how many of you had First Aid memorized 100%?

[suckerfree]

How many of you who took the test had First Aid down COLD?

I had heard from so many people that "aawww First Aid will just get you a pass" and I thought after a while they were just saying that because they were acting all hard and dominant when in reality they didn't have it down memorized 100% truly.

I am convinced, if someone memorized FA 100%, Qbank (right and wrong answers) 100%, and BRS Path 100%, they'd score pretty high.

What do you think after taking the exam? Did the majority of you have FA down 100% before taking the exam though?

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[Abacus1050]

There is a misconception pervasive through these threads: memorizing a source will ensure a particular success rate. The test writers do not write step 1 from review books, as a professor might write a course exam from a set of notes. High yield topics are real, but truly high yield facts are questionable. After taking step 1 (250+/99), I can comment that the majority of my questions were conceptual in nature (and yes, understanding some concepts does require specific knowledge). Single-bit facts certainly do come up, and presumably these can account for score differences among HIGH scorers. However, memorizing a source, like first aid, will not pass the test for you. For those with the goal of passing, memorizing a sea of facts is actually very low yield. Keep in mind that people are memorizing first aid in the context of two years of intensive studying. This obscures what the true source of someone's knowledge may be. Personally, even though I freaked out and tried to memorize everything I could, what got me my score was my long term memory/work ethic over the past couple years.

 

[Mye Eye]

There is a misconception pervasive through these threads: memorizing a source will ensure a particular success rate. The test writers do not write step 1 from review books, as a professor might write a course exam from a set of notes. High yield topics are real, but truly high yield facts are questionable. After taking step 1 (250+/99), I can comment that the majority of my questions were conceptual in nature (and yes, understanding some concepts does require specific knowledge). Single-bit facts certainly do come up, and presumably these can account for score differences among HIGH scorers. However, memorizing a source, like first aid, will not pass the test for you. For those with the goal of passing, memorizing a sea of facts is actually very low yield. Keep in mind that people are memorizing first aid in the context of two years of intensive studying. This obscures what the true source of someone's knowledge may be. Personally, even though I freaked out and tried to memorize everything I could, what got me my score was my long term memory/work ethic over the past couple years.

to each their own...i didnt work very hard in MS1...but in MS2 I started to work hard cuz Path was a class I really enjoyed...

when it came to the boards...i memorized FA as close to 100% as I could and noticed some concepts there were not learned from my school...so after studying nothing (and i mean NOTHING) besides FA and QBank (after the end of the school year of course) I scored a 242/98

I am happy with this...even with the giant "i'm more of a genius than you are" contest going on between all the 250+ scorers

 

[YouDontKnowJack]

to each their own...i didnt work very hard in MS1...but in MS2 I started to work hard cuz Path was a class I really enjoyed...

when it came to the boards...i memorized FA as close to 100% as I could and noticed some concepts there were not learned from my school...so after studying nothing (and i mean NOTHING) besides FA and QBank (after the end of the school year of course) I scored a 242/98

I am happy with this...even with the giant "i'm more of a genius than you are" contest going on between all the 250+ scorers

was your book all "annotated" to shiznit?



your statement gives a little encouragement for those who will try to memorize FA COLD. however, your info is skewed by the fact that you enjoyed Path..... and I'm assuming, did well in it too.

 

[josephf1]

I memorized 2005 FA 100%, i must say there was very little on my test not in FA, what I can remember was:
Some histo/molecular, but all was in HY
Some anatomy, lots of neuro, but all was in Kaplan
Some path, specifically Paget's, M Gravis, Anti Phospholipid Syndrome, Selctins/Integrins, but all this was BRS
My advice: know every WORD in FA and even more so every CHART, I had every chart from FA phys + pharm on the test, fill in the blanks with some HY and Kaplan and BRS
Qbank not neccesssary, better to do all 4 NBMEs and the 150 practice questions, got lots of repeats and similar concepts
Good luck dude

 

[josephf1]

I memorized 2005 FA 100%, i must say there was very little on my test not in FA, what I can remember was:
Some histo/molecular, but all was in HY
Some anatomy, lots of neuro, but all was in Kaplan
Some path, specifically Paget's, M Gravis, Anti Phospholipid Syndrome, Selctins/Integrins, but all this was BRS
My advice: know every WORD in FA and even more so every CHART, I had every chart from FA phys + pharm on the test, fill in the blanks with some HY and Kaplan and BRS
Qbank not neccesssary, better to do all 4 NBMEs and the 150 practice questions, got lots of repeats and similar concepts
Good luck dude

 

[ndspider]

I only memorized page 135.
2005

Cause I felt like it.
I tried to understand the rest of the book though.

 

[YouDontKnowJack]

blah. you still have to memorize a lot of **** regardless.
for example, how do you understand the handful of interleukins and what they do and where they're produced?.... by memorizing the sh**. there's more to memorize than understand. just like pathology is a bunch of random crap to memorize. you just can't use reasoning to figure out most of the stuff without memorizing the info.


Off topic,
ndspider, your fiancee is fuggin hot. how come i don't see hot asian girls like that in med school... like hot asian chicks and med school don't go together.
Is she chinese? I gotta find me one of those that's also sexually wild.

 

[ndspider]

Off topic,
ndspider, your fiancee is fuggin hot. how come i don't see hot asian girls like that in med school... like hot asian chicks and med school don't go together.
Is she chinese? I gotta find me one of those that's also sexually wild.

Thanks man.
The funny thing, is she is way smarter than she is good looking. She will make a good doctor.

 

[VincentAdultman]

to each their own...i didnt work very hard in MS1...but in MS2 I started to work hard cuz Path was a class I really enjoyed...

when it came to the boards...i memorized FA as close to 100% as I could and noticed some concepts there were not learned from my school...so after studying nothing (and i mean NOTHING) besides FA and QBank (after the end of the school year of course) I scored a 242/98

I am happy with this...even with the giant "i'm more of a genius than you are" contest going on between all the 250+ scorers

Obviously memeorizing FA wasn't enough if you studied bank extensively right?

 

[eklope2000]

I had first aid memorized 100%. I did only a small fraction of Qbank and used a few other review books for reference (and in the end, probably went through a very small part of these books). So essentially I stuck to First Aid, and this earned me a 252. It's not an amazingly good score, but it's solid. So First Aid can probably take you at least this far. But I suspect that if you want a really special score (>260), you have to put in a special effort and do more than this and start early.

 

[YouDontKnowJack]

I had first aid memorized 100%. I did only a small fraction of Qbank and used a few other review books for reference (and in the end, probably went through a very small part of these books). So essentially I stuck to First Aid, and this earned me a 252. It's not an amazingly good score, but it's solid. So First Aid can probably take you at least this far. But I suspect that if you want a really special score (>260), you have to put in a special effort and do more than this and start early.

and i assume your grades were not bad either......

C students can't just memorize this and get 250+

 

[eklope2000]

and i assume your grades were not bad either......

C students can't just memorize this and get 250+

Yes I was a top student in MS I & II classes. Having a good background, even if it's not all on the top of one's mind, definitely helps when it comes to guessing on all the non-First Aid stuff encountered on the test.


On another note, people emphasize the word "understanding" over "memorizing." I really don't know what people are talking about. For over >90% of board content, there's nothing to understand. There are facts to know, or to not know.