HowtoAnnotateFirstAid?

[satcool]

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I just started studying. I bought the recommended books in First Aid and am wondering how I should go about annotating First Aid. What level of detail should the notes be? I know Taus recommends leaving RR Pathology and High yield cell as stand alone choices without annotation. Does anyone have any experience with this? I know Anatomy is a low-yield topic, but I bought Road Map Gross Anatomy. There is a lot of material in this book that isn't covered in first aid. Is it worth annotating into First Aid?

lol, just realized I didn't add any spaces in my title. My bad.

Thanks🙂

 

[OveractiveBrain]

How did I annotate in First Aid? With a pen.

 

[OveractiveBrain]

Seriously. annotate as needed. Dont write a novel. Clarify points, mark in MC questions you missed and why. Make sure you UNDERSTAND what is in First Aid.

"Sideroblastic Anemia, Lead" doesnt mean anything if you dont know that Lead inhibits the first step in heme synthesis, which is also inhibited by EtOH and B6 deficiency.

 

[hanky1982]

Had the same issue when starting out. I think what helped me were a few things. First, wirte down pages the disease is also mentioned in FA. Tuberous Sclerosis comes to mind, as it is mentioned in like 3 spots in FA. Each time you run into a disease, drug, or any other topic, note pages you have seen it before. It will do WONDERS later when going through it again. Second, write down similaties, example: Whipples and a1AT, both have + PAS. I think that this kinda helps you integrate multiple diseases and their tests/findings/etc. Third (and the most difficult for me) was to keep it simple and short. After 2 months my FA looked like a child had gotten ahold of magic markers and then decided to have a tonic-clonic seizure while coloring in my book. By the end, I had annotated TOO much. I couldn't seperate the important from the minutia, and it made me pretty much force myself to skip a lot of my annontations. Lastly, try to circle one or two big topics per disease/drug/condition and know it cold. THEN build. I found trying to memorize all the little things about a disease lead me down a path of amnesia. I couldn't remember anything a day later. Start BIG, for instance, know a FEW of the SE of Phenytoin (teratogenic, SJS,...) then build on subsequent times you go through FA. You MUST KNOW the big topics, then work in the smaller ones, or it will become mush (which happened to me in the beginning of me studying). If you have any other questions feel free to fire me a PM. Good luck.

 

[tachyon34]

so annotating is only to clarify points made in First aid?

what if a disease is stated in First aid, but doesn't have as much detail as the separate review book?

for example:
serous cystadenoma. Frequently bilateral. Lined with fallopian-tube like epithelium. Benign.

Everything there I understand, but say RR path has more info on it, is that worth annotating in there, or do you think it adds too much?

 

[hanky1982]

Know whats in FA, then if/when you get time add things in, but if all else fails know for certain whats in FA.

 

[EkLiLiaN]

good question. i'm having the same issue. What I'm doing is to add on info from qbank of important points i missed but are helpful in remembering the dz process.

 

[Elixir86]

so annotating is only to clarify points made in First aid?

what if a disease is stated in First aid, but doesn't have as much detail as the separate review book?

for example:
serous cystadenoma. Frequently bilateral. Lined with fallopian-tube like epithelium. Benign.

Everything there I understand, but say RR path has more info on it, is that worth annotating in there, or do you think it adds too much?

I've been having the same problem. It wasn't too bad when I was going through the Renal portion of FA and RR (during my Renal organ system class). FA had mostly everything and I annotated some notes from QBank into my book and then added some of the blue side notes from RR if I thought they were important or if they might help me remember something important later. However, we just finished Heme/Onc and that covers 4-5 chapters in RR. There's no way I'm going to add that many blue side notes into FA. I've decided that when it comes down to crunch month, I'll have FA in one hand, and BRS Physio. and RR Path in the other. I'm going to try and read through BRS and RR as much (and as many times) as I can during the year so I can get through particular sections faster during that final 1 month study period.

 

[lildave2586]

I've decided that when it comes down to crunch month, I'll have FA in one hand, and BRS Physio. and RR Path in the other. I'm going to try and read through BRS and RR as much (and as many times) as I can during the year so I can get through particular sections faster during that final 1 month study period.

This is my plan exactly.