

I really don't know what this is asking.

 

[dermatoman]

I really don't know what this is asking.

I guess a better question would be...What is your strategy when it comes to rating the questions? anything different than from what firecracker has?

 

[deleted480308]

I'd like to know as well....if I rate things a 5 how long until they pop back up for review? how about if I rate them a 4?

 

[dermatoman]

I'd like to know as well....if I rate things a 5 how long until they pop back up for review? how about if I rate them a 4?

Agreed. I only put 5's if i really really knew it. I find myself putting a lot of either 4s or 2s.

 

[abolt18]

Agreed. I only put 5's if i really really knew it. I find myself putting a lot of either 4s or 2s.

5=I know it solid
4=I know it pretty well but feel like I'd like to see it sooner than later.
3=I knew part of the answer (like if it's a group of things) or REALLY struggled to remember the answer
2=I recognize it, know I learned it at some point, but just couldn't come up with the answer.
1=I don't remember this at all. Don't remember seeing it at all.

I add variations a bit like when I feel something isn't high yield I may put it a 5 so I see it again but don't plan to master it like with a big list of 12 drugs that have xyz effect. If I know it OK but want to get it down better (like mnemonics) I might put it a 1 just so I see it quickly a few times and get it down.

As some have said before, if I've just flagged the material, I will almost never rank it more than a 3. First time through new material I only do a 1-3, but after my 2nd time seeing it I just rank it how I feel.

 

[TheFuture_22]

5=I know it solid
4=I know it pretty well but feel like I'd like to see it sooner than later.
3=I knew part of the answer (like if it's a group of things) or REALLY struggled to remember the answer
2=I recognize it, know I learned it at some point, but just couldn't come up with the answer.
1=I don't remember this at all. Don't remember seeing it at all.

I add variations a bit like when I feel something isn't high yield I may put it a 5 so I see it again but don't plan to master it like with a big list of 12 drugs that have xyz effect. If I know it OK but want to get it down better (like mnemonics) I might put it a 1 just so I see it quickly a few times and get it down.

As some have said before, if I've just flagged the material, I will almost never rank it more than a 3. First time through new material I only do a 1-3, but after my 2nd time seeing it I just rank it how I feel.

This is also exactly how I rate things.

 

[Amba]

WTF is going on with FC today. I logged in and it says I have new questions for a lot of the topics I had done 100% before, and all of them are irrational like this.

 

[Leoz M Jiliums]

WTF is going on with FC today. I logged in and it says I have new questions for a lot of the topics I had done 100% before, and all of them are irrational like this.

I'm getting the same thing

 

[DrEnderW]

WTF is going on with FC today. I logged in and it says I have new questions for a lot of the topics I had done 100% before, and all of them are irrational like this.

About 2-3% of my content was lost in various sections. When I went re-add it, I got the same thing you're experiencing. Hopefully it will get fixed soon.

If its not fixed in the AM, I'll make sure the tech guys know.

 

[kapluni]

Folks,
Sorry about the weirdness you saw in the app. We introduced a bug a few days ago that's now been fixed (as of a few minutes ago). try logging out and logging back in, and you should see sensible answers again. If you continue to see problems, please let us know - you can use the message feature in the app, or email us ([email protected]) .
thanks!
Ilya
Firecracker

 

[DrEnderW]

Folks,
Sorry about the weirdness you saw in the app. We introduced a bug a few days ago that's now been fixed (as of a few minutes ago). try logging out and logging back in, and you should see sensible answers again. If you continue to see problems, please let us know - you can use the message feature in the app, or email us ([email protected]) .
thanks!
Ilya
Firecracker

That fixed it for me, thank you!

 

[Lord_Vader]

Folks,
Sorry about the weirdness you saw in the app. We introduced a bug a few days ago that's now been fixed (as of a few minutes ago). try logging out and logging back in, and you should see sensible answers again. If you continue to see problems, please let us know - you can use the message feature in the app, or email us ([email protected]) .
thanks!
Ilya
Firecracker

I'm still getting the bug.



This has been happening to me since I downloaded the app a few days ago. Also, the app is noticeably slow when you start it up and it takes a minute or two just to get to the questions after start up.

 

[TheFuture_22]

I was wondering this the other day, if Firecracker were a textbook like First Aid about how many pages would it be? Just wanted to see if anyone knew the approximate number (though I doubt anyone knows). Good luck to everyone starting to gear up for board season!

 

[kapluni]

I'm still getting the bug.

View attachment 190439

This has been happening to me since I downloaded the app a few days ago. Also, the app is noticeably slow when you start it up and it takes a minute or two just to get to the questions after start up.

Try logging out and logging back in - that should fix it

 

[Amba]

Folks,
Sorry about the weirdness you saw in the app. We introduced a bug a few days ago that's now been fixed (as of a few minutes ago). try logging out and logging back in, and you should see sensible answers again. If you continue to see problems, please let us know - you can use the message feature in the app, or email us ([email protected]) .
thanks!
Ilya
Firecracker

Looks fixed for me too. Thanks.

 

[AnalisCanalis]

I have been avoiding the beta on the website ever since I noticed that lots of new multiple choice questions would automatically appear and be incorporated into my routine against my will. Thus, I have been using the iphone app exclusively. However, I recently updated my app and today I recieved ~100 new questions in a row without flagging anything, the same type of questions that would previously appear only on the beta website.

The questions are poorly worded, and do not fit well into the format of spaced repetition. They slow me down immensely, and I would like an option to remove all of these question that are ruining my use of this resource. Is there such an option in place or will there ever be? I would appreciate if the people from FC frequenting this thread could provide an answer to that question.

At this point I am extremely frustrated with all the bull**** one has to put up with in order to use this resource effectively. Meanwhile, I have invested far too much time and energy (and money) into FC to just stop using it. I can't even return to using the calendar (which worked decently) since I now have 5000 catch up questions piled up.

 

[A Deep Breath]

Lately, I've been going back to FA and Pathoma whenever I'm weak on a question (in legendary mode.) There are so many questions not covered by the big two that I need to ask, why should I trust that this information could reasonably show up on Step I? I certainly don't mean this as an attack on the folks at firecracker, but I would be much more comfortable expending time and effort on these questions if I knew how the information was selected.

 

[mcloaf]

Lately, I've been going back to FA and Pathoma whenever I'm weak on a question (in legendary mode.) There are so many questions not covered by the big two that I need to ask, why should I trust that this information could reasonably show up on Step I? I certainly don't mean this as an attack on the folks at firecracker, but I would be much more comfortable expending time and effort on these questions if I knew how the information was selected.

Would be interested to know if you're referring to any particular sections.

A lot of the content is also from QBanks/Goljan/other step resources, as well as more legit resources like UpToDate. That being said, there certainly is some low yield/poorly curated stuff sprinkled throughout. FA and Pathoma are not comprehensive as far as things that could possibly show up on boards, and FC isn't edited just to reflect those 2 sources of information.

 

[A Deep Breath]

Would be interested to know if you're referring to any particular sections.

A lot of the content is also from QBanks/Goljan/other step resources, as well as more legit resources like UpToDate. That being said, there certainly is some low yield/poorly curated stuff sprinkled throughout. FA and Pathoma are not comprehensive as far as things that could possibly show up on boards, and FC isn't edited just to reflect those 2 sources of information.

Anticipating this question, I spent a day noting examples such as paraseptal emphysema, which I couldn't find anywhere in FA or Pathoma. I decided not to save my list because I figured that everyone would know what I was talking about, but I may start another list.

I'm well aware that we need more than the information in FA and Pathoma to get exceptional scores and am glad that firecracker goes beyond those resources. I'd be relieved to hear that the additional information only comes from vetted sources like respected QBanks. If there is really information being pulled from UpToDate, however, I'm a lot more skeptical that it is relevant to Step I. If that information is being pulled from UpToDate because it has shown up on boards, then I'm glad that firecracker is ahead of the curve.

 

[mcloaf]

Anticipating this question, I spent a day noting examples such as paraseptal emphysema, which I couldn't find anywhere in FA or Pathoma. I decided not to save my list because I figured that everyone would know what I was talking about, but I may start another list.

I'm well aware that we need more than the information in FA and Pathoma to get exceptional scores and am glad that firecracker goes beyond those resources. I'd be relieved to hear that the additional information only comes from vetted sources like respected QBanks. If there is really information being pulled from UpToDate, however, I'm a lot more skeptical that it is relevant to Step I. If that information is being pulled from UpToDate because it has shown up on boards, then I'm glad that firecracker is ahead of the curve.

Paraseptal emphysema is (IMO) high yield as a cause of spontaneous pneumothorax. This is association is halfway in FA2015 on pg 615, but FA doesn't explicitly say that paraseptal emphysema is the cause of apical/subpleural blebs (rupture of which causes spontaneous pneumothorax). That being said, I don't doubt that you found plenty of stuff that probably is low yield.

At a certain point no resource can try to be both totally high yield and comprehensive. I think FC is somewhere in the middle: higher yield than big Robbins/textbooks, lower yield than FA. Where the info comes from depends on what resources the FC editor in question is using, so I don't think there's a generic answer to your question of where all the info comes from. I can say that I've encountered stuff from FA, Rapid Review Path, Pathoma, USMLERx, Kaplan Qbank, and UWorld. If/when you're coming across stuff that sucks (and don't get me wrong, there is absolutely stuff that sucks in firecracker) the best thing to do is downvote it and give feedback to the topic editor.

 

[seminoma]

Anticipating this question, I spent a day noting examples such as paraseptal emphysema, which I couldn't find anywhere in FA or Pathoma. I decided not to save my list because I figured that everyone would know what I was talking about, but I may start another list.

I'm well aware that we need more than the information in FA and Pathoma to get exceptional scores and am glad that firecracker goes beyond those resources. I'd be relieved to hear that the additional information only comes from vetted sources like respected QBanks. If there is really information being pulled from UpToDate, however, I'm a lot more skeptical that it is relevant to Step I. If that information is being pulled from UpToDate because it has shown up on boards, then I'm glad that firecracker is ahead of the curve.

I've bolded the two most important things and I believe you're missing the connection between them. As far as I'm concerned, everything except drug dosing and trade names is relevant to step 1. Even if a fact/concept isn't tested on step 1, the more tangentially related information you know the better able you will be reason through difficult questions and/or answer the handful of notoriously "out of left field" questions. Answering those questions is what helps get you to an exceptional score. Things that are obviously relevant to Step 1 are going to be studied by everyone this summer, which means those things are contributing to you passing, or getting a 220, or something like that.

I doubt you'll get a 270 if you only know the HY stuff. Knowing the stuff that conventional wisdom says "won't be tested on step 1" (aside from dosing and trade names) is what is going to get you into the super high score range.

 

[Hemorrage]

Question to M1 and M2s... how many questions/day are you all managing? I'm struggling to keep up with 80-100 alongside the curriculum.

My problem might be that i find it difficult to remember all these esoteric diseases out of context (relative to their other flavors in a given biochem pathway for example). Anyone have any advice for this issue?

 

[AntonFreeman]

is there a way to increase daily maximum questions on beta mode? i would like to do 150 to 200 questions daily