Help! Trying to memorize First Aid is driving me craaaaaaazy!!!!

[DocKat]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hey guys

I know everyone says that FA is the ultimate resource to go to and that we should know everything in FA inside and out. But I just can't seem to be able to memorize FA. There are sections that I have looked at at least 4 times and I still get the Q bank questions wrong even when the answer is exactly printed in FA. I know people who did well on the test with ready FA only 3 times...am I just stupid or something? What should I do? Just try to re-read over and over again? I would appreciate any input because I feel like that I am about to go crazy right now studying for this beast.

 

[HIJay]

well i found most of FA stuff is the same as most of my basic sci materials, just presented in a different way

so i dont think it was or should be difficult to memorize. so perhaps you need to review that part in a text first before committing to FA? the stuff in FA should not be any brand new materials that one need to spend that much time to commit to memory, FA is the high yield facts that you should for sure know

 

[diosa428]

How do you learn best? I find that I remember things better from question banks than from trying to memorize things. I also learn well when I write things down. I have a hard time learning from outline sources like FA, because I need to see it in text format first, and then when I have a really good understanding of it, I can read the outline format to solidify the information. Just because FA is a great resource doesn't mean you HAVE to study from it, just understand the concepts in it. Maybe you should take the above poster's advice and try reading the info in text format first.

 

[InternationlDoc]

Bought FA since alot of people swear by it -

I have may be looked at it 5-6 times without writing much in it at all. Point being, I learn more from review books and FA sort of gives me alot of pneumonics/factoids that is a bit tough for me to just look at (infact after a review book read, I can't make myself read FA because it seems disorganized and barebone). I suggest thorough understanding of a subject + Qbank and then looking at FA to see if you can digest it better. For what its worth, I haven't really "memorized" anything from FA and am doing fine on Qbank

 

[nightowl]

just saying i feel your pain. don't like memorizing. but for what it's worth, my hubbie said he read it twice, wish he'd done it three times, because all you need to know is in it. I think I'm going to get through it once, work q's with it, read it again, read it again. hopefully by the third time I'll know it without painfully staring at a page hoping it'll stick. good luck!

 

[mudphudwannabe]

I think you may be misinterpreting some advice that gets thrown around here - FA *is* a great resource, but it is by no means the best or only resource for anything. FA works best as an outline or guide for your studying, and it does a really good job of condensing information. In the last days before the exam, it's perfect for all the crammable information you know won't stick for the long term but you have to know anyway.

For the rest of the material, though, you would do well to spend a bit of time other more comprehensive review materials rather than attempting to "memorize" FA by reading it X number of times. What level of detail you need will depend on how strong you are in a particular topic, of course. When people say you need to "know FA" what they usually really mean is that you need to know all of the areas covered FA and their context within the human body and medicine as a whole. The context will help you answer the multi-step questions on the exam as well as helping those dry facts stick in your brain better. 😀

FWIW, I probably did not even get through FA twice and did really well on the exam.

 

[emlopez2]

What I did is read through the corresponding section in both BRS path and BRS physio prior to reading through the section in FA. This helped me get a bulk of the knowledge prior to picking through the pieces of FA. I also took quite a bit of time making sure I knew the pathophysiology of some of the laundry lists that FA throws at you by writing them down within the book. This way you dont waste alot of time trying to relook up info. Oh and not that there is enough time for this but I used FA along with my classes, this way I could recognize the material immediately and have all the info i need in relatively one place.