first aid 2010 for 2012 exam?

[mommy2three]

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I have the First Aid 2010 edition as well as the Kaplan prep book I purchased last year before the start of 1st year. I used both in conjunction with my coursework.
From what I read, the studying suggestions in the book say you should prep how you know you prep best so I am starting this summer with intense review of first year to have a solid foundation before next year. I know me and I know I do NOT do well on standardized exams for which I only prep a few months (which seems to be the norm).
But I digress 🙂
I was wondering if I am okay using the books I have for enxt years exam, as long as I check the errate, or if I should buy the newer edition of first aid in january??

Thanks 🙂

 

[kac714]

I have the First Aid 2010 edition as well as the Kaplan prep book I purchased last year before the start of 1st year. I used both in conjunction with my coursework.
From what I read, the studying suggestions in the book say you should prep how you know you prep best so I am starting this summer with intense review of first year to have a solid foundation before next year. I know me and I know I do NOT do well on standardized exams for which I only prep a few months (which seems to be the norm).
But I digress 🙂
I was wondering if I am okay using the books I have for enxt years exam, as long as I check the errate, or if I should buy the newer edition of first aid in january??

Thanks 🙂

I'd probably get the 2012 edition in January- they do change some things... I had the 2010 version and still bought the 2011 version. It's probably 95% the same, but... what if you have a bunch of questions on that new 5% haha.

 

[RapplixGmed]

I was just thinking they must make a fortune on the 5% of changes every year. I bet they just have a cycle of 5ish years where they bring back the old content since the real step 1 doesn't change that much. Have you ever looked at the 2005 FA, neither have I and who knows, it might be the same!

 

[qmcat]

I think you should use the latest version of First Aid. I'm studying for boards now and I have both the 2010 and 2011 versions. At first, I didn't want to use the 2011 version because I have a few annotations already in 2010. But, when I started doing UWorld questions, a good amount of detail from the qbank was found in 2011 and not in 2010.

It'll save you time annotating UWorld into FA if you just use the latest version, imo.

 

[katarina90]

I was just thinking they must make a fortune on the 5% of changes every year. I bet they just have a cycle of 5ish years where they bring back the old content since the real step 1 doesn't change that much. Have you ever looked at the 2005 FA, neither have I and who knows, it might be the same!

Actually I have both the 2006 and the 2011 version. I am cheap when it comes to buying books, but comparing the two, they are actually much different.

For example, micro and immuno used to be one short section (way back when). They have also greatly expanded biochem and taken out a lot of errors (for example my edition says a Meckel's Diverticulum is 1-2 FT long instead of IN). Yes, hopefully if you saw that you would know a Meckel's isn't gonna be 2 ft long, but still.

This is probably a much bigger difference than the 2010 vs. the 2011 or 2012 when it comes out though. For me, I got the 2011 a few days ago and I'm sticking with it til I take the boards next year.

 

[ArcGurren]

FWIW I used a 2009 I had already written in for my exam and photocopied/transferred new info from later editions from a friend. I wouldn't have cared about dropping money on a 2011 but i had already annotated my 2009 pretty well.

 

[shouldBstudying]

FWIW I used a 2009 I had already written in for my exam and photocopied/transferred new info from later editions from a friend. I wouldn't have cared about dropping money on a 2011 but i had already annotated my 2009 pretty well.

I agree with this... No big deal using an old first aid as long as you reference a newer version to make sure you're not missing anything (hypothetically speaking, there could be pdf versions of FA floating around... not that I would know 😀)

Anyway, I think you should stick with what you have for now, and make the decision when the time comes based on how YOU feel. Personally, I had a 2010 that I annotated to death during the school year, but then purchased a 2011 when the time came and was kind of glad for the "clean slate" (you'll be surprised, sometimes, the things you write while you're learning, and then go back and think "man why did I write that?")

Anyway, just my 2 cents.