First Aid 2011 for 2012

[HoboDeEsquiar]

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I want to start reviewing M1 stuff this summer, is First Aid 2011 a good tool for this that I will also be able to use next year or will I want to get FA 2012 when it comes out. I don't want to buy both, so I'm just trying to figure out whether I should get 2011 now or wait for 2012 and just review my notes.

 

[RySerr21]

1) DONT STUDY OVER SUMMER BREAK

2) it doesnt really matter which one you buy. They'll be slightly different, but most of it will be the same. I waited til January to get the newest version. A lot of my classmates used the 2010 version they bought the year before.

3) DONT STUDY OVER SUMMER BREAK.


You have dedicated step 1 review time to look over stuff you learned first year. This is your LAST summer break. You seriusly want to spend it studying? You are gonna study so much next year you'lll never want to see a textbook again.

 

[AlexMorph]

I agree. Don't do it. First Aid can wait.

 

[lrkoehle]

I agree. Don't do it. First Aid can wait.

Especially at the University of Iowa. If I recall correctly, they're a traditionally formatted curriculum, so you wouldn't find too much HY stuff from this year to review over summer anyways.

 

[mvenus929]

If you do buy the 2011 version, be sure to look up the errata list. There's a lot of them.

 

[Wordead]

Dont study. Not like it's a test that determines your career options or anything. 😕

 

[redsbear]

For what it's worth, the Kaplan QBank cross-references the last couple years' First Aid books (at least for their iphone app) on every question.

I say do what you want over summer break. I'm coming from a non-traditional background, and while classmates are talking about their 'last summer off', I'm excited for my 'first summer off since 2003'!

I'm planning to page through interesting stuff, maybe a couple hours each week. Try to scatter my time through the whole year's-worth of material, and really enjoy the KevinMD, Medscape, pathologystudent.com daily-type stuff. After all, that's what docs in practice do!

Barry

 

[UAAWolf]

1) DONT STUDY OVER SUMMER BREAK

2) it doesnt really matter which one you buy. They'll be slightly different, but most of it will be the same. I waited til January to get the newest version. A lot of my classmates used the 2010 version they bought the year before.

3) DONT STUDY OVER SUMMER BREAK.


You have dedicated step 1 review time to look over stuff you learned first year. This is your LAST summer break. You seriusly want to spend it studying? You are gonna study so much next year you'lll never want to see a textbook again.

Dude. If he wants to study he should study. It doesn't effect you so who cares...jeezus SDN is terrible about. Luckily I doubt OP gives a **** what other people think.

OP- I think 2011 is fine. Personally I have 2010 only lol..and I'm in your spot.
Look into GunnerTraining...I just signed up and its basically an online interactive version of first aid with 1000s of review questions

 

[ArcGurren]

Dont study. Not like it's a test that determines your career options or anything. 😕

That's not the point. Although first year knowledge definitely will enhance your 2nd year material, without the 2nd year stuff it's really hard to focus your studying.

 

[KeyzerSoze]

Dude. If he wants to study he should study. It doesn't effect you so who cares...jeezus SDN is terrible about. Luckily I doubt OP gives a **** what other people think.

OP- I think 2011 is fine. Personally I have 2010 only lol..and I'm in your spot.
Look into GunnerTraining...I just signed up and its basically an online interactive version of first aid with 1000s of review questions

I agree with this. If you want to study something, use Gunner Training to reinforce your M1 material. It's low stress and won't ruin your summer.

 

[UAAWolf]

I agree with this. If you want to study something, use Gunner Training to reinforce your M1 material. It's low stress and won't ruin your summer.

Yep. I did 2 hours on it today...it in no way ruined my day. Made time to watch the bball games, lift, and am going out with friends soon.

haters gonna hate I guess 😀

 

[CaptainSSO]

I seriously don't get the whole anti-study sentiment that runs among med students on this site. I mean, you're in med school--you studied your ass off to get accepted in the first place, it's not like you're fooling anyone into thinking you're so nonchalant and don't care about school. You clearly have nerdish tendencies if you got into med school in the first place. Not studying very much in med school doesn't make you cool, it just means you won't do as well. (Not directed against any particular poster in this thread, just commenting in general.)

 

[ArcGurren]

I seriously don't get the whole anti-study sentiment that runs among med students on this site. I mean, you're in med school--you studied your ass off to get accepted in the first place, it's not like you're fooling anyone into thinking you're so nonchalant and don't care about school. You clearly have nerdish tendencies if you got into med school in the first place. Not studying very much in med school doesn't make you cool, it just means you won't do as well. (Not directed against any particular poster in this thread, just commenting in general.)

Oh, little pre-med... how innocent and carefree you must be. Did you even bother to read what most of us have written?

 

[mvenus929]

I seriously don't get the whole anti-study sentiment that runs among med students on this site.

It's not anti-study so much as it's 'don't study over the summer... it's pointless and you won't get anything out of it'. 🙄 We all study hard during the school year, but summer is a break for a reason.

 

[RadOncRocks]

I'm studying for step 1 and personally I wish I had studied a little bit last summer. Mainly biochem and anatomy. I'd use something like gunner training though!!

 

[CaptainSSO]

Oh, little pre-med... how innocent and carefree you must be. Did you even bother to read what most of us have written?

Oh calloused, savvy med student: guess you didn't read what I wrote either: "not directed at anyone in this thread." I wasn't even talking about your post.

It's not anti-study so much as it's 'don't study over the summer... it's pointless and you won't get anything out of it'. 🙄 We all study hard during the school year, but summer is a break for a reason.

Pointless and won't get anything out of it? That doesn't even make sense. If you're studying something, obviously it's going to help you. See the post above mine: "I wish I had started studying earlier."

Besides, why do you care so much to try to convince another person to not study?

 

[ArcGurren]

...

 

[ArcGurren]

I'm studying for step 1 and personally I wish I had studied a little bit last summer. Mainly biochem and anatomy. I'd use something like gunner training though!!

Yeah it seems like GT has been a good resource for some. I dunno how well I'd have done with it but overall it's getting somewhat better reviews than I expected.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

That's not the point. Although first year knowledge definitely will enhance your 2nd year material, without the 2nd year stuff it's really hard to focus your studying.

Depends on your curriculum. If you're in a systems-based curriculum and your class plowed through 5 systems during first year, it might not be a bad idea to review them over the summer. It's not like you're going to review them second year

 

[lrkoehle]

It's not anti-study so much as it's 'don't study over the summer... it's pointless and you won't get anything out of it'. 🙄 We all study hard during the school year, but summer is a break for a reason.

I get the point about summer being a break for a reason and studying over it is not for everyone. What I don't get is the notion that studying hard during the year will benefit us, but somehow studying over the summer is "pointless" and that we "won't get anything out of it." Is there some mystical property of summer that makes material studied during it not stick? That just doesn't make sense to me.

Depends on your curriculum. If you're in a systems-based curriculum and your class plowed through 5 systems during first year, it might not be a bad idea to review them over the summer. It's not like you're going to review them second year

This is how my curriculum is. I like having everything presented for a given organ system at the same time, but it would mean by the time I take step-I that it would be over a year and a half since I had seen neuro/psych material. That's just too long to not review in between.

 

[ArcGurren]

I get the point about summer being a break for a reason and studying over it is not for everyone. What I don't get is the notion that studying hard during the year will benefit us, but somehow studying over the summer is "pointless" and that we "won't get anything out of it." Is there some mystical property of summer that makes material studied during it not stick? That just doesn't make sense to me.



This is how my curriculum is. I like having everything presented for a given organ system at the same time, but it would mean by the time I take step-I that it would be over a year and a half since I had seen neuro/psych material. That's just too long to not review in between.

I think people sometimes go overboard telling others not to study at all... you can definitely study if you find the time, just make sure to enjoy your vacay.

Also, re: the systems based curriculum - in that case do what works for you.

 

[xanthomondo]

I get the point about summer being a break for a reason and studying over it is not for everyone. What I don't get is the notion that studying hard during the year will benefit us, but somehow studying over the summer is "pointless" and that we "won't get anything out of it." Is there some mystical property of summer that makes material studied during it not stick? That just doesn't make sense to me.



This is how my curriculum is. I like having everything presented for a given organ system at the same time, but it would mean by the time I take step-I that it would be over a year and a half since I had seen neuro/psych material. That's just too long to not review in between.

Yeah, it has the same property of most saturdays for me.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

I get the point about summer being a break for a reason and studying over it is not for everyone. What I don't get is the notion that studying hard during the year will benefit us, but somehow studying over the summer is "pointless" and that we "won't get anything out of it." Is there some mystical property of summer that makes material studied during it not stick? That just doesn't make sense to me.

I think most of the people here are assuming posters who want to study over the summer are in a traditional curriculum. So in that case, reviewing Biochem over the summer so that you'll know it a year later actually is pointless, IMO. And the reason it's pointless for other subjects is that the people in a traditional curriculum haven't had them in class yet. You can't learn the Renal System from First Aid. It just isn't enough information, so instead of trying to, chill out until second year when you've been introduced to it, then keep up with First Aid at the same time. BUT that shouldn't go for people in a systems-based curriculum. It's an entirely different situation then.

 

[deleted387928]

Studying over the summer is NOT effective.

It's very very difficult to learn something well without the pressure of tests.

And don't even think about reading first aid - it's a cram book of facts designed to be memorized in a very short time before step 1.

You can't learn anything well from it. If you didn't learn it somewhere else first you sure as hell aren't going to learn it from reading first aid.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

Studying over the summer is NOT effective.

It's very very difficult to learn something well without the pressure of tests.

And don't even think about reading first aid - it's a cram book of facts designed to be memorized in a very short time before step 1.

You can't learn anything well from it. If you didn't learn it somewhere else first you sure as hell aren't going to learn it from reading first aid.

The read the OP. The OP isn't talking about LEARNING over the summer. He's talking about REVIEWING over the summer. Big difference.

 

[lrkoehle]

It's very very difficult to learn something well without the pressure of tests.

Maybe I made this up, but isn't Yale's curriculum no exams during the first two years? If so, they must be screwed by not having the pressure of their exams to help them learn.

 

[deleted387928]

I don't know how they do it. I imagine it would be easy to get behind or lose motivation.

Either way, whether you're reviewing 1st year stuff or trying to learn 2nd year stuff, it takes a special kind of person to have the motivation to REALLY learn over the summer.

I think most people would just skim chapters, avoid memorizing things that are hard to memorize, and lose interest very quickly.

 

[aren21]

I got the First Aid book to study this summer before I start MS1, but it does not really teach you anything. Its just a bunch of compacted information. I've been studying a little here and there, but thats because I have been out of school for almost 1 year, and been working full time. So I'm just trying to get my brain back to the point where I could study for hours at a time.

 

[KeyzerSoze]

I got the First Aid book to study this summer before I start MS1, but it does not really teach you anything. Its just a bunch of compacted information. I've been studying a little here and there, but thats because I have been out of school for almost 1 year, and been working full time. So I'm just trying to get my brain back to the point where I could study for hours at a time.

It's a review book. Unlike BRS and Lippincott which are also ostensibly review books, First Aid is literally useless if you haven't learned the material already. Why the heck did you get it before M1?

 

[Wilf]

First Aid 2011 is missing a bit compared to 2010. I'd wait for 2012 before making a decision.

What is the 2011 one missing?

 

[lrkoehle]

What is the 2011 one missing?

That's what I want to know. It's all high yield stuff, but maybe some of it was less high yield than others so they took that out? If anyone can clarify, that'd be awesome.

 

[Shadowmoses]

I'm kind of in the same boat as the OP, and I'm gonna wait till FA 2012 is out. Will I study during my summer break? Sort of...I'm just gonna do GT every day since it takes like 1.5-2 hours to go through daily questions to keep what I learned in my head. Its not too much studying considering I know for a fact I'll be unproductive the rest of the day.

Break time for me = videogames, hang out with friends, catch up on tv shows which I stopped watching, lay around like a lazy bum, watch lots of movies, etc..

 

[KeyzerSoze]

What is the 2011 one missing?

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=785943

 

[mvenus929]

Besides, why do you care so much to try to convince another person to not study?

Notice that I'm the first person that actually responded without saying 'don't study'. I was just explaining the reasoning behind the mentality.

Either way, whether you're reviewing 1st year stuff or trying to learn 2nd year stuff, it takes a special kind of person to have the motivation to REALLY learn over the summer.

This is why. Without the pressure of an imminent exam, it's difficult to actually study.

 

[bobsmith]

First Aid 2011 is missing a bit compared to 2010. I'd wait for 2012 before making a decision.

So...use the 2010 version?