First Aid Passes

[TheOther]

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For those of you who used FA extensively for Step 1 (which I'm guessing is most of you), what did each of your "passes" look like. People often say do 3-4 passes through FA and you'll be gold. But what does this actually mean? Just reading the material? I have a hard time believing that just reading all the straight facts and charts are enough to have it stick.

If not just reading, how are you actively utilizing FA with each pass to help it stick?

Thanks!

 

[appcan]

Read it until you understand everything or have memorized the important lists (eg. drugs causing pancreatitis, etc). This whole idea of a "pass" of a 650-page book is dumb and you should take it with a grain of salt.

 

[TheOther]

Read it until you understand everything or have memorized the important lists (eg. drugs causing pancreatitis, etc). This whole idea of a "pass" of a 650-page book is dumb and you should take it with a grain of salt.

Thanks for the response. Anyone else?

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Best way to use it is as a reference when doing a question bank. That should give you a "pass" as you study that topic you tested on. The other way to use it is to cover the topic and try to recall what you know about it. Then go ahead and read it to see what you missed and try to recall it again without seeing it. Some people like to then highlight portions they missed or something like that so they can go back and focus on those. Passive reading will not help you.

 

[TheOther]

Best way to use it is as a reference when doing a question bank. That should give you a "pass" as you study that topic you tested on. The other way to use it is to cover the topic and try to recall what you know about it. Then go ahead and read it to see what you missed and try to recall it again without seeing it. Some people like to then highlight portions they missed or something like that so they can go back and focus on those. Passive reading will not help you.

Thanks, I figured this is the case. Apart from Q banks and FA Anki decks, I suppose this is the best way to be going through First Aid material.
Open to hearing more ideas on how those of you who crushed Step 1 went through FA!

 

[A$AP]

Everyone has different learning methods so you should use methods that have best worked for you in the past. With that said, just reading facts is never a good method, especially for an exam like step 1. Personally and from what I have seen in the past, 1 "pass" of FA followed by referencing and re-reading while going through questions is a highly effective method.

 

[OnePunchBiopsy]

I read it 3 times. HOWEVER:

I never sat down and read the whole thing straight. I divided the whole book into sections and put it into a binder. I read each section individually AS NEEDED about 2, 3, even 4-5 times, and put a check mark near the divider each time I read one. for example, I was good at Hem/Onc so only read it 3 times, while I sucked at Stats so read that section 4-5 times.

I read the whole book SECTION BY SECTION about 3 times.

 

[stepone2015]

I would do a couple blocks of UW per day and break that up by reading FA front to back. I read it 3-4 times during my dedicated. I felt I had most of it memorized by the end.

I did pretty much the same thing in 2nd year for lecture notes. I read the crap out of them roughly 5 times without taking any notes, and it worked very well for exams. I used it as a reference for UW that didn't make sense, but that was pretty rare.

To each his own.