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I know a lot of you all have more, I'm just being mopey since that's double my current average. Thanks for the advice. I've tried the stopwatch thing before, but I tried to do it knocking out all the cards at once. Blocks of 50 might make it much easier to keep focus. And nice pace! I capped out at about 140/hr when I really hammer it and never get distracted, which is close, but haven't been able to get near that mark in a while

Congrats on 100% banked however long ago that happened, didn't know you were in that group. I dream for rows of full blue bars
 
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Gunneria said:
Do you guys feel the daily questions in GT i.e the case or lengthy problems are derived from GTs qbank? Hence are you killing two birds with one stone by doing GT- the fact recall of GT and GTs qbank, making that awesome by eliminating the need to do GTs qbank as a separate source since youll get the qs in te daily review...
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More like the other way around. The 'qbank' is pretty much just daily questions sorted by topic. Actually don't even call it a qbank....because then it'd be the world's sorriest qbank.
 
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loveoforganic said:
I know a lot of you all have more, I'm just being mopey since that's double my current average. Thanks for the advice. I've tried the stopwatch thing before, but I tried to do it knocking out all the cards at once. Blocks of 50 might make it much easier to keep focus. And nice pace! I capped out at about 140/hr when I really hammer it and never get distracted, which is close, but haven't been able to get near that mark in a while

Congrats on 100% banked however long ago that happened, didn't know you were in that group. I dream for rows of full blue bars
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I've been to the top of Everest, I've seen the sun rise over Shonan Hiratsuka Beach, and regularly make love to Georgia Salpa and Tera Patrick (from 10 yrs ago). None compare to 100% banked.

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Hey everyone,

I've been following this thread for sometime and have just begun demoing GT thanks to some of your guys' promotional codes. One thing I am still unclear on, however, is whether there exists a "pause" feature for when you go on vacation, have finals, etc. If not, what strategy are people employing to prevent the excessive build-up of cards?



Thanks so much,
~Kalyx
 
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Alvarez13 said:
I've been to the top of Everest, I've seen the sun rise over Shonan Hiratsuka Beach, and regularly make love to Georgia Salpa and Tera Patrick (from 10 yrs ago). None compare to 100% banked.

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3019573_o.gif


As far as pausing, no, it doesn't exist. As for vacation, the longest I've gone on is 3 days. I didn't do GT during it. It suuuuuuuuuucked coming back. I'm going on a week long vacation in a week. I'll be doing GT during it. For anything longer than about 3 days, I suppose you could space the cards out over 2 weeks and do it that way, if you didn't want to do GT during
 
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Hey guys,

How do you feel about the GT embryology portion? I'm trying to memorize all the neural crest cell derivatives vs. surface ectoderm vs. mesoderm etc etc and it's driving me crazy! Do you think this could be one of those things that is overly detailed for step 1?

thanks!
 
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Alvarez13 said:
I've been to the top of Everest, I've seen the sun rise over Shonan Hiratsuka Beach, and regularly make love to Georgia Salpa and Tera Patrick (from 10 yrs ago). None compare to 100% banked.

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That is a beautiful sight. It's brutal to watch it ripped apart as they keep adding cards...since I reached that pinnacle, they've added almost 20 more cards.
 
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hrain said:
Hey guys,

How do you feel about the GT embryology portion? I'm trying to memorize all the neural crest cell derivatives vs. surface ectoderm vs. mesoderm etc etc and it's driving me crazy! Do you think this could be one of those things that is overly detailed for step 1?

thanks!
Click to expand...

I just recently did these cards, and I can't speak to their yield, but I got them down after a bit (the mnemonics are very good). Surface ectoderm - on the surface so it peels off (DEAD PEEL). NC cells is obviously the longest mnemonic, so that leaves the short one for neuroectoderm
 
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JackShephard MD said:
There is no pause feature. I'm not sure why people have been wanting a "pause" feature.

How do you avoid card build up?

- Do them in advance. You can start cards ahead of time and clear future days.
- Use the, "clear today's review" feature. If you missed cards for 1 or 10 days, you can then spread those 100 or 1000 questions over the next 7 days, 14 days, or into a separate queue entitled "catch up on studies" where you will need to re-bank the questions.

Either of these options will solve your issue.

GT definitely requires a large time commitment.
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Hi there, thanks for clarifying the options. Obviously, a "pause feature" would be helpful when traveling or going without access to a computer (i.e. vacation, participation at a conference, etc.). I don't think that going without GT for a few days would sabotage the learning process, whereas being overloaded with tons of cards after even a brief hiatus could sabotage coursework, extracurricular activities, or other commitments that couldn't be delayed. I'm honestly surprised they haven't implemented this feature. Nonetheless, it sounds like there's a decent work-around as you described by distributing the missed cards over a period of time. :thumbup:

~Kalyx
 
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nm, gl.

I'm going to stop posting on this thread for a bit. It leads to unproductive complaining, which I am guilty of too.

Also, I've noticed most med students have everything figured out and don't need any input. Good luck.
 
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Kalyx said:
Hi there, thanks for clarifying the options. Obviously, a "pause feature" would be helpful when traveling or going without access to a computer (i.e. vacation, participation at a conference, etc.). I don't think that going without GT for a few days would sabotage the learning process, whereas being overloaded with tons of cards after even a brief hiatus could sabotage coursework, extracurricular activities, or other commitments that couldn't be delayed. I'm honestly surprised they haven't implemented this feature. Nonetheless, it sounds like there's a decent work-around as you described by distributing the missed cards over a period of time. :thumbup:

~Kalyx
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I agree. A pause button would be nice for vacation or nights after an exam day.

Hmmm...that just gave me an idea for a GT spinoff drinking game.
 
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lrkoehle said:
That is a beautiful sight. It's brutal to watch it ripped apart as they keep adding cards...since I reached that pinnacle, they've added almost 20 more cards.
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Yah, had that happen a couple of times and felt like I needed to photograph it for proof.

Also, did you bank the secret card?

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Do you guys grade yourselves solely on how well you answered the questions or on how much of the total information on the flashcard you could recall? I've been doing a haphazard mix of both styles and the inconsistency is irking me :(
 
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fleshwound said:
Do you guys grade yourselves solely on how well you answered the questions or on how much of the total information on the flashcard you could recall? I've been doing a haphazard mix of both styles and the inconsistency is irking me :(
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Here are my guidelines:

1: I almost never rank something a 1

2: I totally forgot, but the answer looks familiar

3: If after lots of thinking I can only remember part of the answer.

4: If I had to think, but I figured out the answer and it makes sense afterwards

5: I could tell you the answer even if I was drunk and blindfolded
 
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I'm more so asking whether information on the flashcard that wasn't highlighted/directly relevant to the question is a factor in your grading schema
 
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Oh I see. Yeah no way. If I tried to memorize the entire card for every question, I would be forced to rate questions low that I know well just because of another factoid elsewhere. Besides that other information will more than likely have it's own question that will pop up eventually. Plus doing that would take too long.

What I do is rate the question based on the highlighted information. If there is extra info that I didn't know, I'll read it quickly but won't let it affect the rating I give.
 
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Is there a trick to complement/cytokines/surface proteins, or do you pretty much just stare at that **** 1000x til it becomes a part of your being?
 
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What's the advantage of using GT vs. Anki with FA flash cards (Anki uses similar repeated learning strategy)? Lots of people have already made FA flash cards. I imagine Anki will take more time to setup everything...
 
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thegame11 said:
What's the advantage of using GT vs. Anki with FA flash cards (Anki uses similar repeated learning strategy)? Lots of people have already made FA flash cards. I imagine Anki will take more time to setup everything...
Click to expand...
GT is FA Anki. Only it has some extra details and lots more pictures. The pictures are getting better too from when it started and it's constantly being updated. Plus you don't have to edit/program any cards.
 
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hey does someone have a free 1 month trial code that they're willing to share and can pm me? I want to try gunner training. Thanks in advance
 
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Hey guys, so I have about 100 days to prep for my step 1 (starting yesterday). Heard a lot of people mention GT in this forum, but I haven't heard so much about it elsewhere. I'm planning on doing UW during the last 50 days or so. But I need a Qbank as a re-freshener until then, I'm kinda leaning towards Kaplans Qbanks, what do you think, is GT better? Anyone out there who has both?
Also, muchas gracias if anyone has GT promo code they like to share :)
 
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LGU said:
Hey guys, so I have about 100 days to prep for my step 1 (starting yesterday). Heard a lot of people mention GT in this forum, but I haven't heard so much about it elsewhere. I'm planning on doing UW during the last 50 days or so. But I need a Qbank as a re-freshener until then, I'm kinda leaning towards Kaplans Qbanks, what do you think, is GT better? Anyone out there who has both?
Also, muchas gracias if anyone has GT promo code they like to share :)
Click to expand...

I did both GT and Kaplan. I started GT at the beginning of second year and spread it out. IMO, GT should not be used as a qbank; it's better for hammering FA into your head. Also, with only 100 days you'll likely need to pick and chose sections of GT to focus on...banking all of the GT flashcards in that amount of time would 1) suck away time from other things like real qbanks and 2) not give you much time for spaced repetition + review.

I used Kaplan alongside classes during my spring semester of second year, and I really liked it. It was very difficult and nitpicky and helped me become better at test taking. I got so much faster at reading prompts with Kaplan.

I don't need the free month so I'll hold off and let someone else give you a promo code. If no one helps you out, PM me or any of the other regulars here. :)
 
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http://www.gunnertraining.com/free_trial/18719789

There you go!

AFAIK, GT is not a substitute for any qbank. Its a learning aid. You may be at an advantage if you finish banking cards well before your test date as it provides adequate opportunities to memorize and recall. There are 1084 cards at present so divide by the number of days and that will give you an idea at what rate you need to bank cards. Banking could be faster if already familiar with subject.
It is a total waste to bank those cards if one is not keeping up with the review schedule... (I learned it the hard way)
All the best.
 
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Hi friends...

Looking forward to get your opinion on my situation.

I have banked most of Biochem, Micro and Pharm as I felt those are the subjects which required a lot of memorization. GT helped a lot covering these subjects. But, now I am only 4 weeks away from my dedicated study time and at this point I don't feel it would be worthy to bank Path?! What do you guys feel?

If time is a limiting factor I would be better off not banking Pathology? I will be doing Path from Pathoma (mainly) and Goljan.

Also, while banking Physio I felt it was not helping me lot. I felt I would be at a better position if I re-read BRS Phys.

And I will be doing Behavioral/Biostats from HY/BRS so will it be okay to skip banking these as well?

I am considering squeezing in Anatomy and Embryo as these are the other subjects requiring lots of memorization. How about it?

Will really appreciate you advice and opinions.

Thank you.
 
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I would do anatomy and embryo, and maybe throw in the BS cards that require memorization (e.g. infant development and milestones)
 
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Hello fellow gunners :)


I just started GT and I have some questions/concerns.
I banked 3 anatomy cards 10 minutes ago, and the cards are quite long. Am I supposed to be learning everything on every single card, or should I assume that if it doesn't show up in a quiz, its not high yield?


Also, do you guys do quizzes immediately after doing a card? Or save them for later? If I do the former, does it remove those questions from my so called daily quizzes?


thanks

Sorry for my ignorance. just getting used to this thing. its also quite slow. is this happening to anyone else?
 
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They REALLY need to make a "how-to-use" tutorial video. The thread on here is too many pages for people to find useful guides (even though it's all here somewhere).

1) When you 'bank' a card it requires you to quiz yourself on it before it adds it to "the POOL". So let's make an example. If you banked 3 ten-question cards and you have 30 questions, you have to take that 30Q quiz. After that those 30Q will show up in your daily quiz schedule henceforth (depending on how you ranked them). If you look closely it's color coded. You should ideally add questions to the pool when you have around 20-30 (green) so it's not too much work to do at once. One caveat is that once you click "Start Quiz" on those 30Q it will not let you add new cards until you have finished adding the already accumulated 30Q's to the pool.

2) Everyday you log in, you're supposed to clear your daily pile of scheduled questions. Ideally you would bank a new card or two everyday as well. Mastery% = % of cards you've banked that you ranked 4 or higher. % banked is what it sounds like.

3) Also, as far as what you should be learning; that's up to you. Some people just memorize what they're being quizzed on. Others consider something forgotten unless they remember everything on a card. You should probably find a happy medium that suits your speed.

4) When you do your daily quizzes please PLEASE use keyboard shortcuts. It speeds up the process at least 2x. Press the "Left/Right" arrow buttons to toggle question/answer. Press "S" button to toggle the original corresponding card for a question. Press "C" to customize schedule. Press "1,2,3,4,5" to rate the question accordingly. Press "Enter" to advance to the next card. Using your mouse will slow you down. Your goal is not take more than 30 seconds on a question. This is crucial once you have 200+ daily questions to go through. Use a timer (online or actual timer) that beeps every 30 seconds. This helps tremendously.

So when you do a quiz, in terms of button presses it should look like:

"RIGHT --> # --> ENTER ---> RIGHT ---> # ---> ENTER", etc.

Hope that helps.
 
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I'll glance (really, really quickly) at other stuff on a card not pertaining to the quiz question to see if I'm familiar with it. If I am, I just move on. If I'm not, I'll read it once. I won't put any effort into actively memorizing it if it isn't part of that quiz question. I think you'll find as you go along that this crap takes a LOT of time. I often don't even bother glancing at the other information

Edit: I do think it's worth it, but my point is there's only so much time in the day, and I honestly don't think all the time in the day is enough to eat, sleep, and make sure you know everything on every single card :)

Edit 2: Also, I'm assuming you just finished first year. My recommendation would be to bank HEAVY right now, 20+ cards a day for at least a week or so. Try and get as much of that banked and mastered so that you aren't loaded up for 2nd year
 
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Thanks loveoforganic and brotato. This really helps. Yes i just finished first year today. My goal is to bank anatomy, immuno, micro and biochem as per people's suggestions. But I'm not sure this will complement my lifestyle. I'll be in the lab 9-5, and I have other responsibilities once I go home. I wanted to use gt exclusively at the lab 2-3 hours a day because things take a while to incubate etc especially when you are doing basic science. There is no way I will be carrying a laptop to work. I use my iPad for everything - literally everything. Sometimes I go 2 weeks without touching my laptop. Anyway, if it's too slow and I can't bank 20 cards at the lab, I might not be able to use gt afterwards. It was sooo painfully slow. I felt like I could have read one medium- to long- sized paragraph in FA between each question :eek:
 
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GTP said:
Thanks loveoforganic and brotato. This really helps. Yes i just finished first year today. My goal is to bank anatomy, immuno, micro and biochem as per people's suggestions. But I'm not sure this will complement my lifestyle. I'll be in the lab 9-5, and I have other responsibilities once I go home. I wanted to use gt exclusively at the lab 2-3 hours a day because things take a while to incubate etc especially when you are doing basic science. There is no way I will be carrying a laptop to work. I use my iPad for everything - literally everything. Sometimes I go 2 weeks without touching my laptop. Anyway, if it's too slow and I can't bank 20 cards at the lab, I might not be able to use gt afterwards. It was sooo painfully slow. I felt like I could have read one medium- to long- sized paragraph in FA between each question :eek:
Click to expand...

GT is not formatted well for a tablet. Is there a computer in the lab you can use? Or a secure place you can leave your laptop, so you don't have to lug it too and from work every day? Out of curiosity, why can't you bring your laptop? Too heavy?
 
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lrkoehle said:
GT is not formatted well for a tablet. Is there a computer in the lab you can use? Or a secure place you can leave your laptop, so you don't have to lug it too and from work every day? Out of curiosity, why can't you bring your laptop? Too heavy?
Click to expand...

My laptop is too heavy, and I hate carrying things. Lol. I can't secure a computer at work because they are all macs. :rolleyes: I think my Internet was messed up earlier. I just banked another 9 cards in the last 45 min. It's now asking me to switch to comprehensive mode. it's been "switching" for over 5 min now. Is that normal? Gt is going a lot faster now and I'm liking it. I just want to make sure I'm not the only one who is not memorizing everything on one card :scared:
 
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GTP said:
My laptop is too heavy, and I hate carrying things. Lol. I can't secure a computer at work because they are all macs. :rolleyes: I think my Internet was messed up earlier. I just banked another 9 cards in the last 45 min. It's now asking me to switch to comprehensive mode. it's been "switching" for over 5 min now. Is that normal? Gt is going a lot faster now and I'm liking it. I just want to make sure I'm not the only one who is not memorizing everything on one card :scared:
Click to expand...

The comprehensive mode switch over always takes a few minutes. As the others have said, stick with comprehensive mode, unless you can get some sort of exception to take a "lite" version of step-I.

Memorization will come with repeated viewing of a card. The first time looking at a card I always tried to learn it well, but knew that the real learning/retention would come over the following weeks of seeing it over and over.
 
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Hey everyone. Thanks for all your help :). My gt account was stuck in limbo between lite and comprehensive for a while but now it has been fixed. I have a question about u world. Did you guys buy a year supply of it? If not, when did you buy uworld and what Qbanks did you use throughout the year along modules?

Thanks
 
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I updated my iphone and now when i use Safari to do GT, the show answer (allows you to look at answer side of flashcard and rate it) button doesnt work. Is anyone else having this problem? GT is so much less of a burden when I can do it 10mins here, 10mins there as I get other stuff done, so I'd like to be able to stay mobile...
 
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GTP said:
Hey everyone. Thanks for all your help :). My gt account was stuck in limbo between lite and comprehensive for a while but now it has been fixed. I have a question about u world. Did you guys buy a year supply of it? If not, when did you buy uworld and what Qbanks did you use throughout the year along modules?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Only bought a month of UW. My school setup had pharm at the end, and it made some q bank questions from kaplan hard to do. I just did GT throughout the year. Now pretty much all I'm doing for step is GT/Pathoma/UW.
 
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Alvarez13 said:
Only bought a month of UW. My school setup had pharm at the end, and it made some q bank questions from kaplan hard to do. I just did GT throughout the year. Now pretty much all I'm doing for step is GT/Pathoma/UW.
Click to expand...

Wow only a month? That's pretty hardcore. Will you have time to do it twice? I really don't want to buy Uworld for one year because it's not cheap. But I don't think I'll be able to do it twice (and then a third time for questions I missed the second time) if I buy a month subscription.
 
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GTP said:
Wow only a month? That's pretty hardcore. Will you have time to do it twice? I really don't want to buy Uworld for one year because it's not cheap. But I don't think I'll be able to do it twice (and then a third time for questions I missed the second time) if I buy a month subscription.
Click to expand...

Honestly if you're diligent about GT you won't have much time to do UW questions along with classwork. GT is gonna suck 2hr/day from you.
 
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This is going to sound really silly but what's the difference btween lite and comprehensive? I've done about 12 cards in each setting now and don't see the difference.
 
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GTP said:
This is going to sound really silly but what's the difference btween lite and comprehensive? I've done about 12 cards in each setting now and don't see the difference.
Click to expand...

Lite omits a lot of questions. Each card has a certain # of questions affiliated with it. In lite mode you only get some of them. This makes for faster daily review, but increases the chance you're not seeing and getting quizzed on important points.
 
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Brotato said:
Lite omits a lot of questions. Each card has a certain # of questions affiliated with it. In lite mode you only get some of them. This makes for faster daily review, but increases the chance you're not seeing and getting quizzed on important points.
Click to expand...

Oh okay. I should have waited for the fat soluble vitamin card before posting my above question. One card with 24 qs. :scared: That section raped me lol.
 
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