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.

 

[deecee90]

Yeah, the problem I have with it is that this studying with FC MD just takes too long now. I can't afford to spend 3 hours a day on FC, you know. I felt that with Legacy, it maybe wasn't drilling you as much with questions, but it still accomplished more or less the same thing.

Why do you like Legacy more?

I like legacy more because when you flag new topics you can do ALL of them that same day whereas it seemed as if MD had it where based on the algorithm you would get the new questions piecemeal over a few days. Also, I still have access to the QBANK with USMLE style questions, it's easier to focus on certain organ systems without worrying about glitches and even though it's a lot of questions to keep track of I can just dedicate a day where I only do those questions I've been slacking off on. I've been using FC for over a year now so I know what works and what doesn't so I'm staying with Legacy for board prep.

 

[Merely]

I'm an M1 that just took my first exam, should I be starting FC? Im pretty confused by it and what it is, can anyone offer some guidance? I am aiming for something competitive so would like 250+

 

[Ophthoseidon]

I'm an M1 that just took my first exam, should I be starting FC? Im pretty confused by it and what it is, can anyone offer some guidance? I am aiming for something competitive so would like 250+

You're already late to the game bro! Now you'll never match ENT!

 

[Merely]

You're already late to the game bro! Now you'll never match ENT!

Can you please offer something constructive?

 

[Guero]

Can you please offer something constructive?

Don't worry about it until the summer between first and second year at the very least, but preferably sometime during your second year. It doesn't do you much good to use the application if you haven't even seen much of the material. First year biochem and such isn't as heavily represented as the basic science from organ systems. Relax and focus on doing well in your initial studies during first year for now. That'll help you prepare far more than worrying about the various resources for Step prep.

 

[CyberMaxx]

I'm an M1 that just took my first exam, should I be starting FC? Im pretty confused by it and what it is, can anyone offer some guidance? I am aiming for something competitive so would like 250+

Well basically it is a flashcard system of First Aid material which runs on a spaced repetition system sort of like anki. There is now a Legacy version and an MD version, which I could go into but really the best thing if you are interested is just to sign up for the free month that they offer (at least they used to) and try it out.

I think Guero has a very valid point above, but just to give you a different point of view I got firecracker in August of first year in did it a little along with class material. I didn't keep up with it very well and ended up flagging the majority of M1 material over last summer. I will say however that now that I'm starting to do QBank questions in preparation for Step 1 the material that I have kept up with in firecracker starting in the fall of M1 is some of the stuff that I remember the best.

So I guess I would say if your interested, sign up for the free month, and see if you 1) like it and 2) can find a way to fit it into your daily schedule.

 

[Guero]

Valid points, to which I'd only add that it might be more retention effective and cost effective to seek that same benefit by starting during the summer between first and second year if you're intent on cementing that material. 🙂

 

[Ophthoseidon]

Can you please offer something constructive?

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Honestly, I personally believe starting from day 1 is what you need to do, that's why i made that joke. It's a spaced repetition program to help you remember things you've covered in class (and most of it is the important need to know things). Some people say to start after M1 summer or beginning of M2, but the people I know who did that are really struggling now to get things flagged. If you have 50+% of firecracker flagged by the time you start M2 your life will be so much easier. I didn't get through that much (39%) by the start of M2, and now I'm at 57%. My friends are sitting at like 15-20% and most of them wish they started day 1. Unless you plan on spending 4-5 hours/day on firecracker during M2, I'd suggest getting it now. I'm sure the bigshots that have taken the real deal already would agree. @abolt18 @mcloaf and company

 

[Merely]

So you think it is worth the 400 dollars a year? Also, am I supposed to keep up with class material and be honoring (90+ percent on exams) while I spend a few hours on GT a day? Because in order to honor while I spend 2-3 hours doing GT a day I would literally need to study 13 hours a day. Is that normal?

 

[Ophthoseidon]

When I got it it was $439 for 2 years, so I don't know where those numbers are coming from. But I'd say it's worth it. A drop in the bucket. Think about it, if you take out summers and weekends, you're spending about $200/day for school. what's another $400 for 2 years?

But anyway, "normal" is very subjective. Many people do it, it just depends on how dedicated you are to doing exceptionally well all the time.

 

[mcloaf]

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Honestly, I personally believe starting from day 1 is what you need to do, that's why i made that joke. It's a spaced repetition program to help you remember things you've covered in class (and most of it is the important need to know things). Some people say to start after M1 summer or beginning of M2, but the people I know who did that are really struggling now to get things flagged. If you have 50+% of firecracker flagged by the time you start M2 your life will be so much easier. I didn't get through that much (39%) by the start of M2, and now I'm at 57%. My friends are sitting at like 15-20% and most of them wish they started day 1. Unless you plan on spending 4-5 hours/day on firecracker during M2, I'd suggest getting it now. I'm sure the bigshots that have taken the real deal already would agree. @abolt18 @mcloaf and company

Can't really disagree with anything you're saying. Starting earlier makes it easier no doubt. If you wait to start until M2 it can certainly still be useful but probably only if you use it in a more targeted manner rather than planning to do the entire thing.

 

[TheRobin]

So you think it is worth the 400 dollars a year? Also, am I supposed to keep up with class material and be honoring (90+ percent on exams) while I spend a few hours on GT a day? Because in order to honor while I spend 2-3 hours doing GT a day I would literally need to study 13 hours a day. Is that normal?

You may be overshooting things. As a first-semester M1, I doubt there are many Firecracker topics that are even applicable to you at this point outside of Anatomy or Biochemistry, unless of course you go to a systems-based school. So, you shouldn't have to spend 2-3 hours doing Firecracker, at least not initially.

 

[Guero]

Yeah, in retrospect and in all honesty, I wish I had started at the beginning of my summer between first and second year. I was doing an intense research fellowship and didn't feel like it'd be very helpful at the time. But now, as the other posters suggested, I'm noticing I have a lot more to catch up on that I could've solidified during that summer. But I stand by my original sentiments regarding waiting until the summer. At least by the summer you'll have covered enough material to keep you busy. GL!

 

[nabilesmail]

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Honestly, I personally believe starting from day 1 is what you need to do, that's why i made that joke. It's a spaced repetition program to help you remember things you've covered in class (and most of it is the important need to know things). Some people say to start after M1 summer or beginning of M2, but the people I know who did that are really struggling now to get things flagged. If you have 50+% of firecracker flagged by the time you start M2 your life will be so much easier. I didn't get through that much (39%) by the start of M2, and now I'm at 57%. My friends are sitting at like 15-20% and most of them wish they started day 1. Unless you plan on spending 4-5 hours/day on firecracker during M2, I'd suggest getting it now. I'm sure the bigshots that have taken the real deal already would agree. @abolt18 @mcloaf and company

Completely agree, start as soon as you can, and you shouldn't need to do many questions right now. In my opinion, maybe 50 questions/10% flagged to start (which will be VERY quick, especially in a couple of weeks in which your circulating pool will constantly repeat and you will answer 3-5/min.

Firecracker scheduling is also VERY dependent on your school and your personal goals. My school works perfectly with Firecracker because ALL (or >95%) of our exams are strictly NBME Customized Exams (Your school can buy access to NBME retired bank). Because of that, I NEVER watch any lectures, nor do I even look at them except to figure out what I need to look up in Board Review Sources. I pretty much just learn from Pathoma/Sketchy Micro/First-Aid /and then Flag and learn the extra stuff that Firecracker usually has and this has worked great for Exams. I'm pretty much just studying for STEP1 day in and out lol.

I could see firecracker becoming a problem if #1 You don't have a strict P/F school AND you care about grades- Often times, Board Review Books/First Aid/Firecracker will cover material your classes don't (or don't emphasize) but have tons of materials that aren't really yield for Step1 (so you'll end up learning more overall if you try to do both FC and School-which is obviously a pain when time is already so limited).

Perhaps a good idea would be to use FC for all the important Topics (Path/Phys/Organ System Anatomy/Pharm/) and just trust that come Dedicated, you'll have ample time to review topics you didn't flag since you'll be pretty decent at the ones you did. (If you care about grades etc)

 

[Guero]

. . .
Firecracker scheduling is also VERY dependent on your school and your personal goals. My school works perfectly with Firecracker because ALL (or >95%) of our exams are strictly NBME Customized Exams (Your school can buy access to NBME retired bank). Because of that, I NEVER watch any lectures, nor do I even look at them except to figure out what I need to look up in Board Review Sources. I pretty much just learn from Pathoma/Sketchy Micro/First-Aid /and then Flag and learn the extra stuff that Firecracker usually has and this has worked great for Exams. I'm pretty much just studying for STEP1 day in and out lol.

I could see firecracker becoming a problem if #1 You don't have a strict P/F school AND you care about grades- Often times, Board Review Books/First Aid/Firecracker will cover material your classes don't (or don't emphasize) but have tons of materials that aren't really yield for Step1 (so you'll end up learning more overall if you try to do both FC and School-which is obviously a pain when time is already so limited).
. . .

Ugh, I'm envious. We have idiosyncratic tests written by various professors with material that averages half relevance as evidenced by our performance on our optional NBME subject practice exams offered after each block. We end up needing to compensate on our own while maintaining coverage of lectures because we're also one of the very few schools left with actual letter grades. :/

That seems like solid advice when taking into account school differences. If only I knew then (when applying) what I know now... C'est la vie. Hopefully my Step rigor will pay off in the end, though.

 

[StevensBibi]

Ok so whats the consensus. Legacy or FC MD?

 

[Ophthoseidon]

MD if you use it correctly

 

[skarabrae]

I'll chime in on MD vs legacy.

The theory behind MD is solid, and in execution I think it works reasonably well. However, it is obnoxious that the "cards per day" is not adaptive, as in the cards/day does not fluctuate based on progress and also does not consider previous work. I've used FC since day 1 and I have the same cards/day as someone who sets the same goal score of 250 who picks up the program at any point in their studies. This makes the "goal" seem very superficial and I have a hard time believing the number is based off of any data.

Regardless, if you use it consistently and focus on learning the material MD works well.

 

[CyberMaxx]

Ok so whats the consensus. Legacy or FC MD?

The content is the same, I would try them both out and see which you like better. I prefer the interface of MD but couldn't keep motivated to keep up with it as much because it felt like a black box where I was doing cards and wasn't sure when I'd see them again or why.

I recently switched back to legacy (and now am dealing with the subsequent build up) because even though its a hassle I can see cards that I master be pushed back. Likewise, if I get something wrong repeatedly I know I'll see it every day or every other day until I start to master it. I guess my point is that for me, legacy is much more motivating because I want to master everything to whittle down my daily # of cards.

 

[nabilesmail]

I'll chime in on MD vs legacy.

The theory behind MD is solid, and in execution I think it works reasonably well. However, it is obnoxious that the "cards per day" is not adaptive, as in the cards/day does not fluctuate based on progress and also does not consider previous work. I've used FC since day 1 and I have the same cards/day as someone who sets the same goal score of 250 who picks up the program at any point in their studies. This makes the "goal" seem very superficial and I have a hard time believing the number is based off of any data.

Regardless, if you use it consistently and focus on learning the material MD works well.

You're failing to recognize that 250 cards a day is TOO LOW once you are past a fair amount content (>60% flagged etc). I think this is a problem with current Firecracker MD. Look at all the old posters that were on the Firecracker Legacy program. The lowest Cards/Day assigned that I saw with anyone above >80% flagged was 350, and he had phenomenal Mastery % (80ish% Which means he had 80% of his cards at a 4/5 level). Realistically, I think this 250 cards/day is a hindrance. I have roughly 10,000 topics/cards at 50% flagged, if I was at 100% and rated every single card a 5 (probably will never happen), I would have to wait 40 Days before seeing a single card again, likely MUCH longer since I'll be posting tons of 2s,3s,4s, which will backlog the 5's up to a certain point. Even things I know perfectly well right now get foggy when I haven't seen them for a month.

 

[skarabrae]

I wasn't implying that 250 cards was too high. I am essentially agreeing with exactly what you're saying, in that the static 250 number may not be sufficient to accomplish what their program aims to accomplish. I am saying that the number of cards to do per day should change based on past performance. It sounds like you want more out of FC than I do. I don't expect to be able to rate everything a 4 or 5 at any point. I use it to review recently covered class material and as a way to brush through old topics I haven't seen in awhile.

 

[ATypicalLymphocyte]

You're failing to recognize that 250 cards a day is TOO LOW once you are past a fair amount content (>60% flagged etc). I think this is a problem with current Firecracker MD. Look at all the old posters that were on the Firecracker Legacy program. The lowest Cards/Day assigned that I saw with anyone above >80% flagged was 350, and he had phenomenal Mastery % (80ish% Which means he had 80% of his cards at a 4/5 level). Realistically, I think this 250 cards/day is a hindrance. I have roughly 10,000 topics/cards at 50% flagged, if I was at 100% and rated every single card a 5 (probably will never happen), I would have to wait 40 Days before seeing a single card again, likely MUCH longer since I'll be posting tons of 2s,3s,4s, which will backlog the 5's up to a certain point. Even things I know perfectly well right now get foggy when I haven't seen them for a month.

I'm actually 100% flagged (with ~91% mastery) and my cards per day is getting lower by the day (250's now, was around 300's for the past few weeks). Granted, in order to reach 100% I had to go a few weeks (about 1-2 months ago) where my average cards per day roamed around ~450's-500's. I believe 250 cards per day is a reasonable amount if you're not flagging/marking massively.

 

[nabilesmail]

I wasn't implying that 250 cards was too high. I am essentially agreeing with exactly what you're saying, in that the static 250 number may not be sufficient to accomplish what their program aims to accomplish. I am saying that the number of cards to do per day should change based on past performance. It sounds like you want more out of FC than I do. I don't expect to be able to rate everything a 4 or 5 at any point. I use it to review recently covered class material and as a way to brush through old topics I haven't seen in awhile.

Ahh my bad, yeah this 250 static number is ridiculous, it doesn't change at all based on your flagged number, desired score, or anything lol.

I'm actually 100% flagged (with ~91% mastery) and my cards per day is getting lower by the day (250's now, was around 300's for the past few weeks). Granted, in order to reach 100% I had to go a few weeks (about 1-2 months ago) where my average cards per day roamed around ~450's-500's. I believe 250 cards per day is a reasonable amount if you're not flagging/marking massively.

But that's after being 100% flagged for awhile now right? Essentially you're just looking at old cards and not being diluted down by flagging new cards and spending tons of time repeating them. Would you mind breaking down your cards per day (maybe by 10-20% flags) from 50% onwards? How much of your Firecracker experience had you at 300-350cards/day and over?

Thanks!

 

[TheRobin]

I'm actually 100% flagged (with ~91% mastery) and my cards per day is getting lower by the day (250's now, was around 300's for the past few weeks). Granted, in order to reach 100% I had to go a few weeks (about 1-2 months ago) where my average cards per day roamed around ~450's-500's. I believe 250 cards per day is a reasonable amount if you're not flagging/marking massively.

Out of curiosity, when did you start with FC and how long did it take to get 100% flagged? I started this year as an M2 and seem to be adding topics at a snail's pace. I'm currently at ~200 topics flagged with about 900 more to go.

 

[Ophthoseidon]

I'm actually 100% flagged (with ~91% mastery) and my cards per day is getting lower by the day (250's now, was around 300's for the past few weeks). Granted, in order to reach 100% I had to go a few weeks (about 1-2 months ago) where my average cards per day roamed around ~450's-500's. I believe 250 cards per day is a reasonable amount if you're not flagging/marking massively.

That is ridiculous lol. I thought I should be impressed with myself trying to get 100% flagged by January so I'd have 4-5 months for straight review, but that's &%$@ing insane

 

[Daitong]

What do you guys think is a good amount to have flagged by the end of the M1 year? ~60-70%? Organs based curriculum.

 

[Ophthoseidon]

What do you guys think is a good amount to have flagged by the end of the M1 year? ~60-70%? Organs based curriculum.

As much as you can. If you have 60-70% that's awesome. I got lazy and finished with about 40%, now I'm at~ 60% and made a schedule so I'd finish by end of Winter break

 

[abolt18]

As much as you can. If you have 60-70% that's awesome. I got lazy and finished with about 40%, now I'm at~ 60% and made a schedule so I'd finish by end of Winter break

This will serve you well!

 

[spicysoup55]

Thinking about using Firecracker in the spring for step1 review. Would it be too "late" to start it only a few months before the exam? My goal is to have a tool to help review material as I read through First Aid.

Would it be better to just make my own flashcards using Anki or another flashcard app?

 

[Ophthoseidon]

Thinking about using Firecracker in the spring for step1 review. Would it be too "late" to start it only a few months before the exam? My goal is to have a tool to help review material as I read through First Aid.

Would it be better to just make my own flashcards using Anki or another flashcard app?

I don't think it is worth it 3 months out honestly. It's more of a long term tool. There are like 16,000 cards. you'd be lucky to even see most of them twice if you went hard on them

 

[Daitong]

Did you guys every stratify somehow by yield? By that I mean perhaps some of the anatomy is lower yield than...pathophys for example, and the former may be very detailed, but you still marked it higher than you would normally just so you could see other stuff more, or perhaps mark path slightly more conservatively (lower) so you could really nail it down? Or did you feel that the anatomy on FC is well done and should be focused on regardless? JW

 

[nabilesmail]

Did you guys every stratify somehow by yield? By that I mean perhaps some of the anatomy is lower yield than...pathophys for example, and the former may be very detailed, but you still marked it higher than you would normally just so you could see other stuff more, or perhaps mark path slightly more conservatively (lower) so you could really nail it down? Or did you feel that the anatomy on FC is well done and should be focused on regardless? JW

People earlier in the thread have mentioned that they were a lot more liberal w/ anatomy cards (especially obscure ones) than other topics in rating. One thing to note though, is that recently (over the last couple of years) it seems people are getting more anatomy questions on their Step, this might be what determines the difference between a great and a good Step Score (Eh?)

 

[ATypicalLymphocyte]

Hey guys, sorry I couldn't get to you earlier, I'll try to answer your questions as best as I can.

But that's after being 100% flagged for awhile now right? Essentially you're just looking at old cards and not being diluted down by flagging new cards and spending tons of time repeating them. Would you mind breaking down your cards per day (maybe by 10-20% flags) from 50% onwards? How much of your Firecracker experience had you at 300-350cards/day and over?

Thanks!

I finished flagging about a month and a half from now (even though at that moment I un-flagged and then re-flagged everything which granted me ~2600 "new questions" which I went through over 2 weeks, which is faster than usual since I knew a big portion of these already).

I wish I could break down my experience in a very detailed way in order to answer you, but unless FC gives us access to this information I can't give an accurate account. What I can tell you is that I documented a bit of my experience in the last few months (since I was trying to keep a good pace in order to reach 100%) and I went from 962 flags up to 1168 from July 27 up to September 5. This was VERY intense (>300-500 questions per day) because I was set on flagging everything. Naturally, under the Legacy system after flagging new topics there's an immediate effect on your card count on the following days (you'll probably mark a lot of 1's-3's in order to learn these cards the first few times you see them).

However, this was quite different from my experience a few months earlier (Feb-April) when I wasn't flagging anything basically (for reasons not pertaining to this post). At this point my card count started getting lower and lower. By the time April came I was maybe around 100 questions daily and I'm pretty sure I was at least 50% flagged. But remember "not all flags are created equal". 😉

Out of curiosity, when did you start with FC and how long did it take to get 100% flagged? I started this year as an M2 and seem to be adding topics at a snail's pace. I'm currently at ~200 topics flagged with about 900 more to go.

I started September last year (basically went all in with Biochemistry and flagged everything, but my "flagging method" as well as "answering method" has changed since then). Took me about a year I'd say. Honestly, the more you can flag, the better. If you can't flag everything try flagging the most important topics (for example, when flagging anatomy, upper and lower extremity nerves and lesions are a MUST, whereas other topics aren't as important).

That is ridiculous lol. I thought I should be impressed with myself trying to get 100% flagged by January so I'd have 4-5 months for straight review, but that's &%$@ing insane

Honestly, if you have to sacrifice other resources in order to get to 100% (and if you have the time to) I'd say go for it. However...

I plan on posting a very detailed write-up after I take the test/get my grade since I feel reluctant to start giving advice on a test I haven't taken.

 

[Focused1]

I have been a user of FC for over 2.5 years.. With all the FC MD vs Legacy stuff going on..
All i can say is..
Use Anki.. its way better.. You need o make your own cards.. but is way better than these frequent ALGO changes these guys do.

 

[ATypicalLymphocyte]

I have been a user of FC for over 2.5 years.. With all the FC MD vs Legacy stuff going on..
All i can say is..
Use Anki.. its way better.. You need o make your own cards.. but is way better than these frequent ALGO changes these guys do.

Anki is a great tool but so is FC. I haven't made the change to FC MD since I'm close to my exam date. However, I'd say time is something to take into account if you're planning on using Anki because of the amount it takes to make your own cards (unless you download someone else's). (By the way, replied to the conversation).

 

[uvrsol]

Anyone used Firecracker in a school that has letter grades? Were you able to manage FC? Using FC cost you significantly in grades? Any thoughts on how to make it work from day one is appreciated!! thx

 

[justabanana]

FC MD made some awesome improvements today. Very pleased. Was really considering going to legacy, but I'm glad I stuck with it.

 

[CyberMaxx]

Yeah, definitely an improvement. I think I won't make the switch back though until they give you the ability to re-review the days cards that you did poorly on. There are just too many questions in FC in which the answers are lists for me to master questions by seeing them at 24 hour intervals.

 

[nabilesmail]

.

 

[nabilesmail]

Anyone used Firecracker in a school that has letter grades? Were you able to manage FC? Using FC cost you significantly in grades? Any thoughts on how to make it work from day one is appreciated!! thx

My school is H/HP/P and I am neurotic enough to care about grades 😛, I started FC 1/3 through the second semester. I was taking Biochem, Physio, Neuro, and Immuno. I found it very difficult to keep up with FC and Schoolwork and pretty much only flagged physio and some biochem topics essentially ignoring immuno and biochem because of a lack of time. My physio course was all NBME tests though so it correlated well with FC content and i could ignore lectures. For the average medical student, or even strong medical student, I don't think it is possible to do well in coursework (like Honors/A) and keep up with firecracker flagging and cards for every subject without extreme extreme time commitments. Often time, lecture material has poor correlation with FC/Board exam review material, most of the stuff I had to know for lectures was not in FC/First Aids, and tons of stuff in FC/First Aid was not required for school-based exams. This pretty much increased the total content I needed to learn by an unmanageable amount. If I were in a graded school, I would pick 1-2 HY classes/semester (Physio!) and just focus on flagging those and not missing days. Then just catch up over breaks and summer. Or you can go along with everything in your coursework and tell yourself something like "I'm only going to learn and flag the 50% highest yield topics" or something like that. Try it out for yourself though, maybe your school correlates well in board review material. If not, I think its better to just focus on a few FC subjects and get them down pat/never skip Firecracker cards/day rather than trying to flag everything , running behind on school exams, and skipping weeks of firecracker at a time (like i did)

 

[DrEnderW]

Anyone used Firecracker in a school that has letter grades? Were you able to manage FC? Using FC cost you significantly in grades? Any thoughts on how to make it work from day one is appreciated!! thx

Yeah... I unfortunately had letter grades and numerical rank.

I did about 1.5hrs of FC every morning during 2nd year, usually 6:30-8AM before classes started. I had the whole day after that. It was a great routine and eventually became and almost addicting way to start the day.

I was slightly more relaxed using it M1. I stayed within the top 5% and a lot of that is thanks to maintained FC use. A lot of topics come back again and again or in different ways such as physio/micro appearing in path, for example.

 

[FA5297]

Any motivational stories of firecracker usage and high step 1 scores? I need some motivation to keep slogging through second year...

 

[Guero]

Anyone used Firecracker in a school that has letter grades? Were you able to manage FC? Using FC cost you significantly in grades? Any thoughts on how to make it work from day one is appreciated!! thx

Unfortunately, we're one of 23 allo schools left on a pre-clin curriculum with an actual ABCF letter system (also with the usual numerical rank). Our course exams vary between seemingly low relevance to highly relevant and spot-on (praise be unto one particular prof, omg, so spot-on w/so many step diamonds and strategies). Thankfully, we recently instituted a free, optional NBME subject exam to assess our grasps of the organs after each system block, which has helped me narrow my FC focus, albeit much later than our peers here (currently only have one block left after Xmas before dedicated begins in March).

My school is H/HP/P and I am neurotic enough to care about grades 😛, I started FC 1/3 through the second semester. I was taking Biochem, Physio, Neuro, and Immuno. I found it very difficult to keep up with FC and Schoolwork and pretty much only flagged physio and some biochem topics essentially ignoring immuno and biochem because of a lack of time. My physio course was all NBME tests though so it correlated well with FC content and i could ignore lectures. For the average medical student, or even strong medical student, I don't think it is possible to do well in coursework (like Honors/A) and keep up with firecracker flagging and cards for every subject without extreme extreme time commitments. Often time, lecture material has poor correlation with FC/Board exam review material, most of the stuff I had to know for lectures was not in FC/First Aids, and tons of stuff in FC/First Aid was not required for school-based exams. This pretty much increased the total content I needed to learn by an unmanageable amount. If I were in a graded school, I would pick 1-2 HY classes/semester (Physio!) and just focus on flagging those and not missing days. Then just catch up over breaks and summer. Or you can go along with everything in your coursework and tell yourself something like "I'm only going to learn and flag the 50% highest yield topics" or something like that. Try it out for yourself though, maybe your school correlates well in board review material. If not, I think its better to just focus on a few FC subjects and get them down pat/never skip Firecracker cards/day rather than trying to flag everything , running behind on school exams, and skipping weeks of firecracker at a time (like i did)

Consistently legit perspective here.

Yeah... I unfortunately had letter grades and numerical rank.

I did about 1.5hrs of FC every morning during 2nd year, usually 6:30-8AM before classes started. I had the whole day after that. It was a great routine and eventually became and almost addicting way to start the day.

I was slightly more relaxed using it M1. I stayed within the top 5% and a lot of that is thanks to maintained FC use. A lot of topics come back again and again or in different ways such as physio/micro appearing in path, for example.

This is also some legit advice I'd second in retrospect.
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So, to answer the top OP re: FC while in a true letter graded curriculum: (1) First, an important caveat is that my learning style is very unique. It takes me much more time than anyone I know to memorize discrete "easy" content; but I grasp and retain relations in physio and path really well. (2) Since switching from legacy to MD, and marking things as past, current, as well as assessing my grasp of those topics based on my NBME stats, and from reading the various perspectives here, my plan is to actually go through all of the questions from each covered organ system to rate my grasp via "study something specific" with a realistic goal of having everything individually flagged no later than Xmas break and then reassess based on that lovely green, orange, and red visual marker of topic mastery. I'll update scheduling later, as I haven't figured out how to execute this plan yet, currently in a trial and error phase. (3) I'm also trying to find a way to manage my time to begin UWorld ASAP, since I learn best through questions. Doing all the AAMC practice tests literally improved my MCAT when I retook on a scale that I was offered sufficient financial help to actually make it to med school. I learned my lesson.

Another take-home, I'm very nervous and wish I hadn't listened to everyone at my school and the top performers when they said not to start prepping with anything early. Considering my unique learning style, I think it'd have made me so much less stressed and better prepared. But I think for the rest of you normal med student folk, starting that early is more of a psychological reassurance. I see the stats after every test and wonder how the hell I do so comparatively poor to my peers on the exams (mostly discrete memorization), but tend to stay on par when it comes time for NBME, (more relations integrated with the discrete topics among answer choices).

Verbose as it was, I hope this helps someone. Thanks to all for maintaining input. FC was expensive, but I think still very useful, even if it just helps you realize how you need to prepare earlier on.

*written via phone, pls forgive any typos; mostly corrected w/latest edit.

 

[TheRobin]

Any motivational stories of firecracker usage and high step 1 scores? I need some motivation to keep slogging through second year...

Look back at posts in this thread by @kirbymiester, mcloaf, and others. They seem to have done well using Firecracker.

Edit: Here's what mcloaf posted a few pages back. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...d-scores-thread.1104788/page-27#post-16485409

 

[Apoplexy__]

Look back at posts in this thread by @kirbymiester, mcloaf, and others. They seem to have done well using Firecracker.

Edit: Here's what mcloaf posted a few pages back. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...d-scores-thread.1104788/page-27#post-16485409

Sup. I'd be happy to discuss FC, just shoot me a PM. I'm not too familiar with the MD/DO interface, but can discuss general strategies.

Also @mcloaf: Congrats on the mid-260 dude. I remember seeing you around this thread back when I was an MS2. Super happy for you.

 

[mcloaf]

Sup. I'd be happy to discuss FC, just shoot me a PM. I'm not too familiar with the MD/DO interface, but can discuss general strategies.

Also @mcloaf: Congrats on the mid-260 dude. I remember seeing you around this thread back when I was an MS2. Super happy for you.

Thanks! It was a grind but posts by you and the other folks from your testing cycle were great motivation and super insightful when I had to put my plan together. Now that I'm in the bowels of M3 it seems so long ago...

 

[nabilesmail]

Omg Did they cap the question count at 250 again lol. I started getting >250?/day recommended (which I like) , but skipped a couple days of FC, and now I'm down to 250/day. My minimum is also set at 260 and it still only says 250 lol.

 

[nabilesmail]

As much as you can. If you have 60-70% that's awesome. I got lazy and finished with about 40%, now I'm at~ 60% and made a schedule so I'd finish by end of Winter break

Dang, you gonna try and learn all second semester path/pharm etc over winter break? I'm wondering if I should finish the rest of things I didn't flag before M2 (25% Anatomy and all Embryo+random things I missed over M2 1st semester), Flag new stuff and get ahead, or just do a lot of questions with what I have and get mastery down since I definitely dont have good mastery. Ex, flagged all virology in 1 week (crammed), flagged all Resp/Most Card/All anemia in 1.5 weeks, so I really havent seen too many of these cards a ton of times.

 

[Ophthoseidon]

Dang, you gonna try and learn all second semester path/pharm etc over winter break? I'm wondering if I should finish the rest of things I didn't flag before M2 (25% Anatomy and all Embryo+random things I missed over M2 1st semester), Flag new stuff and get ahead, or just do a lot of questions with what I have and get mastery down since I definitely dont have good mastery. Ex, flagged all virology in 1 week (crammed), flagged all Resp/Most Card/All anemia in 1.5 weeks, so I really havent seen too many of these cards a ton of times.

After winter break all we have is neuro, msk, psych, and behavioral. A lot of the MSK stuff I've seen before and behavioral and psych I think will be an easy task. The biggest worry for me I think is neuro and finishing all the micro (antimicrobials, etc.)

 

[mymembernames]

Can someone please tell me how many total cards FC has? I'm trying to decide between FC and the first aid flash facts. Thanks.