Gunner Training?

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A

 

[Bernoull]

1. For those that recently took step1, are u keeping up with ur daily Qs and/or banking cards?
2. Also, if anyone has kept up with GT during clerkships, did u find it helpful (pimp Qs, exams etc)?
3. For the "chosen few" with access to the GT Step 2 beta product, what's ur impression thus far, roughly how much overlap have u seen b/t the Step 1 & Step 2 content?

thanks

 

[nickelbackfan]

Hi guys
So I'm actually studying for the MCAT now (I plan on taking it next spring). I was planing on using this as a study tool because I figured if I'm prepared for the step 1 then i'll be prepared for the mcat right?

 

[Brotato]

Hi guys
So I'm actually studying for the MCAT now (I plan on taking it next spring). I was planing on using this as a study tool because I figured if I'm prepared for the step 1 then i'll be prepared for the mcat right?

I just realized you're not talking about the MCAT version of GT. You actually want to use the Step 1 version of GT to study for the MCAT.


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA......wait I'm not done. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAHAH

 

[Brotato]

Hi guys
So I'm actually studying for the MCAT now (I plan on taking it next spring). I was planing on using this as a study tool because I figured if I'm prepared for the step 1 then i'll be prepared for the mcat right?

Ok..on the chance you're not trolling and you're actually serious. I'll tell you that this is the worst idea I have ever heard on SDN (and that's saying something). Would you tell a high schooler to study for the MCAT so he/she can do on the SAT? Stick to the ExamKracker/Berkeley Review books dude. You're getting so ahead of yourself here it's ridiculous.

 

[jhamaican]

Hi guys
So I'm actually studying for the MCAT now (I plan on taking it next spring). I was planing on using this as a study tool because I figured if I'm prepared for the step 1 then i'll be prepared for the mcat right?

perfect name for the perfect troll.

 

[lrkoehle]

1. For those that recently took step1, are u keeping up with ur daily Qs and/or banking cards?
2. Also, if anyone has kept up with GT during clerkships, did u find it helpful (pimp Qs, exams etc)?
3. For the "chosen few" with access to the GT Step 2 beta product, what's ur impression thus far, roughly how much overlap have u seen b/t the Step 1 & Step 2 content?

thanks

Definitely not doing my GT anymore, and it feels great! Although I imagine once I actually have to learn things I will be pissed that I can't use GT to just beat it into my brain...the Step 2 program better come out soon!

Sorry I can't answer questions 2 or 3...

C'mon GT, I need a step 2 program in just over a week! MS-III transition week starts Monday, I can't wait forever! Residencies are going to wonder how I did well on Step 1 but failed step 2, and I'll have to blame GT for both of those things happening...bastards!

 

[doclemon]

Out of curiosity, why don't u want the spaced repetition feature? To me that's the genius of GT etc... i.e. 'stratify ur content mastery' and focus study on ur weak areas...

Well, it's more a question of not having enough time for the spaced repetition feature. Considering that, i might want to review only some subjects(anatomy, msk, immunology), and maybe 1/2 more (any suggestions here?) from GT.

Thanks a lot though.

 

[Brotato]

Well, it's more a question of not having enough time for the spaced repetition feature. Considering that, i might want to review only some subjects(anatomy, msk, immunology), and maybe 1/2 more (any suggestions here?) from GT.

Thanks a lot though.

Yeah stay away from GT. It doesn't sound like you have enough time for it. I wouldn't recommend GT to anyone with less than 6 months minimum. If you want to reinforce those 3 sections, then do extra qbank questions on them, watch Kaplan videos on them, read HY anatomy or whatever on the side. All would be better ideas.

 

[Suncrusher]

perfect name for the perfect troll.

+1, no one likes Nickelback.

Has anyone else noticed how many GT flashcards have sentences taken directly out of Big Robbins? So many. It's excellent 👍

 

[Brotato]

+1, no one likes Nickelback.

Has anyone else noticed how many GT flashcards have sentences taken directly out of Big Robbins? So many. It's excellent 👍

Also a bunch with sentences taken straight out of Wikipedia. Some ppl have also stated they've seen stuff from Costanzo on there.

 

[An0MalY]

Here is a free month trial to try out GT if your thinking about it.. http://www.gunnertraining.com/free_trial/1317581

 

[GTP]

Also a bunch with sentences taken straight out of Wikipedia. Some ppl have also stated they've seen stuff from Costanzo on there.

Is there anything in gt taken out of microbio made ridiculously simple? There are so many organisms :-( and I've heard great things about this book. However, it's another book to read and I'd like to avoid additional resources. Is gt + fa and qbanks good enough for micro? Thoughts?

 

[Brotato]

Is there anything in gt taken out of microbio made ridiculously simple? There are so many organisms :-( and I've heard great things about this book. However, it's another book to read and I'd like to avoid additional resources. Is gt + fa and qbanks good enough for micro? Thoughts?

It's not like I keep track of which cards are inspired by what sources. As far as micro goes, I feel like micro is just memorization with a tiny splash of conceptual knowledge. You can certainly beat micro into your brain with GT through enough repetitions, but I did enjoy reading CMMRS. It's a nice supplement but it doesn't replace memorization. One thing I did is I made copies of the bacterial "trees" from FA and stuck them on my door. Now I can pretty much draw all the Gram +'s pathways from memory. Still working on the Gram -'s though.

 

[JackShephard MD]

Is there anything in gt taken out of microbio made ridiculously simple? There are so many organisms :-( and I've heard great things about this book. However, it's another book to read and I'd like to avoid additional resources. Is gt + fa and qbanks good enough for micro? Thoughts?

GT + FA + qbanks is good enough for everything.

Supplement with outside reading when necessary.

Step 1 isn't a "who used the best sources" test.

 

[mgorman85]

So I'm hoping to bank the Basic Sciences portion of GT by the end of July, and that comes out to about 13-14 cards a day. I'm working full time in a lab, so I'd have to work on it before, during lunch, and after. Is this feasible, or should I rethink my strategy?

 

[Brotato]

So I'm hoping to bank the Basic Sciences portion of GT by the end of July, and that comes out to about 13-14 cards a day. I'm working full time in a lab, so I'd have to work on it before, during lunch, and after. Is this feasible, or should I rethink my strategy?

Why not? It's summer. All it takes is dedication and putting the time in.

 

[JackShephard MD]

So I'm hoping to bank the Basic Sciences portion of GT by the end of July, and that comes out to about 13-14 cards a day. I'm working full time in a lab, so I'd have to work on it before, during lunch, and after. Is this feasible, or should I rethink my strategy?

I wouldn't do it (assuming you're starting from 0%).

But I do like GT.

 

[Bernoull]

Definitely not doing my GT anymore, and it feels great! Although I imagine once I actually have to learn things I will be pissed that I can't use GT to just beat it into my brain...the Step 2 program better come out soon!

Sorry I can't answer questions 2 or 3...

C'mon GT, I need a step 2 program in just over a week! MS-III transition week starts Monday, I can't wait forever! Residencies are going to wonder how I did well on Step 1 but failed step 2, and I'll have to blame GT for both of those things happening...bastards!

Thanks for the feedback. I read that the target date for the Step 2 product is this September, which can't come soon enough given my delirium tremens!

I'm still on the fence about resuming GT for content retention... there's bound to be some overlap with clerkship material, but I guess it'll be a question of how high-yield or not, GT will be for that...
It would be nice if GT had a rep on this thread to update us and answer our questions...

 

[Brotato]

Thanks for the feedback. I read that the target date for the Step 2 product is this September, which can't come soon enough given my delirium tremens!

I'm still on the fence about resuming GT for content retention... there's bound to be some overlap with clerkship material, but I guess it'll be a question of how high-yield or not, GT will be for that...
It would be nice if GT had a rep on this thread to update us and answer our questions...

Lol given the size of this thread they'd need a fulltime hire

 

[loveoforganic]

So I'm hoping to bank the Basic Sciences portion of GT by the end of July, and that comes out to about 13-14 cards a day. I'm working full time in a lab, so I'd have to work on it before, during lunch, and after. Is this feasible, or should I rethink my strategy?

For the friends I've recommend it to, I've advised planning out how long it would take to bank all the 1st year stuff at least 2 weeks before 2nd year starts to allow some time to master content, but 13 cards a day is fairly significant already. Just be aware that you'll likely have a fairly high daily review card # going into 2nd year

 

[GTP]

So I'm hoping to bank the Basic Sciences portion of GT by the end of July, and that comes out to about 13-14 cards a day. I'm working full time in a lab, so I'd have to work on it before, during lunch, and after. Is this feasible, or should I rethink my strategy?

I think this is doable if you bank more on weekends. My summer break started two weeks ago, at which point I started gt. I also work full time in a lab and will be starting ms2 at the end of July. I banked 20 -25 cards a day in the beginning when experiments were slow because i was just getting started. Now that experiments are moving at a nice pace, I bank consistently 15 cards a day minimum. You can definitely bank more on the weekends, if you are willing. If you can't bank this aggressively, maybe just focus on micro/immuno and biochem?

 

[JackShephard MD]

I think this is doable if you bank more on weekends. My summer break started two weeks ago, at which point I started gt. I also work full time in a lab and will be starting ms2 at the end of July. I banked 20 -25 cards a day in the beginning when experiments were slow because i was just getting started. Now that experiments are moving at a nice pace, I bank consistently 15 cards a day minimum. You can definitely bank more on the weekends, if you are willing. If you can't bank this aggressively, maybe just focus on micro/immuno and biochem?

Sure that will work when you're below 20-30% but when you start getting into the 40-50% range it will be tough to do 15-20 cards each day, especially when you're working full time.

Also, you tend to bank strengths first so you'll probably have more weak subjects as you approach 50%+. I think as you bank more, you have to learn stuff better (reasoning vs repetition) because you have to rate it higher to avoid massive daily Q's.


Last off, who is the world would want to work full time and do 50%+ (basic sciences) of GT during the summer? That sounds so awful that you may be approaching burn out right before 2nd year or you'll start and find GT too time consuming b/c you banked too much too fast (speaking from experience).

 

[GTP]

Sure that will work when you're below 20-30% but when you start getting into the 40-50% range it will be tough to do 15-20 cards each day, especially when you're working full time.

Also, you tend to bank strengths first so you'll probably have more weak subjects as you approach 50%+. I think as you bank more, you have to learn stuff better (reasoning vs repetition) because you have to rate it higher to avoid massive daily Q's.


Last off, who is the world would want to work full time and do 50%+ (basic sciences) of GT during the summer? That sounds so awful that you may be approaching burn out right before 2nd year or you'll start and find GT too time consuming b/c you banked too much too fast (speaking from experience).

I agree with this. I initially wanted to bank 50% during my seven week summer break. I noticed after banking 25 cards a day for a week that I got angry and miserable. I now bank around 15 a day and I have more time to work out/relax since the material is definitely getting harder. I don't want to burn out before dedicated board study time.

 

[lrkoehle]

I agree with this. I initially wanted to bank 50% during my seven week summer break. I noticed after banking 25 cards a day for a week that I got angry and miserable. I now bank around 15 a day and I have more time to work out/relax since the material is definitely getting harder. I don't want to burn out before dedicated board study time.

GT's version of 'roid rage? GT rage? "Look out, here comes GTP and he's GT ragin' like crazy right now..."

GT burnout is a real thing though, so it's smart to try to avoid it. After a week or two of 500 or 600+ questions every day, you really start to dread your daily GT. Hopefully your brain steps up to the plate though and you start to move some of that into mastery, and soon enough you're back to a reasonable daily load.

 

[GTP]

GT's version of 'roid rage? GT rage? "Look out, here comes GTP and he's GT ragin' like crazy right now..."

GT burnout is a real thing though, so it's smart to try to avoid it. After a week or two of 500 or 600+ questions every day, you really start to dread your daily GT. Hopefully your brain steps up to the plate though and you start to move some of that into mastery, and soon enough you're back to a reasonable daily load.

Lol I'm a female. 600 questions? the most I've ever had three days in a roll was 285 questions. Was so pissed almost threw my iPad into the autoclave machine

 

[loveoforganic]

I just got through two consecutive 500 card days. Definitely GT-raging. Thought about 2 week clearing the next two days of cards to restore my sanity, but just going to try to get through it

 

[lrkoehle]

Lol I'm a female. 600 questions? the most I've ever had three days in a roll was 285 questions. Was so pissed almost threw my iPad into the autoclave machine

I hear GT rage is even worse in the ladies, so your classmates better steer clear of you...

I think I only had a short period with 600+ daily questions, but that was actually my own doing heading into my micro final when I intentionally ranked those questions low to hammer it home. I definitely had periods w/400-500 daily questions for a few weeks; the entire month of April comes to mind...

 

[crazyozone]

I think as you bank more, you have to learn stuff better (reasoning vs repetition) because you have to rate it higher to avoid massive daily Q's.

Is this how most of you begin using GT once you reach a fairly high percentage banked? Do you switch from sheer repetition, quickly answering the questions, to taking more time to thoroughly review questions?

 

[Brotato]

Is this how most of you begin using GT once you reach a fairly high percentage banked? Do you switch from sheer repetition, quickly answering the questions, to taking more time to thoroughly review questions?

You can't generalize like that. Depends on what subject it is. If it's something I always get wrong or keep forgetting, yes. If it's something thats intuitive, no. The way you approach this doesn't change no matter what % banked you're at. Although the more questions you have a given day, the quicker you're going to want to flip through them and get it over with.

 

[Itachi87]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/member.php?u=218080Irkoehle how much did you banked daily during 2nd year?

 

[lrkoehle]

Irkoehle how much did you banked daily during 2nd year?

It varied based on my school load (plus I am married with a baby so that impacted things too). I tried to do a couple a day, but I really wasn't as good about it as I would've liked until spring semester when I realized how much I needed to get banked to finished about a month before my dedicated step-I study period (which I would recommend doing). You could try calculating how many cards you need to bank per week to finish GT by a certain date, so that way if you have a long day at school, you don't feel as pressed to also bank cards that day as well (maybe bank extra on the weekends to get ahead).

 

[StephenMaturin]

"A 32-year-old male training for a marathon presents to your office complaining of posterior thigh pain. He has been icing and resting his leg. He is diagnosed with a muscle strain. Which portion of the muscle fiber is the most common site for a muscle strain?"

Does this bug anyone else? I wish they would just give me the part in bold.

 

[Itachi87]

It varied based on my school load (plus I am married with a baby so that impacted things too). I tried to do a couple a day, but I really wasn't as good about it as I would've liked until spring semester when I realized how much I needed to get banked to finished about a month before my dedicated step-I study period (which I would recommend doing). You could try calculating how many cards you need to bank per week to finish GT by a certain date, so that way if you have a long day at school, you don't feel as pressed to also bank cards that day as well (maybe bank extra on the weekends to get ahead).

Do you think it's plausible or even advisable to bank everything by the end of december in 2nd year?

 

[GTP]

Do you think it's plausible or even advisable to bank everything by the end of december in 2nd year?

Yea if you are 50% banked NOW

 

[Chirurg]

"A 32-year-old male training for a marathon presents to your office complaining of posterior thigh pain. He has been icing and resting his leg. He is diagnosed with a muscle strain. Which portion of the muscle fiber is the most common site for a muscle strain?"

Does this bug anyone else? I wish they would just give me the part in bold.

the story of my life and everyone else's.
this is the worst part of GT and pissing me off on a daily basis.
I've started perfect recalling these, not the best solution but what can you do?

 

[loveoforganic]

You would still have to teach yourself a med school semester's worth of information... I think being 100% banked 1 month before dedicated study time is a solid enough goal

It varied based on my school load (plus I am married with a baby so that impacted things too). I tried to do a couple a day, but I really wasn't as good about it as I would've liked until spring semester when I realized how much I needed to get banked to finished about a month before my dedicated step-I study period (which I would recommend doing). You could try calculating how many cards you need to bank per week to finish GT by a certain date, so that way if you have a long day at school, you don't feel as pressed to also bank cards that day as well (maybe bank extra on the weekends to get ahead).

You are just ridiculous. I don't know how you got through 2nd year

the story of my life and everyone else's.
this is the worst part of GT and pissing me off on a daily basis.
I've started perfect recalling these, not the best solution but what can you do?

Yep. I don't mind the long questions if they have a point. If they make me read 2 paragraphs then give me a discrete, unrelated question at the end of it, I'm going to want to kick someone in the balls. They have one question in particular that comes to mind that has a histo image, a 2 paragraph question stem, then the last sentence just asks a discrete question about what kind of cytokine is released by the inflammatory cell in the histo slide (identifying it requires no information... it's an alveolar macrophage). Part of their explanation even (I think this is the question where they give this explanation) is that "sometimes the USMLE makes you read a bunch of irrelevant crap." Hm, well, leave all the crap-reading to the USMLE please... I haven't started perfect recalling them, but I probably will during 2nd year

 

[JackShephard MD]

You would still have to teach yourself a med school semester's worth of information... I think being 100% banked 1 month before dedicated study time is a solid enough goal



You are just ridiculous. I don't know how you got through 2nd year



Yep. I don't mind the long questions if they have a point. If they make me read 2 paragraphs then give me a discrete, unrelated question at the end of it, I'm going to want to kick someone in the balls. They have one question in particular that comes to mind that has a histo image, a 2 paragraph question stem, then the last sentence just asks a discrete question about what kind of cytokine is released by the inflammatory cell in the histo slide (identifying it requires no information... it's an alveolar macrophage). Part of their explanation even (I think this is the question where they give this explanation) is that "sometimes the USMLE makes you read a bunch of irrelevant crap." Hm, well, leave all the crap-reading to the USMLE please... I haven't started perfect recalling them, but I probably will during 2nd year

Macrophage calling neutrophils, correct? Everytime I see that red image, I go right to the answer and rate it a 5. Worst possible question.

Another thing that bugs me now but may be helpful later is when I get a whole bunch of pharmacology Q's on a physiology question. 4 of the answer choices have drugs I've never seen before or banked (I thought they must have been on flash cards I've banked but they aren't). I'm sure those integrative questions are great and Step 1 like BUT... I don't use GT to for Uworld style questions. In fact, spaced repetition is probably not useful for Uworld style questions... they have an exam feature, leave those in the exams.

Right now I just use the "recognize the Q, remember the fact it's testing, rate it a 5" strategy.

"sometimes the USMLE makes you read a bunch of irrelevant crap." Hm, well, leave all the crap-reading to the USMLE please...

Lol, yeah. Thanks GT for adding a whole bunch of irrelevant crap into my daily life.

GT needs to decide if they want to be a spaced repetition, fact recall program or a qbank.

 

[loveoforganic]

Macrophage calling neutrophils, correct? Everytime I see that red image, I go right to the answer and rate it a 5. Worst possible question.

Yeah, I think it was IL-8. I do the same thing.

Another thing that bugs me now but may be helpful later is when I get a whole bunch of pharmacology Q's on a physiology question.

Yeah, this is less than ideal, and the program should be set up in such a way as to only hit you with things that you've had in the program. I don't worry about it too much though for this stuff, just take the opportunity to learn a little more (for the first one or two times, after which I'll just jump to the answer)

 

[lrkoehle]

Do you think it's plausible or even advisable to bank everything by the end of december in 2nd year?

It is certainly possible to do it, but not really necessary. Part of the point of GT is a slow, steady pace to commit things to long term memory, so banking a little slower and finishing in March may work better. It's totally up to you though; finishing up banking is a really nice feeling though and makes doing your daily questions seem like nothing.

Ultimately though, finishing up banking GT a month before your dedicated study period is probably best. That way you have a month to bring your daily question load down to something reasonable which allow you to focus on doing qbanks.

You are just ridiculous. I don't know how you got through 2nd year

Haha, I don't know how I'm going to get through 3rd year now...just keep the head down and keep pushing forward I guess. I wish all of MS III was like this first week where I just have half days all week...This time next week I'll probably be getting ripped a new one by an attending or resident or if I'm lucky maybe an attending AND a resident at the same time...🙄

 

[JackShephard MD]

Saw this in a different thread:

Hey. I know there's an old thread but I wanted to start a new conversation about using GT during rotations and step 2 based on this response to my inquiry about their upcoming Step 2 release: (this may only interest those of us that used the GT system for 2nd year classes who wanted to continue using something similar)

Re: Step 2 - YES! We are working on it! And, since there is so much overlap between the two tests, we are going to have them be 1 program but with the ability to filter our topics and questions that are only Step 1.
We are planning on releasing bits and pieces to current members as soon as possible (possibly in July)! Then, we hope to have the complete program ready to go by this September (2012 of course!).
In addition, we are also going to release a USMLE-like question bank that will rival USMLEWorld and Kaplan qBank for Step 1 and Step 2! One great thing you can do with this is see what concepts are associated with a USMLE-like question, and see your prior performance on them to get an idea of WHY you got the question wrong. UWorld or Kaplan can't do that. Fun times ahead!



What do you think about using this tool going forward?

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

I am going to try GT for STEP 2. I honestly have no idea where to start with that test.

 

[Gunneria]

GOD GT needs a PAUSE button or at least a REDISTRIBUTION button to allow users to limit question load to x number of questions while still having the spaced repetition formula...sorry had to Vent

 

[Alvarez13]

GOD GT needs a PAUSE button or at least a REDISTRIBUTION button to allow users to limit question load to x number of questions while still having the spaced repetition formula...sorry had to Vent

http://gunnertraining.uservoice.com...uggestions/1889599-a-vacation-or-break-option

PLANNED · Ben Williams (Pyromaniac, Gunner Training) responded
We agree! We’re going to start by letting you pick certain days of the week off, then setting vacation days, etc. Thanks!

 

[Brotato]

http://gunnertraining.uservoice.com...uggestions/1889599-a-vacation-or-break-option

PLANNED · Ben Williams (Pyromaniac, Gunner Training) responded
We agree! We’re going to start by letting you pick certain days of the week off, then setting vacation days, etc. Thanks!

Good to see. I need that feature so badly.

On another note I am currently trying to pound bacterial toxins into my brain. It's like trying to break through a brick wall. All the toxins and their mechanisms just make me want to throw a tomato. But it's slowly getting better. After a couple weeks of rating all the toxin questions "2" I'm starting to recall a little bit ....as opposed to going 'wtf' everytime.

 

[lrkoehle]

I am going to try GT for STEP 2. I honestly have no idea where to start with that test.

That's kind of why I wanna do GT for Step 2 as well. I hope they really do roll it out in July...early July please

 

[Gunneria]

hey guys, word of advice for those who might annotate NOTES into gt....while answering questions, you can view these notes by pressing "s" and clicking on the notes button...i.e.- useful if say you added a hyperlink of a picture or some other tidbits...makes the whole integrate with classes (i.e.- fillin the loops left by GT with lecture notes) more applicable

 

[loveoforganic]

Good to see. I need that feature so badly.

On another note I am currently trying to pound bacterial toxins into my brain. It's like trying to break through a brick wall. All the toxins and their mechanisms just make me want to throw a tomato. But it's slowly getting better. After a couple weeks of rating all the toxin questions "2" I'm starting to recall a little bit ....as opposed to going 'wtf' everytime.

Did you bank that card without learning it first in class too? I thought it would be a good intro into micro. Mistake. Finally starting to put it together after like 3 weeks

 

[GTP]

Does anyone else feel like they are preparing for the gt boards as opposed to the Usmle? I have very good recall of things and try not to inflate my mastery, but I've noticed that a couple of times a week, I seem to only remember things when I see them on the gt screen. maybe I have a photographic memory. I dunno. I learned job syndrome a few weeks ago and then saw someone yesterday with tiny little teeth. And I was like hey look, primary teeth. I knew I learned something about it, but I couldn't figure out what it was even after thinking thoroughly about it for 10 mins. Then I had to google it 🙁. But when gt asks how job syndrome presents, I immediately bust out the "in the bible, job FASTED" mnemonic. Did this happen to anyone else, and will it get better?

 

[Brotato]

You gotta admit the mnemonics in GT on a whole are pretty awesome.

 

[GTP]

Actually, the mnemonics I use on gt are not gts. They are from comments from other users. My favorite card was the kluver bucey syndrome. Some dude got so pissed about the hip hip mnemonic. To be honest, that mnemonic kinda blows lol