first aid not covered in class

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

premedk

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
May 10, 2009
Messages
146
Reaction score
16
I'm a 2nd year and I'm trying to use First Aid to study/review material that we're learning in classes. It seems like there is significant amount of material that isn't covered in class but is in FA. For example, we learned about neoplasia, including specific causes(microbes, carcinogens, oncogenes, tumor suppressors...etc). All the topics were covered, but about 30-40% specific examples in each one of the topics, I were not. (only 4 oncogenes covered, not 9...etc). Anyway...would it be a good idea to start memorizing that stuff now. Also, should I spend much time on additional topics covered in class but not FA, and should I add that info to FA?
 
Last edited:
I personally would not add info you learn in class into FA. That info typically tends to be low yield. Regarding your first question about spending time on things in FA but not in you class material, I would say yes, but until the end. The same thing happened to me at my school. I ended up trying to learn everything in FA for that subject in addition to the course work. When exam time came for that block, I didn't do so well. Needless to say, I stopped that approach. I feel like it is more important right now to do well in class and then fill in any points later with FA. For the rest of the year, I spent most of my time mastering the material in class first, then read in FA to supplement. This resulted in very good grades on my coursework and a smoother time learning additional information presented in FA. Hope this helps.
 
I'm just starting second year, and the only information I add to first aid is something that helps me remember something already in first aid.

Like sometimes FA says "Drug A is for Disease B". That can be a sterile fact and difficult to memorize. So I might put in a small note that says "Drug A looks a lot like molecule X". This reminds me that Drug A is a competitive inhibitor that blocks the action of molecule X, and after all it was too much molecule X that caused Disease B in the first place. All of a sudden, Drug A --> Disease B got a lot easier to memorize.

Adding in new extra info covered in class but not already in FA would kind of defeat the purpose of using FA for targeted boards studying. And as Alacran noted, it really doesn't help you study for class either because FA contains too much extraneous info for class.
 
You don't need to memorize things in FA but make sure you're at least familiar with all the material in FA alongside your class material. This will make Step 1 studying a lot more efficient.

Don't add anything from class to your FA, it will only muck it up at this stage and you'll get bogged down in low-yield material.
 
I'm a 2nd year and I'm trying to use First Aid to study/review material that we're learning in classes. It seems like there is significant amount of material that isn't covered in class but is in FA. For example, we learned about neoplasia, including specific causes(microbes, carcinogens, oncogenes, tumor suppressors...etc). All the topics were covered, but about 30-40% specific examples in each one of the topics, I were not. (only 4 oncogenes covered, not 9...etc). Anyway...would it be a good idea to start memorizing that stuff now. Also, should I spend much time on additional topics covered in class but not FA, and should I add that info to FA?

Everyones already said no to transfer of class notes to FA. I agree, but I'd add - take good class notes now, they'll help you when you're going through FA.

The other way around - Yeah. Let's face it - the neoplasia section of FA is tiny. As is any other section. I see no harm in learning it as you go along.
 
Top