First Aid as resource: right or wrong?

[franceschino]

Dear all,
I am a British medical student who is applying (and has started revising) to take Step 1 in September/October.
I have been following your advice on revising from First Aid and soon I'll be Kaplan as well.
I am finding though, that a lot of the material covered is covered differently from my Med School (ie less in depth or different topics). An example would be anatomy. I am worried about how much depth I need.

Am I doing the right thing to stick entirely to First Aid?

Thanks a lot for your help.
Yours,

Francesco

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[defcon8]

UNDERSTANDING all the concepts in first aid should get u a 90+ 2 digit score, but it should definitely be supplimented in its weak areas if u want a good score. Path/pathophys being one of the major areas as it is highly tested. Anatomy is a pretty low yield subject. Rarely you see a disproportionate representation of anatomy on the exam, and in that case first aid is definitely very lacking. A good question bank such as usmleworld should get you a far way once you spend time understanding the rationale behind the different answer choices, while at the same time pointing out your weak areas. Hope this helps.

 

[franceschino]

Thank you very much for the fast and useful reply. If I may, I have 4 more questions (probably quite sillly):
1) What do you mean by high/low yield topics?
2) Could you please tell me which ones are the high and low yield topics?
3) Which one do you believe to be the best question bank?
4) As I have just started revising and I want to give my exam by the end of Sept, when do you think I should do practice questions and how many?

I really apologise for my ignorance in the USMLE system but there is noone in my University able to guide me.
I value greatly your help.
Thanks again.

Francesco

 

[schistocyte]

High Yield refers to things that are considered to maximally benefit you doing well on the USMLE Step 1...like the things that are tested more often or will get you the most points on the test if you go over that.

Some topics are more heavily tested than others. Anatomy and Histo are considered to be subjects that are not as heavily tested (meaning there is usually a smaller percentage of questions on these subjects) on the USMLE but the material is still considered useful to know and may help in answering some questions with CTs/MRIs or other anatomical diagrams.

Path/Physio/Pharm - the 3 P's are considered to be more heavily tested although they have been varying quantities so you never know for sure. Recently, there has been a trend that there are quite a few Molecular bio questions as well. The number of Microbio ques could very substantially but I'm sure there should still be a fair share of micro questions.

A very popular and excellent qbank is the USMLEWorld qbanK (www.usmleworld.com). Most students believe this to currently be the best qBank. The Kaplan qBank (www.kaptest.com) is also considered to be very good. If time permits, you may be able to do both.

Most people agree that practice questions should be started early on in study (unless you want to do an initial quick review). The suggested amount is usually at least 50 ques/day (maybe earlier on), then you can either keep it at this number or move up to 100 ques/day or even more to probably a max of 150-200 ques/day. This number really depends on your study plan/schedule...and you have to see what works best for you. Make sure to review the explanations for the questions.

First Aid should probably be used more as a guide than a primary study tool, although it does have a lot of very useful and high yield information in it. It may be advisable to go through it but obviously people have different opinions as to whether or not FA worked for them. It definitely needs supplementation in many areas.

Check out my post in a previous thread addressed to another British medical student (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=547952) - the second post.

 

[JeffLebowski]

UNDERSTANDING all the concepts in first aid should get u a 90+ 2 digit score, but it should definitely be supplimented in its weak areas if u want a good score. Path/pathophys being one of the major areas as it is highly tested. Anatomy is a pretty low yield subject. Rarely you see a disproportionate representation of anatomy on the exam, and in that case first aid is definitely very lacking. A good question bank such as usmleworld should get you a far way once you spend time understanding the rationale behind the different answer choices, while at the same time pointing out your weak areas. Hope this helps.

Can anyone comment on why anyone refers to scores based on the 2 digit number? I can't think of any reason to do that, when the 3 digit score is so much more widely and comprehensively used.

 

[defcon8]

Can anyone comment on why anyone refers to scores based on the 2 digit number? I can't think of any reason to do that, when the 3 digit score is so much more widely and comprehensively used.

lol I agree and I rarely refer to it, but I found it useful to give a very vague idea in this case. Most people believe that understanding first aid will get u a 230+ depending on your exam to put it into perspective.

 

[Monica Lewinsky]

Can anyone comment on why anyone refers to scores based on the 2 digit number? I can't think of any reason to do that, when the 3 digit score is so much more widely and comprehensively used.

IMGs use the 2 digit score to make them feel better about their score.

E.g. a 99 could be a 240 or a 260, but it adds ambiguity so that a lower score seems equivalent to an outstanding score. Likewise, a 90 sounds awesome, especially to outsiders who are ignorant about the test, but its not something people would be amazed at, at least on this forum.

 

[Twitch]

Used for historical purposes by states requiring 75 = pass. The test was always meant to be for licensure purposes, though it is used for more than that for now anyways till it is changed in some years.

 

[franceschino]

Thanks a lot for your valuable help.
Yours,

Francesco